When I first rolled out as a freelance writer, I was moonlighting. It’s not such a revelation because a lot of people do it….and I am sure a lot of people will continue to work on their own businesses, building their nests while holding on to a 9-5 job. While it worked out wonderfully for me, it doesn’t work for all types of businesses.
Before you start rolling out your business, try doing some research and consider very seriously if the idea is truly feasible. At this point, be brutally honest with yourself. I mean, it was possible for me because I started a freelance writing business, for crissakes, and the only mobility issue was when I had to go to the bathroom or make my fifth cup of thick, black coffee. Other than that, I could very well work on my freelance writing career without causing alarm to my bosses and colleagues.
Anyway, think about it very carefully if you’re walking this way, in this general direction, at least. I found this article here very useful and I liked the way Denise O’Berry pointed out that some businesses are just ‘dying’ and it’s no longer feasible. Heed her advice, folks.
There are moments when this writer’s mind draws a complete blank. During those moments, I would usually be staring into empty space wondering why I am not thinking, not working, not typing anything and sitting there seemingly to age without a reason. I try to write….I seriously do. I put my fingers on the keyboard and force myself forward….write, write, write! You’re a writer, write, damn it! This is supposed to be a piece of cake for you!
But no. Nothing comes out.
During moments like this, I wish there was something I could place to my temples, press a button and zap my brains alive. But I know that if I continue to sit there staring at my keyboard and computer screen, eventually, I will find myself in Facebook again. And if I do that, I would regret it, chastise myself for being stupid and lazy.
The best thing this writer could do is to stop writing altogether! Yes, stop writing, get my butt off the chair, and go peel some potatoes. Well, cooking inspires me so if you’re a writer with the same career-numbing condition, then go do something that inspires you. Anyway, there really isn’t any point in trying to write anything when the words aren’t coming along, don’t you think.
It’s like….you can’t force a painter to paint when he/she is not inspired. Nothing will come out and if something does, it was be mediocre at best.
I strongly suggest writers give themselves a solid pat on the back when facing such a dilemma and then just walk out of the working place…wherever that is. Removing yourself from the difficult situation wil, most of time, cause of the inspiration to start pouring in again.
Social bookmarking is a big thing now and we should make every effort to wobble our way into this whole social bookmarking thing - especially when we’re a bunch of word weirdos, right? We’ve got all the content in the world so, why aren’t people coming back for more.
You see, there’s this really huge problem with writing. And the problem is called ‘writing well’ or ‘writing something worth reading’.
I see an incredibly half-hearted efforts out there that makes no attempt whatsoever at trying to inform, impress, entertain, educate or tickle the readers.
When we write the content for our blogs, we should imagine our readers and audience sitting right there in front of us…waiting to be entertained. It’s only when we make an effort to write good blog content and update the blog with writing worth reading and coming back for will we see an increase in traffic, better branding, increased sales and blog popularity.
It’s time to change the 5-minute blog posting thing unless it’s a personal site. If you’re in it for the business, it’s time to buy the thinking cap, put it on before you start writing for your blog.
Write well enough, my advice is, to get your blog or blog content bookmarked by others or emailed to others.
If you’re an aspiring freelance writer looking for tips on how to start, run and manage your own freelance writing work-at-home career, I’ve got a tip for you today. Iron everything out right from the start. Lay down the ground rules, the foundation and never waver, if you possibly can, from the deposit rule. Take a deposit before you start work.
Laying down the rules takes some practice and some experience because each project, each client is different. The most important thing to make clear is the issue about communication and delivery, timeline and expected responsibilities. Most of the freelance writing jobs out there are pretty straight-forward. You deliver as and when you’re done. When the deposit is used up, you ask for more. They don’t top it up, you don’t continue writing.
I know it’s hard to lay down this rule when your freelance career is just starting up but trust me, this is the right footing to start the biz on. Maintain your ground and keep to it….if they don’t like it, they leave…don’t worry, another one will come along. Too many times this has happened to me and most of the time, I let it fly by because it’s a calculated risk but if I could do it again, rewind time and do it all over again, I wish someone would have told me this before.
Start out on the right footing with your freelance writing clients and you’ll have them for life….well, for as long as they remain in business, that is.
If you’ve set up your website and done a few ‘Google’ searches on Search Engine Rankings - you’ve probably learned that keywords are at the heart of Internet searches. They are the link between the searcher and their destination - the journey of any internet searcher starts with typing those few words into their favoured search engine. Everyone who has ever used the internet has started this journey so you are very well placed to appreciate the psychology of the process.
Let me make a simple but perhaps not obvious point in this article to help you choose the keywords to center your site around ( this is what you need to do to attract search engine traffic)
The pursuit of some common single keyword is often the goal of the new webmaster. To reach page one in Yahoo or Google for a common keyword is no easy task and it will definitely gain you traffic. Yet before you pour huge resources, time and effort into achieving this goal - step back and think about who would actually type these words into a search engine…
Some examples Double Glazing firm decides to target the keyword - ‘windows’. Firstly they are in for a shock if they hadn’t already realized they are now in direct competition with one of the World’s largest companies - Microsoft. Of course Microsoft probably don’t have an interest in installing double glazing in all the homes in Birmingham but that’s who you are competing against. The problem is the search engine has very little way of working out what the searcher wants if he types in just ‘windows’. Most will focus on the software but toss in a few high ranking non-software windows web sites just in case - try it and see what you get. This query is typed in approximately 9 million times a month - lets be honest how many of these are potential customers of our west midlands double glazing firm. Lets compare this with the phase ‘double glazed windows’ which is searched for by about 27,000 in the UK - which group would you want to view your website ? (please click the read more link below) (more…)
“Freelance writer for hire. Cheap writer with experience. Quick turnaround time and professional work attitude” – reads the ads.
It sure sounds like someone I would like to hire to help me with the load of freelance writer jobs that I have backlogged at the moment. But as I scroll down the advertisement list and search engine result page, what do I see? I see tens of thousands of other similar freelance writer for hire ads…oh, how my head spun. Every one of these freelance writers for hire claims that they are the best one for me to hire.
The world of freelance writing has warped out of control recently because of a marketing method we all call ‘article marketing’. As long as a person can credibly spin a web of words together, whether it makes sense or not is another matter, they would launch themselves off as a freelance writer for hire.
In case you think I am shooting down these writers for unknown reasons, hang on a minute. I am definitely not! I would have to give credit to a few of the freelance writers that I’ve employed in the past who did incredible jobs without charging too much for it and I continue to use them till this very day…but the rest should be shot down. Shot because they spoil the freelance writing market.
The freelance writing market is too saturated as it is. Every turn you make, someone is a freelance writer ‘writing from the comforts of his/her home’, is ‘professional’ and have ‘relevant experience’.
As an employer and a business owner, before you hire a freelance writer for your job, here are some questions you should ask yourself and then use these questions to gauge whether the writer is the right one for you.
A lot of it is guesswork but once you find the right freelance writer for the job, you’ll be glad that you did your homework.