Freelance Writing Goals: Having Trouble Staying on Track with Yours This Year? Here’s How to Get Back on Course

January 31, 2012

I can’t believe that a month has passed already this year. It seems like just a couple of weeks ago that we were ringing in the New Year. Heck, I didn’t even take my holiday decorations down fully (I did it in spurts) until January 16, the day before I left to come back to Jamaica. Yeah, I’m back in paradise for a bit.

I don’t know about you, but I am severely behind on my freelance writing goals for this year. I mean SEVERELY!

Why I’m Off Track with My Freelance Writing Goals – How About You?

Systems, Systems, Systems: This is the main reason I’m off track. I’ve been putting some back-end systems and procedures in place that’s just taking more time than I’d planned. For example, I finally hired a part-time virtual assistant to handle certain tasks. He had to be trained. He’s in Jamaica; I’m in the states, so it made training a little hairy in the beginning.

Thank goodness he’s a smart kid who catches on quick, or it could have been a lot worse!

Hiring a VA Tip: Don’t underestimate the time it takes to train someone to do stuff YOUR way. I don’t care how smart they are or how quickly they catch on, there will always be something you need to teach them. This usually has to do with tailoring tasks to fit your business, not that the task in and of itself is complicated.

This has been time well spent though because it’s increased the orders from one of my minisites by over 50%.

Unexpected Project: I set up my own article marketing directory. I hadn’t planned to do this, but it was clearly evident that it was something that I needed to do. So, I just took the bull by the horns and did it.

Fun: As previously mentioned, I’m back in Jamaica for a little while. Every time I come, the first couple of weeks or so I do more hanging out than working. I’m purposely taking more leisure time here this time because when I go back home, it’ll be a while before I come back.

I worked really hard last year getting those 50 ebooks published on Amazon. So I feel I deserve a little fun.

So those are my reasons for falling behind on my freelance writing career goals. What are yours?

freelance-writing-goals-2012-monthly-assessment

How to Get Back on Track with Your Freelance Writing Goals

I do have a plan to get back on track though. Following is how I’m going to tackle it.

Refocus: As I talk about in this post on how to keep your freelance writing goals, I fully realize that I’m off track. This is a big part of getting back on track, by the way. So when I get back home to the states – which will be very soon – I’m going to refocus. I don’t hang out nearly as much in the states as I do here in Jamaica, so this will be super easy. My work days will be 10 or 12 hours per day, instead of the 5-6 I’ve been putting in here in the Caribbean.

As an aside, the weather is PERFECT here in Jamaica this time of year. Warm, but not too hot with a nice ocean breeze; it makes it impossible to stay chained to a laptop all day! And I don’t even fight the urge not to.

Reorganize Goals: I have a lot of goals I want to accomplish this year. But as I’ve started working towards them, I’ve quickly come to realize that it’s going to be impossible to achieve them all. At least one is going to have to wait until next year. So I’m going to redo my goal list to be able to make the progress I need to make this year to reach my income goals.

Work Harder: As I said in the “Refocus” point above, my work days will almost double once I get back home. I’m quite frankly looking forward to it because I saw the progress I made last year. My income increased as a result, so I’m looking forward to building on this momentum, and I know it’s going to take hard work – which has never scared me. In fact, I enjoy it.

Do you have a plan of attack for getting back on track with your freelance writing goals? Share in the comments section below.

Yuwanda
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P.S.: Get the freelance writing opportunity that allowed me to be financially secure enough to travel, live abroad, get out of debt and really “live the freelance life!”

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.

Ebook Theft: 12 Things You Can Do to Stop Someone from Copying and Selling Your Ebook

January 27, 2012

I’ve been writing and selling ebooks online since 2004. Since then, it’s become a lot more popular, especially since Amazon makes self-publishing so easy now. Of course, any time an industry matures, the bad apples come out and start lying, stealing and cheating to get their slice of the pie. Here, I’m talking about ebook theft.

What prompted this post was an email I received from a fellow ebook writer. He wrote:

I am done writing my first ebook. I was trying to decide whether to keep it as an EBook or a hard copy printed on demand? Is there any way to avoid people duplicating your downloadable book? Thanks.

Ebook Security: How to Stop Someone from Stealing Your Ebook and Selling It As Their Own

Unfortunately, the short answer is, no, there’s no 100% fool-proof way to prevent someone from duplicating your downloadable ebook. Ebook piracy, copyright infringement, content theft, etc. is alive and well – and it’s never going to disappear.

