Social Bookmarking Software &
9 Money-Making Conclusions from Freelance Writer’s Technology Month

Part #10 (Conclusion): Freelance Writer's Technology Month
by Yuwanda Black
[Want to start a successful career as a freelance writer? Click here.]

Following is a two-part post. As I haven’t posted since Tuesday (have been working on getting two new websites up), I had two more posts left in the Freelance Writer’s Technology Month series. I have to wrap it up because tomorrow is December 1^st (where has the time gone!).

FYI, this post is almost 3,000 words long and took almost four hours to write. It’s jam-packed with what I sincerely hope you find useful information (had to end with a bang!). Here goes:

Part I: Social Bookmarking Software

Social bookmarking is THE thing right now. Like blogging a few years ago, it has taken off like wildfire. It’s here to stay, hence, something that should be integrated into your marketing strategy.

For anyone who’s been under a cave lately, following are some particulars you should know about social bookmarking.

What is social bookmarking? Social bookmarking has been around for about five years now. According to a post on SiteProNews.com, it seems to have been originated by Del.icio.us back in 2003.

The ability to save and categorize a personal collection of bookmarks and share them with others. Users may also take bookmarks saved by others and add them to their own collection, as well as to subscribe to the lists of others. [Source: TVB.org]

Why every freelance writer should integrate social bookmarking into their marketing strategy (especially if they are just starting out)? Because it generates traffic. I use the social bookmarking site Digg primarily. There are hundreds of social bookmarking sites though – many more than I knew about until I started to research this topic. 

One SEO marketer I spoke with told me that Propeller was one of the best social bookmarking sites to use. He currently managed 150 blogs for different clients and used it because it is indexed by Google several times a day. This means you could potentially get more traffic sooner if you post here.

Read more about social bookmarking here, and how it can help you in your marketing efforts.

Social bookmarking stats: For how effective social bookmarking can be, consider this: It is quite common, unfortunately, for a dug website to receive so much traffic that it brings down the server. [Source: SiteProNews.com]

To read a real case example of how social bookmarking can increase site traffic, click here.

For some in-depth stats on Feeds and Social Bookmarking, click here. This can help you determine which social bookmarking site(s) you may want to start using.

How freelance writers can make money off the social bookmarking phenomenon: Besides driving traffic to your site/blog, new freelance writing opportunities have opened up around this phenomenon.

IE, blog posting and forum posting. Many SEO companies are hired by website owners to do regular posting to other blogs, in relevant forums and then list those posts on social bookmarking sites.

The pay is not that great – I’ve seen rates as low as 15 cents/per; they usually top out at about $5/post. However, the posts tend to be short (350 words or less), and if you build up a stable of 10 or 15 clients, it can garner you a pretty decent part-time income (depending on your financial needs).

One SEO company owner I spoke with told me that he paid bloggers $100 month for daily posting and $150/month if they linked to post to a couple of social bookmarking sites (eg, Propeller). He said the posts usually only took 10-15 minutes each and that they could be done in bulk and be pre-scheduled (there’s that use of technology).

So, ostensibly, you could sit down and do a week's worth of posts in a couple of hours and have made $25-$40 for your time. Not too shabby.

Social Bookmarking Software

Create Your Own Social Bookmark: http://www.viralsocializer.com/. This software allows you to create your own social bookmarking and tagging service in any niche or market you want.

I wish I had the time to do this for the freelance writing niche, as I find many sites don’t really cater to it.

If I have a grievance with most new technologies, it’s that they are heavily slanted toward tech users, gamers and/or what I term “college boy humor.” Look at many of the videos on YouTube. Many cater to sophomoric humor promoted for entertainment purposes.

Disclaimer: I know nothing about this software, so I don’t promote/endorse it. It is used here only for illustrative purposes.

Social Bookmarking Buttons & Gadgets: SocialNetworkingArticles.com has an extensive list of buttons and gadgets for your website/blog. It’s the most complete list I’ve run across.

I have one DIGG button on my blog. When I ran across this list, I was plum embarrassed. I have close to 300 hundred pages on my website. Another thing I’ve added to my list of things to do in the New Year is to go through every page and add a social bookmarking button. And yes, this will be an outsourced project (you’ll get the meaning of this when you read #7 in Part II of this article).

Note: The cool bookmarking gadget I added to this page is at AddThis.com. It's free.

I hope I’ve made you realize the value of social bookmarking. Now, choose a button and start bookmarking/tagging away!

Part II: 9 Money-Making Conclusions Drawn from Freelance Writer’s Technology Month

1. Choose how you’re going to make money. This whole series started because I was looking for a way to make more passive money online. Read the full story here.

You may be thinking, “I’ll make my money by writing.” Well, of course. But, how. For example, one thing I decided on during the course of this series was that I wanted to start a Virtual Real Estate Empire (VRE).

