Looking for some Offline writing opportunities?

Like a lot of web writers, I chose my online focus because I didn’t want to have to deal with writing query letters and waiting for a response. Even though offline markets pay a whole lot better than online, there’s a smaller chance of actually finding a writing opportunity, or so I thought.

 Laura at Writing Thoughts had a great post this week about writing opportunities offline that don’t require a query letter. They are more business and technical oriented than content writing, but if you are into that type of writing, or have experience with public relations or grants, then they’d be perfect for you.

Check out Laura’s helpful post and while you’re there, subscribe to her feed. She always has some great perspectives and resources to share.

November 2, 2007 | Filed Under Link Love, Making Money, Techniques and Tips | 2 Comments 

Boo! Five Ways to Ghostwrite Online

Happy Halloween! I don’t know about you, but this time of year really snuck up on me. Halloween always marks the beginning of the frantic holiday season full of family, food and lots of spending. Becoming a ghostwriter online, or expanding your existing ghostwriting business, can really help offset those holiday costs.

It’s every writer’s dream to see their name in print, or at least on the screen. But sometimes you’ve got to get “spooky” in order to pay the bills. Ghostwriting takes a lot of shapes and forms online, but here are five of the most successful ways I’ve found to work with clients as a ghostwriter.

Boo!

1. Ghostwriting ebooks - Information products are here to stay, and every marketer wants a piece of the action. If Joe Marketer knows he needs an ebook on losing weight by eating chocolate (wouldn’t that be great!) but can’t string a sentence together to save his life, then you can be his life preserver.

Make sure to find out what style the marketer wants the ebook in and iron out all of the details on length and format before you start. The good thing about writing ebooks, from your perspective, is that you don’t have to research 20 different topics in order to make the same money.

2. Ghostwriting blog posts - Blogging is a great tool for getting to know a target market and branding yourself in a niche, but not all of my clients have time to do it. Providing short, informative and entertaining blog posts can help them stay in touch with their market.

Writing blog posts is easy if you do them in monthly groups. Instead of having to sit down each day, spend a few days ironing out the following month’s posts. Then the client can pre-load them into their blog for the following month.

3. Ghostwriting Autoresponder Sequences

If you don’t know what an autoresponder is, then sign up to receive my free Web Writing Report. I don’t have a long sequence in there, but you’ll get the idea. When you visit a website and sign up to receive a report, the site owner will generally have a sequence of five to seven messages that will continue the contact with the prospect.

In this sequence, they might offer additional information on the same topic, or point out helpful resources. They will also be pre-selling the audience on another product or service they might enjoy. Writing autoresponder sequences is part content writing and part copywriting. You’ll need to inform and also persuade the reader to take the next action.

4. Ghostwriting Reports

Reports are smaller ebooks of 5 to 15 pages that can be used for sale, or as a giveaway product. They help a marketer brand themselves for a specific niche, and increase their mailing list. They can also be used a pre-cursor to a larger product. It’s a great way for someone to test out the waters in a niche without commiting to writing, or rather having YOU write a long ebook.

5. Ghostwriting for Yourself

This may sound like my head is full of cobwebs at first, but hear me out. As you brand yourself online as a writer, you start treating the Internet as a virtual office. Knowing this, you may want to keep your writing career and your affiliate marketing seperate.

For example, you decide to try your hand at doing some article marketing for a health product. You write articles all about a health problem that you had, and how this product helped, etc, etc. Do you necessarily want your client to see that as the first thing that pops up on Google attached to your name?

I’m not saying you need to hide the other things that you are doing online. But it can help your organization and your branding to keep everything seperate and use a pen name for your other article marketing that’s not associated with your writing business. It’s free and it helps keep things simple.

Even if you decide to put it all under one name, take some time to make yourself your client. Ghostwriting is profitable, but you always want to be thinking about the next thing and affiliate marketing through writing articles is a natural next step.

Consider these spooky methods for making money as an online ghostwriter, and enjoy your Halloween. I’ll be carting around my fairy princesses and trying to avoid eating too much chocolate (where’s that client with that brilliant ebook idea when you need ‘em?)

October 31, 2007 | Filed Under Making Money, Web Writing Basics | 4 Comments 

How to Gain Experience without Getting Paid Peanuts

I see some disheartening posts occasionally from new writers who are bending over backwards to gain experience. In an effort to grow their business, they are willing to be paid peanuts.

I know everyone has to start somewhere, but $1 an article is no way to start. Even if you’re the newest of new writers, you can find jobs that pay $5 an article and lines of people just waiting to give you work at that price.

