Freelance Writing

Even the most knowledgeable workers in every industry do not know everything about their particular niche. The fact of the matter is that everybody has limitations no matter if they are a freelance writer, engineer, website designer, etc. It would be nice to have no personal limitations, but this is not the way of the world. Of course, you can cut back your limitations through experience and skill building, but even then you will find yourself hitting walls time after time.

As a freelance writer I am well aware of my limitations. In other words, I know what I can and cannot do. And of course, the things that I cannot do are the ones that I work hard on when time allows.

For instance, I am very limited when it comes to writing about the fashion industry. I have done this a bit in the past, but with little success. With that being said, I am interested in breaking through this limitation because it seems like a fun niche to get involved with.

Another example would definitely be my technical limitations within the field of blogging. As I mentioned a few posts back, I am starting several new blogs in the near future. Due to technical limitations, this has led me to hire a contractor for uploading WordPress themes and plugins, and also in the area of search engine optimization. As you can imagine, if this were a limit that I did not have, I would be saving a lot of money with this expansion into new blogs.

Once you are aware of your limitations, you will find that you work much more comfortably. Remember, there is nothing wrong with admitting that you are a bit behind in some areas. If I continually told myself that I could tackle the technical aspects of blogging, mistakes would be coming up time after time. Instead, I have owned up to this shortcoming, and am working to fix it.

The best thing you can do is to become aware of your limitations, no matter what they are, and then work to turn them in your favor. 

By this time of the month I have usually updated my readers on how my Associated Content earnings are going. But as of late I have not had anytime to devote to this type of writing. Even though I strongly believe in Associated Content’s income earning power, there are months when I have too much work to write for them.

If you are new to freelance writing, or simply want to make some extra money this month, definitely give Associated Content a look. Here are three tips which will help you to effectively use Associated Content to your advantage.

1. Write articles that people want to read, but also ones that are not overdone. In other words, you need to provide unique and interesting content on topics that have not been submitted time and time again. If you are writing on an overdone topic, your best bet is to put your own unique spin on the article. This is the best way to ensure acceptance as well as the highest offer.

2. If you have the time, write articles for Associated Content in blocks of five. This is the method I use, and it seems to help with time management. Additionally, writing articles in blocks of five will also help to increase the amount of money that you earn. Once you get in a writing groove, you can crank out five articles for Associated Content in an hour or so.

3. Set goals for yourself. If you want to make $500 per month with Associated Content, find out how many articles that works out to. From there, divide that number by the days you work and you will know how many articles to produce on a daily basis. As you become more comfortable with Associated Content make sure that you tweak your goals. After all, you might as well set the bar high.

Overall, these three tips should help you to effectively submit articles to Associated Content. 

Even though I am a freelance writer, I do not have much experience with hiring others to work for me in this capacity. In the past I have hired programmers and designers, but it is not often that I look for other writers or bloggers. After all, if I have a job that needs done I will usually find a way to complete the task on my own.

I have found myself at a point where I am interested in hiring bloggers to help with some of my workload. Over the next few months I plan on starting quite a few new blogs, and with my current work, getting outside help is going to be essential.

There are several things I am going to look for when hiring bloggers. Three of the most important details are listed below.

1. Ideally, I would like to hire bloggers who have some prior knowledge of the topic they will be writing about. While researching online is fine, finding bloggers with a passion for the subject matter would be great.

2. I need bloggers who can devote enough time each day to writing for their given blog. This should not be much of a problem because I will only be asking for five posts per week of somewhere between 400 and 600 words.

3. Payment is the final detail that I will discuss with bloggers who I am hoping to hire. This is a touchy subject because I want to pay a reasonable rate, but at the same time, I need to keep my expenses under control in the early stages of each blog. I will probably offer several payment options to each blogger, and then see where things go from there.

Now for the fun stuff. If you are interested in helping out as a blogger, send me a quick email with some information about your experience, favorite topics, and how much you would charge per post. Hopefully I will be able to find several qualified candidates so that I do not have to write all the content on my own. After all, I do need to sleep from time to time!

