Over the past week or so I have received a few emails from aspiring freelance writers asking if it is a good idea to start a blog. Although there is no right or wrong answer to this question, I always tell them the same thing: blogging is a great way to express your personality, while also making contacts. To go along with this, it is a form of writing so it is something that should come semi-naturally.
Many freelance writers do not have enough time to blog on a regular basis. This is a common problem, and one that can be frustrating. I think it is important to make time for this blog for two reasons:
1. It is a great way for me to give back to other freelance writers. Even if every post does not help, hopefully a few of them lend tips and advice that can be useful to a large number of readers.
2. I enjoy blogging because it helps to break up my day. Hour after hour I am working on freelance writing projects for others, but when I blog I am writing for myself. There are no guidelines to follow or clients to please; I can do what I want.
If you do not have a blog and are an aspiring freelance writer, you should take the time to start one right away. You do not have to post once per day like I do, but it is definitely a great way to help others and express your opinions while working on something that you can call your own.Â
As of late I have spoke with several aspiring freelance writers who all asked the same question: can blogging help my career? In my opinion, blogging is only natural for freelance writers. After all, it is a great chance to not only write, but to hopefully make some contacts along the way.
When I first started this blog I did not have much direction. Generally speaking, my main goal was to simply help others who were interested in becoming a freelance writer. Over time the shape of the blog began to become clearer, and I think I have finally honed in on the direction that I want to take.
There are two ways that this blog has helped my freelance writing career. First off, it has brought a few clients my way; several of them pay quite nicely. This is not the main goal of the blog, but it is definitely an added bonus. While my blog doesn’t make much money through traditional advertising, I get some added income from clients who find me here.
Additionally, blogging has also afforded me the opportunity to connect with many others. For instance, Michael Kwan, who runs one of my favorite blogs, recently sent a client my way. He did not have the time to work with the client, but thought of me. Would I have received this referral if I did not run this blog? Of course not. Connecting with others as a freelance writer is so important for many reasons. Sure, it can help you to find more work, but as somebody who works at home, it is always nice to have people to correspond with via email, instant messenger, etc.
Although I update this blog at least once per day, this is not a frequency that you have to follow. Anytime that I am asked, I tell aspiring freelance writers that it is a great idea to start a blog. Â
It is not too often that I ask my readers for anything, but I thought I would give it a try. As you may have noticed, you can now subscribe to my RSS feed via email. This feature has been enabled for a few weeks, and it has helped to push my count to an average of 135.
Of course, my goal is to reach as many aspiring freelance writers and entrepreneurs as possible. By subscribing by email you can ensure that you never miss a post. After all, each one will be delivered to your inbox like clockwork.
Within a couple of months I hope to reach 200 RSS readers. If you have yet to do so, subscribe now, and join the rest of us on our trip to freelance writing success! Â
As you may have noticed, I added an advertising page to the top of ChrisBlogging. Although this blog is not extremely popular, it does attract 100 to 200 visitors per day and boasts an RSS feed count of 125 or so. The most beneficial feature to potential advertisers is that the blog is trending upwards in terms of traffic, RSS count, page views, etc.
During the month of December I received several advertising offers, but since I did not have any prices in place, I decided to pass. At this time, I do not want to overdo ChrisBlogging with advertising. For this reason, I am only offering ads that are unobtrusive such as reviews, sidebar text links, etc. For now, you will not see any banners or 125×125 blocks. I feel that providing content is more important; after all, I am a writer!
As a bonus to regular readers, I have decided to add a special advertising deal. If you write a post touching on my advertising options and link to ChrisBlogging, you will qualify for a 50 percent discount on your first two months of advertising! This deal is good for any and every type of advertisement. All you have to do is email me your post including my link, as well as your advertising information, and payment.
If you are interested in advertising on ChrisBlogging check out the advertising page. Prices are cheap, and exposure is increasing as each month goes by.
If you tried to access ChrisBlogging this morning, you probably noticed that it was “down and out.†I was met with this surprise several hours ago, and just recently got to the bottom of the problem.
To get to the bottom of things, I first contacted BlueHost. Unfortunately, they told me that everything looked good on their end. As you can imagine, this scared me a bit because of all the blogs that have been hacked over the past few weeks.
Since I have no technical skills of my own, I was at a bit of a loss. I already noticed that my stats were suffering, and in the back of my mind I knew that some of you guys and gals were trying to access the blog. For this reason, I wanted to get things fixed sooner rather than later.
The next step I took was to get in touch with my tech guy. He helps me with everything from working out bugs to SEO and much more. After only a few minutes of rooting around, he noticed that a recent plug-in had a bug. After deactivating it, everything was restored to normal for the most part.
Although everything worked out in the end, this situation got me thinking. What would I have done if my blog was hacked beyond immediate repair? No matter who you are or how serious you are about your blog, make sure that you always back it up. This may sound time consuming and tedious, but it is well worth it.
To all my readers, sorry for the downtime this morning. Hopefully this will never happen again, but if it does, you can be rest assured that I will be working hard to figure out the problem. In the meantime, make sure that you protect your blog!Â
Like the majority of people, I am not working long hours today. After all, it is Christmas! With that being said, I wanted to write a quick post wishing everybody a safe holiday. Christmas only comes around once a year, so have a good time. I’ll be back to posting tomorrow.
Christmas is only a few days away, and I have yet to go shopping! While this is nothing new to me, I really thought this year would be different. I always vow to get my shopping done early, but it never quite works out that way. With that being said, I always have time to write a blog post or two.
If you are going to be near your computer on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, be sure to check out ChrisBlogging. Although most blogs will not be updating on these days, I hope to add a little something; even if it is nothing too in-depth or complex. Remember, if you do not have time to update your blog, the WordPress timestamp features can do wonders!
For now, I am going to wade through a sea of people at the mall. Hope all of you are done with your shopping. If not, time is running out; you better get started!
I just wanted to send a quick thanks to all of my RSS readers. Today is the first time that I broke the 100 subscriber mark! Although this is a long way from where I want to be, it is one of the many goals that I set for myself upon starting this blog.
To tell you the truth, I don’t have any secrets on how to increase this number, etc. Unlike some of the big “make money online†bloggers, this number is not a measure of success for me. Generally speaking, my main goal is to provide high quality, useful information, and then let readers decide if they want to add me to their reader; some do, some don’t.
Many have told me that reaching 100 subscribers is the most difficult. Hopefully 200 will be right around the corner.
Thanks again, and if you have yet to subscribe, you can do so here!
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.
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.
