SEO Copywriting: How One Freelance Writer is Finding Success as an SEO Writer

March 28, 2008

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Today’s update is on SEO Mary, which I’ve been promising practically all week. I’ve been so busy lately that I didn’t even query Mary. Sweet soul that she is, I think she’s come to feel some responsibility to readers of her foray into SEO writing, so she took it upon herself to email me.

Even though I would have gotten around to it eventually, I’m glad she took the step. FYI, this is officially Part VII of this series. Read it from the beginning here.

Series Note: I had put an official end to this series at Part V. Obviously, it’s gone past that and may go a few more. I’ll always have a post on my blog when I’m going to post an update to the series.

Mary Lands a Client Who LOVES Her Work – She writes:

Good afternoon, Yuwanda.
 
I’ve been wanting to e-mail you with an update, but wanted to wait until I had definitive news — and now I have it!

Things are progressing well. I have a client who LOVES my work. I’ve written seven articles for him so far, and he’s hoping to give me more soon. I know I should be marketing more but I’m going to be absolutely swamped with work over the next few weeks, because….
 
A former employer has contracted with me to write 280 pages of its website between now and July 1! Which is wonderful AND not so wonderful, because that will take ALL of my non-day job time. I’ll have little time for my family let alone other clients…;-) This 280-page gig could easily extend into some other work from my former employer, some very good part-time work and not one that is so deadline intensive. As I get closer to July 1, maybe around June 1, I’ll start marketing again. My hope would be that, depending on if my former employer truly does hire me on more of a retainer, I could market some more, get more SEO clients and by early next year, leave my day job. (emphasis added)
 
I suppose I could take a huge leap of faith — as you advocate in your blog post of today — quit my day job work part-time for my former employer and market like a crazed woman to get more SEO clients before this gig runs its course. But I’m truly the major breadwinner of my family right now.

My husband is working as a substitute teacher, which means sporadic income and no income from him this summer. And, with this economy — this is going to be one rocky recession — putting all my eggs into the SEO basket may not be a good idea. Working myself to the bone for several months IS the right way to go….
 
However, speaking of recession, it’s not a good idea to put my eggs in my current employer’s basket, either. After all, layoffs could happen. Having a second income stream IS the way to go. And I’ll find out pretty quickly how the SEO market withstands this bumpy time.
 
I think one reason my SEO marketing has not taken off as quickly as yours has is the fact that I didn’t have “another” free-lance writing business already cooking along well, as you did. You had tons of momentum built up. I’m building mine now.
 
Not that there isn’t a huge need for SEO writing. I can see that there is and I’d encourage any of your readers to take the plunge. Their business may not build quickly at all, but it WILL build – and more quickly than with the more traditional free-lance writing business of newsletter writing, news release writing, sales copy, magazine articles, etc.
 
Building a business trying to convince small- to mid-size businesses to spend money on marketing can be excruciatingly long — I know from my own experience. Go where the need and the money is. Go where you don’t have to convince clients of their need for your services. Go SEO.

Well, back to work! I’ll report back in every so often.
 
My best always,
”Mary” (a pseudonym used for this series)
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Read here how I routinely make $250+/day as an SEO writer – and you can too!
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MY RESPONSE:

Note: I sent Mary an abridged response, so I’m rewriting that response here, expanding on some points in her email that I want to point out.

Mary:
 
I am so very proud of you!

On holding onto her job: I wrote to here, “Do what’s best for you. If you think hanging onto your job is the best way to go, then do that, especially in light of your husband’s employment. I think you’re making very smart decisions.”

Regarding the recession: FYI, I don’t think SEO writing (or freelance writing in general) is going to slow down just b/c it’s a recession. In fact, I think the opposite, as I wrote about in this article: How Will a Recession Affect Freelance Writers.

On not marketing more: The wonderful thing about freelancing is that you can build this career to suit your needs. A “perfect storm,” of confluencing factors seems to have come together at the ideal time for Mary, given her family’s situation. That’s the beauty of freelancing – increase marketing efforts when you need to, ease up on the gas when you can.

As a FT freelancer though, I always advise having some type of ongoing marketing efforts in place. That way, dry spells won’t last long. Since I started SEO writing last fall, I think I’ve had exactly two days where I didn’t have any work.

