Entries from July 2008 ↓

People ask me, on a pretty regular basis, how they can get started writing on the web. What’s especially interesting about this is the fact that some of these folks are the same ones who, three or four years ago when I started this gig, sort of snickered. They figured I’d fallen into some crazy scheme that would bottom out in a few weeks.

Five years on, and it hasn’t exactly bottomed out. In fact, things are going swimmingly.

My purpose on this blog, as my regular readers are well aware, is to help Internet writers achieve their dreams. There are several ways I go about doing that:

• There are my regular blog posts, of course. While their frequency can vary, I try to always post at least a couple of times a week, though my unofficial goal is four posts a week.
• There are my guest posts, like I have over at Freelance Folder. My ongoing Violent Truths column and my Seven Deadly Freelancing Sins series are examples. I’ve also been featured on Freelance Switch, Remarkablogger, Freelance Writing Jobs, Meryl.net, and many other sites.
• There’s my writers’ mentoring program, which I’ll be talking about more as we get further into the month of July. I’m still hammering out a lot of details, but I’ve got some interesting surprises coming in that area that I think you’re going to be absolutely thrilled about.
• I also occasionally offer product reviews that I think will be useful to my readers. I don’t do paid reviews, but I’ll often do affiliate reviews. Affiliate reviews are ideal because they allow me to unleash both barrels when it comes to a product. Like the Pen Men, I refuse to review something that I think is completely useless or overpriced.

That’s where I want to spend some time today, on that last bullet point. I want to briefly cover four key products that I consider extremely useful for the new freelancer. One of them is free, and you can get all four of them for less than $100. If you’re just starting out as a freelancer or if you’re exploring the freelance route, each one of these resources will give you a huge boost – if you follow their advice. Understand that I put my own word behind these products. I won’t recommend something to you that I don’t fully believe in myself.

Rockstar Freelancer

I’ve done an extended review of this book previously. I still recommended it as an important resource for new freelancers. Several of you have purchased this book and I haven’t heard any complaints. Check out the review for more information, as well as a link to buy the thing.

Men with Pens’ Write For The Web

To my own dismay, I haven’t yet reviewed Write For The Web here. This book is the perfect companion, though, to Rockstar Freelancer. What Rockstar Freelancer doesn’t tell you about Internet-specific writing, this book does. Oh, and did I mention who the authors are? None other than James Chartrand and Harrison McLeod of Men with Pens. Their advice has proven to be indispensable, even for an old hand like me. These boys know their stuff.

Ninja SEO School

Naomi Dunford over at Itty Biz is, in my mind, one of the sharpest small business consultants on the planet. At the very least, she’s the wittiest. Her SEO School is a well-written, highly readable and amazingly reliable guide to Search Engine Optimization. The best part about it is that she truly advocates for good writing, and recognizes that SEO is only as good as the rest of the writing involved.

Blog Mastermind

Yaro Starak’s Blog Profits Blueprint is available for free download. I’ve said it before, and it holds true to this day: This document was instrumental in convincing me to start a blog, and was also instrumental in helping me get the blog traffic that I have. I haven’t had a single week where I’ve had fewer subscribers than the week before, and Yaro’s Blog Profits Blueprint was instrumental in that. Yaro also has a blog mentoring program that you might consider if your focus of freelance writing is going to be your own blog.

What will your last blog post say?

When it’s all said and done, when you’ve breathed your last, what will your readers remember? What would you want to tell them?

Recently, Dorian (you may know her as Coffeesister) sent a StumbleUpon link to Punk Rock Mommy’s final blog post. I don’t recommend reading that post without a handy kleenex. Heck, you might need a whole box.

Here’s a woman who lived her life, right to the end, interacting with her readers. She talked about cancer, about parenting, about family, about life, and about her own story. Her journey, if you will.

Now, I can’t say I’d heard of Punk Rock Mommy before today. But she’s made an impact on me, days after her passing.

Anyways, it got me asking lots of questions: how will I be remembered? What would my last blog post say? Do I connect with my readers in the way that Punk Rock Mommy connected with hers? I try, like she did, to share my triumphs and my failures, my good luck and my rotten fortune, my progress and my regress, my life and, one day, my death.

I know my struggles aren’t nearly as serious as Punk Rock Mommy’s. I don’t mean to suggest that my struggles as a freelancer are anything like struggles with cancer. But I do think i can be the student, here. I think I can learn something from Punk Rock Mommy, something about life, about love, about struggle. Here are some of her parting words (emphasis mine):

I learned a lot over the year that I battled this dreaded disease. I learned that it is not in our best interest to hold out expectations to God. He is not Santa Clause. He does what is right and good. This was my path. My journey in this world was difficult and painful but important in my spiritual growth. I learned that we have to be happy despite our circumstances. We can’t say I will be happy when…. No sweeties be happy now because today is all you have.

I learned that all the small stuff is very small and not worth your time and attention. Gossip and resentments,worrying about things that never happen, fearing the unknown. Let it go my lovelies, breath and just be good to each other. I realized not long after my diagnosis that life is too short to spend it hurting people and holding onto the anger we have for those around us. I am no doormat, but I just let go of all that hard core resentment. God forgives us through the blood of His Son. He forgives those who hurt us as well.

My final advice wouldn’t be that different, I suppose. I think Punk Rock Mommy pretty much hit it on the head. I think I’d say something like this:

Be happy now, my dear friends. Today is all we have. Be good to one another. Take comfort in whatever spirituality you are so inclined (or not), and learn to be happy despite your circumstances. Follow your path; pursue your dreams. Work hard, love your family be generous and forgiving. Do it today, while you still have the flicker of life, for one day your own candle will dim.