Here are some tips for starting out on the right foot with web content writing:

1. Believe in yourself.

You’re new. You know it. You’re working with people who are making thousands of dollars per month. Who are you to charge more than a fraction of a cent per word, right? Wrong.

Get these types of thoughts out of your mind right away. You’re providing a service. You’re making things convenient for them and making their lives easier. Therefore, they need to pay you for the convenience. Start believing that your time and skill are worth money, and turning down those penny a word jobs will be a piece of cake.

2. Never, ever, ever write custom samples for free.

If you’re starting out,  write some samples from scratch. Hit a writing forum and ask for some feedback on your samples. Make sure they’re great and cover some different topic areas. When people ask to see your work, send them those samples or put them on your website.

If someone asks you to write custom samples, let them know that they can get a sense of your writing style from the samples. If they push the issue, just say “No thanks!”

3. Ask for recommendations after every job.

Nothing builds your reputation, credibility or article price higher than having someone else recommend you. Collecting blurbs from other clients about your writing skills, your customer service and your general awesomeness is the best reassurance for new clients that you’re the real deal.

Hope Wilbanks has a great post today about how to ask for a recommendation.

The easiest way to stop writing for peanuts is to just say no to bad pay. :) There is higher paying work out there but if you’re stuck in the middle of a 25 articles for $50 job, there’s no way you’ll be able to jump on it.

October 9, 2007 | Filed Under Link Love, Making Money, Techniques and Tips, Motivation | 6 Comments 

Don’t be shy - Crow about your success!

There’s one thing that most creative types share - they feel kind of weird about tooting their own horn. I know personally that I’m a bit of a perfectionist. When I’m done with a project, I’m always focused on the things that I could have done better. Other writers may have problems with self promotion. If writing comes really easy to them, they might not see the value of the service their providing.

So I’m declaring a Toot your Own Horn day at Web Writing Info!

trumpet

Have you kicked butt on a project lately?

Did a client give you an awesome referral?

Were you able to reach a personal goal of setting up your website or learning something new about web writing?

Post your success stories below!

October 8, 2007 | Filed Under Making Money, Motivation | 4 Comments 

Team up with a Graphic Designer to add value to your offer

Words can only go so far online. When it comes down to it, people are going to judge a site on it’s looks first. Your incredible content writing skills won’t be of use if your client doesn’t do a good job of presenting the content. You can make their life easier by teaming up with a graphic designer.

Here are a few different ways you and a graphic designer can work together to get more clients:

-Have an arrangement where you refer each other for graphics and writing services. Any clients that come to you from the designer get a special discount and vice versa.

-Barter with the designer to get ebook covers or header graphics for your clients in exchange for writing.

-Team together to offer a special package, like the one I did with Ecover Emu. This is a great way to build both of your portfolios.

-Include a link to each other’s sites on your blogs or websites.

-Create complete websites with the designer and sell them as PLR

October 5, 2007 | Filed Under Making Money, Techniques and Tips, Marketing | Leave a Comment 

Increase your happiness by increasing your writing income

If you can write for others, you should be writing things for yourself. Have you ever wondered where all of that web content you’re writing is going? Let’s take a look at all the things that you can do with one package of articles.

-Articles are used on websites to attract new visitors and encourage them to purchase products or services.

-Articles are also used as part of informative membership sites.

-Articles can be linked together to create reports for sales or giveaways.

-Articles can be broken up for blog posts.

-Articles can be distributed on the web to drive traffic back to a website.

If you can do all of this for a client, why can’t you do it for yourself? Take some time each week to create your own content and build a second stream of income apart from your freelance career.

(This post is part of my mini-blogathon to raise awareness for children with congenital heart defects. For more on this special event, visit http://www.ezinemarketingcenter.com/blog/ to support Dr. Mani.)

September 15, 2007 | Filed Under Making Money, Techniques and Tips, Motivation | 2 Comments 

Having a happy, positive attitude for web writing success

I hear a lot that there aren’t any opportunities for good writing opportunities online. There is nothing further from the truth. Working as a writer online is like finding a hidden goldmine of opportunity. I used to be one of the people who would go on work at home forums and whine and complain about not making money, so I know what it feels like to feel like the cards are stacked against you.

You know what made the biggest difference? It wasn’t finding a new resource or getting a blog. It was changing my attitude. The very day that I decided to change my internal monologue from “I’ll never be able to make money doing this” to “There is plenty of work out there!” then there was plenty of work for me to find.

If you’re having trouble finding work, listen to what you are telling yourself and make changes where you see fit. It’s a simple exercise, but you’ll be surprised by the results.

September 15, 2007 | Filed Under Making Money, Motivation | Leave a Comment 

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