So my overall advice is to just accept that ebook theft is going to happen. Now, I’m not saying be complacent about it. To that end, following are some ebook security measures you can take to protect your works.

1. Secure Your File: As in, when you turn your Word file into a pdf file, before uploading, make it a secured file. I use this free pdf software for my ebooks. It gives you several options when you secure a file. For example, you can restrict printing, copying, screen readers, modifications, etc.

When I secure my ebook pdf files, I always select Restrict Copying and Restrict Modification, as indicated in the graphic below. This simple form of ebook protection can really stop a lot of theft.

2. Name Your File Correctly: This advice is for those who don’t use a digital download provider like e-Junkie.com.

To prevent those who haven’t purchased your ebook from stealing it is to give your file a weird name. For example, take my ebook, “How to Write an Ebook in 3 Days, Market It & Start Getting Sales within a Week.” I wouldn’t name this file something like www.inkwelleditorial.com/write-ebook-in-3-days and upload it to my site to sell because that’s just too easy for someone to guess. If they guessed correctly, they could find the file by doing a simple Google search.

So, make the file name hard to guess. Use the same guidelines you’d use when creating a password for your online banking, for example (make it long, use letters and numbers, use uppercase and lower-case letters, use typographical symbols, etc.).

3. Use a Digital Service Provider: The easiest way to prevent theft from those who don’t want to buy your ebook is to use a digital service provider like e-Junkie. Not only does it increase ebook sales by offering instant delivery, it cuts down on piracy because it’s hosted in a secure environment.

4. Change Download Link Regularly: Again, this advice is for those who don’t use a service like e-Junkie. If you sell directly from your site, change the download link to your ebook file regularly, just as you would your banking or any other password.

This doesn’t prevent theft, but it certainly makes it harder. And, as thieves are just lazy slime anyway, most of them will slither on to the next victim.

5. Prevent File Sharing: I don’t advise this because it can hurt ebook sales, but you can prevent file sharing. For example, when you sell ebooks on Amazon, they offer you the option to prevent file sharing. I never select this – as I want users to share my ebooks. Why?

Because I publish a lot of them, so the more readers are introduced to my works, the better, in my opinion. That person who read the first one “for free” may double back and buy the next two or three.

6. Use Anti-Theft Ebook Software: There is some ebook encryption software out there. I haven’t used any of it yet, so can’t recommend any. But, if piracy becomes a real problem, I might do so in the future. So far, to my knowledge, I haven’t had anyone outright steal an entire ebook of mine, but I do know a couple of people it’s happened to.

FYI, in case you don’t know, following is an explanation of what ebook encryption software is:

eBook encryption involves information being converted into an algorithm so that it becomes unreadable unless the reader has the ability (software) to decrypt back into plain text which can be read by humans

7. Password Protect Your Ebook Files: This is so easy, and there’s software out there that will that helps you do it. These applications allow you to create a password for your download page. When a customer makes a purchase, you can either email them the password, or set it up so that they receive the password as an automatic part of the download process.

8. Do Periodic Checks: As in, troll the internet once a month or so to see if anyone has stolen and is selling your ebook(s).

I do this on a regular basis. It sickens me every time though because while I haven’t had an entire ebook stolen, I have had portions of one of my ebooks stolen (scroll down in this post to the heading, “Ebook Theft: How Someone Stole Not Only Portions of My Ebook, but My Professional Credentials as Well”).

The feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize that someone has swiped your hard work is hard to explain. You feel confusion, pity and rage all at once. This is why I hate trolling the web looking for my stuff; but, it’s a must.

9. Sue: The above led me to put an attorney on retainer to sue anyone I discover stealing my ebooks. See this monster post on copyright infringement, which covers your legal rights as a content producer, as well as the penalties thieves receive if successfully prosecuted.

10. Contact Web Hosting Provider and Domain Name Registration Company: When I had all my troubles with someone accusing me of copyright infringement back in October of 2010, I found out just how easy it is to have a website shut down. Unfortunately, I was on the wrong side that time, but I used the experience and have had several sites shut down for stealing my content since then.

11. Contact Payment Provider: If you found that someone has stolen your ebook and is selling it, you should also contact their payment processor. Many use the biggies like PayPal and AlertPay. Contact these companies and explain why you’re requesting that that they stop processing payments for that account holder.

I haven’t had to do this yet, but you can see how effective it can be if you have to.