So, what about you? What will your final blog post say?

(Take a moment, as time allows, to visit Punk Rock Mommy. If you’re so inclined, you can donate something to help out the family. Donations will be divided between a trust for the kids, summer fun for the kids and child care.)
photo credit: jdl_deleon

When I was in grade school, I wanted to be a poet.

I remember writing a limerick in the 3rd grade. It was something about a witch and a ditch. Couldn’t tell you the rest. By the 5th grade I was winning district creative writing competitions.

Through high school I switched over to short stories, having had a bad experience with a poetry teacher.  I realized, though, once I was in college, that very few people ever make it writing poetry or fiction. Sure, it’s possible; but I’m only mildly talented in those areas.

I’m not being modest here; the truth is that I’m a kick-ass web writer. I’ve often talked about being “at the high end of average,” but the more freelance work I do the more I realize that I’m really very good at it. There are others who are better, but I’m at least good enough to make a comfortable living at it.

What’s my point? Well, writing for fun and writing for dollars are two different things for most of us. Take, for example, the creative writing game going on at Escaping Reality. I have a blast posting to those boards. I write for a couple of hours each week, and will never make a dime on it. (Incidentally, I believe there are slots open if you’re interested in joining us. Check with Harry And James to be sure.)

I think I can compare it to the days when I was building computers for a living. I’d custom build PCs for all sorts of folks, but I’d really get into building and modifying my own PC. Sure, it saved me a couple of bucks to build my own, but not as much as I made when I built someone else’s.

Sometimes, you’ve just got to write for the hell of it. Maybe, for you, that’s poetry or fiction. Maybe it’s writing articles for fun at an article directory. I know that a lot of the work I did at Helium last March fell into this category.

So, what about you? If you’re a writer, what do you write for fun?

(Also, if you haven’t been following my seven deadly sins of freelancing series this week at Freelance Folder, go check it out. You’ll be glad you did!)

Happy Monday, all.

I trust that the various celebrations over the past few days (Independence Day in the U.S. and Canada Day for my Northern readers) haven’t taken too much of a toll on you. I actually managed to squeeze out two and a half days without working, and it felt mighty nice. Best of all, I was able to enjoy some time with some old friends who were in town visiting. We played games, shot off fireworks, lit some bonfires, and just had a swell time.

Now, I understand it might surprise some folks to hear me say say that 2 and a half days off is nice. After all, don’t freelance writers set their own schedules? We do, sure. But it doesn’t mean we work fewer hours. Not by a long shot.

While I didn’t plan it that way, my weekend provided me a great way to introduce today’s post. I’ve started a series over at Freelance Folder called The Seven Deadly Sins of Freelancing. The first sin – underestimating the job - is up today, and the rest of the series will be coming soon. Make sure to stop over there and see what I’ve cooked up for you.
photo credit: JustinsPhotos

Can I rant for a minute? Yes? Good.

As you may know, I spent a good bit of time back in March and April doing an experiment with the article directory site Helium. I had some amazing success, earning more than $1000 writing part time over 40 days. The potential for residual income seemed to be high, as well, and if my Helium work continued to earn the same rate it had been earning, I’d have been looking at $100 a month or so in residual income.

I detailed my experiences here, and even wrote a few posts telling you how to do well in Helium contests. I even put together a report detailing my experiences and offering advice on how writers can make money at Helium.

Some of my readers joined Helium and experienced some success. At least one managed to sell an article in the Marketplace, and another won money in a writing contest.

So, why am I disappointed, frustrated and angry? Here’s why:

• The changes to Helium’s earnings policy have turned the potential $100 a month into around $3 a month. They’ve claimed to be making changes to the structure, but after several weeks of waiting I’ve not seen it.
• The rate of recursive income my recruits are getting is scary, if Helium is doing things the way it says it is. I’ve recruited nearly 40 writers, of which I should be getting a 5% bonus based on their earnings. To date, that’s been $.05. This means my 40 recruits have earned about $1 – total – between all of them.
• Helium claimed they were going to make changes to the article writing interface, offering more exposure to the author and possibly outbound links. This has yet to be done.
• The contest structure has been revamped, with about half the weekly amount of prizes.

I’ve been one of Helium’s most vocal advocates in the blogosphere, and have recruited a good number of writers. Helium’s changes and failure to follow through have made me look bad. The fact that my 40 recruits have earned $1 makes me look like a shill.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of Helium. I want it to work. I like the combination of the marketplace, contests, and residual earnings. I’m also a big advocate for the ratings system. Helium has the potential to be the greatest of all the article directories.

But I earned more money last month with five eHow articles that I wrote in January and February than I earned with the nearly-400 articles I have on Helium. My dozen or so Associated Content articles did about the same that Helium did.

No matter how hard I try, I can’t come up with a good excuse for that.

None.

So, what will change my mind, bring me back on board with Helium? There are three things Helium needs to do to regain credibility:

1. Restructure their payment formula to be at least within striking distance of other directories.
2. Offer at least one outbound “resource” link in each article.
3. Figure out what they’re doing with contests, both in terms of structure and rankings, and stick to it.

What will NOT help is the status quo.

So, what do you think? Was it a mistake for me to promote them to begin with? Am I being too harsh? What else could Helium do to restore credibility? How is Helium doing for you these days?

photo credit: Spigoo