Would You Risk Losing 90% of Your Blog’s Visitors by Switching to a Paid instead of a Free Model? I Would and Here’s Why
July 20, 2010
Yesterday on Twitter, I had an interesting exchange with a fellow tweeter. She’d tweeted a link about the Times losing almost 60% of its readership when online readers were asked to sign up/register on the site in order to access material.
Here’s our Twitter Exchange
@InkwellEditor (me) Tweeted: RT @SHurleyHall RT @bigbrightbulb http://is.gd/dymQc Times loses 2/3 of readers w/pay model. [IMO this is the wave of the future; bout time]
@bigbrightbulb Tweeted: The thing is, if they care more about earnings than reach, losing 60%+ of their readership may be just fine… @SHurleyHall @InkwellEditor
@InkwellEditor Tweeted: @bigbrightbulb Writers will benefit from this & while readership may decline periodically, it’ll return more targeted prospcts 2 advertisers
@bigbrightbulb Tweeted: Wise words! RT @InkwellEditor: Writers will benefit…and while readership may decline…it’ll return more targeted prospects 2 advertisers
I read an update today that said the Times has lost 90% of its internet readership. And you know what, I STILL think this is a good business move on their part. Following is why.
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Note: As of April 6, you must be a subscriber to read new content on InkwellEditorial.com and its sister site on SEO writing, SeoWritingJobs.com. New content includes all posts written after 4/6/2010 (4/7/2010 on SeoWritingJobs.com).
To subscribe, simply look for the subscriber box to the top right-hand side of the page. There’s one on every page of the site.
Of course, your contact information is protected — it is never sold, rented, leased or compromised in any way. It is used solely to send you information from InkwellEditorial.com (and its sister site, SeoWritingJobs.com) about freelance writing.
Why Subscribe? Get Real, First-Hand Advice from All Types of Freelance Writers
Week in and week out here, you get first-hand “freelance writing stories from the trenches.” I routinely relay my freelance writing experiences — everything from setting rates, to how to market, to knowing when to say no to a project. Also, I answer questions – in great detail (no fluff here!) — from other freelancers writers (new and experienced).
Recent posts you may have missed by not being a subscriber include:
Why I Turned Down a $2,000 – $3,000 Freelance Writing Job That Could Have Led to Even More Work and
How to Land More Clients by Making Your SEO Writing Stand Out from Others.
I look forward to having you as a subscriber.
Yuwanda
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Copyright © 2010: All material on this site is copyright protected and cannot be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without my written consent (linking to is fine).
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Guest Posts Wanted: Submission Guidelines
June 14, 2010
If you’d like to submit a guest post, I’d love to share what you have to say with this site’s readers.
Why Submit a Guest Post to InkwellEditorial.com
Traffic: Site gets over 3,200 visitors/day (almost 100,000 per month). [Source: Statbrain.com]
Alexa Rank: In U.S., breaks the Top 100,000 (click graphic to see larger image).
Top Blog Appearance: Inkwell Editorial has appeared on some top blogs in the freelance writing niche, eg, CopyBlogger.com, FreelanceSwitch.com and FreelanceWritingGigs.com, to name a few.
Social Media: Inkwell Editorial has over 1,800 Twitter subscribers.
Noted Industry Site: Inkwell Editorial has been online since 1999. It is well-known in freelance writing circles. If you strive to reach this niche, it’s a good place to appear.
Note: All stats current as of June 2010.
Guest Posting Guidelines for Inkwell Editorial
Following are a few simple guidelines for submitting. I look forward to reading your submissions.
a) Must be pertinent to the freelance writing niche: This is broad (eg, blogging, white papers, SEO writing, case studies, article marketing, ebooks, etc.) so you shouldn’t have a problem writing a relevant post.
b) First-hand: What I mean is, don’t submit generic content that even a little research on the web will reveal. If you read through this site, you’ll see that the vast majority of it is from my first-hand experience. That’s what I’m looking for. And, it doesn’t have to be a “success story.”
