I paid nearly $50 today for an ebook about making money from blogging. It promised so much and was generous in the number of pages, nevertheless the biggest lesson I learned from this ebook was that people can make a lot of money from information products irrespective of the quality of the writing and the information.
I have read a few ebooks lately which have fallen greatly short of professional quality. Yet, the authors are making a small (and sometimes big) fortune from selling their products online. As writers, we have a unique opportunity to profit from our writing by writing high quality and informative ebooks.
One of the things that has amazed me on my content writing journey is that people who have poorly written (if not downright shocking) websites, put their name to inadequate and unpolished ebooks and other material and in other ways indicate a poor personal standard, are often the most picky and difficult clients and pay the lowest rates. I've actually had a potential client want a number of unnecessary revisions because he wanted so many sentences between keywords - on unpaid test articles! What does this mean for a writer? It means we can expend a lot of unnecessary effort for little recompense instead of focusing our time and energy on activities that actually profit us most.
I read a self development ebook last week which had clearly been transcribed from a talk. As a written work it was dreadful but this author rakes in the money. So what do you think the possibilities are for good writing and great content? Of course, we could certainly learn a great deal about marketing from these people. They'd have to be great marketers to become wealthy from such poor quality work.
If you have been writing for any length of time, you will probably have favorite areas of interest and therefore have accumulated valuable research. What if you wrote an informational ebook and sold it yourself? How many books have you written that others have put their names on?
So this is my challenge to myself and to other content writers: write something for yourself and find a way to profit from it. Believe you can do it and you can. Just look at what's out there every time you waiver and doubt yourself.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
To Ping or Not to Ping, That is the Question!
This is my first blog. I’ve written blog articles for clients but I haven’t had my own blog before. It’s another world complete with a language of its own. I’ve used various traffic generation techniques with my website, but blogging is a world apart. I suppose that’s why they call it the ‘blogosphere’.
As I researched how to build the popularity of a new blog, I came across the term ‘to ping a blog’. My first coherent thought was “What the..?” And yes, that was coherent compared to well… brain freeze! “To ping a blog.” It sounds like something in a Dr Suess book doesn’t it? “I pinged before lunch. I pinged before tea. I pinged my blog to get traffic, you see!”
I discovered with a little investigation, that pinging one’s blog was simply notifying blog index services when a blog was updated. This information is then made available when people search their directories. It also increases the likelihood of major search engine spiders finding and indexing your blog pages. When I realized what pinging was, I jumped in boots and all and used Pingoat.com to ping a number of directories. A little step in the right direction, I thought.
Unfortunately, when I went back to the Google search page for my search term “What is pinging a blog?” and continued to read the results, I was confronted by cautions about using ping notifications. A number of people warn that 75% of all pinging is spam and it is having a devastating effect on user confidence. Many people filter out free blog services such as Blogspot because of this and there are rumors that pinging may become outlawed. After just having pinged, I hoped I hadn’t done something that would permanently harm my blog.
Yet, are these simply ‘nay sayers’? After all, so many credible people who have successful and genuine blogs have used pinging to their advantage. Some say they receive about a hundred visits to their blog with every ping.
It seems that the internet can be a minefield for unwary travelers. Fortunately, the internet itself has the answers. We just have to ask the right questions. I’ve pinged my blog, but I think I’d better become a bit more knowledgeable before I ping again.
As I researched how to build the popularity of a new blog, I came across the term ‘to ping a blog’. My first coherent thought was “What the..?” And yes, that was coherent compared to well… brain freeze! “To ping a blog.” It sounds like something in a Dr Suess book doesn’t it? “I pinged before lunch. I pinged before tea. I pinged my blog to get traffic, you see!”
I discovered with a little investigation, that pinging one’s blog was simply notifying blog index services when a blog was updated. This information is then made available when people search their directories. It also increases the likelihood of major search engine spiders finding and indexing your blog pages. When I realized what pinging was, I jumped in boots and all and used Pingoat.com to ping a number of directories. A little step in the right direction, I thought.
Unfortunately, when I went back to the Google search page for my search term “What is pinging a blog?” and continued to read the results, I was confronted by cautions about using ping notifications. A number of people warn that 75% of all pinging is spam and it is having a devastating effect on user confidence. Many people filter out free blog services such as Blogspot because of this and there are rumors that pinging may become outlawed. After just having pinged, I hoped I hadn’t done something that would permanently harm my blog.
Yet, are these simply ‘nay sayers’? After all, so many credible people who have successful and genuine blogs have used pinging to their advantage. Some say they receive about a hundred visits to their blog with every ping.
