If you start reading various sites that are designed to help writers, sooner or later all of them will mention one thing.
That you should write what you know.
Which is also exactly what I tell people when they are looking for inspiration for an article or a blog post (If they need help with fiction, I send them to the Almost Totally Random Prompt Generator). And I also followed that advice, always picking the article topics I knew something about. Mostly because it required less research from me, and we all know time is money.
After I gave it some thought, at the very beginning of my freelance adventure, I decided to write about something I know and what other people are no doubt interested in. Writing.
You can see my interest in that topic from the numerous posts at Scribophile (when I was still writing for them) and from my various articles at Helium and AssociatedContent.
But recently I decided to start sharing my knowledge about another topic I'm quite familiar with. Studying Abroad.
Apart from being a freelancer, I have a full time job at the University where I work with international students and help students of our University apply for different student exchange programs. That means I not only have the know-how, but I also know quite well what the students are most interested in.
So just to see what would happen, I wrote the first article in December (How important is studying abroad for your career?). I was surprised to see it become one of my top earning articles. So to continue with the experiment, I wrote three more articles (yes, an article a day. It happened without me realizing it):
Determining if studying abroad is right for you
Advice to people thinking of studying abroad
Studying abroad without blowing your budget
Each of them turned out to be among my most popular articles. I am THRILLED.
And just because I didn't want to slow down when I'm on the roll, I did something about one of my New Year's Resolutions and I created a Helium Zone connected to, you guessed right, studying abroad.
You can easily say that three days into the 2010 I'm rediscovering how awesome it is to track my statistics.
So when next time you read how you should write what you know, BELIEVE IT.
Showing posts with label promoting your writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label promoting your writing. Show all posts
4 January 2010
13 December 2009
Creativity, productivity and December in general
Half way through December and I don't feel like slowing down at all. It might be the fact that Christmas are closer and closer and I will finally have some time off before I have to go back to work, or maybe simply seeing the results of my work makes me all warm and fuzzy inside...
Chris, over at Chrisblogging, posted an interesting question, whether or not Freelance writers need a business plan. That post made me think, because it's an interesting dillemma.
By all means, a writer needs a business plan like a fence needs a hole; which is: not much. But once said writer decides to go freelance, decides to earn money with his or her writing, a business plan should be among the first things they write.
See, in my opinion, once you decide to make money with your writing, you need to start thinking about your writing as a business. And treat it as such. Numerous pro bloggers and freelance writers agree on this one. If you don't treat your writing as a business, it won't bring you much money.
I wrote a business plan for myself, when I decided to start freelancing. I took into the account the fact that I have a rather limited writing time, at the moment, that I work fulltime and I don't want to quit my job just yet, and I had to remember that I study on the weekends, so I can use that time to move my writing forward.
To be honest, I completely forgot about my little business plan untill that question, Chris posted. It also promtem me to join in on the fun and I wrote a small article on how writers can create a business plan. I hope those of you who haven't yet attempted a business plan will find it useful. It's definitely good to set up long-term and short-term goals and set up some sort of a road to success.
To move to other topics I wanted to cover.
While I already told you how nice it was to see that despite my complete lack of activity anywhere I earned money at Helium anyway. The truth is both Helium and AssociatedContent earned me money, but only Helium saw such a nice increase in the revenue. But in no way, I want to just sit around and hope for the best during December.
I already wrote four new articles and I'm in no way done for the month.
Practical guide to visiting Madrid, Spain
Creating writer's business plan
How to choose a blog name
How important is studying abroad for your career?
I also have several ideas for other articles, only hoping I'll have enough time to write them all.
I'm also thinking about reevaluating the business plan I wrote, adapt it to my current situation and the goals that changed a bit since the first time I decided to make money with my writing.
If it so happens that I don't post again before Christmas, I want to wish you all Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and good luck in the New Year.
Chris, over at Chrisblogging, posted an interesting question, whether or not Freelance writers need a business plan. That post made me think, because it's an interesting dillemma.
By all means, a writer needs a business plan like a fence needs a hole; which is: not much. But once said writer decides to go freelance, decides to earn money with his or her writing, a business plan should be among the first things they write.
See, in my opinion, once you decide to make money with your writing, you need to start thinking about your writing as a business. And treat it as such. Numerous pro bloggers and freelance writers agree on this one. If you don't treat your writing as a business, it won't bring you much money.
