Eat, Write, And Be Merry: Tips to Become a Freelance Food Writer

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Working as a freelance writer sometimes means writing extensively on topics you have little passion for, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Instead, many writers have parlayed a special talent or interest into a nice stream of income. This kind of transformation is ideal for individuals like musicians who work part-time writing about the industry, for athletes, and for people who love cooking or baking.

7 Important Lessons Freelance Writers Can Learn from Working in Fast Food

If you’ve got a knack for kitchen experiments or if you have discerning taste buds, there may be a writing career in it for you. Here are a few ways you can break into food writing by taking advantage of the culinary skills you already have. [Read more…]

Writer, Edit Yourself! 8 Tips for Self Editing

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DraftFinal

As a freelance writer, how comfortable are you with editing your own work? A certain amount of self-editing is part of preparing an assignment for submission to a client. Even if your client has editors who will review your work prior to it being published in whatever medium it will be used, you want to be sure that you are sending in something that shows your best work.

[Read more…]

Why You Should Considering Submitting to a Blog Directory

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Online portfolios are necessary for freelance writers, and one way to build an online portfolio is to have a blog. As discussed in an archived post, Why You Need an Online Portfolio, a blog is not the only means of showcasing your work, but it is one of the most efficient and easy ways. It can also be part of your website, a dedicated section for your thoughts and experiences as a writer.

Where does a blog directory come in all this?

A blog directory is a website that lists blogs, provides information about them, and links back to the blogs. It’s much like a high-tech version of a phone directory, except that, in this case, there are other benefits to submitting to a blog directory.

What do you get out of a blog directory?

It is rather straightforward.

First of all, you get a link back to your blog. Link building is one of the ways to get authority, which means you get Google to like you more. The key word is “authority”, because it’s easy enough to get links, but that doesn’t mean they’re from quality and trusted sites. With blog directories that have high authority, you are sure that you get a quality link back.

Second, you get more exposure for your blog. This is corollary to the first point. If you get quality links to your blog, the higher the chances of ranking well in Google. That means that more people can discover your blog when they conduct a Google search. Additionally, depending on the blog directory, blogs are highlighted so that its visitors can discover new blogs as well.

Recommendation: EatonWeb blog directory

There are many directories to which you can submit your blog, but one of the oldest and most reputable is EatonWeb.

submit to a blog directory

Much like other blog directories, EatonWeb provides various categories so that it’s much easier to find relevant blogs. As you can see from the screenshot of the homepage above, there are sub-categories as well.

So why EatonWeb out of all directories out there?

More than listing blogs and placing them under categories, EatonWeb has its own special sauce. It ranks blogs based on 3 metrics.

The Strength Metric

This metric is calculated by looking at various web sources to see how strong a blog is. When browsing EatonWeb, you will see the strongest blogs first.

The Momentum Metric

This metric is calculated by looking at the growth of the blog over time. A blog may lose visitors and authority or it may gain them over time. This way, you can easily see the rising stars and the “dying blogs”.

The Overall Metric

This metric combines the two metrics above to give viewers an general view of how a blog is performing. It takes into account the age and growth of a blog.

Take a look at how the blogs are displayed based on the metrics.

submit to a blog directory

So you have a blog…

What are you going to do about it?

For sure, you write a lot of great things that other people would want to read – whether they’re fellow freelancers or just individuals who like connecting via blogs. They can even be potential clients, whom you might not find even if you look at freelance writing job boards.

Don’t let your writing go to waste when you can get more exposure by submitting to a blog directory.

3 Ways Graphics Affect Us: An Infographic

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As writers, words are our tools – maybe even playthings.

We choose them carefully. We hear how they sound in our heads. We see them in our mind’s eye. We weave sentences together and connect those sentences to send a message perfectly.

We focus on words.

It is thus understandable that, sometimes, we underestimate the power of graphics. In this age of writing for the Web, we just can’t afford to do that.

If you’re a content writer or a copywriter whose client only wants text, then that’s a different situation. If you publish for blogs or online magazines, however, you know just how crucial graphics are.

Images can make or break a blog post or article.

Infographic Resumes for Freelance Writers: Use Words and Images to Attract Clients

It is thus useful to understand the ways graphics affect us, how they affect our readers. As they say, you have to put yourself in your readers’ shoes in order to give them what they want and need.

To aid you in understanding the ways graphics affect us, here is an infographic (how meta!) that gives us a look into the psychology of graphics. It covers the early use of graphics in history, their different types and uses, as well as how our brains react to different colors.

