Blogging & Online Writing Gigs for May 20, 2009

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Our list today is still low on decent telecommute gigs, but there’s more than earlier this week.

Job tip o’ the day: Two words for you – BE NICE. Some people think nice is a boring word sure, but in the realm landing gigs it’s good to be nice. This is basic networking 101. When you’re nice, clients will recommend you to other clients, friends will share job leads with you, and people won’t talk smack about you online (well, not as much) and your online presence will stay healthy. Of course there is the flip side – read When Do You Stop Being Polite?

Anywhere gigs:

About.com is always looking for writers. Interesting topics available to apply for currently include things like; coffee/tea, teen advice, sugar free cooking, San Francisco, flea markets/garage sales, and more.

Environmental Website Writer (Telecommute)

Parenting Site Seeks Games/Tech Blogger

Real estate escrow company – escrow blogger

Bloggers Needed in the Online Financial Industry – ad looks oddly like some others around lately, can’t tell if it’s legit, so be careful.

Review Writers for Teen Entertainment

YourDictionary.com is seeking a freelance writer to create web articles on topics pertaining to grammar, words and ESL. YourDictionary is part of a team of sites which include LoveToKnow.

Location specific:

Director of Media Relations – Linfield College, Oregon

SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORK/INTERNET SAVVY INTERN – MADISON, NJ – intern, but paid.

Food/Restaurant Blogger – Village Voice Media- NY

Food Blog Editor – Village Voice Media- L.A.

Content Partnership Director for New Blog Site – NYC

Writer for Web Content, SEO, Blogs etc. – (Ft. Lauderdale, I-95 & Cypress Crk. Rd.)

Seeking Writer with Education or Parenting Experience – (Redwood City, CA)

Fashion writer – Los Angeles, CA

Temp. FT Web Content Assistant with the National Wildlife Federation – Reston, VA

Web Managing Editor – Donald W Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism- Phoenix, AZ

Publishing Consultant – Brooklyn, NY

Web Site Programmmer/Builder Veggie Van Organization – Santa Monica, CA

Writing Gig with Blerp.com – (Chicago)

Nerve.com Seeks Editorial Interns – (SoHo) – small stipend, but it’s Nerve so perks apply.

Web-Savvy Social Media Manager – NY

It's not too soon to blog the holidays

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I’m back. My move took WAY longer then I expected and other stuff happened like a nightmare cherry on the cake. But I’ll not bore you with that; Deb already covered some of the issue in How to Ruin Your Blog (Like We Did).

I’d rather talk about blogging. Right now it’s almost October, which means it’s past time to start blogging the holidays. No matter your blog topic, holiday posts are a big traffic draw from September to December. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and all the winter holidays are easy to cover and people want to read about all of them.

I usually start a little early when it comes to blogging the holidays, because frankly, I don’t see the point of a post titled “Ten perfectly green Christmas gifts” two days before Christmas. That’s not very blog reader friendly. Right now my focus is Halloween and although my blogs cover an array of topics, I’ll find a way to incorporate the topic at each and every one of my blogs.

Examples:

At Tree Hugging Family: How to green your Halloween costume

At Declutter It: How to organize a scary Halloween party

At Green Home Tips: Recycled Halloween decorations

At Pregnancy & Baby: 5 great baby Halloween costumes

At Offbeat Homes: 6 spooky homes you never knew existed

And so on…

By the time Halloween hits, I’ll have moved on to Thanksgiving, and well before Thanksgiving I’ll start covering the winter holidays (because people like to shop early.)

If you’re stuck in a blogging slump the holidays are a perfect time to get over it, because so many possibilities abound. You can try gift product recommendations, crafts, recipes, decor tips, or even go the sentimental route with topics like “how to have a peaceful family holiday” or “downsize your gift giving.” You can also work in some self-help posts like “dealing with your evil in-laws at Christmas” or “eating right during the holidays.”

I know some bloggers who skip holiday season posts entirely, maybe because they don’t celebrate or they feel like everyone else is already blogging them, but I don’t think it’s a smart move. Holidays provide free traffic ready material, and this is one time when you never need to wonder, “What the heck can I blog about?” so why pass it up?

If you don’t have a good handle on which holidays are which check out All Holiday Cafe to get up to speed.

What about you? Are you already blogging the upcoming holidays?

How to Blog Nice – An Interview with Liz Strauss

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So, I did say I’d talk about clients who don’t get blogs today, (and I will soon – promise), but yesterday I saw a question at a forum about people leaving rude comments at blogs. Mainly, this was about people being rude just because – with no rhyme or reason. This sort of situation – rude people at blogs always irks me. There’s really no point.

Blogger etiquette is a big deal when you blog for others because not only are you representing yourself as a blogger, but you’re representing your client or network. Blogging etiquette also matters because you will be dealing with comments, not all of them nice.

When I see bloggers acting rude, either in a post, or in comments, it does reflect on what I think of a network, channel at a network, or in some cases a company. It’s in your best interest to blog nice when possible. And I’m not talking about being a push over, I’m talking about being genuine, having manners (a seemingly lost art), and not pushing people’s buttons simply to stir up controversy. Disagreeing or debating topics is part of blogging in my opinion. Being rude well, I wish it wasn’t part of the blogosphere, but you see it a lot.

One blogger who is in no way rude is Liz Strauss. In fact, Liz is really nice. Ask anyone. A while back, I did ask around and Liz’s name kept popping up as “the nicest blogger” in town, so I knew she’d have some great tips on blogger etiquette.

As many of you likely know, Liz offers blogging wisdom and advice at Successful Blog, one of the few blogs about blogs at the b5media blog network. Nicely, (no pun intended), Liz answered some questions about blogging nice.
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