I wrote a business plan for myself, when I decided to start freelancing. I took into the account the fact that I have a rather limited writing time, at the moment, that I work fulltime and I don't want to quit my job just yet, and I had to remember that I study on the weekends, so I can use that time to move my writing forward.
To be honest, I completely forgot about my little business plan untill that question, Chris posted. It also promtem me to join in on the fun and I wrote a small article on how writers can create a business plan. I hope those of you who haven't yet attempted a business plan will find it useful. It's definitely good to set up long-term and short-term goals and set up some sort of a road to success.
To move to other topics I wanted to cover.
While I already told you how nice it was to see that despite my complete lack of activity anywhere I earned money at Helium anyway. The truth is both Helium and AssociatedContent earned me money, but only Helium saw such a nice increase in the revenue. But in no way, I want to just sit around and hope for the best during December.
I already wrote four new articles and I'm in no way done for the month.
Practical guide to visiting Madrid, Spain
Creating writer's business plan
How to choose a blog name
How important is studying abroad for your career?
I also have several ideas for other articles, only hoping I'll have enough time to write them all.
I'm also thinking about reevaluating the business plan I wrote, adapt it to my current situation and the goals that changed a bit since the first time I decided to make money with my writing.
If it so happens that I don't post again before Christmas, I want to wish you all Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and good luck in the New Year.
3 December 2009
Recovering from November - update
As expected, I was completely quiet in November. And while I did great at the very beginning of the month, getting to an impressive 15k in the first week, unfortunately I succubed to flu and spent the rest of the month trying to recover. Because unlike one of my best friends, I am completely incapable of writing while on meds.
In case you're still wondering: no, I didn't manage to writng 50 000 words in one month.
There's still next year, right?
In other news, I was pleasantly surprised to see that while I haven't written any new articles or stories, I still got some passive income coming my way. The biggest shock was the fact that my earnings at Helium tripled and I earned in November three times the amount I got in October.
In a way, I think it's a direct result of my activity on social media, especially Twitter. Now, intelectually and from some minor past experience, I knew that Twitter and other social media help to market your writing, Helium provided me with actual, hard evidence (that is much more pleasant than the google analytics I had so far).
I wrote in the past about how to get more readers and promote yourself on the Internet:
Why Having a Blog Can Improve Your Earnings
Promoting your writing on the Internet
But I'm thinking about writing some more detailed pieces on that, because while not every writer who has an online presence has to think about marketing their work, it's certainly something worth knowing.
And the last thing I want to mention in this update is this whole "rates" discussion that has been going on recently on most of the blogs and websites for writers that I follow. The general consensus is that the rates are low and "content mills" are paying poorly, which affects the quality and the ability of writers to negotiate better rates.
Now, I don't want to add to this already heated discussion is a simple link to a guest post over at About Freelance Writing. You should also read the articles linked within that particular post. As the writer nicely points out. The only thing that stands between you and success is you. If you're earning poorly, you're the only person you can blame.
For example. I don't earn as much money with my writing as I could be. But I know that I'm the only one to blame here. I have a full time job, I study to get a degree, I RolePlay, I write fanfics instead of original stories I could publish and earn from them, I spend hours simply watching TV. And while I welcome all the income, I don't actively pursue the freelancing. If I did, I would no doubt pay more attention, I would limit the procrastination and my earnings would be much, much better.
Because no matter what are my rates, the only thing thast stands between me and success is ME.
In case you're still wondering: no, I didn't manage to writng 50 000 words in one month.
There's still next year, right?
In other news, I was pleasantly surprised to see that while I haven't written any new articles or stories, I still got some passive income coming my way. The biggest shock was the fact that my earnings at Helium tripled and I earned in November three times the amount I got in October.
In a way, I think it's a direct result of my activity on social media, especially Twitter. Now, intelectually and from some minor past experience, I knew that Twitter and other social media help to market your writing, Helium provided me with actual, hard evidence (that is much more pleasant than the google analytics I had so far).
I wrote in the past about how to get more readers and promote yourself on the Internet:
Why Having a Blog Can Improve Your Earnings
Promoting your writing on the Internet
But I'm thinking about writing some more detailed pieces on that, because while not every writer who has an online presence has to think about marketing their work, it's certainly something worth knowing.