It seems that the internet can be a minefield for unwary travelers. Fortunately, the internet itself has the answers. We just have to ask the right questions. I’ve pinged my blog, but I think I’d better become a bit more knowledgeable before I ping again.
Make Money with Affiliate Programs
There is an increasing number of writers who are making money writing for themselves rather than for clients. I believe that doing both is the ideal. Writing for clients keeps our skills honed and growing because clients require a variety of services and we have to be adaptable. Getting paid for our services also ensures regularity of income, whereas making money from affiliate programs can take time and be influenced by factors outside our control. How many people confident in their Adsense earnings experienced a dramatic decrease in their income because Google changed its policies? Although Adsense is often not thought of as an affiliate program, it really is when you think about it. Other affiliate programs can seem to be going well and fail, still owing their members money.
So, it's wise to keep writing for money while building a business with multiple passive income streams. The big question is, what affiliate programs should we become involved in? Writing software, e-books and writing courses are all relevant to writers and can slot very well into niche writing websites or blogs. Specialist writers, however, might receive more benefit from affiliate programs relating to their subject of choice. For example, specialists in internet marketing will find a number of excellent affiliate programs appropriate to their expertise, which would be easy to recommend naturally in their writing.
When researching affiliate programs with a view to joining a select few, carefully evaluate their strength and reliability. How long have they been running? Who owns them? Is there any solid evidence of affiliates profiting from them? Choose two or three initially and carefully monitor their success over time. If after three months an affiliate program is not profitable, replace it. Your goal, after all, is profit.
Writers are in a marvelous position to use their skills to create content that not only sells their services, but refers people to affiliate programs and is relevant to Google Adsense. Once we have put the foundations in place, our job is to keep generating content and to attract traffic to our site.
So, it's wise to keep writing for money while building a business with multiple passive income streams. The big question is, what affiliate programs should we become involved in? Writing software, e-books and writing courses are all relevant to writers and can slot very well into niche writing websites or blogs. Specialist writers, however, might receive more benefit from affiliate programs relating to their subject of choice. For example, specialists in internet marketing will find a number of excellent affiliate programs appropriate to their expertise, which would be easy to recommend naturally in their writing.
When researching affiliate programs with a view to joining a select few, carefully evaluate their strength and reliability. How long have they been running? Who owns them? Is there any solid evidence of affiliates profiting from them? Choose two or three initially and carefully monitor their success over time. If after three months an affiliate program is not profitable, replace it. Your goal, after all, is profit.
Writers are in a marvelous position to use their skills to create content that not only sells their services, but refers people to affiliate programs and is relevant to Google Adsense. Once we have put the foundations in place, our job is to keep generating content and to attract traffic to our site.
Article Marketing to Increase Website Traffic
Article marketing is probably the easiest and quickest way to drive significant traffic to your website or blog. I have found that 25% of readers on average click on the link in the resource box. Ezine Articles has a very high search engine rank which means that if your articles are submitted there and people search on your keywords, your article will likely appear number one on the Google search page within a very short period of time.
Look for the best article directories for your needs and monitor how much traffic is directed from them to your website or blog. You can link your submitted articles to relevant information on your website or blog, or simply to the main page. Once you have readers visiting your site, many will return if you have something valuable to offer them. Some people will click on the Google page ads and contribute to your adsense income. Others will join affiliate programs. Most will simply glean information. Nevertheless, you are building a reputation that may result in referrals to your site and possible business in the future.
Providing genuine value is the best way to build site traffic. Writing articles and submitting them to article directories (article marketing) is a free and highly effective way to build your bona fides and generate interest in your articles, services and affiliate programs.
Look for the best article directories for your needs and monitor how much traffic is directed from them to your website or blog. You can link your submitted articles to relevant information on your website or blog, or simply to the main page. Once you have readers visiting your site, many will return if you have something valuable to offer them. Some people will click on the Google page ads and contribute to your adsense income. Others will join affiliate programs. Most will simply glean information. Nevertheless, you are building a reputation that may result in referrals to your site and possible business in the future.
Providing genuine value is the best way to build site traffic. Writing articles and submitting them to article directories (article marketing) is a free and highly effective way to build your bona fides and generate interest in your articles, services and affiliate programs.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Work at Home Moms: Learn to Say No.
One of the most common problems that work-at-home moms face is actually convincing people they are busy working and not available for social visits. I remember many frustrating times when friends would just front up to the house and say they had called in for a coffee and a chat. I didn't want to offend them so I dutifully sat down with a smile and internally stressed about work that wasn't completed. The other problem I had, which is common to all work-at-home moms, is that once my routine was broken by visitors, hard work teaching my children to respect my work routine was undone.
