Being a successful freelancer requires that you acquire and maintain the latest information, tools, tips and skills in order to stay successful among the many people setting out on their own in the professional world. While there are tools available to all freelancers via the invaluable resource that is the internet, the physical disconnect between you and your colleagues and customers often leaves something to be desired. On that note, as a freelancing professional looking to add to their current skill set, there is no better way to combine valuable educational opportunities with the ability to rub shoulders with the [Read more…]
How to Use the Google+ Contributor List
January 19, 2012. 7 Comments
The world of freelance writing has no doubt shifted to the Internet. Although some freelance gigs may want to keep your writing anonymous, most put your writing on a website for the world to see. This works great because it gives you a nice portfolio of writing to send to future writing gigs you hope to land. You can tell a potential editor to check out the article you wrote on a particular website, and you can even link right back to that article in your email pitch.
5 Ways to Grab That Freelancing Job With LinkedIn
December 27, 2011. Leave a Comment
In a tough economy with so many people out of work, finding a job can be a mind numbing process, and finding a freelance writing job is no different. The problem, though, does not lay in the job finding part; any website you browse will list hundreds of open positions. These common websites are flooded daily with over-qualified applicants that are hired before you even click the posting. Because of this, you may need to consider finding an alternative way to job search and in this job market. The key: networking. If you are or want to be a freelance [Read more…]
Show Your Writing Face?
October 25, 2010. Leave a Comment
Everywhere I go, I see Joe Purschke’s face. Who is Joe Purschke? Well he’s my mortgage broker. But I knew him long before I met him. That’s because Joe uses his face on every ad. From highway billboards to refrigerator magnets – I can pick Joe out of a lineup better than I can identify some members of my family. Seeing Joe everywhere got me thinking…why do some business types rely on “face” marketing while others don’t? And should bloggers be plastering their author picture next to every article they write?
How a mediocre blogger can get more links than an amazing blogger
May 13, 2010. 10 Comments
I don’t think you should aim to be a mediocre blogger. Always aim to write top content and do your best. However, it’s not your kick ass writing skills that are going to get you links. Fact – when I started blogging professionally – and by professionally I mean paid – I was a lot more careful. I wrote and re-wrote posts, gave it my all and really tried to put super killer content out there on the web. AND I pretty much got zero links back to my carefully written, time consuming posts. Fact – now I’ve been blogging [Read more…]
Feed Your Blogging Addiction with Highly Addictive Links
April 23, 2010. 11 Comments
Bloggers get addicted to all sorts of crazy (and not so crazy) things – coffee, surfing, Twitter and more. With this in mind, here are some super addictive blogging issues to ponder this week. Feast or Famine – how many times do you use this phrase as a writer. At least once a week? Twice a week? More? It’s true this phrase is highly addictive to writers, mainly because it’s true. However, our own Lorna Doone Brewer thinks it’s time we gave this addiction a great big shove off. Su.pr – Oh my gosh I am so utterly addicted to [Read more…]
On Deleted Blog Posts…
March 5, 2010. 7 Comments
Dear Deb, I came by looking for a post called “WAHMs: Make Sure the Ends Justifies the Means” that you wrote last summer about residual writers. I know it was there and now it’s gone. Several posts in that same discussion are gone too. I think what everyone says about you, that you change your tune to suit your sponsors is true. I don’t respect you anymore. Only people with something to hide delete blog posts. I dare you to post this. Signed some anonymous emailer So I’m not posting this email because I was dared to, I’m posting it [Read more…]
Troll issues vs. actual reader debates and disagreements
December 11, 2009. 5 Comments
As a long time blogger I’ve had my fair share of readers who don’t like my opinion or who for whatever reason just plain hate me. I’ve been slammed about my opinion on issues you’d expect like global warming or circumcision or baby vaccines and on some you wouldn’t like organic gardening, why I don’t like coupons, and even why recycling is good. It’s amazing what people will freak over. However, there’s a real difference between readers with actual debates over what I say vs. trolls. As a blogger who blogs for clients, you probably have some control over reader [Read more…]
How to Turn Off Your Blog Readers in 10 Easy Steps
November 28, 2009. 18 Comments
Blogging isn’t only a full time job or an income stream for me, it’s an addiction. It’s a way of life. Next to spending time with my family, it’s my favorite thing to do in the world. It’s my passion. I suppose that’s hard to explain to the people who see that I’m online all day and think I have no life, but it is what it is. I’m hooked on blogging, it’s my passion. I enjoy reading blog posts from other passionate bloggers as well. When people love what they do their passion and happiness shine through, and those [Read more…]
25 Bloggers, Blogs and Websites for Which this Freelance Writer is Truly Thankful
November 24, 2009. 12 Comments
This year has been a roller coaster ride. For those of you who missed it, I maintained FWJ while working full time as a community manager, lost the full time gig thanks to budget cuts, and have to battle negativity on a regular basis for standing by a sponsor I absolutely believe in. A few people even tried to buy FWJ, but we weren’t having it. I also welcomed some wonderful new members to the FWJ community and watched our traffic make a nice steady rise. I’ve made many new freelance writing friends both on and offline, and the revenue [Read more…]
Blogging is All About the Delivery: Getting Your Point Across Without Being Abrasive
October 13, 2009. 7 Comments
When I was in highschool and on the job, there were a few people I did my best to avoid. It was the girls and women who said what was on their minds, no matter how much it hurt. Not only did I find their manner abrasive, I felt they fed into that catty woman stereotype and gave women a bad name in general. They didn’t agree.They excused their rudeness by saying they were honest. I have a nephew who does the same thing. He’s rude, but feels people need to get over it because it’s the truth and that’s [Read more…]
Is Freelance Writing a Transient Niche?
