Freelance Writing

As a freelance writer, many people would guess that I have little to no communication with the outside world during the workday. While this is true to a certain extent, I probably send and receive anywhere from 25 to 50 emails per day. Additionally, I usually talk to at least one client a day on the phone.

Although dealing with angry clients is more common in some industries than others, freelance writers are no different than anybody else. The main reason that I am writing this post is because of an email that I received late last night from an angry client.

Last week, this client prepaid $200 and then sent a request for a few web content articles. While this is not something that I mind doing, especially because I have worked with him in the past, I would much rather be paid upon completion for a project like this. Regardless, I sent an email to him saying that everything was a go, and I would get started right away.

After sending the first article over for review, I waited for a couple of days without a reply. At that time, I sent yet another email with the article attached. On a side note, it is always a good idea to check up with clients if they do not reply timely about a project you emailed. Remember, email is far from perfect.

Anyway, he sent an email back to me that read, “What the #*#* am I supposed to do with this? I can’t get it open.” I was surprised to read this response after I had done so much to make sure that he had received everything in a timely manner.

The funny part about this situation is that it has been almost 24 hours since I cordially responded, and I have yet to hear back from him.

Dealing with angry clients is part of the freelance writing game. As a general rule of thumb, no matter how bad you are treated, you should never retaliate. You are a professional, and there is no reason to stoop down and lose your overall level of integrity.

If you are like most, you have experienced this problem. You reach a certain income level, but for one reason or the next, you cannot seem to fly any higher. For myself, as a freelance writer, this is one problem that I seem to deal with every few months or so.

The first couple months of my freelance writing career I was happy to make any money. After all, a few bucks here and there were better than nothing. At that time, I was doing tons of work, but only being paid peanuts. But again, it did not matter because I simply wanted to get up and running. My first major goal was breaking the $1,000 barrier on a monthly basis. Luckily, after my first two months I did this for the first time. In fact, the first time that I broke $1,000, I almost hit the $2,000 mark as well.

In my dealings, the best way to get from one income plateau to the next is to cut back on lower paying jobs, and do whatever it takes to find higher paying ones. Personally, I feel that this is a much better idea than adding more quantity to your workload. This may work for some people, but being able to do less for more money is always a good thing in my book.

To do this, I began to cut out web content articles that were only paying a few dollars for 500 words or so. I replaced these with jobs that paid almost twice as much, and bang, I was on my way to the next level.

But remember, you should not get rid of lower paying clients until you have better ones lined up. After all, if you are just scraping by, you never want to throw any money out the window.

Right now, my situation is more comfortable than it was when I first started on this venture. I am making a good full-time salary, but even then, being satisfied is never an option.

Don’t get frustrated if you are having a difficult time hitting the next income level. Instead, devise a plan, and carefully chart your progress!

Although I am not the biggest golf fan in the world, watching Tiger Woods in the U.S. Open this weekend was something special. Even though he ended up in second place, it was still a thrill to watch him walk the fairways of Oakmont; especially since the course is only a few minutes from home.

Just like anything else in my life, I began to contemplate what Tiger could teach us about blogging. Even if golf is his forte, he probably knows darn good and well that he affects people in a number of different ways. And as a blogger, he definitely did this for me.

Here are three things that Tiger can teach us all about blogging.

1. You cannot always be the best, and not giving up is something to be proud of. Think about it this way. Tiger plays several tournaments each year, and more times than not, he comes up on the losing end of the stick. But with that being said, he comes back time and time again. You may not have the most popular blog in the world, but as long as you stick with things you will make small victories along the way. Do you think Tiger is going to skip the U.S. Open next year because he came in second this time around?

2. It is important to know what you are good at, and then follow through with this day in and day out. Tiger knows what he is good at, and how to make this work for him. Instead of going against your strengths, you would be much better off doing what you are good at. You will find out that this helps you to become a better blogger in the long run. This is not to say that broadening your horizons is bad, but in blogging, you need to do what you know. If golf is your favorite sport, why not blog about it? This is a much better decision than starting a blog on quilting or some other random topic.

3.  Persistence pays off. Even when it looks like Tiger is down and out, he is always working hard to reach his goals. Be persistent with everything that has to do with your blog. This includes everything from making regular posts to marketing on a regular basis. If Tiger would have given up after his first loss, where would he be today?

Tiger Woods is an icon, has millions of dollars, and is living large. If you want to follow in his footsteps (at least in the world of blogging) you should consider the lessons that he teaches on the course!

Journalismjobs.com is one of the largest portals for people interested in finding a job in the journalism industry. With the opportunity to search by location, anybody in any state can find jobs in their area that pertain to this field. But if you are a freelance writer, Journalismjobs.com has some benefits as well.