Recounting your failures — and how you overcame them / are working to overcome them – is just as insightful (and a lot of times a heck of a lot more interesting).
c) Well written: Please do the minimum like running a spell check and using good grammar.
d) No overt promotion: Of course, you’ll get a three to four-line byline with a link to your site/blog, so don’t feel like you have to overpromote/overlink in your post.
e) Original content: Your post can’t have been published any place else. I only publish original material here. I don’t even submit my own posts to other places, ie, article directories like I used to.
f) Guest Post Length: 400 -1,200 words. Why at least 400 words? Because I’ve found that it’s hard to really get an insightful point across (teach a lesson) in articles shorter than this.
HTML Coding
The only tags allowed are Bold, Ital, Underline and Header Tags (eg, H2 tags). You should also include links (ie, use the <a href> tag). Don’t submit photos or any other docs with your content. Submissions that include these will automatically be deleted.
File Submission
Submit as .txt or MS Word doc.
How to Submit Your Guest Post
Send to info*at*InkwellEditorial.com. Put “Guest Post Submission” in the subject line.
That’s it; pretty standard stuff.
FYI, if I decide to use your submission, I’ll post it first and then send you the link to it. I’ll try to respond to all who submit, but that depends on how many I receive. If you haven’t heard anything after a couple of weeks, feel free to send me a touchbase email (info{at}InkwellEditorial.com]. But I’m extremely busy, so please be patient.
Good luck,
Yuwanda
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On Blogging: What Exactly Makes a Blog Different from a Website?
May 20, 2010
Until I researched this a couple of years ago, it befuddled me. Once I learned the difference though, it changed the way I saw my blog, as opposed to my website – and how I marketed them.
So, enjoy today’s ”Throwback Thursday” post, which explains the difference between a website and a blog.
On a personal note, I’m trying to finish up early so I can get to the salon to get my hair braided. Lord, lord, can’t even fathom going to the beach without having some braids up in my head. My hair requires way, way too much upkeep without them!
Get Advice to Help You Transition Successfully to a New Career
Note: As of April 6, you must be a subscriber to read new content on InkwellEditorial.com and its sister site on SEO writing, SeoWritingJobs.com. New content includes all posts written after 4/6/2010 (4/7/2010 on SeoWritingJobs.com).
To subscribe, simply look for the subscriber box to the top right-hand side of the page. There’s one on every page of the site. Of course, your contact information is protected — it is never sold, rented, leased or compromised in any way.
Why Subscribe? Get Real, First-Hand Advice from All Types of Freelance Writers
You get first-hand “freelance writing stories from the trenches.” I routinely relay my freelance writing experiences — everything from setting rates, to how to market, to knowing when to say no to a project. Also, I answer questions – in great detail (no fluff here!) — from other freelancers writers. Recent posts you may have missed by not being a subscriber include:
Why I Turned Down a $2,000 – $3,000 Freelance Writing Job That Could Have Led to Even More Work; and
I look forward to having you as a subscriber.
Yuwanda
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Making Money Online: Just How Easy Is It to Make Money with Minisites – The Real Pros & Cons
May 7, 2010
Today’s Freelance Friday Tip is about minisites – as in should you go this route to make money online, or not? Every since I detailed how I make money with minisites, I’ve gotten a few queries about how to go about it.
Today’s tip walks you through the pros and cons of minisites. I agree with a log of what this web expert said about them.
As I mentioned in the post I linked to above, I decreased the number of mini sites I wanted to start. Why? Because no matter how much you read about it being one of those “easy, quick ways to make money online,” building them is not as hands off as much of what you’ll read on the web makes it seem.
Learn How to Get Money Quick – Or Not
If you don’t remember anything else from this Freelance Friday post remember, there is no such thing as easy ways to make money online. While there are simple procedures you can follow to make extra money from home (which is the goal of many starting out with minisites), it is not simple to make easy money online.
On the other hand, if you’re trying to figure out how to make money on the side, minisites are ideal because they contain many of the foundational facets of making money online – eg:
How to market for free online (eg, article marketing);
Website design (ie, minisite design);
Content creation;
How to make money blogging (many minisites are just simple blogs);
How to make money with Adsense;
How to track and mine data;
Etc.