12. Market Your Products: How can this stop ebook theft? It’s explained brilliantly why by internet entrepreneur Milana Leshinsky in the article, What to Do About Ebook Theft. She writes:

1) Promote yourself, other e-books, your services, your newsletter, and your web sites throughout the e-book. If you’re giving examples, try to use your own web sites and your own experiences to illustrate.

2) Always have at least one more product for sale as your back-end product. Mention it throughout your e-book and link to it where needed.

3) Be sure to offer an incentive to your readers (whether they come from you or your thieves) to join your mailing list. Give away a free report, a free e-book, a free newsletter, a free pen, etc. just to capture their e-mails. You will then be able to send them follow-up messages and special promotions.

4) Create more and more e-books of interest to the same audience. Since they can’t get more from the thief, they will get it from you!

5) Put a lot of personality in your e-book. It will make it harder for somebody else to steal and claim as their own creation. It will make you develop close relationships with your customers, and will make your e-book more interesting to the reader.

In my own e-book development, I try to combine all of the above factors – prevention, pursuing, and promotion.

This article offers a lot of good info on how to stop ebook theft by the way. Even though it was written a decade ago as of this writing, it just goes to show how new self-publishing as an industry is, and how ebook authors have to be vigilant to protect their works.

Why Isn’t Copyrighting on This List?

If you’re wondering why I didn’t talk about copyrighting your ebook, it’s because once you create the work, you own it; in essence, it is already copyrighted, as explained in the article, How to Copyright Your eBook or Self Published Book, which states:

. . . you do not have to even register your work with the US copyright office to have copyright protection. The law clearly indicates that as soon as the work is finished, you own the copyright, and therefore, have copyright protection. So as soon as you are done with your self published book or eBook, you automatically have copyright protection.

This article also explains how to copyright an ebook “officially” if you’re interested in doing so.

Self-Publishing Success: The Bottom Line on Protecting Ebooks from Thieves

Even if you only use a few of these tips, you will significantly decrease the chance of your ebook being stolen.

The reason is simple – thieves are lazy. Many won’t put any more effort into stealing your content than they have to. For example, most aren’t going to duplicate your ebook by typing it if that’s the only way they can get it. That’s why it’s prudent to do simple things like restrict modification of your ebook files.

I hope this info helps and that you never have your ebook stolen, cuz boy, that just ain’t no fun!

Yuwanda
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P.S.: Take Action If Someone Steals Your Ebook: This ebook explains exactly what a copyright violation notice is and what you can do if this happens to you (here’s hoping that it never does).

Niche Marketing Advice: How to Find Hundreds of Prospects to Contact for Freelance Writing Jobs in a Specific Niche

January 24, 2012

Recently, I received the following question from a follower on Twitter:

@PenStar_words asked in a two-part tweet:

@InkwellEditor Hi Yuwanda. Is there a resource on your site that covers email marketing aimed at specific sectors?

@InkwellEditor For instance in my case that would be online galleries as opposed to generalised SEO companies.

I responded:

@PenStar_words Penny, sorry 4 the delay in answering ur Q “Is there a resource on my site that covers email mktng aimed at specific niches?”

@PenStar_words Not that I can think of. But think org’s when targeting niches, eg the Bar Association for Lawyers, the AMA for Doctors, etc.

She responded with a follow-up question, ie:

@InkwellEditor In terms of contacting orgs and asking to be added to their directories for example?

I responded:

@PenStar_words No; in terms of mining their databases 4 contacts. You may have to pay to get access, but lots of info can be found online.

Find a Niche Market: Where the Bulk of the Contacts are in Niche Markets

I wanted to expand upon this without the 140-character limitation of Twitter because it’s an excellent question about niche marketing, of which I’m a great advocate, as you know if you read this blog regularly.

One of the best ways to find contacts in niche markets is to look to industry organizations. Following are a few reasons why:

(i) You can find a lot of them all in one place;

(ii) You can build your niche marketing database quickly; and

(iii) It cuts down on your research time.

So, for example, if I wanted to target lawyers, one of the obvious places to start is the American Bar Association. All lawyers must belong to it, so it’s where you’re going to find them.

Many organizations like this have membership directories that lists all of their members. Now, getting access to these databases can be expensive.

Niche Marketing Strategy: 2 Ways to Gain Access to Membership Directories “for Free”

One way I’ve found to get around paying to access member contact information is to do a search for the organization’s name along with something like “proud member of. For example, continuing to use our example of attorneys, I did a Google search for the phrase “proud member of the American Bar Association.” Three hundred and fifty thousand (350,000) results were returned (see graphic just below).

