Freelance Writing

As you probably remember, a few days before I made my “new design” live I was giving away free advertising slots. Of course, the new design only lasted a few hours as there were several major problems with the coding, IE compatibility, and much more. While I plan on writing a detailed post on what went wrong and how you can avoid my downfalls that is for a later date.

For now, I wanted to give a “shoutout” to all of those who were supposed to receive a free link for a month. Even though the last design did not work out, I will more than likely make a change sooner rather than later.

1. John Chow of TTZ Media.

2. Deborah of The Rhythm of Write

3. Adam T. of Young Entrepreneur

4. Mukund of A Geeky Life

5. Gigi of Re-Defined Designs

6. Tony of Queeroes

Although I am disappointed that the first design did not work out, especially because I paid for it, things are still going well with ChrisBlogging. November is already the highest month yet as far as traffic and earnings are concerned. Additionally, my RSS readership is closing in on 100.

Thanks again to the advertisers listed above, as well as all my readers!

When it comes to my freelance writing career, I very rarely seek out the help of others. This is not to say that I can do everything on my own, but I am not the type to outsource my work. If I were to do this, I would be putting my good name on the line because clients believe that they are working directly with me. But on the other side of things, when it comes to blogging, hiring help is what I do. Since I am only good at writing content, I often times hire people to help with design work, coding, and much more.

At this time, ChrisBlogging is achieving more success than I thought it would. This success has not come in a monetary sense, but more in the way that I am helping aspiring freelance writers.

No matter what field you are working in, keep this in mind: do what you are good at, and hire somebody else to do the rest. Sure, you can attempt to learn on your own as well, but in order to keep things moving forward hiring help is always a good idea. I have read conflicting opinions on this, but I strongly believe in concentrating on your core competency and then getting help for everything else.

In many cases, you may even be able to trade your services with somebody else. In the past, I have written website copy for clients who have in turn designed a new website for me. This way, neither one of us has to pay in cash.

With my new theme on the way (hopefully within the next two days), there is one last thing that I need help with to take ChrisBlogging to the next level; that being search engine optimization. I am getting a decent amount of direct traffic each day, but my search engine numbers are lagging behind.

That leads me to this question: are there any SEO professionals out there? I would much rather work with a loyal reader than anybody else. If so, send me a quick email and we’ll chat.

In the meantime, keep doing what you do best; anything else you need help with can be outsourced.

I know that a lot of bloggers write their posts in advance, and then use the WordPress timestamp feature to their advantage. While I do this from time to time, I prefer to write each post and then make it live within an hour or so. This has never been a problem for me, but I can see how it could be an issue. I definitely think it is a good idea to always have a standby blog post that you can call on. This way, if something ever comes up you can make the post live and never miss a beat.

Here are three things to keep in mind when writing a standby blog post.

1. Make sure that your standby blog post is not time sensitive. After all, you never know when you are going to use the post. If I write about a current event and don’t post it until next month, it is safe to say that nobody is going to care.

2. If you use one standby post, write another one shortly thereafter. You do not have to rush to do this, but it is something that you should add to your to-do list. Even though you may not have to use the post for several months, you will always know where it is at when the time comes.

3. If you use WordPress, you may want to save the article to your dashboard as a draft. This makes it easy for you to sign into your account and make the post live within a matter of minutes. This is much more time efficient than having to dig up the article on your hard drive, and then paste it to the WordPress feature.

At this time, I have a few standby posts that I can call on in the future. I don’t have any plans for using these posts, but you never know when an emergency will force me into doing so.

Do any of you bloggers do the same? If so, what are some tips that you follow when composing these standby posts?

Doesn’t the title say it all? My new theme is very close to going live, and I wanted to give my readers a chance at some free advertising. Anybody who is lucky enough to take advantage of this offer will get a free advertising spot on ChrisBlogging until December 1, 2007. At that time, you will have the ability to keep your spot for a monthly rate, or of course, give it up with nothing being asked of you.

First things first, let me give you a breakdown of what is available.

1. Six 125 x 125 buttons. These are located above the fold in the right sidebar.
2. 10 text links in the right sidebar.

These are the free advertisement spaces that are available for the remainder of November. With that being said, there are some other spots that have already been taken. But don’t worry; they may become available in December.

When the new theme goes live, I will include information on available advertising and future costs. This way, you can get a better idea of what to expect when next month rolls around.

The question is: how do I get a free advertising spot on ChrisBlogging? Generally speaking, I am not asking for much!