With all of these lessons learned, if you decide to quit making minisites, you will have learned a great deal just by dabbling in this multi-faceted “making money on the internet” idea. So you can take these skills and apply them to other ways of making money online.
The Main Thing to Consider When Deciding Whether to Invest in Minisites
In my opinion, the number one thing to consider when trying to decide if you should start a “minisite empire” is . . .
Subscribe to find out not only the most important thing to consider when trying to decide whether to invest in minites, but how much time to invest in them — and why.
Get Advice to Help You Transition Successfully to a New Career
Note: As of April 6, you must be a subscriber to read new content on InkwellEditorial.com and its sister site on SEO writing, SeoWritingJobs.com. New content includes all posts written after 4/6/2010 (4/7/2010 on SeoWritingJobs.com).
To subscribe, simply look for the subscriber box to the top right-hand side of the page. There’s one on every page of the site. Of course, your contact information is protected — it is never sold, rented, leased or compromised in any way.
Why Subscribe? Get Real, First-Hand Advice from All Types of Freelance Writers
You get first-hand “freelance writing stories from the trenches.” I routinely relay my freelance writing experiences — everything from setting rates, to how to market, to knowing when to say no to a project. Also, I answer questions – in great detail (no fluff here!) — from other freelancers writers. Recent posts you may have missed by not being a subscriber include:
Why I Turned Down a $2,000 – $3,000 Freelance Writing Job That Could Have Led to Even More Work; and
I look forward to having you as a subscriber.
Have a good weekend!
Yuwanda
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P.P.S.: Want an easy, fast way to get started in affiliate marketing, making as much as $50, $100 or $150/day?
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Copyright © 2010: All material on this site is copyright protected and cannot be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without my written consent (linking to is fine).
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Freelance Writing Advice: How to Repurpose Your Content So You Increase Web Traffic & Sales – For Yourself & Clients
April 20, 2010
I don’t know about you, but I have hundreds, if not a couple of thousand, of pages of content that I’ve written over the years – articles, blog posts, marketing materials, ebook material, etc. Sometimes as I’m looking for a file on my hard drive, I’ll stumble across a document that contains stuff that I’d forgotten about.
On average, I write between 3,000 and 5,000 words a day – at a minimum. Some days I turn out 10,000 to 12,000 words. This is between client projects and my projects. That’s a lot of material.
Usually, once a freelance writer/web publisher publishes a piece of content, that’s it – they’re done with it. But as I do with my Throwback Thursdays posts, you can repurpose, and/or recycle if you will, content and get much more web traffic out of it – leading to increased traffic and increased sales.
One blog post or article can literally bring you double, triple, or quadruple the traffic you’d get if you just posted it to your website and forgot about it. To explain how I do it with one of my minisites to increase traffic and sales, I’ll walk you through, step by step.
How I Repurpose Content to Increase Website Traffic and Sales
Yesterday, I updated ForeclosureBusinessNews.com. The post was on Florida foreclosure law. As you’ll note, the post is long – over 1,100 words. And it’s meant to be, because it’s foundational content.
You must be a subscriber to read the rest of this post. Don’t worry, it’s free!
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Note: As of April 6, you must be a subscriber to read new content on InkwellEditorial.com and its sister site on SEO writing, SeoWritingJobs.com. New content includes all posts written after 4/6/2010 (4/7/2010 on SeoWritingJobs.com).
To subscribe, simply look for the subscriber box to the top right-hand side of the page. There’s one on every page of the site.
Of course, your contact information is protected — it is never sold, rented, leased or compromised in any way. It is used solely to send you information from InkwellEditorial.com (and its sister site, SeoWritingJobs.com) about freelance writing.
Why Subscribe? Get Real, First-Hand Advice from All Types of Freelance Writers
Week in and week out here, you get first-hand “freelance writing stories from the trenches.” I routinely relay my freelance writing experiences — everything from setting rates, to how to market, to knowing when to say no to a project. Also, I answer questions – in great detail (no fluff here!) — from other freelancers writers (new and experienced).