Just like any other business, as a freelance writer there are some clients that are good and some that are bad. For me, good clients are much more than those that pay a lot of money. They are also the ones that clearly communicate their goals, pay on time, and work with mutually agreed upon terms.

Breaking away from a difficult freelance writing client is never easy to do. There are two main reasons that this can be difficult. First off, breaking away means that you may upset the client. In turn, a battle of words could ensue, and your professionalism could be compromised. Another reason that makes this hard is that you may not want to give up a client because you do not have enough work. This is reasonable enough, but you should know that bad clients are not worth your time in the long run.

When you decide to sever ties with a freelance writing client you need to do so professionally. I have done this several times in the past, and each situation turned out differently. Most recently, I had to tell a fledgling magazine that I could no longer work for them. While I enjoyed the topic I was writing about each month, they were not paying on time due to financial issues on their end. I explained this as nicely as possible in an email, and the editor responded cordially. When the client knows that they are in the wrong it is always easier to breakaway.

On the other hand, a few months back I stopped working for a client and several crude emails were thrown my way. My reason for ending the work was simple: the client would change his mind halfway through a job, and then want me to redo the work for no additional charge. While I do not mind revisions, a total change of topic after I have started is not doable. The client thought that I should honor his request because I was not yet finished with the work. Of course, he had no idea how much time I put into the job in the first place. In the end relations were severed, but I was left with lost time and no money to show for it.

As you can see, sometimes breaking away from a freelance writing client is easy, but other times you will be up against some resistance. But no matter what, make sure that you stay professional. 

What do you do when your work starts to get boring? Even though I love my job as a freelance writer, there are times when I feel bored out of my mind. When this happens, finding a way to break out of this funk is imperative. After all, if I am in a bored frame of mind it is safe to say that it will show through in my work. And obviously, that is never a good thing for me or my clients.

Here are three things that I do when my freelance writing work starts to get boring.

1. Although blogging is still writing, it is a great way for me to get my mind off of my freelance writing work. It is nice to be able to stay in the “writing frame of mind” but escape from the direction of a freelance writing project.

2. When writing gets boring, I market my services for a few minutes. This includes everything from sending emails to past clients to checking job boards for new projects. I like doing this because it helps my freelance writing career, but has nothing to do with my primary job of cranking out articles for clients.

3. There are times when you will be facing a bout of boredom that is unbearable. These can be tough times, so instead of fighting them, simply walk away from the computer for a bit. There is nothing wrong with taking an early lunch, heading to the post office, or doing anything else that will get your mind off your writing. Just remember, you need to head back to the computer sooner rather than later. But remember, you do not want to make this a habit.

When your work gets boring, try the three tips above. They work for me, and chances are you can find some variation that works for you!

Choosing a hosting provider is one of the most difficult decisions that a webmaster must make. This is obvious by the large number of people who are always on the prowl for a new hosting company. Luckily, I chose BlueHost the first time around, and they have been great since day one.

There are two things about BlueHost that really appeal to me. First off, their customer service team is unlike none other. Personally, I love their live chat feature which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The great thing about the BlueHost live chat is that the representative will answer just about any question you ask; within reason of course. In fact, I have asked questions in the last week that have more to do with WordPress and less to do with hosting, and the rep was more than happy to answer my inquiry.

Additionally, BlueHost uptime has to be among the best in the industry. While I do not have any stats on this, I can tell you one thing. As far as I know, this blog has never seen any downtime. And if it has, it has only been for a few minutes here or there.

If you are looking for a new hosting solution, or want to start your own blog, BlueHost is the way to go. For me, it does not get any better than top notch customer service combined with near 100 percent uptime!

After being rejected by PayPerPost a couple months back, I have finally been accepted. The problem before was that ChrisBlogging was not yet old enough to qualify under PayPerPost standards.