Start clicking. You should be able to find at least a few hundred contacts using this method. And, while it can be time consuming, it’s worth the effort because you’re building your own in-house database.

The other method I use to find information without paying to access a membership’s database is to use social media.

How to Use Social Media in Your Niche Marketing Efforts

This is really simple. Once you find out what the main organizations are for a specific niche, find their social media accounts (eg, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). A lot of their members will be followers.

Again, it will be time-consuming going through the, for example, Twitter streams of large organizations like the American Bar Association, but remember, this is a long-term investment in your freelance business.

FYI, at the time of this writing, the American Bar Association has over 7,000 followers on Twitter. You should have no problem mining a few hundred contacts from it.

How to Grow Your Niche Marketing Database So That Writing Jobs Will Continually Flow In

FYI, all contacts you find should be entered into some type of database so that you can contact them over and over again on a pre-determined schedule. Over time, if you consistently research and add contacts to your database, you may have a couple of thousand in it.

If you start marketing to them consistently, you will find that you’ll need to add fewer and fewer contacts because just staying in touch with those you have will keep you busy enough with writing work.

Word of Caution: No matter how busy you get, never stop adding fresh contacts to your database. When you first start out, you’ll spend a lot of time doing this. And, this is as it should be. Your database is the foundation of your freelance writing business, so never regret the time you invest in building it.

Over time, you’ll craft messages geared specifically for them, start asking for referrals and testimonials from them, offer them special deals and discounts, etc. In short, they’ll become your friends. So cultivate this list with care and never compromise it (eg, sell, spam, ignore).

Niche Marketing Advice for Freelance Writers: Conclusion

My sister tells me that I’m blessed with the mind of a marketer because I seem to come up with ways to market that others don’t think of.

I don’t do anything other than think logically and systematically. Basically, I figure out who I want to target, then think of where they’re likely to be. After this, it’s just a matter of going to those places and digging up info I want. The internet makes this super easy.

FYI, in How to Find Unpublished Freelance Writing Jobs, I discuss the 7 ways I’ve used to find freelance writing jobs that most don’t think of. And, all I did was apply the logic just above.

Hope this insight helps you with your niche marketing efforts.

Your Thoughts on Niche Marketing

Are you a fan of of this form of marketing? How do you find niche prospects to market to? Please share in the comments section below.

Yuwanda
Find this post informative? Please RT It and Follow Inkwell Editorial on Twitter.
cover-med Unsolicited Testimonial

Yuwanda,

I just purchased your ebook on 7 ways to market your freelance writing business. I’m only on page 19 – the second idea – and I must say that my writing business will never be the same again! (emphasis added) After reading only 2 of the 7 ideas you mention, I can’t believe I didn’t think of these before! Nobody mentions them in freelance writing discussions, and it’s no wonder that so many are hurting for clients. I am truly blown away!

Thank you for revolutionizing my business with this information.

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.

How to Become a Freelance Writer: Starting from Scratch

January 17, 2012

This time of year, many are starting new things, eg, diets, exercise programs, quitting smoking . . . and starting businesses. That’s why I thought now would be a perfect time to go over what you need to do to start a home-based, freelance writing business.

As an aside, I was watching the Suze Orman show a few nights ago. It was around 1 in the morning and I was sleepily thumbing through the channels. I perked right up when I ran across her show (I love personal finance shows!). I managed to catch the last 15 minutes or so, just in time to hear her say that, in her opinion, the economy is not going to be adding jobs in record numbers any time soon. She said that for Americans to get back on their feet, they should look at starting some type of low-cost business.

Her exact words were:

if you are not employed, start looking to become an entrepreneur. i don’t care if that means a dog walker, give manicures, do anything like that. look into what you can do on your own without requiring a lot of capital, but for you to be able to pay the bills.

Freelancing writing fits this bill perfectly!

So if you’re new here – welcome. If you’ve been wanting to start a career as a freelance writer – whether it’s part-time or full-time — following is what, in my opinion (and considerable experience), you need to do.

How to Become a Freelance Writer in 7 Simple Steps

I. Select a Niche: I’ve discussed ad nauseam on this site why I believe freelance writers should specialize. The most important reason though, especially for newbies, is that you’ll land jobs quicker.

Read this post on why choosing a niche is so important as a freelance writer.

