Entries from March 2008 ↓

Branding  is something that we think about a lot when it comes to small businesses.  Branding is important for the small business, or for any size of business.  Branding is what makes Pepsi “Pepsi” and what makes Pat’s IGA the preferred grocery store for locals in Kawkawlin, Michigan.  Branding is what makes you want to purchase, or avoid purchasing, something with the Martha Stewart name on it. 

| Branding is what sets you apart from everyone else. | photo credit: Cavan Riley |

So, what does branding have to do with your profession as an Internet writer?  Branding can bring you several benefits, including:

• Increased sales and volume
• Increased marketability
• Higher rates for your writing
• Increased traffic to your web site or blog.

| Branding gives others confidence that you know what you are doing. | The Writing Journey, 2008 | 

How do you establish your branded as an Internet writer?  In my experience, there are four essential keys you need to implement in order to establish your brand:

1.  Narrow your writing focus. 

| If your brand is not focused, how can your clients be sure you have what they need? | photo credit: Vilhelm Sjostrom |

Early in my writing career, I set of fell into a very specific niche topic.  I wrote literally thousands of articles on pregnancy, conception, breastfeeding, infant care and raising children.  (And, for those of you who are already thinking it, yes:  I know way more than I care to about episiotomies, artificial insemination and engorgement.)  In the process of building credibility as an authority on these topics, I had to establish my brand.  Having this narrow focus, and having produced a large volume of writing in this topic area, I was able to develop relationships with several clients, and provide a great deal of web content.  For a time, my alter ego (I used a pseudonym) was in very high demand for parenting and pregnancy websites.  I was even able to parlay that brand into writing for some print publications in the niche.  While I have since moved away from that niche (mainly because I know way more than I care to about episiotomies, artificial insemination and engorgement), the continued popularity of my alter ego services as a reminder to this day of the power of branding.

2.  Tell people about your brand. 

|  If you don’t blow your own horn from time to time, its likely that no one else will either. | photo credit: kees0r |

To establish your brand as an Internet writer, you need to include that branding in everything that you do.  Look for a moment at my Helium.com About Me page.  It is similar to the About page on this blog, as well.  In these pages I talk about, and use the phrase, “Internet Writer” frequently.  I talk about how I like to help other writers improve their craft.  My goal is to establish my brand as an Internet Writing guru.  Everything I do related to this blog and my other Internet writing, from the voice that I use when commenting on other blogs to the choice of key words with which I populate my articles, is designed to help develop this brand.  To that end my signature file, vcard and even my business cards all say “Internet Writer.”  For people to trust me as an Internet Writing guru, I need to remind them at every possible step that Internet writing is, indeed, my area of expertise.

Maybe you want to be the “mp3 player king.”  How do you get there?  Blog about mp3 players, but also submit articles to directories reviewing those mp3 players.  Gear your “About Me” pages to reflect your expertise on mp3 players.  Set up a Squidoo lens on mp3 players.  Get involved in technology-related chat rooms or message boards and write there as if you are an authority on mp3 players.  Write reviews about mp3 players for Amazon.com and other web sites.  Whatever your brand is, you need to incorporate that into whatever you do on the Internet. 

3.  Demonstrate your expertise. 

|Don’t claim to be able to ski the K-12 when you crash and burn on the Bunny Hill. | photo credit: Neil Rickards |

You can talk all day long about being an mp3 expert, but if you write a single article that contains factual inaccuracies about mp3 players your branding is going to be suspect .  If you are going to claim to be an expert, make certain that you are one.  This holds true in my case;  if I write an article about using good grammar in your Internet writing but it contains grammatical error, my credibility is ruined.  On the other hand, if I blog about how to get good ratings writing at Helium.com and can point my readers to examples where I’m at the top of the ratings heap, I have demonstrated my expertise.

4.  Create peer relationships. 

| Becoming peers with others in your niche increases your credibility. | photo credit: sachama |

Chances are that you aren’t the only one out there in your niche.  I’m not the only Internet Writing guru and you’re not going to be the only mp3 Player king.  But the good news is that, in terms of the Internet, there are enough clients and enough traffic for those other experts to share.  Take the example of Darren Rowse of Problogger.net and Brian Clark of CopyBlogger.com.  These two top bloggers have shared traffic between them, trading links and readers for years.  It hasn’t hurt either one of them, and it won’t hurt you.  Creating relationships with other experts in your niche can only help to establish your brand.  When another writing blogger quotes one of my articles, it adds credibility to my brand.

