5 Steps to Online Writing Success
I’ve just written a report on getting started (or re-started) as a web writer. To download your free copy, use the form located here.
(I tried to provide one on this post, but Aweber wasn’t letting me)
Avoid being scammed….
I found an interesting post at Article Scammers about some techniques to use to avoid being ripped off for article samples.
Online content theft is a problem, and may be causing a lot of writers to walk away from writing for the Internet Marketing crowd. But as I posted here, the problem is far from one sided.
In addition to the tips Pam posted, I have my own:
1. Always get a deposit up front. The 50/50 plan (50% up front, 50% upon delivery) normally works well and is agreeable to clients (at least the professional ones that is!)
2. Don’t put up with clients who talk down to you. A red flag for me is when a job description includes the words “This will be an easy job for someone who knows what they are doing.”
3. Use the same samples for every job. Start out with three articles in different categories. If they ask if you’ve done any work in a certain field, send them a portion of an article that you’ve written for someone else. Never, ever, ever write a “sample” article without being paid for your time and effort.
Join Me on Friday…..
I’m being interviewed by Sue LaPointe, a freelance writer, about writing for the web.
Please come join us on Friday, August 31, at 1 pm EST.
Click here to get the login information for the call and mark your calendars!
Feel free to send in questions as well!
50 Tools to Help You With Writing
I’m on a huge deadline today, so this will have to be short. I found the following article which might help you in your web writing.
Life Hack’s 50 Tools to Help You in Writing includes tips on everything from grammar to style. If you want to polish up your writing, check it out.
Need someplace to submit your articles?
Now there’s no excuse. The Income Hero himself, Adomas Kontautas, has compiled a list of 263 article directories! You might not need them all, but it’s a great resource for your article marketing efforts.
Here are the PR 7 directories on his list:
Speaking of article marketing, have you ever thought of adding value to your writing services by offering article directory submission services? If your client is already paying you for writing articles, it makes sense for them to purchase this extra service from you. You’ve already got the articles and you’re saving them time.
Try different price points, but most people will pay between $3 to $5 per article for submission services. You’ll also need to write a short bio box for your client, and ask them if they prefer to use their name or a pen name for the article. Get the url that they want to include, and then start submitting them to directories.
Exploring Copy Writing
I’ve waited for far too long to learn to be a copywriter. It all had to do with the mystique of “copywriting” (cue dramatic music). And I know I’m not the only one. I’ve written a half dozen or so sales letters, and even an e-mail marketing message or two. I’ve chatted with other writers who have shared my trepidation over hanging out their shingle as a copywriter.
Content? That’s easy…that’s in the bag. By copy is another beast. I don’t know if it was the intimidation factor with charging several hundred dollars for one page of writing (”surely a person’s writing can’t be that valuable!”). Or if it was the mistaken thought that it was something out of my reach.
But I’m beginning to realize that copy is not only not what I expected, but that I know nearly everything that I need to in order to get started.
So rise up fellow content writers! Don’t leave copy writing sitting on the table when you list your range of skills. Step out of your comfort zone, pick up a copy of The CopyWriter’s Handbook or Web Copy that Sells and get to practicing. I know I’ll be doing the same.
OpenOffice - a review
I got a new laptop last weekend, and since I didn’t want to shell out money for Microsoft Office I downloaded Open Office. This freeware package has programs simlar to the Microsoft suite, and can even open your Microsoft documents.
So far I’ve only used “Write” and I think it’s going to work. I was worried that it might be too different from Word. It pretty similar. It has an annoying “auto-suggest” function that I eventually figured out how to turn off (Tools, AutoCorrect). It wanted to turn every word I wrote into something different for me.
My other problem is that I’m having to teach the dictionary a lot of words it should know. It just told me that “flyers” was spelled wrong. I’m sure this problem will reduce as I use it more.
It will even let you save your material in Word if you need to send material to someone that way. I can still open all of my old Word files, and I can open Word docs from other people as well.
If you need a good Word processor, it gets my thumbs up!
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