II. Decide Service Offerings: The best piece of advice I can give here is to start slow, especially if you’re still working a job. For example, when I first started out as an SEO writer I just offered SEO articles. As clients began to request more things (eg, blog posts, press releases, social media), I added those services – when I felt comfortable and when I knew I could afford to hire help.

It’s easy in certain sectors to get busy quickly as a freelance writer. Even writing a few articles a day can be hard because it’s not JUST the writing, it’s the research, the back and forth with the client, the proofreading, the editing, etc.

So start slow – with one or two services you’re comfortable with. You can always add on services as you grow (and can afford to hire help).

III. Create 3-5 Writing Samples: Once you select your niche, you need writing samples. They don’t have to be for “real” clients.

Just sit down and write samples for each type of service you plan to provide. For example, if you’re going to offer press releases, cases studies and general web articles, write one or two of each type – in your niche —to put on your website. Make sure they’re letter perfect.

Create perfect writing samples every time: Get the ebook Freelance Writing Samples: 5 Elements Samples that Land Freelance Writing Jobs Must Have.

IV. Set Your Freelance Writing Rates: This is probably the hardest part of starting a freelance writing career because rates are all over the place. Following is a series of posts I’ve written about it.

Posts on How to Set Your Freelance Writing Rates

Freelance Writing Rates: What to Charge for Proofreading, Copyediting, Writing, Etc.

Freelance Writing Rates: And the Debate Rages On . . .

Advice for Freelance SEO Writers: How to Negotiate Rates When Clients Want You to Go Lower with the Promise of More Work

SEO Writing Rates: How to Determine What to Charge as an SEO Copywriter

How to Set Freelance Writing Rates for Online Writing Jobs: A Definitive Guide for Setting (and Getting) the Rates You Deserve

5 Types of Freelance Writing Rates (from About.com)

The best advice I can give is to research your niche to find out what the highs and lows are, figure out what you personally need to make to pay your bills, then set your rates accordingly.

Many will probably accuse you of being too cheap (newbies tend to go lower than higher). Don’t worry about this. If the rate feels right to you, go with it. Then, adjust accordingly as you settle into being a freelance writer. You’ll learn very quickly if you’re working for peanuts and need to raise your rates.

V. Lay Out a Simple Marketing Strategy: If you don’t have any money, there are a plethora of ways to find clients, eg, social media, email marketing, free article distribution, cold calling, etc. Only you can decide what works for you.

But, the most important thing to keep in mind is to systemize your marketing so that it becomes automatic. For example, if you’re going to use email marketing, reach out to a certain number of contacts each day; if you’re going to use article marketing, write and distribute a certain number of articles per week/month; etc.

Use marketing strategies you can afford to repeat because consistency is what will bring in jobs. If you send out 10 emails and wait two weeks to send out 10 more, it’s going to be slow going building a steady client base. It’s better to send out 2 emails per day, than 10 in one day once per week. And the reason is, the less frequently you market, the greater your chance of NOT marketing on a consistent basis. But, if you send out just a few emails per day, you increase your chance of making it a “daily habit.”

And, the more “touches” you send out, the greater your chance of landing clients.

See the logic?

Good!

One final thing about this step — whatever your marketing plan is, write it down, put it in a place where you can see/consult it every day — and follow it.

VI. Get a Website/Blog: Once you’ve decided on a niche, wrote your writing samples, and decided on your service offerings and rates, then it’s time to pull it all together in one place – on your freelance writing website!

And, it doesn’t have to be fancy. All you have to do is see my SEO writing company’s website for proof of this. I did this basic site myself. This one, InkwellEditorial.com, was designed by professionals. Clear difference. But, my SEO writing company’s site has worked well since 2008. Sure, I plan to have it redone someday. But, if I’d waited to get what I really wanted, I probably never would have gotten started as an SEO writer.

So, do a simple site yourself, or hire someone to do one for you. Affordable web designers can be found all over on sites like Craigslist and backpage. Place an ad, look at some portfolios of web designers and when you like what you see, hire them to do a simple freelance writing website for you.

VII. Just Get Started Already! Many who do all the above still fail to pull the trigger. They will hem, haw, procrastinate, find other stuff they “need” to do, etc. Once you’ve done the above, believe me, you’re more than ready to start your freelance writing career.

There will always, always, always be something else that you could do, should do and/or want to do before you start.

Don’t!

It can wait. All this is is fear at work. And, fear in this situation mostly stems from the unknown, which brings me to the last thing you need to do to start your freelance writing career . . .