Be careful here, however.  Chances are not good that, if you contact the top writer in your niche today, that you will receive a response.  Unless you have been writing about your topic for a long time, have a huge volume of material, or have developed a reputation it just isn’t likely.  Instead, focus on writers in your niche that have about the same reputation as you, and you can build your brands together.

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There are many other things that you can do to help your branding.  Doing guest posts at other blogs or in e-mail newsletters, using customer testimonials, developing a specific writing voice, being published in print publications, press release marketing, and utilizing pen names or pseudonyms for specific brands are other tactics that I have tried with varying degrees of success.  It is these four things, however, that have proven to work for me time and time again.

There is so much talent out there when it comes to writing about writing.  Whether you’re a fiction writer, blogger, content writer, article writer, technical writer, copy writer, poet, or any other sort of writer, there is no shortage of resources out there to help you improve your craft.  And, while so much of what you do in your particular niche may be specialized, you can still gain quite a bit from those in other areas.

Take, for example, Debra’s post on Friday about how she once destroyed half of an entire manuscript.  Only having barely started out writing a novel, I can’t tell you what it must be like to lose half of one.  However, I can tell you what it’s like to ditch a good article because it just didn’t seem, at that moment, to be up to snuff.  Debra’s lesson, that you can “Trust yourself. Trust your talent. Trust that nothing you write is completely worthless,” is viable advice for anyone.

 Or you can consider Yaro Starak’s advice about the key to successful blogging.  Yaro is one of the most amazingly successful bloggers out there.  His Blog Profits Blueprint has helped thousands of bloggers to unlock their blog’s full potential.  Yaro’s Blog Mastermind mentoring program is going to be opening up again soon.  Be sure to watch here for details, as you’ll want to get in on this one if you can.  Even if you’re not a blogger, though, the Blog Profits Blueprint has many useful tips and tricks for writing good content.  The section on Pillar Content is especially useful for anyone who wants to improve the marketability of their Internet writing.

I think the same principles apply for the traditional print freelancer, as well.  Sharon at Get Paid to Write Online offers some ideas about how panic can ruin your writing career, and her ideas are valid for Internet and print writers.  Sharon offers what is really just some good business advice about how not to panic when you find yourself with a lack of work, and how the ups and downs of freelance writing are a normal part of the job.

Take for example, also, Dana’s article on Article Writing Secrets.  Dana offers some excellent advice about article writing that is nearly universal in its application when it comes to Internet writing.  The fact of the matter is, as Dana mentions, that SEO and keyword optimization are techniques that are valid across the Internet writing spectrum, from blogging to article directories to content web sites.

 Skellie offered a post at Darren Rowse’s problogger.net that has more applications that it realizes, as well.  Skellie points out several ways to improve the usability of your blog. Although she doesn’t mention it specifically, the same principles can apply to improving the usability of your content web site, as well. 

So, how about you?  Have you ever found good advice somewhere you didn’t quite expect it, or in a way that even the writer may not have intended it?  Have you found good blog advice at an article advice site, or found ways to market your content site based on ideas from a print freelancer?

First, an announcement.  Congratulations to Alyice (The Dabbling Mum) on winning the writing advice contest.  Check out her winning writing advice.  Also be sure to get over to The Dabbling Mum and sign up for the DM Writes eZine.  Alyice is a tremendously talented writer and her eZine is always chuck full of more good advice.

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On Monday, Catherine Lawson wrote an excellent post on asking the question whether social networks or content were king.  Cath echoes Skellie’s sentiments about how the cause of rapid growth is due to social networking.  Just yesterday, Jim over at PureBlogging.com posted an interesting article yesterday about 3 types of bloggers, suggesting that there are good writers, good marketers, and those who are good at both.

So, all of this forces me to ask the question myself: “Is content still king?”