A few years back when I started freelancing I used this service to find a couple of clients that I still work for today. Since then I have not found much, but there are many freelance writing gigs available through this service.

To find freelance writing jobs on Journalismjobs.com you need to know where to look. Instead of searching one particular state, you will want to search for “all locations” or “telecommute” under the location tab. This is where you will find 99 percent of the freelance writing jobs. Of course, if you have the time, check in the individual states as well; particularly the one that you live in.

As a freelance writer, Journalismjobs.com is a great site because you do not have to pay to find jobs. Each ad will have contact information included, and all you have to do is follow the directions of the poster.

Journalismjobs.com even gives job seekers the ability to post a resume free of charge. This way, interested employers can search the database and see who is available for work. If you have some time you might as well do this. You never know who will come calling.

You may not find hundreds of freelance writing gigs at Journalismjobs.com, but from time to time there are a few good ones. Taking a few minutes each morning to check for new listings is not going to kill you!

The question of when to write blog posts is talked about time after time. Luckily, there is no right and wrong time to create the content that you will post on your blog. When it comes down to it, this is nothing more than personal preference combined with the way that you like to run your site. Early on in your blogging career you may have a hard time setting a schedule, but soon enough, you will know just when you need to put together some new posts.

There are several key details that will dictate when you write your blog posts. They are spelled out below.

1. Some people like to write one blog post at a time, whereas others would rather do them in larger batches. Once again, this is up to you. The main benefit of writing more than one post during one sitting is that you can create plenty of content for the days to come. In other words, you will not find yourself having to write a new post everyday of the week.

2. To make things easier, if you are using a Wordpress blog, you can timestamp posts so that they are added to your blog at a particular time in the future. For instance, I could write five posts, and then timestamp them to post at the same time for the next five days. This is a great advantage to have if you are going to be on vacation or away from the computer for an extended period of time.

3. Make sure that you write your content in correspondence with when you like to post them to your site. For instance, do you usually add new content at lunchtime everyday? If so, you need to make sure that you always have at least one post for that time. There is nothing worse than wanting to post at noon, just to find out that you have one hour to write a 500 word article. To be a successful blogger you need to be able to plan in advance.

All in all, you can write your blog posts anytime that you please. When you write is not important. It is the quality, quantity, and time that you post that you should be concerned with. 

As mentioned in a few posts back, I am really starting to ramp up my production at Associated Content. And despite a lot of people saying that they have gotten tougher, I have actually found the exact opposite to be true. Over the past month, dating from May 15 to June 15, I have had quite the run of success.

Here are some of my statistics for the past month:

Articles submitted: 57
Articles accepted for payment: 47
Waiting for acceptance: 10
Total acceptance rate: 100%
Total payment received: $304.14
Highest offer: $8.50
Lowest offer: $4
Average offer: $6.47

Take a few minutes to compare these stats to the ones that I posted at http://www.chrisblogging.com/associated-content-review/. These stats were from 72 articles that I submitted several months ago.

If you do not have the time to compare, here are a few of the main differences:

1. My acceptance rate went from 78 percent to 100 percent. In my opinion, the reason for this is better keyword research, longer articles, and topics that are not mainstream.

2. With the most recent 47 articles I was paid a total of $304.14. In my last update, I showed 56 articles earning $310. Of course, this means that my average offer increased from $5.54 to $6.47.

3. The only negative when comparing stats is that my highest offer was $8.50 this past month. In the last update, my highest was $10. This is something that I am still trying to figure out.

As I continue to submit articles to Associated Content I will keep you updated on my progress. My overall goal is to increase my average offer each month. Check back regularly to get updates on Associated Content news as well as my personal stats. 

Starting a blog is something that you may take lightly. But as you move forward with making posts, marketing, and tracking stats, you will begin to notice that it has become part of your life. The fact of the matter is that starting and running a blog will change your life in more ways than you ever thought possible.

Here are three ways that blogging can, and probably will, change your life.

1. As you continue to run your blog you will feel a sense of connection with it. After all, if you are going to spend time each day with your blog you should expect this. And guess what? These feelings only continue to increase as your blog grows in terms of size and traffic. You will feel as if you have an obligation to your blog and your readers. And all in all, this is a good thing!

2. If you are lucky, blogging will change your life in a positive financial manner. Even though making money with a blog is not easy, if you are patient, some profits will begin to trickle in over time. And if you stick with things long enough, you may become one of the lucky few who can turn blogging into a full-time career. Obviously, this is a huge career move that would surely change your life.

3. By blogging you may find out that you are reducing the level of stress in your life. Believe it or not, simply getting your feelings onto your blog can help you to release tension. This is especially true if you keep a blog about your personal or work life. Some people have no intentions on making money or increasing readership. Instead, they write for themselves and that is good enough.