Related Post: How to Become a Freelance Writer in 24 Hours or Less for $0 (forgive the design; this was our old site and I haven’t migrated all the pages over yet).

One More Thing . . . Make Time to Study: As in, to learn this profession. This can be as little as 15 or 20 minutes per day and it doesn’t have to cost a dime (although investing in classes, books and websites by reputable providers is never a waste of time).

Find the blog/website of a few successful freelance writers that appeal to you. Many of them dispense a ton of free information about how to freelance as a writer, eg, how to set your freelance writing rates, what to put on your website, how to deal with non-paying clients, web hosting companies, etc.

The beautiful thing about this type of freelance business is that you can always find an answer to your question because there’s a ton of it freely given by those who’ve been at this for a looonnnng time.

Hope this info helps, and good luck starting your freelance writing career.

Did I Miss Anything?

Feel free to share your advice for those who want to learn how to become a freelance writer in the comments section below.

Article Marketing: Why I’m Starting My Own Article Directory . . . and You Should Too

January 11, 2012

If you’re a regular reader of this site, you know that I’m an avid article marketer, which is just a form of content marketing. I’ve used article marketing since 2004 to promote various small businesses and side ventures I’ve owned; to promote Inkwell Editorial’s ebooks; and in my affiliate marketing efforts.

Before I explain why I decided to start my own article directory (and why you might want to as well), let’s do a quick rundown of why this form of marketing is so effective.

Why I Love Article Marketing: 3 Reasons

I love this form of marketing because (I) it’s free; (ii) it drives traffic (and sales) for years; and (iii) it gives me a chance to brand myself/my businesses.

How Article Marketing Works to Drive Traffic

It’s really quite simple. When you write informative articles and submit them to article directories like IdeaMarketers.com, etc., bloggers, newsletter publishers and website owners, etc. pick them up and publish them on their sites, in their newsletters, on their blogs, etc. They include links backs to your website/blog/online presence, which you include in your resource box when you write your articles.

Customers click through from this and find you/your website. Bang – you’ve generated a lead! Or, better yet – made a sale. It really is just this simple.

Learn all you need to know about how to make money online via article marketing.

Why Article Marketing Is One of the Best Ways to Make More Money Online

In my opinion, while all of the above reasons are important for on- and offline entrepreneurs, branding is the most important. Why? Because this is what allows you to start building relationships with customers. Relationships lead to sales – repeat sales – which are the best kind.

What Is Branding?

Branding is simply how you want your business to be perceived – what you’re known for. It’s defined by Wikipedia this way:

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a “Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. . . . The word branding began simply as a way to tell one person’s cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. The word brand has continued to evolve to encompass identity — it affects the personality of a product, company or service. It is defined by a perception, good or bad, that your customers or prospects have about you.

Now that you hopefully see how beneficial article marketing can be, let me spell out why I’m starting my own article directory – and why you should too.

Why I Decided to Start My Own Article Directory

Tired of Losing Control of My Content, How It’s Distributed, Etc.

In the post, Opportunities in Freelance Writing Fading Fast for eHow Writers — Many Have Lost Their Sole Source of Income (How to Prevent This from Happening to You), we discussed how many writers who wrote for eHow (aka Demand Media) lost major portions of their income after the site changed its content strategy model due to being hit hard by Google’s Panda algorithmic update.

In the post, Freelance Writers: How Submitting Content for FREE to Write-for-Pay Sites Can Make You Money — for Years, we went over how HubPages had made changes because of Panda too.

Also two other sites I have regularly submitted content to over the years have made changes recently — AssociatedContent.com (AC) and EzineArticles.com.

I haven’t submitted content to EzineArticles since last summer because it’s more difficult than it used to be to get an article accepted. I stopped submitting to AC because they started rejecting content for being “too promotional”; articles that they had readily accepted before.

I point all this out to say, I’m tired of losing control over my content, how it’s written and how it’s distributed (or rather, how it’s NOT distributed).

I was talking to friend of mine recently about this one day. She’s an avid article marketer as well. She said, “I’m so sick of these sites changing their rules; I’m going to take control of my content. I’m starting my own article directory.”

I immediately thought this was an excellent idea, for a few reasons.

Article Marketing: 3 Reasons to Start Your Own Article Directory

(i) I control how and what I write: Many article directories have guidelines about what you can write, how many links you can have, how long your article has to be, what can go in your resource box, etc.