What is this? It’s when a webpreneur sets up minisites to create passive streams of income. I’m not talking about those sites with one article and 50 ads either. I’m talking about valuable minisites focused on a tight, tight niche with quality content.

Quality, relevant, fresh, unique content is what separates a bad minisite from a good one. Low-quality minisites throw up a few generic articles, slap some ads on and expect it to generate money. Many buy pre-existing sites that are sold hundreds of times and never add new content. Hence, there’s are hundreds, perhaps thousands of the same site – all competing against each other. 

While it may be cost-effective to buy a pre-existing site, how you maintain it is what will make it profitable. Adding new, in-depth content, quality photos, interesting discussions, etc. will separate your site from others.

Many are just too lazy to do this. AND, this is why this could be a good income stream for freelance writers. I plan to use my writing ability on my minisites.

This is what I mean by planning “how” you’re going to make your money as a freelance writer. Read more about how to make money with minisites here.
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Last year I made $3,489.07 from a simple 1-page website. Click here for details.
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2. Look for Technology: As in, look for technology to integrate into your marketing strategy. It will make your life so much easier.

This series has opened my eyes wider than a barn owl to the amount of technology available out there – much of it for free.

If you can imagine it, or have ever whispered to yourself, “I wish there was a way to …”, then believe me, the technology probably exists for it.

When a new marketing phenomenon comes along, (eg, blogging), pretty much simultaneously there is going to be technology to make it easier, faster, quicker, cheaper, etc. to promote that strategy.

So, whatever you do, just because you don’t know of a technology that exists, spend a few hours on the web researching it. Nine times out of 10, the software is there, and if enough time has passed, it’s probably even free.

3. Don’t Be Ruled by Technology: While this may seem contrary to the previous post, it isn’t. Don’t be so quick to try every new piece of technology/marketing strategy that comes along.

Select two or three you can really sink your teeth into and stick with those. Otherwise, you’ll be using a lot, but not really seeing results from any of them.

I’ve learned that you can’t do everything. For example, I set up a MySpace page and a Squidoo lens. Have I used any of them? After initially setting them up, no.

Between blogging, client projects, producing a newsletter, updating my website, setting up my affiliate program (which took forever) and sticking to my existing marketing plan, I simply don’t have time to try out every new “it” phenomenon.

I only started blogging in 2005 – a few years after it was the “in” thing to do. But, you know what, if a marketing technique/new technology is the real deal, it’ll be there when you’re ready to integrate it into your existing marketing plan.

4. Embrace Change: Piggybacking on the last point, don’t be afraid to let go of, or fine tune, what isn’t working.

For example, I’ve recently started to blog only 2-3 times a week. It runs contrary to what most industry experts advise. But, if you read the initial post in this series, then you know my research revealed that this is not necessarily the case.

5. Stop Giving Away Good Content: Now, with free article marketing being touted as the number one way to drive traffic to a site, you may be frowning at this. But, I don’t mean don’t give away any content, I mean don’t give away all of your good, in-depth content.

For example, right now, my permissions statement on my blog reads:

May be reprinted with the following, in full: Yuwanda Black is the publisher of InkwellEditorial.com: THE business portal for and about the editorial and creative industries. Freelance success stories, e-courses, advice on the business of freelancing, and more! Get the e-report, How to Make $100/Day as a Freelance Writer -- free! Log on to http://www.freelancewritingwebsite.com/ for details.

As of this post, this has been changed to:

Copyright © 2007 InkwellEditorial.com: Freelance success stories, e-courses, advice on the business of freelancing, and more! Get the e-report, How to Make $100/Day as a Freelance Writer -- free! Log on to http://www.freelancewritingwebsite.com/ for details. Except where noted, no part of this site may be reproduced in any manner without the express, written consent of the publisher. Violators will be prosecuted.

Why the change?

Because good, unique, relevant content is what drives traffic to a site. Oftentimes I see my content posted on sites that rank much higher than mine. Search engines are really starting to crack down on duplicate content.

What exactly does this mean? It means that it will only give “credit to (ie, list in search results)” the first three or four sites where the content appears. The other sites (eg, my site) won’t show up at all. 

By not allowing my content to be freely posted any and everywhere, I, in essence, force sites to ink to the full content (eg, drive visitors to my site).

While I still believe there’s a place for article marketing – after all, I write the book on it – it has evolved to a point where it must be balanced with the full value you receive from it. So, write a great article and submit it to the free article directories, but, save the nitty-gritty details (ie, the really valuable, in-depth content) for your site/blog.

While some may find this controversial, this is just my experience. As the web changes, so must your marketing strategy.

6. Charge Enough to Live – Or Don’t Do It! While this may seem that it has nothing to do with technology, it does.

I’ve recently started to do some SEO writing and am astounded at the low rates many freelancers charge. By my calculations, many are working for $4-$6/hour.