It really is an interesting visual aid that will help writers for the Web in selecting images, videos, and other visuals.

ways graphics affect us

Click here to see more infographics from Bigstock

Did this infographic help you understand the use of visuals better? Why not share your thoughts and experiences in the comments?

Are You A Freelance Writer? Read the Ultimate Secret to Enhancing your Freelance Writing Career

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Are You A Freelance Writer? Read the Ultimate Secret to Enhancing your Freelance Writing Career

The path to a profitable freelance writing career is paved with trials and tribulations. One of the most difficult challenges that a freelance writer has to overcome is finding – and getting – a high-paying writing gig. Due to the competitive nature of freelance writing, seldom do writers get a job that pays good money. As a result, some are forced to take up low-paying jobs in order to work their way up until they find a more profitable writing job.

If you’re one of these writers, it’s time to stop getting gigs that have low payouts and get a writing job that pays you the amount of money you deserve! All you need is to find the ultimate secret to boost your freelance writing career to heights you never thought possible.

Are you ready to find out the secret?

[Read more…]

The Dos and Don’ts of Writing an Amazing Blog Post

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Editor’s note: This post was written by Cari Bennette, freelance writer, editor and content creator for JetWriters blog. She has around 4 years experience in blogging and does her best to write excellent posts and share her blogging tips with others. Contact her on Twitter.

amazing blog posts

Writing an amazing blog post seems to come so easy for some writers. They have the perfect selection of flowing words that captures the essence of every idea.

And for others, well, it’s a struggle. A struggle that shows in the numbers: posts with no comments, meagre social shares and zero sales. And it can be mighty frustrating not knowing what to do.

The good news is that blogging is a learnable skill, and with a bit of practice and perseverance, one that can be mastered. [Read more…]

The Best of FWJ February

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February brought most of us in the States snow storm after snow storm, Valentine’s Day and some really informative posts from the FWJ crew. Here are a few of the most popular:

Applying for a Freelance Writing Gig Without Looking Desperate by Jodee Redmond

In this post Jodee cautions against oversharing when looking for writing gigs.

Is Your Blog Dressed For Success? by Gayla Baer-Taylor

First impressions are important. Gayla shows you how to make sure your blog turns heads.

I’m a Ghostwriter (Get Over It) – by Jeffery Reyes

In this terrific guest post, Jeffery hits on the many misconceptions people have about writing professionals.

How to Influence Editors and Make Friends – By Terreece M. Clarke

Some writers get all the breaks? Actually, those writers position themselves for breaks by delivering professionalism.

Why You Want to Keep Your Copyright – By Jonathan Bailey

“In short, having copyright in your freelance writing projects not only gives you a guarantee that you will always own your work and a means to enforce the terms of the contract, it also gives you peace of mind.”

A Radical Response to Piracy – By Robin Parrish

Robin explores the silver lining in having your book pirated.

5 Common Ways Freelance Writers Get Scammed – By Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan hips writers to a few of the common scams that are out there.

Non-Errors in the English Language (Part 1) – By Noemi Twigg

Noemi points out some of the common errors that aren’t really errors. Whew!

Freelance Writing Success: Are We There Yet? – By Jodee Redmond

Defining freelance writing success your way.

Job Security in Freelance Writing – By Jodee Redmond

Can you really make a living as a freelance writer?

Did we miss one of your favs? Tell us below!

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng

Blogging Secrets to Power Your Community

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If I call them secrets, people seem to pay more attention. However, there really are no secrets. Everything you need to know is right in front of you. It’s just a matter of sorting it out and putting it in a format you can easily process. With that said – I’ll be providing you with a series of three posts that piece it all together in simple, easy to process, steps.

The Beginning:

  1. Choose a catchy title. Titles go a long way. Think of your title as the bait that gets people to the blog. Posts with numbers seem to work well too. Especially weird or odd numbers.
  2. A picture per blog post. Pictures draw your eye, whether or not you want it to. People are simply wired like that. I use a variety of free resources if I can’t provide my own images. Flickr and Stock Exchange are great places to get images. (Make sure you give them credit)
  3. Start by asking a question. When you do that, readers stop and think about the question. But more importantly, it shifts their mind to the “what’s in it for me” mode. Everyone loves a solution.
  4. Break it Up! Use of an H3 tag (html speak) title repeating the top title is a method that gives the eye natural breaks.
  5. Write something useful for your readers. Readers want information they can use to improve themselves or their business.
  6. Keep it short! People just don’t read long posts. While there are exceptions – the general rule of thumb is short and simple wins.
  7. Write “unfinished” posts. Providing a means that others can add to invites participation. This could be as simple as asking for ideas or getting feedback of reader experiences are.
  8. Use an editorial calendar. Write down the TYPE of blog posts you’ve written and those you intend to write. This helps prevent recurring posts, and gives some variety to what you’re writing that readers will enjoy. It’s no fun when a topic grows stale.