And the last thing I want to mention in this update is this whole "rates" discussion that has been going on recently on most of the blogs and websites for writers that I follow. The general consensus is that the rates are low and "content mills" are paying poorly, which affects the quality and the ability of writers to negotiate better rates.
Now, I don't want to add to this already heated discussion is a simple link to a guest post over at About Freelance Writing. You should also read the articles linked within that particular post. As the writer nicely points out. The only thing that stands between you and success is you. If you're earning poorly, you're the only person you can blame.
For example. I don't earn as much money with my writing as I could be. But I know that I'm the only one to blame here. I have a full time job, I study to get a degree, I RolePlay, I write fanfics instead of original stories I could publish and earn from them, I spend hours simply watching TV. And while I welcome all the income, I don't actively pursue the freelancing. If I did, I would no doubt pay more attention, I would limit the procrastination and my earnings would be much, much better.
Because no matter what are my rates, the only thing thast stands between me and success is ME.
30 October 2009
Things before NaNo: Articles and Helium Marketplace
Before I move to the actual point I have some articles to share.
New articles:
- Is donating blood good for you? which is an article I wrote for Helium Marketplace but it didn't get purchased.
- Everything You Need to Know About Helium Marketplace published at AssociatedContent.
Now, this second article needs some disclaimer. I've written three articles for Helium Marketplace. First one, about Tattoo Removal techniques was purchased. The other two weren't. One was about effects catnip has on cats and the other (linked in this post) about donating blood.
Like I've written in the article about Helium Marketplace, I still want to write articles there, but I don't think it's a perfect place nor that it's for everybody.
Next, because it's the end of the month,l I wanted to do a little of statistics.
Top earning articles at Helium:
- Experience with ReviewStream.com
- How young is too young to wear makeup?
- Which is better for writers: Finding a print or online publisher?
It's fun to see the top articles being from different categories and still performing well.
Unfortunately, I won't get paid from Helium this month. I find their minimum ($25) a bit too much to achieve in one month given my amount of involvement (which isn't much, and could be more). I won't probably be able to do much in November, with NaNo on my mind. But hopefully December will prove to be a lot more profitable than October.
Top earning articles at AssociatedContent:
- Get Paid to Write Reviews with ReviewStreamCom
- 6 New Years Resolutions for Freelancers
- How My Blog Earned Google Page Rank in Just Two Months
Now, I made a decision to be more topic specific at AC and so far I stuck to the freelancing, but it's very possible that I'll branch out a little. Either in December or next year. I also expect that the New Year Resolutions for Freelancers will have it's peek in December/January. For obvious reasons. I'll also get paid from AC, but it's not that difficult to achieve as the minimum payout is only $1,50
Now, you can see that the most popular article on both sites is the one about ReviewStream. And it's understandable, because it's an interesting concept and I still write for that site. Though, I have to admit, the minimum you have to reach is a bit overwhelming and not as easy to achive as on those others sites.
Alright. That's all for statistics. I just want to warn you that I won't be posting much during NaNo as I want to save up all my wordcount for fiction.
Please wish me luck :)
New articles:
- Is donating blood good for you? which is an article I wrote for Helium Marketplace but it didn't get purchased.
- Everything You Need to Know About Helium Marketplace published at AssociatedContent.
Now, this second article needs some disclaimer. I've written three articles for Helium Marketplace. First one, about Tattoo Removal techniques was purchased. The other two weren't. One was about effects catnip has on cats and the other (linked in this post) about donating blood.
Like I've written in the article about Helium Marketplace, I still want to write articles there, but I don't think it's a perfect place nor that it's for everybody.
Next, because it's the end of the month,l I wanted to do a little of statistics.
Top earning articles at Helium:
- Experience with ReviewStream.com
- How young is too young to wear makeup?
- Which is better for writers: Finding a print or online publisher?
It's fun to see the top articles being from different categories and still performing well.
Unfortunately, I won't get paid from Helium this month. I find their minimum ($25) a bit too much to achieve in one month given my amount of involvement (which isn't much, and could be more). I won't probably be able to do much in November, with NaNo on my mind. But hopefully December will prove to be a lot more profitable than October.
