If you’re like most writers, you enjoy the part of your job that entails putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). You’re probably, however, somewhat less fond of marketing. Many of us squirm at the idea of cold calling or attending networking events. That’s why it’s so important to have a strong professional website. Once it is up and running, it can bring you a steady stream of referrals with little or no further effort you your part. These are features that will help your website attract customers
Monitoring Your Online Reputation as a Freelance Writer
February 6, 2012. 5 Comments
Freelance writing is now one of the sources of income for many moms dads and othersalike. As a freelance worker, they are free to serve as many clients as they can. They build reputation by submitting works on time and providing high-quality work. The reputation built will then result into new job offers or job referrals from satisfied clients and writers will have increased income. As a writer, you can collect positive reviews from your satisfied clients. However, many potential clients today, go beyond profile reviews. They have now started to dig for more information about you. Below are the tools you can use [Read more…]
The Best of FWJ February
February 28, 2011. 4 Comments
February brought most of us in the States snow storm after snow storm, Valentine’s Day and some really informative posts from the FWJ crew. Here are a few of the most popular: Applying for a Freelance Writing Gig Without Looking Desperate by Jodee Redmond In this post Jodee cautions against oversharing when looking for writing gigs. Is Your Blog Dressed For Success? by Gayla Baer-Taylor First impressions are important. Gayla shows you how to make sure your blog turns heads. I’m a Ghostwriter (Get Over It) - by Jeffery Reyes In this terrific guest post, Jeffery hits on the many misconceptions [Read more…]
Quality Standards for Online Content
October 12, 2010. 5 Comments
So, the Internet Content Syndication Council is concerned about the allegedly abysmal quality of mass-produced articles flying out of the content mills. They’re so disturbed by the practices and output of the mills that they’re working on a series of quality standards and have discussed the possibility of certifying “legitimate” content. I can think of few sillier endeavors. Money Talks The ICSC thinks ad spends should go to the producers of rock-solid content. That wouldn’t be a bad argument if they could convincingly demonstrate that an investment in top drawer material would yield a superior return on investment compared to [Read more…]
Getting More Work from Your Existing Clients
October 7, 2010. 2 Comments
I don’t think it’s enough. Getting work is wonderful, making it is even better. Writers need to put their creative thinking, experience and skills to work to create new projects.
An Interview with Dan Schawbel – Author of Me 2.0
October 4, 2010. Leave a Comment
I was fortunate enough to have international best selling author and personal branding expert, Dan Schawbel, write the forward for my book that’s coming out next month, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing. The second edition of Dan’s incredibly popular book, Me 2.0, comes out this week. You can read his bio at the end of this post which demonstrates just how well Dan knows what he’s talking about! I spent a few minutes with him discussing how freelance writers can build their own personal brands in order to build their businesses. Dan’s insightful answers to my questions are included below. Be [Read more…]
How to Make a Living as a Writer
September 30, 2010. 23 Comments
You want to make a living writing.
Here’s how I do it. It may not be a good way for you to do it. Then again, it might be advice that transforms you from a feast/famine disaster into a consistent earner.
Wasting Your Time as a Freelance Writer
August 19, 2010. 7 Comments
With the risk of sounding like I’m ranting, I’d like to talk about wasting your time as a freelance writer. There has been a lot of discussion here at FWJ about where to focus your priorities. We’ve talked about building skills, about establishing a well-balanced portfolio, and about making an awesome first impression. A lot of you are taking that advice to heart, and I can only assume you’re seeing the success because of it. If not, keep pushing – good things take time to build. But a lot of writers, in my opinion, are wasting their time – and [Read more…]
Gayla Baer Joins the Freelance Writing Jobs Team
August 11, 2010. 2 Comments
I am absolutely thrilled to announce that Gayla Baer is joining the Freelance Writing Jobs team. She will be writing about business tips and sharing her experience, knowledge and advice for freelancer writers who are learning to work for themselves and build their own businesses — often working from home and with little support. I had the pleasure of working with Gayla while she was a channel manager at b5media, and I was constantly impressed by her ability to connect with people, engage, and share part of herself as well as offer her guidance. I know she will become an [Read more…]
10 Skills Freelance Writers Must Have if They Want to Succeed
August 3, 2010. 21 Comments
Since there are a lot of aspiring freelance writers in the Freelance Writing Jobs community, I thought it would be a good idea to go over some of the most important skills that freelance writers must have if they want to have a chance at being successful. In other words, if you want to get paid for your writing, you need to make sure you can do the things in the list below. 1. Spell If you can’t spell and you choose not to use a dictionary or effective spell-checking tool, then you won’t get far as a freelance writer. [Read more…]
Freelance Writing Business Multipliers… Are You Using Them?