In the next post, I’ll visit a few technical tips to help you improve your blog community.

5 Ways to Breathe New Life into Old Content

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Andrew Rosen published a post on Splashpress Media’s BloggingPro.com site today called “Bringing Old Content Back to Life: 5 Ways to Revive a Blog Post” that applies to freelance writers, too, so I wanted to share it with the readers here on Freelance Writing Jobs.

A big part of writing is knowing when it’s time to remember that you don’t always have to reinvent the wheel to make an impact on an audience.  If you write evergreen content for a blog or other media that can get lost in the clutter over time, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with bringing that content back out to the front and center of your stage.  The trick is to revive it in a manner that makes it interesting again.

Andrew offered five great tips to do exactly that.  He suggests that to revive old blog posts (and these tips work for various forms of online content) you can do the following:

  1. Repost old content, but do so within boundaries so your search engine rankings are not negatively impacted by it.
  2. Feature old content in a list such as a “Best of” list.
  3. Include a link in a current post to related and valuable content in a past post.
  4. Resubmit old posts to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.
  5. Rewrite old posts so they’re not exactly the same as the original but still communicate the same evergreen ideas (with new thoughts added as appropriate).

These are great ideas, and you can follow the link above to read Andrew’s entire article with all of his suggestions for breathing new life into old online content.

The concept also works when you write for multiple clients.  Just because you already wrote about a specific topic for one client doesn’t mean that topic is off limits when it comes time to write for another client.  The key is to rewrite the content for the specific audience that will read it and include unique ideas and concepts each time you write about the same topic.

If you’re an expert in a particular area, then you’ll undoubtedly be called upon to write about similar topics again and again. You’d go out of business if you only wrote about a certain topic for one client then never touched it again.  As long as the words, structure, and voice are unique in each article you write about the same topic, your varied clients will get a piece that their audiences will gain value from.

Bottom-line, great content can live many different lives.  It’s up to you as the writer to give it the various lives it deserves and get it in front of the various clients and audiences that can benefit from it.

What’s your top trick for breathing new life into old content?  Leave a comment and share your tips.

Image: stock.xchng

Is there anything you don't know about blogging?

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Deb wrote a post last week called, Top 10 Things Freelance Writing Blogs Tell You That You Already Know. Not that this was news to me. In fact Deb and I were discussing this on Skype recently and it pops up with other freelance writer pals too.

Deb’s post got me thinking. IS there anything I can say that you don’t already honestly know about when it comes to professional blogging? It does seem like bloggers who blog about blogging re-hash the same old stuff over and over. Although, just to play devil’s advocate…

There are plenty of posts here at Blogging For A Living along with every other blogging/writing blog out there that explain the same useful tips over and over. Yet, people don’t always listen.

I still see people using the wrong version of you’re or your in posts. I see blog images aligned so poorly that it makes me want to run screaming from the blog. Worst of all I come across way too many bloggers who consistently fail to quote their sources.

I darn well know that Deb, myself and hundreds of other bloggers write advice posts about how to get started in blogging all the time but the number one email question I get from new bloggers is… “How do I get started in blogging?” Um?

Why do you think that is? Personally I’m very curious about folks who email, “How do I get started in blogging” but didn’t yet do a simple Google search for, “How to get started in blogging,” a search that would no doubt bring up thousands of advice posts.

My theory? I guess I want to believe that people like reminders – I know I do. I’ll read something at a blogging blog that I already knew but haven’t acted on, so it’s a good reminder. Another theory is that some people don’t read and/or retain blog posts very well. But really I have no idea.

With this in mind: I went searching for some blogging advice I’d never heard before. Or at least blogging advice with a slant I’d never heard before.

Above are some new ideas/reminders to me, but maybe not to you. What have you seen that’s unique lately. OR go ahead and tell me this – is there anything that any blogger could tell you that would be new and useful?

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