So what now? I am contemplating on how much I want to use PayPerPost related posts on this blog. There are two sides of this story from where I am sitting.

On the positive side, PayPerPost gives the opportunity to make some extra money. In fact, my PayPerPost dashboard shows the top earners so far for September. The top earner has made $990.17 through the first 14 days of September. The tenth highest earner has pulled in $530.50. Of course, these are the top bloggers who put a lot of time into the PayPerPost opportunities. But with that being said, it does show what type of potential exists.

The downside of making sponsored posts is that they will take up space on my blog. And the question is: will this bother readers? Since I plan on at least giving PayPerPost a try, I have come up with an idea on how to combat this. As you probably know, I post at least once a day. And this one non-sponsored post is not going to be effected by my PayPerPost opportunities. In other words, I will always write at least one post per day that has nothing to do with what PayPerPost is offering.

It will be interesting to see what PayPerPost does to my traffic stats as well as how much money I can earn. For me, a few hundred dollars a month without losing traffic would be worth my time. I’ll keep you guys and gals posted!

Even though I have only been running Google AdSense on this blog for a week or so, I wanted to give everybody an update on how the advertising program is performing. Generally speaking, the results are pretty much just what I had expected based on my placement and traffic. Since I have used AdSense in the past I kind of had an idea of what the situation of this blog would bring.

As you probably know, AdSense is not a steady program. In other words, you could get 20 clicks one day and just a handful the next. To add to this, 20 clicks on day one could earn you $4 and the next only $2. It all depends on what ads are being served, and of course, what ads are being clicked on.

So what am I earning each day from AdSense you may ask? Again, this is only an approximation, but my earnings are usually in the $2 to $4 range. No, this is not a lot of money, but it does add up by the end of the month.

I am hoping to do two things to improve my AdSense earnings. 1. Increasing traffic should at the very least give me a chance to increase my income. 2. Tweaking my ads, such as color and placement, will also put me in a better position to succeed.

It is easy to get frustrated with AdSense because unless you have loads of traffic you are not going to make a full-time income. But with that being said, it is a nice program that will help you to earn more and more as your traffic increases.

By this time you are probably tired of hearing me say that I have no technical skills. But when it comes down to it, this is something that I have to deal with everyday. For instance, how is a blogger to increase traffic without any technical knowledge such as SEO, coding, etc? Well, this blog may not be getting as much traffic as it would if I were a technical genius, but I have come up with some ways of my own to get the job done.

Here are three non-technical ways to increase traffic to your blog.

1. Quality content will outdo any “technical trick” any day of the week. Of course, you may get more traffic faster if you have good tech skills, but in the long run quality posts will win out. Remember, your readers are visiting your blog for the information you provide, not because you have a vast amount of technical knowledge; unless your blog is about a technical subject, of course. But even then, words power your blog!

2. Meet other bloggers who are interested in the same topic as you. This is a great way to build a network, and hopefully get some links pointing towards your site. Back links are non technical, and one of the best ways to increase traffic.

3. Try to offer information with your own unique spin. Even though there may not be many topics that have not been touched upon, you can surely put a unique twist on everything you write. Simply put, have your own voice.

Chances are that you may have come across similar tips in the past. But as number three states, I hope that putting this in my voice will help you to realize that you can increase traffic to your blog even if your technical skills are not advanced. 

Chances are that if you are reading this blog you are interested in how to make money online. If so, I totally agree with what you are doing. One of the best ways to learn how to make money online is by reading about those who are already successful. Unfortunately, some people have a hard time finding blogs that teach how to make money online in a way that interests them.

Fortunately, you never again have to worry about this. 45n5 has put together a list of the Top 100 money making blogs. It is safe to say that visiting these blogs will give you more information than you can handle in the area of making money online.

Before you spend hours on end reading these blogs, there is one thing that you should remember. Even though learning from others is a great way to get started, you eventually have to go at it on your own. The bottom line is that you are never going to make money online by simply reading about others successes. You need to start your own career so that you can join this Top 100 list!