As you can see, blogging can change your life. But do not let this scare you. If you watch what you are doing, it will never change you in a bad way!

As you probably know by now, I am intrigued by the way that Associated Content does business. When you think about it, AC is nothing more than one giant blog that allows anybody who is a member to contribute content. For this reason, I began to think about the possibilities of ReviewMe and AC working together. More specifically, would ReviewMe allow me to use my AC page for paid reviews?

Personally, I am still not sure if ReviewMe fits this blog. For now, I would rather leave this monetization method out of the equation. I definitely want to try it out in the future, but until then, Chrisblogging.com is going to be ReviewMe free.

In the meantime, I am going to check with both ReviewMe and AC to see what they think about my idea. I am sure somebody else has already asked about this, and maybe it is okay, but I want to find out for myself.

As soon as they get back to me with an answer, I will get back to you!

One of the most important parts of your blog has nothing to do with your content, design, or monetization methods. It is essential to keep close tabs on your traffic if you expect your blog to succeed. This may not be the most fun part of running a blog, but when it comes to necessities, it is right at the top of the list.

There are many things that you will learn from charting your traffic.

1. First off, you can find out where your traffic is coming from. This is important because you do not want to be one of those bloggers who says, “Who cares where it comes from as long as it comes?” The reason you should care is simple. When you know where your visitors are coming from you should then be able to increase this number, while also catering more to their needs.

2. For a blog, it is important to know when people are visiting the most. Why, you may ask? This way, you will be able to better space your posts. If you only plan on making one post a day, and the majority of your traffic visits at lunchtime, you will want to make sure that your new content is available.

3. Tracking your traffic will also give you a good idea of what search terms visitors are using to find you. In turn, you can better target your site to these terms, while also trying to increase your performance with other keywords.

4. And perhaps most importantly, knowing the details of your traffic will allow you to monetize to your fullest potential.

Can you get away without tracking and monitoring your traffic? Sure. But when it comes down to it, this is not a good idea. The more that you know about your visitors the better your blog will become. And this works out for both you and your visitors.

A few days ago I wrote a review on Associated Content. At that time I gave information on how many articles they have accepted, the average pay out, etc. I also mentioned that I would be starting to write some articles for them again if I could find the time.

Well, I submitted five articles, and the results are in. They are as follows.

Sticky Notes: Three Ways to Use them in the Office

This may sound like a silly topic, but as I was thinking of ideas I was writing a note to myself. So I said, “What the heck?” It took me about 10 minutes to write this article, and within one day AC had offered me $5.54. This is not my highest offer ever, but not bad for a few minutes worth of work.

What to Consider when Buying Custom Sticky Notes

I have to admit that I use my fair of sticky notes on a regular basis. So I figured since I already wrote one basic article on this topic, I might as well dive in with some more detail. Again, AC offered me $5.54. I have no clue why they offered a number that is not rounded off, but who cares? My guess is that the same editor reviewed both pieces.

Going to a Game at PNC Park

Since I live in Pittsburgh, I figured an article about PNC Park would be a great topic. I’ve seen a couple of Pirates games this year, so my knowledge of the park was fresh when writing the article. Ten minutes to write, and $6.02 was headed to my PayPal account.

Order Sporting Event Tickets Online

I love sports, and have found that ordering event tickets online is a great idea. I actually did this for the first game that I attended this year at PNC Park, so again, I decided to take one topic and break it into two. This article only fetched me $4. My guess is that other content producers have covered this in depth. But hey, it is better than nothing.

Working from Home: How not to concentrate

Working from home is great; the distractions are not. That is why I put this article together. Even though this is a saturated topic, a lot of people are interested in working from home. That is probably why I received an offer of $7.50, which was the highest offer of the bunch.

Although I did not keep track of every last minute, I estimate that it took me approximately 40 to 45 minutes to write and submit these five articles. My income for that time: $28.60 or $5.72 per article.

These numbers were quite encouraging; especially because a lot of people have been complaining about AC as of late. If I had the time to churn out five articles per hour, that would work out to approximately $229/day based on eight hours. Some articles would surely get rejected, but it is nice to think that a few bucks can be made here and there.

For me, the key to writing articles for AC that get accepted is two fold. First off, I like to write in groups of five. This keeps me on track, and allows me to get the articles done in a timely manner. Secondly, try to break topics into smaller articles. This way, you only have to research once; if even that. For instance, since I bought tickets to a PNC Park event, I wrote one article about the park and the other about buying the tickets. Easy enough, right?

I have 10 more articles submitted at this time. My plan is to write five a day for them so that my long term study has solid backing. Within a month or so I will have a much better idea if making a full-time income from AC is possible as well as how well their payment and acceptance system works.