October 12, 2009. 6 Comments
I have freelance writing on my mind today, or rather, the freelance writing niche. For those of you who haven’t been with this blog network from the beginning, Freelance Writing Jobs started out as a single standalone blog posting job leads every day. From there, we branched out to having some advice posts on the weekend, then a mixture of the two during the week. Now we’re a full-fledged network of eight blogs. Here’s the interesting thing. This blog/network has been around for about four and a half years. We have some regulars who have been with us since day [Read more…]
What Have I Done for You Lately?
October 5, 2009. 7 Comments
I regularly receive emails from bloggers asking me to promote a new service, review ebooks, donate to their contests and post affiliate links. Many of these requests are from very popular bloggers who I haven’t heard from since the last time they had something to promote. I also hear from friends who haven’t had the time to chat or email in years, but now they’re wondering if there isn’t something to this making money online thing or they’re out of work and wondering if they should write. I don’t mind helping. I enjoy promoting products I feel are a good [Read more…]
Blog Contests: Bribery or Motivation?
October 4, 2009. 23 Comments
There are some interesting discussions going around now regarding the purpose of contests at blogs, especially contests building community. Is it bribery or buying community to offer a contest encouraging community? As you know, the FWJ network is having a comment contest for the month of October. The reason for this contest is: To encourage long-time members to come back into the discussion after recent negativity. To encourage visitors to each individual blog to visit the other blogs in the network. To encourage newer or lurking members of the community to add their two cents. To give something back to [Read more…]
Weekend News and Awesomeness
October 4, 2009. 3 Comments
Awesomeness and news from around the web: The BlogWorld and New Media Expo is less than two weeks away. There’s still time to buy a ticket and book a room. BWE cut deals with several hotels for less than $100 per night. This is the biggest and best blogging and social media conference and I recommend anyone who is serious about succeeding as a blogger attend. Chris Brogan addresses a topic near and dear to my heart. I’m sure Chris gets way more email than I do here, but it seems he has the same issues regarding weeding through the [Read more…]
On Taking Swipes at Other Bloggers
September 27, 2009. 16 Comments
Writers often ask each other about their “passion”. Passion is what leads us to write about what we love every single day. Passion is what makes us good at what we do. Passion makes us who we are. My passion is blogging. It’s an addiction. I wake up and all I want to do is blog. That may sound silly to some, but it’s what I love and what I hope to do forever. What makes me not so passionate is all the “I’m so not like you so I’m going to do everything I can to trash you and [Read more…]
Does Your Blog Have a Comment Policy?
September 5, 2009. 14 Comments
I find myself having to defend my comment policy from time to time. I’ve been accused of editing comments so only the rosy ones come through, or being biased about who is allowed to comment at the FWJ network. None of that is true. I have a comment policy in place and like to abide by that policy, it’s really nothing personal. I just don’t feel rudeness or personal attacks have a place in an intelligent discussion. Here’s the thing, some commentators don’t know how to disagree respectfully. Instead they throw in barbs and digs and downright nastiness. I don’t [Read more…]
Why Trolls Troll
August 15, 2009. 28 Comments
I’ve been doing this blogging thing for about nine years now. Though FWJ is a little over four years old, I have been participating and writing for online communities since 2000. I’ve seen my share of haters, that’s for sure. I collect online trolls like some people collect beer mugs or dishes decorated with puppies. I’m not going to claim to be a troll expert but I’ve been able to identify some common characteristics. For instance, trolls are almost always anonymous. They’re anonymous because they’re people we know. In many cases we know exactly who they are. They want to [Read more…]
What does it mean to be a community manager?
July 6, 2009. 3 Comments
If you look at the recent job board listings here at Blogging For A Living, you may notice that community manager, social media, social networking (whatever you like to call it) gigs are on the rise, while straight up blogging gigs seem to be at a stand still. Personally, I think this is because clients are realizing (finally) that it’s not enough to simply post at their blogs and websites anymore, they also need to promote those posts and build a better community in order for their blog to succeed. Best of all, these clients are up for hiring bloggers [Read more…]
On Not Judging a Social Media Gig By Its Cover
June 18, 2009. 2 Comments
On Monday as I was trolling the job boards to drum up clients for my social media consulting business, I came upon an ad for a blogger to help with a marketing campaign. I applied and landed the gig and immediately began wondering if I was doing the right thing. The company appeared to be an advertising agency that printied stuff on cards and poker chips and wanted to create a viral campaign and heavy social media presence. Viral playing cards? Yeah Deb, good luck with that. As I asked the client questions throughout the day I learned there was [Read more…]
Improving the job market for bloggers and online writers
May 29, 2009. 14 Comments
Improving the job market for bloggers and online writers is a big task. Since I started posting gigs here daily I’ve noticed a slew of terrible jobs and a much smaller selection of decent jobs that actually pay a fair wage. I don’t think the fault is all on the lame clients who offer low-pay jobs though. A lot of it is dependent on us, the folks who want said jobs. For example… 1. Apply for work IF you’re qualified: I was chatting with Deb yesterday and she noted that she was shocked by the amount of people who applied [Read more…]
10 Ever So Helpful Lessons in Blog Comment Etiquette
So you like visiting other blogs and participating in the comments. That’s terrific, because we love having you. Bloggers live for discussion. We enjoy hearing all the sides of the story. We don’t mind disagreement, as long as it’s respectful, and especially enjoy learning a new perspective. Sometimes though, people aren’t quite up on their comment etiquette. Yes, there is an etiquette process. Think of commenting at a blog as having a conversation at a party or networking event. If someone only contributes to insult a person or idea, no one really wants to talk to her. If another person [Read more…]