Top earning articles at AssociatedContent:
- Get Paid to Write Reviews with ReviewStreamCom
- 6 New Years Resolutions for Freelancers
- How My Blog Earned Google Page Rank in Just Two Months
Now, I made a decision to be more topic specific at AC and so far I stuck to the freelancing, but it's very possible that I'll branch out a little. Either in December or next year. I also expect that the New Year Resolutions for Freelancers will have it's peek in December/January. For obvious reasons. I'll also get paid from AC, but it's not that difficult to achieve as the minimum payout is only $1,50
Now, you can see that the most popular article on both sites is the one about ReviewStream. And it's understandable, because it's an interesting concept and I still write for that site. Though, I have to admit, the minimum you have to reach is a bit overwhelming and not as easy to achive as on those others sites.
Alright. That's all for statistics. I just want to warn you that I won't be posting much during NaNo as I want to save up all my wordcount for fiction.
Please wish me luck :)
10 June 2009
Of Updates and Noteworthy
I decided to change one or two things about this blog.
First of all, I changed the layout, this one is much more clear and easier to use. And let's face it. Usability is something very important on the Internet.
Another thing you might notice is the Twitter feed in the sidebar. I've been using Twitter for a long time now, though admittedly I use it more ever since I got a Twitter desktop client (I'm not a big fan of staying logged on the site, it distracts me like nothing else).
Why the Twitter feed?
Because apart from random, RL tweets, I'm posting links to my articles almost immediately after they're published. I've written about it before, but it is worth repeating. Twitter is great when it comes to promoting your work.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter, but don't worry if you don't. I will keep posting links to my articles in my blog posts.
Another thing is a recommendation.
279 Days to Overnight Success, a free manifesto by Chris Guillebeau. It's a great ebook telling a story of how Chris became a full-time writer in less than a year. More importantly: how he is now capable of supporting himself purely on his writing. It's good to see that while Chris' website isn't huge, he still manages to earn enough money to pay the bills AND travel the world.
And while at first the idea of creating a successful business in under a year was a bit surreal, I quickly remembered that all you need is the right approach and everything is possible. After all, I did manage to get a Google Page Rank for this blog in just two months...
Visit my Helium profile
Visit my AssociatedContent profile
First of all, I changed the layout, this one is much more clear and easier to use. And let's face it. Usability is something very important on the Internet.
Another thing you might notice is the Twitter feed in the sidebar. I've been using Twitter for a long time now, though admittedly I use it more ever since I got a Twitter desktop client (I'm not a big fan of staying logged on the site, it distracts me like nothing else).
Why the Twitter feed?
Because apart from random, RL tweets, I'm posting links to my articles almost immediately after they're published. I've written about it before, but it is worth repeating. Twitter is great when it comes to promoting your work.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter, but don't worry if you don't. I will keep posting links to my articles in my blog posts.
Another thing is a recommendation.
279 Days to Overnight Success, a free manifesto by Chris Guillebeau. It's a great ebook telling a story of how Chris became a full-time writer in less than a year. More importantly: how he is now capable of supporting himself purely on his writing. It's good to see that while Chris' website isn't huge, he still manages to earn enough money to pay the bills AND travel the world.
And while at first the idea of creating a successful business in under a year was a bit surreal, I quickly remembered that all you need is the right approach and everything is possible. After all, I did manage to get a Google Page Rank for this blog in just two months...
Visit my Helium profile
Visit my AssociatedContent profile
15 February 2009
Big Come Back!
I know, I know. I've been silent for what seems like ages. All is to be blamed on school. I had to face the finals which made me unable to write as much as I would want to.
I of course did write a piece for Scribophile every week and in between studying I wrote following articles there:
Learning (about) your characters
What type of McWriter are you?
Antiheroes: when good vs evil isn't enough
Challenges, contests and Writing Olympics: why do we participate?
It's all targeted at fiction writers, but mayne those of you who concentrate on other types of writing will find at least some of those interesting and helpful.
My piece about getting a page rank in two months got published at AssociatedContent, so head there if you're interested in how I did it.
In other words, I decided to return to fiction for a while. Mostly because I missed writing plot. Don't get me wrong, writing non-fiction articles and press releases and SEO posts is fun, but nothing is as satisfying as writing a good novel and having people comment with feedback.