By creating my own article directory, I can create my own rules, ie, I can put in as many links as I want, decide the reprint terms, how long my articles can be, not have to worry about being “too promotional,” etc.

(ii) Stop writing for free: Many article directories have so many rules that it makes it difficult to get an article accepted. So in essence, you wind up revising to the point where you’re basically watering down what you really want to say and not promoting your product/service at all.

Many sites want original content that isn’t promotional. And this is fine – if they’re willing to pay for it. But even sites where you submit for free just to get the exposure (eg, AC) have become so stringent in their guidelines that it’s very difficult to get an article accepted that benefits you, the writer. In my mind, what this amounts to is writing for free.

Now mind you — I don’t mind giving content away. But, I do so to promote my products and services also – not JUST to add value to the site I submit to.

(iii) Monetize my own content: The final reason I decided to create my own article directory is that I can monetize my own content. Now, while I don’t expect to earn thousands of dollars per month, ANYTHING I earn from content I’m giving away for free (and others are monetizing anyway) is gravy.

See the graphic below. The highlighted portions are ads that appear beside my content. In this case, it’s an article on AssociatedContent.com. Yahoo!, which recently bought AC, earns money from these ads.

I plan to monetize my article directory with Google ads. Again, I don’t expect to earn much – especially at first. But, over time it could grow. I’ve written and given away well over 1,000 pieces of content since 2004, when I started heavily investing in article marketing. Who knows how much I could add up over time.

Starting an Article Directory: Conclusion

The bottom line is, as a content creator – in my opinion – it’s becoming vitally important to seize control over your content in as many ways as possible.

While I can’t control who publishes my articles when I release them via an article distribution service like Content Crooner, I can control the message I want to get out. And that’s exactly what creating my own article directory allows me to do, which makes my article marketing efforts that much more effective.

Reprint My Articles – Free

From now on, all articles I write for article marketing purposes will be posted on YuwandaBlack.com, with reprint rights listed. As I’m stepping up my article marketing efforts this year, feel free to check the site often for new content, which will cover ebook publishing, freelance writing, SEO writing, search engine optimization, blogging, affiliate and internet marketing, article marketing, etc.

Your Thoughts on Article Marketing

Have you tried article marketing? Have you become frustrated with submission guidelines? Is starting your own article directory something you can see yourself doing – if not now, in the future? Please share in the comments section below.

Yuwanda
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P.S.: You can pretty easily earn 4 figures per month online using this one free marketing method. Learn everything you need to know about article marketing.

The One Thing that Can Keep You from Achieving Your Freelance Writing Goals in 2012

January 3, 2012

Editor Note: FYI, the price of the SEO writing ebook will be increased next Monday, the 9th.

Have You Already Broken Your New Year’s Resolutions Concerning Your Freelance Writing Goals?

If you made freelance writing goals for this year, you’re probably raring to go. And that’s normal – most of us who set goals are excited at the beginning of the journey. But, statistics have proven that setting goals and achieving them are two separate things. Proof?

Today, in an interactive poll on The Guardian, upwards of 20 percent of respondents (18% to be exact when I took the poll) said that they’d already broken their 2012 New Year’s Resolutions – and it’s only three days into the New Year!

Have You Broken Your New Year's Resolution Yet? On the same site, in the article New year’s resolutions doomed to failure, say psychologists, a study conducted by psychologists found that “Less than a quarter of those asked . . . had managed to stick to their resolutions.”

Setting and Achieving Freelance Writing Goals: Can You Relate to This Story?

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that I recently achieved a goal of publishing 50 ebooks on Amazon in one year. In the last few years, I’ve gotten much better at achieving goals. In fact, I’ve achieved almost every one I’ve set since 2007.

But I used to be not so good at it, and one of the main things that kept me from achieving goals I set was that I’d “fall off the wagon.” What I mean by this is, I’d deviate from the plan I set – and I usually never found my way back to it.

To use an example, I’m a pretty healthy eater for the most part. But around the holidays, I purposely eat whatever I want. I’m from the south, and the traditional holiday meal is not the healthiest, but it’s something I look forward to every year BECAUSE I don’t eat that way the rest of the year. What is my family’s traditional holiday meal?

Well . . . there’s macaroni and cheese, cornbread stuffing, turkey, ham, collard greens, potato salad, corn bread, red velvet cake, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet potato pie and homemade cookies. This is what I have every year at Christmas and Thanksgiving – and the leftovers can last for up to a full week after.