I am also a tutor and found a similar lack of consideration with respect to how people viewed that work. While people didn't barge in on a tutoring session, they tended to speak to me as if it wasn't really a job. Despite both tutoring and writing, I was regularly asked when I was going to get a real job. It still irks me.
The only answer for work-at-home moms in this situation is to stand firm and risk offending people. It can be very hard to do at first and chances are people will get offended; some may even be aggressive about it (particularly family members). However, if you are going to succeed at working from home you have to set boundaries and ask people to respect them.
With children, it is necessary to be flexible. There will always be times when an interruption cannot be avoided and good, quality time should be set aside to spend with the children. But other people do not have the same priority as our children and our families. Occasionally, we can allow ourselves to be interrupted if it is very important but we need to make the exceptions clear to everyone.
Ask your friends to phone first to see if it is okay to call in. Schedule time for friends and let them know when you are free. Above all, consider the children. Working at home is hard for mom and the kids. Their mother may be at home but they can't have her constant attention. The benefits of working at home, however, can outweigh the disadvantages. Just learn to say no!
I am also a tutor and found a similar lack of consideration with respect to how people viewed that work. While people didn't barge in on a tutoring session, they tended to speak to me as if it wasn't really a job. Despite both tutoring and writing, I was regularly asked when I was going to get a real job. It still irks me.
The only answer for work-at-home moms in this situation is to stand firm and risk offending people. It can be very hard to do at first and chances are people will get offended; some may even be aggressive about it (particularly family members). However, if you are going to succeed at working from home you have to set boundaries and ask people to respect them.
With children, it is necessary to be flexible. There will always be times when an interruption cannot be avoided and good, quality time should be set aside to spend with the children. But other people do not have the same priority as our children and our families. Occasionally, we can allow ourselves to be interrupted if it is very important but we need to make the exceptions clear to everyone.
Ask your friends to phone first to see if it is okay to call in. Schedule time for friends and let them know when you are free. Above all, consider the children. Working at home is hard for mom and the kids. Their mother may be at home but they can't have her constant attention. The benefits of working at home, however, can outweigh the disadvantages. Just learn to say no!
Writing articles for search engine optimization (SEO) can be a challenging and often discouraging task for an online content writer. SEO writing often looks cluttered and unnatural; at its worst it's just plain ungrammatical!
Yet, keyword rich, SEO articles are the bread and butter of the online content writer. While a number of webmasters still want well written articles, simply designed to inform or entertain, an increasing number of websites are opting for SEO articles that are also well written and informative. This can place unreasonable demands on a writer because if the keyword is a ridiculous three word phrase that has to be used fifteen times in a five hundred word article, it isn't going to be worth the writer's time to try to make it a brilliant piece of writing.
Sometimes you just have to let clients go. A lot of more experienced webmasters have reasonable expectations when it comes to SEO articles, others do not. They want articles to both read smoothly and yet include all the keywords they want. They cannot necessarily have it both ways. An experienced writer will usually make a good fist of writing keyword articles. If you generally get good feedback from clients and are happy to write keyword articles, you may need to be willing to let clients go if they are too demanding. After all, you can't spend five hours to make $10 to $20.
SEO writing is more than a skill, it is an art. Taking the time to develop your skill and creativity in this area will help to keep you in work. However, as with all online writing, SEO article writing needs to be managed to ensure that the time you spend is financially productive for you, not just the client.
Yet, keyword rich, SEO articles are the bread and butter of the online content writer. While a number of webmasters still want well written articles, simply designed to inform or entertain, an increasing number of websites are opting for SEO articles that are also well written and informative. This can place unreasonable demands on a writer because if the keyword is a ridiculous three word phrase that has to be used fifteen times in a five hundred word article, it isn't going to be worth the writer's time to try to make it a brilliant piece of writing.
Sometimes you just have to let clients go. A lot of more experienced webmasters have reasonable expectations when it comes to SEO articles, others do not. They want articles to both read smoothly and yet include all the keywords they want. They cannot necessarily have it both ways. An experienced writer will usually make a good fist of writing keyword articles. If you generally get good feedback from clients and are happy to write keyword articles, you may need to be willing to let clients go if they are too demanding. After all, you can't spend five hours to make $10 to $20.
SEO writing is more than a skill, it is an art. Taking the time to develop your skill and creativity in this area will help to keep you in work. However, as with all online writing, SEO article writing needs to be managed to ensure that the time you spend is financially productive for you, not just the client.
Earn Money Blogging - And Have Fun
Blogging has become a big business because the search engines love blogs and trawl them regularly to add new blogs to their index. Consequently, businesses are increasingly starting their own blogs to improve the popularity of their websites. Managing blogs can be time consuming so freelance writers are hired to write blogs for these businesses. Writers earn money at what ever rates they can negotiate for themselves. There is a lot of blogging work available and you need to decide on the rates you will charge. Don’t be tempted to blog for free unless it is for yourself. Plenty of paid work is available so you can definitely earn money blogging.