I signed up to a chalenge that requires me to write 80K of fiction this year, including 20K long story by May.
Considering that last year I barely wrote 10K of fiction, I was concerned about my mental health, but even with finals, I managed to get over 8K of words in the last two months (almost 6K is one long story). So I'm thinking I'll be able to pull this off.
Keep your fingers crossed. I might manage to get some fiction published this year. And that would be awesome.
On the other hand, my non-fiction writing will definitely suffer, as apart from Scribophile articles I won't be writingany non-fiction until I finish the big project.
Good luck with your writing!
I of course did write a piece for Scribophile every week and in between studying I wrote following articles there:
Learning (about) your characters
What type of McWriter are you?
Antiheroes: when good vs evil isn't enough
Challenges, contests and Writing Olympics: why do we participate?
It's all targeted at fiction writers, but mayne those of you who concentrate on other types of writing will find at least some of those interesting and helpful.
My piece about getting a page rank in two months got published at AssociatedContent, so head there if you're interested in how I did it.
In other words, I decided to return to fiction for a while. Mostly because I missed writing plot. Don't get me wrong, writing non-fiction articles and press releases and SEO posts is fun, but nothing is as satisfying as writing a good novel and having people comment with feedback.
I signed up to a chalenge that requires me to write 80K of fiction this year, including 20K long story by May.
Considering that last year I barely wrote 10K of fiction, I was concerned about my mental health, but even with finals, I managed to get over 8K of words in the last two months (almost 6K is one long story). So I'm thinking I'll be able to pull this off.
Keep your fingers crossed. I might manage to get some fiction published this year. And that would be awesome.
On the other hand, my non-fiction writing will definitely suffer, as apart from Scribophile articles I won't be writingany non-fiction until I finish the big project.
Good luck with your writing!
5 January 2009
Good news, Better news and more news
Before anything, I have two published pieces I want to share. First one is my regular piece for Scribophile about putting new spins on old tales, it's mostly for fiction writers as that's who the Scribophile members are in majority. Second one is finally published article for AssociatedContent and it's 6 New Year's Resolutions for Freelancers. That's basically 6 steps to further your career. And at the same time my own plan of what to do this year.
I have to admit I'm quite proud of both of them, though both took a lot of editing.
Another thing for those not following me on Twitter. I found out today that WritingMakesRich has it's own pagerank. Those who speak Google know it's a very good news. Especially since it's 3/10. For a little blog of only two months it's not bad. Not bad at all :) I'm planning on writing an article on how I achieved that sometime during the weekend or the first free moment I have.
Which brings us to Better news.
I landed another writing assignment. This time to write Press Releases for a SEO company. It's not a big one, but because of the deadline being this Friday I won't be able to write much for my passive income sites. Which means it will have to wait for Sunday (after my weekend classes). With this additional work and busy time at the office (now I understand why they say being part-time freelancer is challenging) I will probably have to write my weekly material for Scribophile tommorow at least...
It's exhausting but I think I like being busy with work. At least I'm working towards my projected income for this year.
My AssociatedContent profile.
I have to admit I'm quite proud of both of them, though both took a lot of editing.
Another thing for those not following me on Twitter. I found out today that WritingMakesRich has it's own pagerank. Those who speak Google know it's a very good news. Especially since it's 3/10. For a little blog of only two months it's not bad. Not bad at all :) I'm planning on writing an article on how I achieved that sometime during the weekend or the first free moment I have.
Which brings us to Better news.
I landed another writing assignment. This time to write Press Releases for a SEO company. It's not a big one, but because of the deadline being this Friday I won't be able to write much for my passive income sites. Which means it will have to wait for Sunday (after my weekend classes). With this additional work and busy time at the office (now I understand why they say being part-time freelancer is challenging) I will probably have to write my weekly material for Scribophile tommorow at least...
It's exhausting but I think I like being busy with work. At least I'm working towards my projected income for this year.
My AssociatedContent profile.
25 December 2008
In between
So I earn money for my writing. Easy to say. Even easier to conclude that the more I write the more money I should be able to earn. Well that's technically true. But at the same time, no matter how much I want to write, it will never be the actual amount that ends up, from lack of a better word, existing. Some days it will be more, some days it will be less. Like every other writer, I am not a robot. I don't have subscription to creativity (even though I would very much love to).