While I believe that its up to every freelancer to determine their own rates because we all have different needs, there comes a point where it’s slave wages. Many freelancers do this with the mistaken belief that it will lead to more work.

Trust me – I’ve been doing this since 1993 – it rarely does. In my opinion, if someone is looking for writers to do 400-600 word articles at $2-$4/pop, they are not looking to give you a raise when they order in bulk. If anything, it will be the opposite (ie, “Since I’m giving you so much work, how about a bulk (read cheaper) rate?”).

Don’t do it. Do something else instead. You might as well spend your time creating a portfolio of samples you can shop to clients who are really to pay you a decent wage. Or, working for a charity that means a lot to you.

So, how does technology play into this point? Many bulk writing buyers operate hundreds of sites – either for themselves or for clients. And, many use software to automate the process (see this post). The most important piece of all of this is the content you provide. Nothing happens on the web without content.

If they can’t afford to pay a decent wage for the most important component of their business, then is it a sustainable business model. That’s why there’s so much junk on the web. Many of these are get-rich-quick schemes where someone has paid bottom-of-the-barrel rates for meaningless content that doesn’t advance the web in any significant way.

The web is most useful when you get targeted, relevant, in-depth results when you type in a search term. Most times, I don’t even look at the first page of Google results any more because it’s filled with generic content that is only meant to get me to that page. Either I click on the sponsored results, or go to the second page to start my reading.

Thankfully, search engines are starting to penalize these types of useless sites. Don’t use your talent to contribute to this. You’re worth more, your talent is worth more.

7. Outsource What You Can’t Do: I recently tried to set up a WordPress Blog. I’m switching because, while I like Blogger, WordPress blogs have more tools for marketing purposes, and new ones are constantly being developed by this team.

I also happen to think they look more professional than Blogger blogs. After spending a few hours trying to set it up, I got it up, but wasn’t satisfied with the look and feel of it. So, I gave up and have put it into my marketing calendar to outsource in February (big client check comes in).

I’ve held myself back so many times by trying to do it myself. I’m a natural DIYer (do it yourselfer) and I tend to be pretty thrifty (years of freelancing have taught me this).

But it has been to my detriment on more than a few occasions. I often wonder how much I can add to my bottom line by outsourcing much more than I do (this is so hard for me because I like to control every aspect of a project).

But, I’m learning that the more successful I (you) become, it is cheaper to pay someone to do what you can’t do, don’t have the time to do – or simply don’t want to take the time to figure out how to do.

8. Stop Shortchanging Yourself: Freelance writers are famous for wanting to share. But, don’t do it at the expense of your business.

I was in a popular freelance writing forum a few weeks ago and the administrator was lamenting how much time it took her to moderate the comments, research and post freelance jobs, and figure out the glitches that had caused some of her forum members problems.

She was saying that she was seriously considering either selling the forum or starting to charge a membership fee because it was so time-consuming to maintain. That resonated with me because there are days when I want to abandon my blog for some of the same reasons.

She polled the readers to see how many would be willing to pay a membership fee. While she got enthusiastic responses, it didn’t appear that there would be many takers.

Now, this is an extremely popular freelance writing forum with a lot of solid, first-rate information. I felt saddened.

As freelance writers, we shortchange ourselves so much. The reason I decided to cut back on my blogging – instead of abandoning it all together – is that relative to the time I put into it, it doesn’t return enough measurable financial results. FYI, I usually spend an hour to an hour and a half on each post, which is a good chunk of my 7-9/hour work day.

Some posts can take two hours or more if I happen to have to do some research (ie, this post/this series).

As blogging is part of my overall marketing strategy – and one I happen to enjoy – I can’t abandon it altogether. But, I can limit it so that it doesn’t take away from more lucrative projects.
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9. The Web is Maturing; Are You? The web is maturing to a point where quality information is going to be hard to find for free. My sister lamented to me just the other day how she was having a hard time finding statistics on a story she was writing because all the sites with the good information had paid memberships.

She was like, “You’re right about what you said Wanda. It IS hard to find good information on the web for free now.”

This is a good thing for freelance writers because it means more providers will have to post quality information to compete. And, you ain’t going to find quality in a $2 article.

Going into the New Year, my wish is that freelance writers will realize their true value to the most important piece of technology to come along in the last century – perhaps since the industrial revolution – the Internet.

Nothing happens without content. And, you provide it! Charge enough to make a decent living.
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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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P.S.: Remember, at InkwellEditorial.com and InkwellEditorial.blogspot.com, you'll find everything you need to know about how to start, grow and/or maintain a freelance writing career (eg, writing for the web, blogging, forum posting, seo writing, freelance writing jobs, newsletter writing, article writing, ebooks on freelance writing and more).

Labels/Keywords: social bookmarking, social bookmarking tips, minisites, seo writing, social bookmarking software, social bookmarking sites