On my “head start”: Mary wrote, “I think one reason my SEO marketing has not taken off as quickly as yours has is the fact that I didn’t have “another” free-lance writing business already cooking along well, as you did. You had tons of momentum built up.”

I agree and disagree with this statement. I agree with Mary in that I had another freelance writing business (I’ve been a freelance writer since 1993). However, I didn’t even know what SEO was before last year. So, I had NO experience in that field at all.

What I think helped me get such a fast start though was three things:

(i) My marketing ability: I’ve always had a knack for it, and have had several businesses. If there’s one thing I know, it’s small business marketing. In the ebook, I outline my exact marketing methods for acquiring clients.

(ii) My specialties: I write across several disciplines that not many freelancers can – eg, mortgages and real estate. The first SEO writing gig I landed I got because I had this experience. Since then, I’ve gone on to write about everything from ski chalets to how to make wire jewelry, but, my first SEO writing assignment was for a mortgage site.

iii) My rates: Based on my writing skill and knowledge, I could charge significantly more. But, the more you charge the longer it takes to land clients. My rates work for me. I stay very busy. The niches that I write in though are ones where the going rates are much higher. Because my writing is just as good, I don’t have a problem landing clients.

On “Building a business trying to convince small- to mid-size businesses to spend money on marketing . . .” The beauty of SEO marketing is that it isn’t a hard sell. If you send your marketing queries to the right clients, you don’t have to sell them on needing your service. They usually only want to know about your turnaround time and your rate. If these are amenable, you’re usually hired.

Thanks “Mary” for an invaluable update. And, congrats again. I look forward to the next one.

A $15 Per Article Writing Gig: The Ins & Outs of Writing for eHow (aka Demand Studios)

March 18, 2008

Article Updated on 5/23/2011

I recently started writing for eHow.com. It’s a community site similar to AssociatedContent.com, another site I also contribute to. I like writing for both sites, because they each offer something unique.

Earn $63,000 to $125,000/year writing simple articles

And yeah, I know $15 per article is peanuts for some, but when you consider that you can write about basically anything you want and that it takes anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes to write an article, that works out to $30 to $60/hour. OR, looked at another way, earning almost $63K to $125K/year writing simple articles. I’ll take it every time.

So, how did I happen upon this gig?

How I Got the eHow Article Writing Gig

I obviously applied because I got a response notifying me that they wanted me to start contributing articles in my specialty. The ad probably looked something like the one found [link to no-longer-live Craigslist post was given]. They ask for different specialties in each ad.

Note: I apply to a lot of stuff and don’t remember every company. Also, many have corporate identities different from the names the general public may know them by (eg, eHow’s corporate identity is Demand Studios).

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At any rate, they sent me a welcome email and an offer to write 10 articles for $15/each. Now, I wasn’t thrilled, but once I learned that I could write on anything I wanted in my niche (freelance writing, small business), anything I wanted, I was like, “Let’s try it for one assignment and see how it goes.”

The thing that originally put me off writing for eHow are the attachments they send along with the welcome email. It is a copy of their style manual, invoice submission form and W9 Form. Also, I had to learn the ins and outs of uploading an article to their site.

As a side note, the thing that will cause me to procrastinate forever on a new project is getting through the procedure. I abhor learning new procedures. But usually, it’s not nearly as bad as I make it out to be. 

It seemed overwhelming to have to absorb all of this for $15/article. But, like most things, it appeared more monstrous than it was. It took me about 45 minutes to go through and grasp an understanding of everything.

Once this was complete, I wrote the 10 articles. It took me about five hours to write and upload them. The actual uploading took about an hour, because I kept playing around with category choices and going back and editing them. So, it could have been shorter.

My articles are much longer than many on the site. They have to be a minimum of 400 words, with the optimum being 400-600 words. My articles tend to be 500-1,000 words (I like to give value, not snippets).

How to Get Paid from eHow

Once the articles were submitted, I sent my invoice to the editor assigned to me, and within two weeks, had a check in had for $150. On the website, they say they only pay via PayPal (which I prefer). But, I got paid via check. I don’t know if they reserve the checks for writers they invite to write for them, or not.

They do have a Writer’s Compensation program where you earn money via revenue sharing. So, maybe that’s what the PayPal payments are for. I don’t know. I haven’t earned enough for a payout via the revenue sharing model (my articles have earned almost a dollar). The minimum payout is $10, which is good because it’s low. Most sites make you earn $25 or even $50 before they’ll pay out.  For more on writing for eHow for pay, click here.