In my recent post to Inspired, I write about what you could do in between creating. It's short and to the point, because my opinion on the subject is short and to the point. If you don't have it in you to create anything, learn how to be better at what you do.
As a freelancer of any kind, you get paid for your time. So every time you're not working, not creating, not writing, you're losing money. Or so they say in those various self-help blogs and articles...
I see how that might be the case. Though I have to admit that since I'm not doing freelance full-time, I'm not that obsessed with money yet. Or at all. Nonetheless, I don't really like wasting time when I know I could somehow forward my career. But even though I can sometimes write 4000 words for paying clients, there are days when I can't put together a simple sentence... And those are the days I tend to procrastinate more than usual.
Don't get me wrong. I tend to procrastinate more than your usual freelancer. Mostly because I don't have this shadow over my head created by unpaid bills and stuff. But there's only that much blog posts I can comment on, that much fanfic I can read before I feel like I should be doing so much more... By then I usually try to write something and fail miserably.
And then I go read some articles about freelancing, seo, marketing and such. I even bought a book by selfmadechick on how to start a freelance business for under $50. I learned a lot from that one. Just like this past month I learned a lot about SEO and how it can affect the pageviews. See, I believe that there's no such thing as knowing enough. There are always people who know more, or are better at what they do. And I could learn from them.
That's why on my RSS feed, next to job listings I have freelanceswitch, about freelance writing and other sites with lots of tips on how to improve myself
In my recent post to Inspired, I write about what you could do in between creating. It's short and to the point, because my opinion on the subject is short and to the point. If you don't have it in you to create anything, learn how to be better at what you do.
As a freelancer of any kind, you get paid for your time. So every time you're not working, not creating, not writing, you're losing money. Or so they say in those various self-help blogs and articles...
I see how that might be the case. Though I have to admit that since I'm not doing freelance full-time, I'm not that obsessed with money yet. Or at all. Nonetheless, I don't really like wasting time when I know I could somehow forward my career. But even though I can sometimes write 4000 words for paying clients, there are days when I can't put together a simple sentence... And those are the days I tend to procrastinate more than usual.
Don't get me wrong. I tend to procrastinate more than your usual freelancer. Mostly because I don't have this shadow over my head created by unpaid bills and stuff. But there's only that much blog posts I can comment on, that much fanfic I can read before I feel like I should be doing so much more... By then I usually try to write something and fail miserably.
And then I go read some articles about freelancing, seo, marketing and such. I even bought a book by selfmadechick on how to start a freelance business for under $50. I learned a lot from that one. Just like this past month I learned a lot about SEO and how it can affect the pageviews. See, I believe that there's no such thing as knowing enough. There are always people who know more, or are better at what they do. And I could learn from them.
That's why on my RSS feed, next to job listings I have freelanceswitch, about freelance writing and other sites with lots of tips on how to improve myself
21 December 2008
Of Deadlines and New Year's Resolutions
So I have this love/hate relationship with deadlines. I love them because they force me to write, but at the same time I hate them because they force me to write...
Yes, I know it might sound slightly confusing, but I am perfectly capable of loving and hating something for the exact same reason. See, sometimes I need a push to do something. Deadlines provide me with that push.
But sometimes, I really don't have the muse to write anything but I have to force myself to do so, because... well, I'm on a deadline....
Getting into freelancing I was aware that I will have to make nice with the deadlines, because once I start getting work, I will start getting deadlines as well... Doesn't stop me from whining about it to my cat. Thankfully, my cat ignores me no matter what I whine about.
So that is my little rant about deadlines.
Next step: New Year's Resulutions.
Everybody I know always makes some sort of resolutions come New Year. I decided that I should do something similar regarding my freelance career.
Especially since soon it'll be Christmas and I will have some extra free time.
So here is the Great To-Do List for the year 2009:
1. Start using BizReef, Guru, Elance and oDesk. Complete profiles and start bidding on jobs that interest me.
2. Create a profesional website for my freelancing
3. Pay more attention to my blogs
4. Go back to writing for Helium, AssociatedContent, Ciao and ReviewStream.
Yes. Only 4 points. But when I look at them I see a lot of work before me. Especially since I also have a full-time job, school and family life to take care of.