I look so forward to this every year – but the caloric intake is huge. It’s always a struggle to leave this type of gorging behind (did I mention how much I love this menu!), and get back to my normal eating habits (salads, chicken, tuna, etc.) and on my normal workout routine.

My point in telling you this is that I have to consciously climb back on the “good eating/workout” wagon. It would be so easy to continue with the unhealthy eating habits I allow myself to indulge in during the holidays, but I know that if I did, I’d be headed down a dangerous health road – obesity, diabetes, etc.

RECOGNIZING that I fall off the good-eating wagon – even though it’s intentional – helps me to get back on track. Studies have shown that this is key. Proof?

Why 75% Who Set Goals Fail at Them

It’s explained best in the article, Why We Make New Year Resolutions and Fail: A Half-Assed Attempt at Psychology to Understand What’s Really Behind This Dumb-Ass Ritual. The psychologist writes:

. . . resolutions are a process. . . . I guess that’s why 75% fail at it is because they do not understand that. You have to decide to commit to that change, and you have to form a plan around it, just like all the other routines we do in life. . . . The moment you step out of that routine, the moment you let go of a little bit of that control, you are presented with an opportunity to do things differently. You make the choice.

So, the number one thing that can keep you from achieving your freelance writing goals this year is understanding – and accepting – that it’s a process and you’re going to falter. But, you must decide to get back on track. And you may have to decide hundreds of times.

It’s like a 12-step program that those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction participate in – you recommit to sobriety every day. That’s why those programs teach participants to take one day at a time.

Same thing with achieving your freelance writing goals – you work towards them one day at a time. That way, if you falter, you can always recommit to it the next day (or minute or hour). You don’t have to fall off the wagon and stay there. You can choose to start over again at any time. I hope you understand how critical this insight is.

6 Things You Can Do to Reach Your Freelance Writing Goals This Year

With the above being said, following is how I stay on track; how I’ve managed to reach most of the business (freelance writing) goals I’ve set since 2007.

I. Make a Public Declaration: When I made my freelance writing goals in 2010 for 2011, I didn’t keep it to myself. I declared the goal publicly (on my website, in my newsletter and via social media). This helped keep my feet the fire.

It also helped to keep me on track because when I started to get behind, I started a blog detailing my ebook writing “failure.” This got me back on track – and ultimately helped me to succeed.

II. Time-Block Days: Time-blocking your days helps you to see – in black and white – what you should be doing every minute of every work day. When I’m mindlessly surfing the net reading about the latest happenings in Kim Kardashian’s life, I’m fully aware that that’s what I’m doing.

The only way to break bad habits is to become aware of them. That’s not to say that you will automatically stop doing the things that cause you to waste time (eg, surfing the net, or putting in laundry, or checking email); it simply means that you can catch yourself, and put a time limit on your behavior so you can more readily get back to what you’re supposed to be doing.

Learn more about the effectiveness of time blocking and how to do it.

III. Have a Life Plan: You have a much better chance of staying on course if you know exactly where you want to be a year from now, three years from now, five years from now, etc. Your freelance writing goals list is just a year at a time, time-blocked schedule of getting where you want to be in life. This is why it’s extremely important to know where “that” is.

Learn more about why having a life plan is important to achieving goals – and when to turn down/take advantage of opportunities that come your way.

IV. Refocus: When you get off track – and it happens to everyone – refocus. Just because you lose focus for a minute is no reason to stay unfocused for weeks or months or . . . years. You’re human, it happens – but you can choose to refocus at any moment.

V. Visualize: I ran across a quote that I tweeted a few months ago that went something like, “I don’t focus on the work to be done; I focus on the end result.” That sooooo reasonated with me.

I have a picture in my head (and a feeling in my heart) of what it’s going look and feel like when I start earning 5 figures a month from just my ebooks. I think about how much more free time I’ll have; the things I won’t have to do anymore; the things I can do more of; what it will mean for my day-to-day existence; how/when/why I wake up and go to bed; etc.

In short, I keep a visual of what I’m working towards front and center.

VI. Work Hard: For me, this is the easiest part of achieving any goal.

There were so many times that I wanted to give up last year when I was trying to publish those 50 ebooks on Amazon. But I thought about my enslaved ancestors and how hard they had to work – for no pay; in deplorable conditions, for their entire lives.

And, I got back to work.

How do you stay focused on your freelance writing goals? What are some of the challenges you face? Please share in the comments section below.

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