Recent posts you may have missed by not being a subscriber include:
Why I Turned Down a $2,000 – $3,000 Freelance Writing Job That Could Have Led to Even More Work and
How to Land More Clients by Making Your SEO Writing Stand Out from Others.
I look forward to having you as a subscriber.
SEO Copywriting Training — Class is Now OVER Half Full. The next SEO writing ecourse starts this coming Monday, the 26th. There are still 7 slots left, so even though the deadline to pay was yesterday, you can still sign up by paying the full price of the course before Monday.
What You’ll Learn in the SEO Writing Ecourse: 4 ways to make money online using your newly acquired SEO writing skills. Get full details on the SEO copywriting training this ecourse offers.
Here’s to a productive rest of the week!
Yuwanda
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Copyright © 2010: All material on this site is copyright protected and cannot be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without my written consent (linking to is fine).
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Blogging Tips: One Way to Breathe New Life Into Old Posts
April 8, 2010
Today is “Throwback Thursday” at Inkwell Editorial. What is this?
If you’re a regular reader, you know that I’ve been pumping out info for years — literally over a decade. But, I didn’t start blogging until 2005. I started on blogger and have over 500 posts there — 4+ years of material.
Freelance Writing Help: Breathing New Life Into Old Posts
From time to time I’ll get comments on the blog, which I have to go in and approve or reject. Usually, I wind up reading a few posts as I’m updating the comments and I find myself saying, “There’s a lot of relevant information here that’s buried.”
So that’s why I’m implementing “Throwback Thursdays.” It’s to bring you relevant info about freelancing you may have missed if you discovered the blog/website say, only a year or two ago.
A second reason is, it gets me on a schedule to finally migrate all of the pages still stuck in the old design and on the old blog into this site’s new design.
So enjoy today’s throwback post, which is Do You Make More Money as an Editorial Freelancer When You Specialize? It was written in Feb 2005, but is still relevant – as I talked about in a more recent post, Freelance Writing Job: One Secret to Becoming a Six Figure Writer (Dec 2009).
Note: As of April 6, you must be a subscriber to read new content on InkwellEditorial.com and its sister site on SEO writing, SeoWritingJobs.com. New content includes all posts written after 4/6/2010 (4/7/2010 on SeoWritingJobs.com).
How to Subscribe to Inkwell Editorial & SEO Writing Jobs
There’s a sign-up box on every page of InkwellEditorial.com — right-hand side of the page. Use this to subscribe to both sites (InkwellEditorial.com and SeoWritingJobs.com). When you subscribe, you immediately receive the most recent posts from both sites, as well as all previous posts.
Recent posts you may have missed by not being a subscriber include:
Why I Turned Down a $2,000 – $3,000 Freelance Writing Job That Could Have Led to Even More Work and
How to Land More Clients by Making Your SEO Writing Stand Out from Others.
I look forward to having you as a subscriber.
Enjoy today’s throwback post!
Yuwanda, Publisher
InkwellEditorial.com
SeoWritingJobs.com
Find this post informative? Follow Inkwell Editorial on Twitter.
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Get How to Make Money Placing Ads on Free Classified Ad Sites (ie, Backpage.com). If you want to make some easy money promoting affiliate products on free classified ad sites, this ebook is for you. I’ve personally sold tens of thousands of dollars of e-products (my own and affiliate products) doing this since January 2009.
Copyright © 2010: All material on this site is copyright protected and cannot be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without my written consent (linking to is fine).
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3 Ways to Drive Visitors to Your Blog & Increase Blog Traffic
August 31, 2009
Want to drive more visitors to your blog? Want to increase your blog traffic? One of the best ways to do this is to find out what your audience is thinking. But, how do you do that?
Following are three methods you can use to find out what your customers are thinking so you can increase your blog traffic.
1. Poll: With free online software offered by sites like CoolSurveys.com and PollDaddy.com, all you have to do to poll your readers is cut and paste a snippet of code into your site and you’re done.
Polling Tip: Don’t get carried away. Ask maybe one or two questions – tops. This will force you to really think about what area of your business you want/need to know more about. Hint, hint: the area that leads customers to take action (ie, purchase your product service).