But I'm sure I will be able to handle it all. Because I rule and it's Christmas soon. What with miracles and stuff :)
Happy Holidays everyone!
Yes, I know it might sound slightly confusing, but I am perfectly capable of loving and hating something for the exact same reason. See, sometimes I need a push to do something. Deadlines provide me with that push.
But sometimes, I really don't have the muse to write anything but I have to force myself to do so, because... well, I'm on a deadline....
Getting into freelancing I was aware that I will have to make nice with the deadlines, because once I start getting work, I will start getting deadlines as well... Doesn't stop me from whining about it to my cat. Thankfully, my cat ignores me no matter what I whine about.
So that is my little rant about deadlines.
Next step: New Year's Resulutions.
Everybody I know always makes some sort of resolutions come New Year. I decided that I should do something similar regarding my freelance career.
Especially since soon it'll be Christmas and I will have some extra free time.
So here is the Great To-Do List for the year 2009:
1. Start using BizReef, Guru, Elance and oDesk. Complete profiles and start bidding on jobs that interest me.
2. Create a profesional website for my freelancing
3. Pay more attention to my blogs
4. Go back to writing for Helium, AssociatedContent, Ciao and ReviewStream.
Yes. Only 4 points. But when I look at them I see a lot of work before me. Especially since I also have a full-time job, school and family life to take care of.
But I'm sure I will be able to handle it all. Because I rule and it's Christmas soon. What with miracles and stuff :)
Happy Holidays everyone!
25 November 2008
Not like I planned
Yeah, it's almost the end of the month and I'm nowhere near the word count I had planned for November.
I can't blame anyone but myself for being so lazy, but now I know I need to set myself a little more reasonable goal for December. Hopefully, with more days off from my day-job, I will be able to write more.
I'm also happy to see my earnings climb up faster than before and I'm thinking that it's connected closely to the fact that I link to my articles in this blog. I've written an article about that and submitted it to AssociatedContent. I will post a link here as soon as the publish it. That said, I also want to post on similar topics at Helium to see how that new upfront payment would work for me... I'll let you know how it goes (need to write said articles first :P)
For now feel free to visit my profiles on both AssociatedContent and Helium.
I can't blame anyone but myself for being so lazy, but now I know I need to set myself a little more reasonable goal for December. Hopefully, with more days off from my day-job, I will be able to write more.
I'm also happy to see my earnings climb up faster than before and I'm thinking that it's connected closely to the fact that I link to my articles in this blog. I've written an article about that and submitted it to AssociatedContent. I will post a link here as soon as the publish it. That said, I also want to post on similar topics at Helium to see how that new upfront payment would work for me... I'll let you know how it goes (need to write said articles first :P)
For now feel free to visit my profiles on both AssociatedContent and Helium.
5 October 2008
Getting backlinks
Backlinks and Page Rank are very important to promote one's work. And since I'm just starting I figured that while I might not be able to write everyday, I should at least make sure my writing is read.
I decided to promote my work via various sites.
First of all, I use Twitter to post links to articles I just published. It might seem like not much, but it actually adds some readers.
I post about my articles to my personal blog and that gives me some more clicks.
When I'm talking about some subjects in forums, discussion boards or my blogs and I know I wrote an article about that already, I link to it as well.
And recently, I started to use a site called Qassia. It allows you to earn Qassia dollars that can be spent to get quality backlinks to your sites. I think it's a great idea as backlinks apparently influence page rank that has an impact to where your site is positioned in search engines...
So yes. I use Qassia to get this blog higher in the ranks.
Read more on the subject:
Promoting your writing on the Internet
I decided to promote my work via various sites.
First of all, I use Twitter to post links to articles I just published. It might seem like not much, but it actually adds some readers.
I post about my articles to my personal blog and that gives me some more clicks.
When I'm talking about some subjects in forums, discussion boards or my blogs and I know I wrote an article about that already, I link to it as well.
And recently, I started to use a site called Qassia. It allows you to earn Qassia dollars that can be spent to get quality backlinks to your sites. I think it's a great idea as backlinks apparently influence page rank that has an impact to where your site is positioned in search engines...
So yes. I use Qassia to get this blog higher in the ranks.
Read more on the subject:
Promoting your writing on the Internet
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