1. A link back to this post using the anchor text freelance writing. For example, “Check out the free advertising post at the freelance writing blog, ChrisBlogging.”
2. Email me the link to your post, as well as what type of advertising space you are interested in. If you request one option and it is not available, I will add you to the other. My email is info@chrisblogging.com
3. In your email, provide the appropriate information for your advertisement. For the 125 x 125 buttons send your ad. For the text links, send your anchor text and URL.
4. As I only have 16 spots available, the free offer will end when they are all taken. As soon as this happens, I will make a post to let everyone know.

Although you probably don’t need any incentive for free advertising, I wanted to include a couple of stats anyway. At this time, my RSS count fluctuates between 70 and 80. Through the first four days of November, I am averaging just about 350 unique visitors per day.

I hope a lot of you guys and gals take advantage of this free advertising. And hopefully when you see how low the prices are in December, you will stick around!

If you like this post, be sure to Stumble it. I am sure a lot of people could use a bit of free advertising to boost their traffic stats!

A few months ago I added Google AdSense to ChrisBlogging. The main reason for doing this was to see how it would perform. I have used AdSense in the past on other blogs and websites, and my success rate varied from average to extraordinary.

So what is the verdict? Simply put, AdSense is not performing that great on this blog. There are a couple of reasons for this.

1. I do not have enough visitors to generate a large number of clicks.

2. Since most people who visit this blog are web savvy, they are not prone to clicking on the AdSense ads. I have found that AdSense is best for sites that are not related to making money online, etc. In other words, sites or blogs where the majority of readers are not aware of what AdSense is all about. They simply see an ad that they are interested in, and click.

Am I going to keep AdSense active for much longer? While I have yet to decide for sure, chances are that when my new design goes live, that AdSense will get kicked to the curb. There are many other monetization methods that are much more profitable for a blog of this kind.

There is nothing wrong with using AdSense on all your sites and blogs if you are interested in quickly setting up a mode of monetization. But remember, some niches are more profitable than others when it comes to making money with Google AdSense. 

A couple weeks ago I made a post on the predicted PageRank of ChrisBlogging. At the time, I used several tools to predict this number, and most of them were showing that I would obtain a PageRank of 4. While these tools were close, they were not accurate. This past Saturday I learned that I obtained a PageRank of 3. Am I disappointed with this? Absolutely not!

For a blog that is only five months old, I am quite happy with a PageRank of 3. In fact, this is even with many of the “big name” bloggers who are earning hundreds of dollars per month with their blog. And with that being said, some of the best pro bloggers out there only have a PageRank of 4.

As you have probably read, Google decreased the PageRank of many well known blogs. Some have speculated that the reason for this is selling links, whereas others feel that this has nothing to do with it. Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to this. As I mentioned before, I do not put much time or effort into thinking about my PageRank. It is nice that it increased and I am now on par with some bigger blogs, but even then, I am not sure that it will do much for me.

Now that ChrisBlogging has a PageRank of 3 instead of 0, I should be able to ask more of advertisers when I begin to offer advertising space upon releasing my new design. Also, some readers have emailed me and mentioned that search engine traffic is sure to increase with a higher PageRank. Hopefully, they are right to a certain degree.

So, how were your blogs affected by the latest PageRank update? Did you see an increase, or did Google slap you on the wrist?

I have been reading a lot lately on how long blog posts should be. Some bloggers say that more words are better, whereas others are of the thinking that fewer words help to get to the point sooner. Personally, I am a bit divided on this subject. For this reason, I tend to mix in both long and short posts, and really never think about this when I am writing.

When I am composing content for this blog, I do not constantly think about the word count Instead, I concentrate on the overall quality. But even then, having an idea on the average length of each blog post is very important.

As you may have noticed, I began to post more than one time per day as of late. In fact, some days I have posted as many as five times. And if everything stays on track, I plan on continuing at a rate of two or more posts per day for the foreseeable future. Obviously, with posting so many times per day, the length of each one is something that I want to get right.

The majority of my blog posts as of late range from 350 to 700 words. Of course, sometimes I only hit a couple hundred words, but other times I close in on 1,000. I have come up with several pros and cons for both long and short posts.

First off, let’s take a close look at shorter blog posts. The main advantage is that your readers will not have to sift through information that they do not want to read. In other words, you can get right to the point without rambling on. But at the same time, can you really say what you need to in only 200 words or so? In some cases, the answer may be yes. Just make sure that you do not end your post without telling readers what they want to hear. Leaving them unfulfilled is never a good idea. This is something that I am working on with each post that I make.

On the other side of things, longer blog posts have pros and cons as well. To combat what was said above, a longer post allows you to include more information. But again, this information is only useful if it is fact filled as opposed to fluff or filler. A big downside of long blog posts is that they take longer to write. In turn, you may not be able to produce as much content as you would like. This is why you will see that some blogs only post twice a week, but they are in excess of 1,000 words each time.