2. Comments Section: The comments section of your blog will yield a lot of information. Have some posts garnered more comments than others? Was there a particular posts that generated more heat than others?
Even when your readers disagree with you (perhaps especially when), you should pay attention to them. Dig deep into negative feedback to see if you can find the kernel that can be turned to your marketing advantage.
For example, a reader visited my site from an article of mine posted to a social bookmarking site. The reader had some unkind words about the design of my site. While the comment rankled, I knew that the foundation of what they were saying was correct. A new design was something I’d been putting off for a while.
And, while it took another year to get around to redesigning my site, that comment stuck with me because it was, in essence true.
3. Reader Feedback: Are your readers constantly asking you for things you don’t have? Then maybe it’s time you provide it.
How One Website Owner Listened to Reader Feedback & Literally Had a List of Customers Anxiously Waiting to Buyer Her New Ebook — Before She Ever Wrote It!
A Prime Example: A friend of mine who is a realtor started a very successful side business. Realtors and professionals from other states were emailing and calling her practically every other day wanting to know how to start the same kind of business in their state.
Instead of trying to dispense information to each one individually and/or simply not responding, I advised her to write an ebook about it and sell it on her site. (The business included a lot detail that couldn’t be dispensed in a 2-minute or even a 2-hour phone conversation).
She now has a waiting list of people who are lining up to buy it once she’s done. She plans to sell it for between $39.95 and $49.95. I advised her to charge much more because what’s she’s really selling is a “business in a box” to a niche market (realtors) who are looking for other ways to make money in an economy that is slumping. I think this deserves a premium. But, that’s her call.
My point here is, if you go back over three months to a year of reader feedback – whether it was a question, a congratulations or a not-so-nice comment, you will get a handle on what your readers want more of. Then, all you have to do is figure out how to give it to them.
If you take the time to find out what your customers want, driving more traffic to your blog is not difficult.
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Creating a Blog: How to Publish a Profitable, Popular Freelance Writing Blog
September 14, 2008
An In-depth Look at 8 Components Every Freelance Writing Blog
Needs to Make Money & Build a Large Subscriber List
An E-Book Excerpt
[See all Inkwell Editorial Work-from-Home Titles Here]
If you’re a freelance writer who already has a blog or is thinking about starting one, this 24-page ebook covers 8 components that will make it profitable and popular.
Did you know? 51% of Bloggers Make $0 from Their Blogs!
That’s right – nothing! Less than 20% earn $1,000. Not even shooting for a grand? How about this? Only 14% earn even $200-$500/month. Read more on how much bloggers make. I cover 8 blog components that deal with such particulars as:
Freelance Writer Blog Questions This Ebook Answers
Should You Register Your Own Domain Name, Or Not (and why the wrong decision could cost you for years to come) (Found in Blog Success Component #1)
Which Blogging Platform to Use
The #1 tool to Use to Write Traffic-Generating Posts (Blog Success Component #7)
The Passive Way to Drive Massive Traffic to Any Freelance Writing Blog (Blog Success Component #3)
Industry Widgets to Consider Adding to Your Blog
How to Get Found in Search Engines (Blog Success Component #7)
How Long Your Posts Should Be
How Often You Should Post
The Article Marketing Trick I Use to Drive Short-term and Long-term Readers to My Blog
How to Build Reader Trust & Loyalty (Blog Success Component #1)
My blog is an integral part of marketing my freelance writing services, ebooks and telecourses. Without it, I don’t think I’d be where I am today. But, it took me a couple of years before I finally started seeing some real traffic – which is the key to marketing anything online.
3 Ways My Blog Has Benefited My Freelance Writing Business
My blog has benefited me directly and indirectly.
Indirectly, it has done much — on a personal and professional level. Some indirect benefits right off the top of my head though are: connected me with fellow freelancers, served as an avenue to vent my frustrations, given me invaluable feedback from readers and sparked ideas for new ebook and report titles.
Directly, in has benefited me in the following three ways. Yours can too!
1. Get Clients: Potential clients read it to get a handle on my writing style. Although it’s not written for them (it’s written for other freelancers), at least they can tell I know what I’m talking about – ie, I know my industry.
