Myths about online freelance writing

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Myths about online freelance writing

If you take a look around the Internet you are going to find a ton of commentary about freelance writing. You can find numerous blogs about freelance writing ranging from those writers who specialize in online writing, those who are highly educated journalists and from those who are still trying to get their feet wet.  Chances are that you are going to find a lot of talk about what online writing does and does not entail as well as numerous suggestions about how to make more money from freelance writing. Here are some of the myths about online freelance...

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Online portfolios matter

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Online portfolios matter

Many online writers depend on clients being able to go to the various sites where they write and find their portfolio. Most writers (myself included) apply for roles and include links to their various work. I’m guilty of the same thing! Recently however, I had several emails from people who found me online and wanted to know if I would be willing to write a series of articles for them. They “found” me through Google and looked at some of the articles I’d written. However, there are some simple ways to create an easy to use online portfolio.  One...

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Writing Site Reviews: SkyWord

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Writing Site Reviews: SkyWord

SkyWord provides an interesting option for freelance writers offering the best of two worlds: First writers can earn up front payments and second they can earn revenue share.  I am going to discuss the “Bounty” program since this is the only one that I am participating in at the moment. Signing up with SkyWord Like most other writing sites, SkyWord will ask you to register with a user name, password and provide your PayPal email address.Unlike many of the sites today however, SkyWord will not request that you provide a writing sample (yet)! The registration form is straightforward and does not...

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Comfort zones matter

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Comfort zones matter

There are a number of well respected freelance writers who will take on any assignment if it means making a dollar. I think this is great because after all, someone has to write to fill needs of clients. I am not one of those writers, in fact, I’ve turned down so many assignments that it’s almost laughable when I think about it. Comfort zones and speed One of the reasons that I tend to ignore topics that I have no “general” interest in is that I value my time (highly).  The more comfortable I am with a topic, the faster I...

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Writing rates and work quality

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Writing rates and work quality

Writer’s often spread themselves out and write for numerous sites in order to ensure a constant flow of work. Many sites rate writers based on some “secret” formula that is not always evident.  One of the problems with these rates is they may or may not reflect the “vision” of the person who is using the work but instead is being rated by an editor.  Editors are human beings too, but in reality, it is largely their jobs to evaluate the work that is submitted based on criteria set down by the site who is paying them for input....

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Working smarter not harder: Crowd Cloud

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Working smarter not harder: Crowd Cloud

Writing sites often make serious demands on writers time but they can also provide a steady source of income if they are used in a manner that is sensible. In our last section, we discussed Textbroker and explained why it works for a writer who is looking for quick and easy assignments to fill in larger gaps of time. However, what happens when you have only short periods of time available to you? Some writers can benefit from using Crowd Cloud.  Before you get too excited about this, I want to point out that Crowd Cloud is a site...

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Working smarter not harder: Why Textbroker works

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Working smarter not harder: Why Textbroker works

Nearly anyone who writes online is looking for additional ways to make money. Writers know that time is money and that every minute they have to waste finding a new client, exploring new writing sites or any other task that does not involve writing means they are losing out on receiving payment for that time. However, there are some things that can help fill in time if writers would simply take the time to explore them.  Many writers turn down assignments because they do not pay enough, or because they feel they are beneath them.  In reality, this isn’t...

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Make the most of oDesk: Part 4 Assignments

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Make the most of oDesk: Part 4 Assignments

Assignments are the lifeblood of your freelancing career. This is true whether you are a brand new freelancer, a seasoned freelancer and applies regardless of what platform you are using to obtain freelance work. Once you have landed an assignment, there is far more involved than completing the work successfully and getting paid. Each assignment provides an opportunity to (a) ask for more work and (b) ask for referrals. These are crucial. However, before you get to that stage, there are some things that must be done to make sure the assignment is completed successfully. Communication: Make sure that you...

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Accidental keyword ranking – who knew

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Accidental keyword ranking – who knew

As many of you who follow this blog regularly know, I seldom (if ever) do product reviews. I do review websites where writers can make money, review social media sites and evaluate offers of companies who are considered bogus.  However, a month ago I did a review on the Forever Lazy one piece pajama that has been all over television. I admit this “review” was not all that flattering either.  Well, it appears that something in my post triggered something because I’ve been getting traffic from some interesting keyword searches including: 109 forever lazy size chart, 36 forever lazy...

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Last Minute Christmas Gifts

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Last Minute Christmas Gifts

We nearly all have issues with last minute Christmas gifts! In fact, chances are that with less than 48 hours left on the Christmas Countdown Clock that you have at least one or two other people on your list that you simply do not have a clue what to do and with the stores and malls promising to be a nightmare today and worse still tomorrow, you probably are just about ready to give up.  Not so fast! There are some last minute gifts that you can still take advantage of even if you don’t have a lot of...

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Goal Setting: Time to prepare for 2012

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Goal Setting: Time to prepare for 2012

This may seem like it is a bit premature however, as the fall begins to creep upon us, soon many of us will be busy with deadlines, holiday shopping, families visiting and more. Once the children have begun to go back to school, it is generally a good time to start considering what your goals are for the upcoming year.  Before you know it (just over 100 days away) year end will be here and it will be too late to prepare for the new year. Here are some of the things that you can do to prepare for...

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Holidays and freelancing

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Holidays and freelancing

Thanksgiving seems to have vanished before our eyes and Christmas is breathing down our backs.  Now, we’ll be busy with friends, family and shopping. The holiday season often makes it difficult to focus on our work and stay on track. However, there are some things that you can do to make sure that your holiday’s don’t spell disaster for your freelancing work.  Here are some simple ideas that are easily implemented and can help you survive the holiday season. Don’t accept too much work – This may sounds simple but it’s not really as cut and dried as you might...

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SEO for Freelancers: Panda changed things

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SEO for Freelancers: Panda changed things

For many freelance writers, SEO work was fairly simple to do, you used a specific set of keywords a certain number of times in an article. The irony of this is that sometimes SEO phrases that didn’t make a lot of sense wound up in articles, making them search engine friendly (hence the name search engine optimization) while nearly ignoring the reader. The goal was simple: Provide fair to middle of the road content on a regular basis that would attract the attention of the search engine bots that spider your site. Today, this is no longer a good...

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Make the most of oDesk: Part 3 Interviews

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Make the most of oDesk: Part 3 Interviews

Hopefully some of the applications you file on oDesk will turn into requests for interviews. Keep in mind, these can be somewhat tricky! Remember that you are going to be interviewing via email, chat or perhaps (if you are lucky) Skype voice.  Either way, it is simply not the same as sitting across the desk from someone. Be prepared – as with any other type of interview, you are going to want to be as prepared as possible. Before the interview, go back and review the posting. Take careful note of the amount you bid, what the scope of the...

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Scams look like this

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Scams look like this

I generally do not make a habit of calling out companies on this site, instead I prefer subtle warnings to users that tell them what warnings to look out for. However, after getting NINE (yes 9) emails in one day from the same person, I am fed up to my eyebrows. So, here’s what a REAL SCAM looks like: A) Low monthly fee: Really? Since when did I have to pay a monthly fee to work.  A membership fee? Seriously? I don’t really think so; B) Q: How much money can I make?  A: Your earnings potential is really up to you....

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