Getting Continuous $15 Article Writing Assignments

Once I turned in my first assignment, about a week later, the editor who initially contacted me sent me a second assignment – this time for 20 articles (at $15/each). He gave me a week to turn these in.

I just completed that last Monday. I wrote all articles in one day, which was the most I’d ever written in one day. A $300 day for pretty easy work.

Why I Like Writing for eHow

I like writing for eHow because (i) I can write what I want; (ii) because of this, the assignments go faster; (iii) there’s little to no research required; and (iv) the possibility of repeat work.

Also, it’s kind of nice to have assignments that don’t require you to think, think, think so much. For example, when I write sales copy, I have to do research, come up with an angle, research keywords, etc. This is draining. Comparatively, writing articles for eHow is “easy, breezy” work.

I contacted my editor, asking him for more bulk assignments and letting him know all of the different genres I write across (interior decorating, staffing/HR, real estate, online marketing, small business, mortgages and crafts). He said he would keep it in mind, as they have several sites they might be able to contract with me for and that he’d pass my name along to anyone else in the company he knew of who could use my services.

And, about a few days after that, he dropped me a line, letting me know that he had given my contact info to someone else in the company who may need my services. This person didn’t contact me (my editor had told me that there was a chance that his colleague may have already found someone).

BUT, I’m convinced that he passed my name along because of the quality of my work.  Some of the articles on eHow are pretty cheesy and basic, barely breaking 400 words (I don’t think some of them even are 400 words). I could have turned in work of this quality, but I didn’t want to.

Number one, every time someone reads one of my articles, I want them to come away with a sense of understanding – like they learned something. And number two, it’s a pride thing. I value my work and don’t want to clog up the web with anything less than my best on any given day. Face it, we all fall short, but there’s a bar that must be met at all times. I’m aware of the bar I’ve set for myself.

So, the next time you run across an ad similar to the one mentioned above, apply. It’s the real deal. For feedback from others, click here to go to AbsoluteWrite.com’s forum which discusses writing for eHow. You can complete eHow’s online application here.

All of my eHow articles are listed below. FYI, eHow only accepts original material (unlike AssociatedContent.com, which accepts previously published material), so you haven’t read any of this before.

Note about Article Rate: I read in some forums that some writers were offered $10/article. I don’t know how eHow decides who to pay what. I only know that I was offered $15/article. Following are my articles on the site.

How to Find Freelance Work as an Article Writer

How to Find Forum Posting Jobs

How to Leverage Existing Clients to Get More Freelance Writing Work

How to Put Together a Basic Freelance Writing Proposal

How to Bundle Ebooks for Sale

How to Create an Ebook to Promote Your Freelance Writing Business

How to Write a Sales Letter to Promote Your Ebook

How to Hire Freelance Writers from CraigsList

How to Interview Experts for Your Freelance Writing Newsletter

How to Publish a Freelance Writing Newsletter

How to Create an Online Writing Profile

How to Sell Ebooks on PayDotCom.com

How to to Determine When to Test for a Freelance Writing Job

How to Decide Which Freelance Writing Services to Offer

How to Maximize Your Online Writing Time

How to Keep Subscribers on Your Freelance Writing List

How to Use Your Blog to Get Writing Jobs

How to Create an Online Writing Portfolio in 2 Days

How to Negotiate the Best Rate for a Freelance Writing Assignment

How to Sell Evergreen Content to Website Owners

How to Make Money as a Freelance Abstract Writer

How to Spot and Take Advantage of Freelance Writing Trends

How to Tell if a Freelance Writing Job is Right for You

How to Get Freelance Writing Work via Old Job Ads

How to Promote Your Freelance Writing Business Online

How to Promote Your Freelance Writing Business Offline

How to Write an Effective Email Signature

How to Advertise Your Ebook on the Front Page of IdeaMarketers.com

coverP.S.: Want to write and sell ebooks online for a living? You can! Get the guide that shows you how to start a successful self-publishing career — start immediately.

P.P.S.: Want to start a successful career where you have the mobility to live and work where you please? Visit our freelance writing bookstore for a ton of opportunities (freelance writing and internet marketing) to get you started.

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