A number of clients have hired me based on their reading my blog alone. How cool is that!
2. Sell Products: I’ve sold a few thousand ebooks via blog marketing. A blog builds credibility, which leads to trust, then sales. Without it, I don’t think my ebook sales would be anywhere near what they are.
3. Ad Revenue: I’ve been approached at least half a dozen times over the last year or so by advertisers who want to buy space on my blog, and also by other niche ebook publishers. I haven’t taken advantage of this yet. I’ve stuck to large, mainstream ad revenue generators like Amazon and AdSense.
I didn’t feel I was set up to take advantage of these offers in a way that would benefit me long-term, or that I could charge what I wanted. But, that’s going to change as soon as I can get this blog where I want it to be aesthetically (still quite a bit of work to do).
One of the reasons for doing this is to capitalize on private ad sales, which I think is the way to go long term. For more on this, read successful blogger John Chow’s take in this very illuminative post on how to sell private ads on your blog.
Make Money From Your Blog: A Blog Can Be a Profit Machine!
As you can see, a blog can serve as a profit-producing machine in a number of ways. But, all of the components that make it profitable – and popular – must be in place.
This blogging ebook on freelance writing lists them, and for only $4.95.
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What’s the Difference Between a Website and a Blog?
June 5, 2008
The following is sage advice for freelance writers — or anyone — who’s thinking about getting a blog or website and/or those who are thinking about changing their web presence. If you are serious about making money online as a freelance writer, read carefully.
After my recent blog troubles, I decided to have a new blog designed and hosted on its own domain. I finally got fed up with free blog platforms. This entailed registering a new domain. Once I got to this point, however, I stopped. Why?
Do You Really Need a New Blog, or a Website?
Mainly traffic generation. As I wrote on the post, 7 Things You Must Know Before Moving Your Blog. “… after your new blog is up and running, constantly update your old blog. You probably have some search engine recognition behind it …”
I started thinking that I would essentially have to start from scratch promoting a new URL (website/blog). And, not for nothing, I already have two web presences that are working pretty well for me (this site, InkwellEditorial.com and my blog, InkwellEditorial.blogspot.com).
This is what brought me to the question, “What’s the difference between a website and a blog?”
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Read here how I routinely make $250+/day as an SEO writer – and you can too!
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The Answer to What’s the Difference Between a Website and a Blog
So I started to do some research because, quite frankly, I couldn’t think of what it was. I should probably be embarrassed to admit that, but it’s the truth.
According to the post Blogs vs. Web Sites: Is There a Difference?, it basically boils down to interactivity. A blog and a website are both simply websites.
But, blogs have an interactivity about them that most websites don’t. Plugins like “Most Recent Posts;” “Most Popular Posts;” “Related Posts/Entries;” and “Last Post by This Blogger” all encourage interaction.
Websites, on the other hand, tend to be more of a portfolio, an introduction to your work (ie, samples) and business (an online company brochure, if you will).
Which Do You Need: A Blog, a Website or Both?
As each person’s needs are different, I’ll tell you how I went about deciding, then you decide for yourself.
I’m getting a new website, with a blog as a sub component. This is how this happened . . .
I changed things midstream with my blog designer. I told them that I wanted my new blog on InkwellEditorial.com, the current home of my website.
After asking a few technical questions like how it would affect transferring existing files into the new “blog design,” he wrote the following:
“That [referring to the cost and the blog design I chose] actually depends if you want your site to be more of a portfolio site or a blog site. Which will you use it for most? To blog and attract people that way? Or as a business site with a blog?”
As I’m getting a new website that will have a blog as a subdomain, the URL will probably look something like this: http://InkwellEditorial.com/InkwellBlog
The Drawback of an All-in-One Website/Blog
The drawback to this is that it means I’ll be blogging at blogger for probably another year or so until my traffic at my new blog home is where it is now (about 3,600 visitors/day).
I simply can’t afford to abandon this site which has a PR Rank of 4 and an Alexa Rank at this writing of under 500,000 (not in the top 100,000, but for a freelance writing blog — darn good numbers).