I think that it is.  Social networking, SEO, alternative marketing methods or whatever may be queen in a given case, but content still rules them all.  Consider these three things:

• On this blog I was able to generate over 12,000 Stumbles in a three-day period on one good article about Internet writing mistakes.  Prior to that, I’d never had more than 500 Stumbles on any article on any blog I’ve written.  Why did that article hit so big?  It was good content, not just passable content.  My other articles do just fine (500 Stumbles is good by me) but they don’t even come close to hitting that big.  Without superstar content, I’d have had only a couple hundred Stumbles on that page.
• Page views don’t always equal regular readers, especially page views from social networks.  I gained about a dozen new subscribers from the 12,000 Stumbles.  The readers I get when another blog links to me are more likely to stick around by about a factor of 100.   How do I get those links?  Good content. 12,000 Stumbles gets me about what 10 mentions on other blogs would get me.  The social networking traffic is nothing to sneeze at, and I’ll absolutely take it when I can get it.  But that doesn’t put social networks that far above other methods of promoting my blog.
• In any business in a free market economy, you absolutely have to have a product with value as well as the ability to promote that product.  If your product is garbage, word will spread and no one will buy your product.  Good content is what makes your blog valuable and social networking is how you promote it.  If your blog is unreadable, uninteresting or poorly written, word will spread and no one will visit your site.  You can Stumble your own crappy article all day long, but it isn’t likely to hit big because no one else will Stumble it.

So, tell me about your experiences?  Where do you stand?  Is content still king?

photo credit: (withinReason) 

Good morning, everyone.  I thought that I would switch things up a bit today.  Rather than me telling you my thoughts on the Internet writing biz, I’d like to give you a chance to share your thoughts.  So, here’s what I’d like to do:

 In the comments section of this post, give me your best Internet writing advice.  Pretend someone has told you that they want to become an Internet writer, and asks you for your best tip.  You can tell me about your writing process, about how you find topics, about how you make money, or really anything at all that you’d like to share. 

 On Thursday morning at precisely 10 AM (more or less) I will close the comments, after which I’ll pick my favorite advice.  The winner will receive The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation by Jane Strauss or a $10 gift card for Amazon.com, winner’s choice.

I will only count the first comment from each person, so make sure it is your best advice.

Here’s more info about the book if you’re interested:

Since we’re just at the start of the Helium Experiment, I thought I’d offer you all some Helium-specific advice this morning.  Many of you have asked for referrals, and I expect all 50 of my allotted referrals to be gone by the end of this week, maybe sooner.  There’s still time to get in on Helium’s reward-athon, and to try to get a couple of free books from me.

For those who don’t write on Helium.com this advice may be less useful.  I do like to think that there are some principles below that apply pretty much to all article submission sites as well as to Internet writing in general.  So, here’s what I’ve discovered so far in my experiment with Helium:

Volume = earnings. 

Volume is the key to success on Helium (and most article submission sites).  Many writers who join Helium get discouraged after writing a few articles and earning a few cents (or less). My advice? Get a few hundred articles up, and then we can talk about making some money. That’s a start. Get a few thousand up, and we can talk about having a reliable source of residual income that doesn’t require much maintenance.

Content area matters. 

Some topics are just more profitable than others.  Test out the various topic areas that you’re interested in, and see which ones pay off.  I can write all day long about Dungeons and Dragons and make nothing or next to nothing. However, I might write one good article about artificial insemination and suddenly you’ve made $2 in a week on that one article.  Multiply that by a thousand quality articles and you’re talking about a nice lifestyle improvement.

Immediate income vs. long-term residual income. 

Immediate income is important; you can’t buy gasoline with the $500 that you’ll earn three months from now.  That is why contests, the Marketplace, and promotions like the reward-athon are so important to today.  However, if you want to use Helium.com to improve your lifestyle tomorrow, you’re going to have to write for more than just those areas.

Rating and content quality. 

Finally, the fact is that your higher-rated articles are going to be seen by more readers, and therefore make more money. Be meticulous about spelling, grammar, formatting and the like, so that you can consistently hit the higher ratings.  Ratings have less to do with good ideas than with good method.

More competitive topics will produce lower ratings on average.

The more competition there is for a given topic, the more likely you are to see ratings that you’re not happy with.  For many (not all) of my articles, I stick to smaller topics.  If you can write an amazing article on a given topic and get it to number 1 out of 50 or 100, then you should definitely do it, but don’t be discouraged when you can’t seem to get in the top few.  Keeping in the top 25% is all you really need for success.

There you have it.  Follow those keys and you’ll find you’re on your way to making some good money at Helium.com.