All in all, I do not think that quality and length are directly tied together at all times. Many bloggers will tell you that shorter posts are not of high quality, but I do not feel this way. As long as you are offering useful information that is interesting to your readers, you should feel as if you are achieving a high level of quality. 

By the way, this post came in at right around 500 words.

I have always believed that setting career related goals is the key to success. After all, if you do not know what you want to accomplish, how will you know what direction to head? Just like any other career, if you are interested in freelance writing and/or blogging you need to set goals.

The main reason that many freelance writers and bloggers do not set goals is because they have no idea what to strive for. While it can be difficult to set solid, realistic goals, you need to do so in order to achieve success.

As a freelance writer, there are several goals that you can make for yourself. First off, set a goal for how much money you want to earn each month. While doing this, make sure that you are realistic. You may earn $7,500/month sooner or later, but in your first month as a freelance writer this is probably not going to happen.

Additionally, you can set freelance writing goals based on the number of queries you send out or contacts you make. For instance, tell yourself that you will send query letters/emails to at least three publications a week. Many of these may turn into rejection, but over time you are sure to breakthrough. The nice thing about a goal like this is that anybody can do it. As long as you have the motivation to send out letters, you will reach this goal. It has nothing to do with quantity of work or income.

On the blogging side of things, you can set similar goals. Many bloggers set goals based around traffic numbers, backlinks, and of course, income.

As you move forward, you will want to make sure that you adjust your goals to suit your needs. For instance, if you have a goal of earning $1,000/month via freelance writing, you will want to work hard until you succeed. But guess what? At that time, you should set a new goal; one that will push you even higher. Over time, as you reach each goal you will be able to look back at your starting point and see just how far you have come.

Through my experience, setting small goals with your freelance writing and/or blogging careers is the best way to go. This will help you to reach your large goals sooner, and in turn keep you motivated as you move forward.  

Generally speaking, I see myself as a freelance writer. This is what I do, and it is safe to say that I wouldn’t trade this job for any other. But with that being said, I have become addicted to blogging, internet marketing, and internet business as a whole over the past six months. Even though I have several projects in the pipeline right now, this blog is definitely one of the most promising.

There are several reasons that I am confident that ChrisBlogging will continue to move forward with success. First off, the blog is moving in the right direction, month in and month out. I may not be making huge amounts of money, but that is not my main concern at this time. Simply put, I want to continue to build quality content and traffic. In time, both of those will begin to help when it comes to monetization.

If ChrisBlogging is to succeed in the future, several changes need to be made. First and foremost, a unique design is necessary for a number of different reasons. Mainly, a unique design will set ChrisBlogging apart from the crowd, while also helping as far as branding is concerned. Additionally, more monetization methods will be opened up with a new design. I have been working with a designer for the past week, and am excited about making my new theme live sometime in the very near future. In fact, I am going to give a preview very soon so that advertisers and potential contributors can get on board. 

Another important aspect of future success is the continuation of quality posts. While I have only gone without a post one day since starting this blog, I want to ramp up production very soon. With so much to say about freelance writing and blogging, two posts per day would be much more suitable. Of course, this will hopefully lead to more traffic.

All in all, as long as I continue to post quality articles and help readers, I will feel like this blog is a huge success. And I don’t plan on changing either of those things in the near future.

Although I do not spend much time considering the PageRank of this blog, it has come to my attention that Google is in the middle of an update. Since this blog is new, it is still at PageRank 0 at this time. Is this going to change sometime in the near future?

By scouring the blogosphere for a few hours this morning, I came across several posts by bloggers who are using the iWebTool Google PageRank Prediction tool. From what I read, this tool is pretty accurate; being correct 9 out of 10 times for the most part.

Since it only takes a few seconds to use this tool, I gave it a whirl. It is showing ChrisBlogging as having a Current PageRank of 0. The predicted PageRank, whenever this happens to occur, is 4; which is quite good for a new blog. The accuracy is shown at 87.9%, and the backlinks number is showing 3,342.

If this tool ends up being accurate, I will be ecstatic. When it comes down to it, a PageRank of 4 is sure to increase search engine traffic, while also giving me more clout when moving forward with future advertising options.

Of course, despite what some webmasters say, tools such as this one have no way of being 100 percent accurate. After all, Google is not going to make it easy for anybody and everybody to accurately predict this type of information.

There is no way of knowing when Google will update the PageRank of this blog. All I do know is that the updates are taking place at this time. Even though I am not too concerned with PageRank, it would be nice to see an increase in time.