The Benefits of an All-in-One Website/Blog
Marketing: In spite of this drawback, the benefit of an all-in-one blog/website is that you have one home, one domain to drive traffic to. I run several websites and let me tell you, getting sufficient traffic to one is a full-time job. I couldn’t even fathom having yet another site to market and promote from scratch.
Passive Income Generation: My other sites bring me projects, so driving traffic to them isn’t important as far as residual income. But, InkwellEditorial.com and its accompanying blog bring me residual income in the form of ebook sales and AdSense income mostly.
Advertising: Furthermore, over the last year and a half, I’ve been approached probably 20-30 times about private advertising. I’ve never taken anyone up on it because, quite frankly, my site wasn’t set up for it. And, I always said, “When I get it redesigned, I’ll accept advertising.”
Other Opportunities: I also have several other ideas that have been waiting in the wings “until I get my site redesigned.” Now, I can move ahead with those too.
Although a website redesign wasn’t on the agenda for another year or so, the time to do it is just right — now.
The #1 Thing to Consider When Trying to Decide Whether to Get a Website or a Blog
Purpose. As I wrote in the post, Will You Ever Make Money Blogging? Answer 1 Question to Find Out, ” … the most critical component to pay attention to when you’re getting a blog designed from the ground up, so to speak, is purpose. . . . As in, what purpose does your blog serve — or would you like for it to serve. Every design decision you make should support this decision.”
Once you know what you want your web presence to do for you, it will be easy to make decisions regarding whether it should be a blog or a website.
Thinking About Moving Your Blog/Website? Learn What I Learned the Hard Way
Final Note: If you’re thinking about moving your blog or website from one platform to another, read 7 Things You Must Know Before Moving Your Blog first. Learn from my mistakes.
P.S.: Find this post informative? Follow Inkwell Editorial on Twitter.
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Copyright © 2008: Unless otherwise noted, all material on this site is copyright protected and cannot be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without my written consent (linking to is fine).
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Freelance Writers: How to Use Technology to Make Real Money Online
November 6, 2007
[Want to start a successful career as a freelance writer?]
I’ve dubbed November Freelance Writer Technology Month. What’s this all about?
You may want to grab a cup of joe. This article is kind of long, but I hope to shed some light on the changes coming forth for InkwellEditorialcom and InkwellEditorial.blogspot.com.
A Solid Week of Research into How to Make Real Money Online as a Freelance Writer
Recently, I spent a solid week – 50-60 hours – researching how people make “real” money online. I’m talking long-term, sustainable, pay for healthcare and retirement money. To do this, I went back to basics. I forced myself to forget what I thought I knew and approach everything fresh.
As I wrote about in this article, Why Freelance Writers May Be the Poorest Internet Entrepreneurs. As freelance writers, we’re not very good at embracing technology – which is how the real money is made online.
Sure, we may get as far as learning a little HTML code, scan and upload images, and even create simple logos, but we don’t get much beyond that. Once I started reading, practically all of my searches took me to some internet marketing guru’s site.
Invariably, I’d find a discussion about some piece of technology that would give me a eureka moment. That’s when I knew that I had to change the way I went about my business.
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POST CONTINUED BELOW
Read here how I routinely make $250+/day as an SEO writer – and how you can too!
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What Made Me Declare November Freelance Writer’s Technology Month
I want to digress for a minute to explain what made me want to start this series. Simply put, I wanted to increase my online income. I’ve explained before, but as I’m starting up this new series, I wanted us all to be on the same page.
I’ve been a freelance writer since 1993. I make a good living at it, but the last couple of years I’ve been kind of restless in my career. I want to work less and, perhaps more importantly, create passive streams of income that will sustain me into my golden years. At 41, these things weigh heavily on me.
As a freelance writer actually writing for a living, time is my commodity. If I don’t work, I don’t make any money. That’s why I started publishing ebooks and doing freelance writing seminars a few years ago. These added income streams (passive, in the case of the ebooks), which supplemented my writing work nicely.
I liked it. Logging on and seeing money in my account for a product I produced five years ago can’t be beat. This is the direction I decided I wanted to take my career in, and I started to “turn the ship,” so to speak, in that direction a little over a year ago. What does this mean?