July 14, 2010. 3 Comments
If you’re asking the right questions, you’re opening doors to additional opportunities.
Those five articles may have turned into ten articles, some additional web content, a better squeeze page, a white paper or special report for list building, a regular blogging gig, assistance in constructing additional content for inbound link creation and who-knows-what-else.
Those questions are business multipliers.
How You Made My Life Easier, Free Nachos and Other Delights (Part 1)
June 16, 2010. 5 Comments
Anyway, I wanted to do two things before walking away from that post and implementing those good ideas. First, I wanted to write a “wrap” post about the recommendations, noting the prevailing themes, providing my reactions to them, etc. Second, I wanted to give away the free nacho prize.
You’ll note that this post is labeled “Part One”. You’ll see “Part Two” next week. I’m going to use “Part Two” to break down all of the advice, to provide kind words of thanks to the geniuses who provided it and to come up with what I hope to be a few Marvelous Insights of my own.
This is the Part Where You Solve My Problems… Advice on Workload Reduction…
June 9, 2010. 48 Comments
I want you to dump your brains right here in the comments section.
I want your best piece of advice (two or three or four pieces will work, too) about how I can slice my work week in half without earning appreciably less dinero.
Oh, but there is a rule for this game: I don’t want anyone to even mention the topic of rates in their advice. There are a number of reasons for this, but the biggest is the fact that we all know you can make more by charging more. I want to see some less-frequently discussed pearls of wisdom.
Well, what are you waiting for? Give me some advice. And give me the good stuff.
I’m sure someone else is out there thinking about this stuff, too, so don’t feel like your wasting your A game on me. Some perfectly decent and innocent soul who wants to cut down their work hours will appreciate the advice, as well.
Let ‘er rip! Best piece of advice gets a free order of nachos.
Are Your Greatest Ideas Rotting on the Vine?
June 2, 2010. 14 Comments
I’ll make a few guesses:
* Most writers have these moments of inspiration and ideas to do something new, different, creative, smart or interesting.
* Most writers don’t revisit those ideas with any frequency.
* Most writers don’t transform their ideas into actual work product.
* Some of those ideas have the potential to be Truly Great.
Top 10 Things Freelance Writing Blogs Tell You That You Already Know
May 23, 2010. 9 Comments
Originally this post was to have been called “Are the Freelance Writing Blogs Telling You Stuff You Already Know?” so we could have a big discussion about how redundant and unoriginal we all are. Let’s face it, every freelance writing blogger says the same thing, we just use different words. We all want to convince you we’re the best in order to get your traffic, but most of all have the same background, got the same sort of start and now we’re each competing to give you information you already know. None of you are dumb. You don’t need hand [Read more…]
When Freelance Writers Need a Wake Up Call
May 22, 2010. 5 Comments
In order to encourage the freelancer writers in this community, I like to keep the tone light and positive. Though I don’t take the “in your face” approach to blogging, I’ll agree that there are plenty of times when freelance writes need to have the truth laid out for them in order to view all sides of the picture. With that in mind, I’d like to discuss some of the things that aren’t so pleasant and hopefully inspire struggling freelancers to re-evaluate their career choices and goals. To be perfectly blunt, there are times freelance writers need a wake up [Read more…]
Should Freelance Writers Use a Pen Name?
May 13, 2010. 15 Comments
It’s no secret I don’t use a pen name. I prefer the “what you see is what you get” approach to writing. Aside from a (very) brief stint writing a sarcastic humor column, I have never written as someone else. I’ve had other people write as me, however – but that’s another post for another time. The reason I don’t use pseudonyms has nothing to do with a right or wrong approach, but more a personal preference. I prefer to know exactly who I’m taking advice from so it would be kind of hypocritical for me to blog under an [Read more…]