How to Change the Direction of Your Freelance Writing Career
I started to cut back on client projects and focus more in producing income from my own projects. This has caused me some financial pangs, but I’m thinking long-term here, as I hope you do too when it comes to your freelance career.
I mean, ostensibly, you can work as a freelance writer forever. As I say in my sales copy on FreelanceWritingWebsite.com, age is not a barrier, income is not a barrier and education is not a barrier. BUT, do you really want to have to write for a living well into retirement?
Sure, you may accept projects here and there for a little extra income from time to time, but do you really want to have to work on client projects full-time at 65, 70 or 75? Having a passive stream of income to add to any social security and/or pension benefits would be nice — if social security is still around, and are there companies that still pay pensions?
So, this is what brings me to this point.
What’s Coming Up in “Freelance Writer Technology Month”
Over the next month, I will be talking about what I’ve learned. I will introduce you to some online techniques to drive traffic to your site, to increase your online marketing strategies and to increasing your online income overall.
As I said in last Friday’s post, I’m always trying to get freelance writers to think beyond “writing for a living,” to “creating a stable income – for life.” This goes way beyond simply writing.
It will be a systematic approach, which means that I will cover a lot of basics – not from the “this is how you do this” viewpoint. But, from the “this is why you do this and the results you can expect” viewpoint.
A lot of it I’ll go out on a limb and say many freelancer writers don’t know about, or don’t understand, as evidenced by the comments left in this article I recently wrote.
One More Thing: I will be posting 2-3 times a week during this series, as opposed to the 4-5 times/week I usually post. Why?
This will be my trend moving forward. Many bloggers post daily (in some cases, numerous times a day) in hopes of driving traffic to their blogs. I’ve always believed in quality over quantity, even though I’ve pretty much adhered to the “you must post frequently to drive traffic” mentality.
My research revealed that this is not necessarily the case. So, I’m already starting to implement some of the information I’ve learned into my daily practices.
Furthermore, I’m working on several projects that will push me towards making more money online from passive income streams. As with anything in the beginning, this takes time.
Over the coming months, I will be revealing my success, failures (let’s hope these are minimal), and mishaps along the way. I’ll hope you’ll chime in so we can all learn together – and hopefully experience success that much sooner.
I hope you will find this series informative – and most of all useful enough to apply to your income goals.
Don’t Forget: Tomorrow’s newsletter features an interview with ghostwriter Amanda Evans at GhostWritingUncovered. A preview:
Question #2: From your blog, I see that you have been freelancing full-time for over two years. How long did it take you to get to that point?
When my daughter was born in 2003 I stopped working full time and went part time. I also got the internet at home and this opened up a whole new world for me. I had always loved writing and I started looking at writers websites and I joined a number of writing groups. These groups were mostly poetry based as this was my passion.
During 2004 I began looking for ways to get paid to write. Most of the information I came across regarding freelance writing was about query letters and how to approach editors. This wasn’t what I was looking for. I wanted a guaranteed payment for my writing. I wanted someone to tell me what to write so that I could just do it and get paid.
Subscribe to read the full interview.
Sincerely,
Yuwanda
P.S.: Start a Freelance Writing Career – Today!
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UPDATE 11/30/07: Following is a link to every post in the Freelance Writer’s Technology Month series.
Intro Post: New Series – Freelance Writer’s Technology Month
Post #1: The 4 Fundamentals of Making Money Online
Post #2: SEO Content Development: How to Drive More Traffic to Your Website
Post #3: Niche Marketing: How to Choose a Profitable Niche
Post #4: Software Tools for Niche Websites
Post #5: Turn $1/Day into an Online Empire: How to Make Money with Minisites
Post #6: 4 Controversial Ways to Get More Traffic for Your Website
Post #7: 5 Ways to Get a Job Writing SEO Articles
Post #8: How to Determine What to Charge as an SEO Article Writer
Post #9: How to Optimize Your Website to Get More Traffic
Post #10: Social Bookmarking Software & 9 Money-Making Conclusions from Freelance Writer’s Technology Month
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