If you want to earn money as a blogger, a good first step is to start your own blog. This can be done easily with a free blog account such as this one. Build a portfolio of blog articles to show potential clients. You can just send them a link to your blog and all the samples they need to see are in one place. If your work can speak for itself, you’ll be able to earn money as a blogger easily.
Keep an eye on the freelance job sites which offer copywriting projects. Included among other writing projects, blogging jobs are often hidden. Remember if you use your own blog to sell yourself, you won’t need to bid low. Put as many bids out there as possible and it won’t be too long before you are able to earn money from blogging.
Contact clients directly. If you are like me, you have surfed the net and come across websites and blogs that are very badly written. Some of these are written by writers, I might add. Take the opportunity to contact the webmaster and offer your services. A lot of people don’t know how to go about getting writers or they might have just been putting it off. It is possible to increasingly earn money from blogging simply by being proactive.
Finally, join a couple of webmaster forums; Digital Point forums are excellent. Become a part of the community. You will find many opportunities for writing will be posted by webmasters and you will have the opportunity to sell your services and earn money blogging.
Avoid those paid blogging opportunities that only pay a few cents. This is a genuine business opportunity and bloggers can earn money that is decent, even replacing other income. You can create your own freelance blogging business and earn money with little or no overhead or upfront costs. Treat it seriously and you’ll earn money in amounts that will surprise you.
If you want to earn money as a blogger, a good first step is to start your own blog. This can be done easily with a free blog account such as this one. Build a portfolio of blog articles to show potential clients. You can just send them a link to your blog and all the samples they need to see are in one place. If your work can speak for itself, you’ll be able to earn money as a blogger easily.
Keep an eye on the freelance job sites which offer copywriting projects. Included among other writing projects, blogging jobs are often hidden. Remember if you use your own blog to sell yourself, you won’t need to bid low. Put as many bids out there as possible and it won’t be too long before you are able to earn money from blogging.
Contact clients directly. If you are like me, you have surfed the net and come across websites and blogs that are very badly written. Some of these are written by writers, I might add. Take the opportunity to contact the webmaster and offer your services. A lot of people don’t know how to go about getting writers or they might have just been putting it off. It is possible to increasingly earn money from blogging simply by being proactive.
Finally, join a couple of webmaster forums; Digital Point forums are excellent. Become a part of the community. You will find many opportunities for writing will be posted by webmasters and you will have the opportunity to sell your services and earn money blogging.
Avoid those paid blogging opportunities that only pay a few cents. This is a genuine business opportunity and bloggers can earn money that is decent, even replacing other income. You can create your own freelance blogging business and earn money with little or no overhead or upfront costs. Treat it seriously and you’ll earn money in amounts that will surprise you.
It's Easy to Make Money from Home as an Online Content Writer
If you want to make money from home and you are a competent writer, there are a lot of writing opportunities on the internet. These writing opportunities tend to be looked down upon by traditional writers since many online writing projects do not pay very well. However, it is possible to make money from home as an online writer, you just have to know what pitfalls to avoid and the best ways to go about getting clients.
Firstly, many writers might claim to be able to make money from home, but they actually have a very uncertain income. They write articles and submit them to various publications and hope they will be accepted. Only 20% of freelance writers are actually able to make a full time living from their writing. So if you want to make money from home as a writer it only makes sense to consider the growing demand for online content.
To make money from home as an online content writer, you must be able to write for search engine optimization. This means that your articles will need to include keywords as naturally as possible. This is not easy if you actually want your writing to flow well. Some of the keywords I've been given have been challenging to say the least and sometimes you just have to do the best you can with them. Nevertheless, it is a skill you need to acquire if you want to make money from home writing online articles. I wrote this article using the keywords 'make money from home' and 'make money'. So if you noticed the phrases being repeated and wondered why I couldn't express the idea differently, now you know.
The possibilities that exist to make money from home by writing for websites include writing articles, e-books, blogs and forum posts. There are some excellent freelance job sites which advertise writing assignments which you can bid for. Scriptlance, getafreelancer, rentaghostwriter and writerlance do not charge for registration but take a fee when you receive a project. Freelance writing classifieds and webmaster forums are other places where you can pick up writing assignments. You can definitely make money from home as an online content writer.
However, you won't be able to make money from home for any length of time if you don't earn enough. This is the number one pitfall for new writers. You will notice when you bid on the freelance sites that some people are willing to take $1 to $2 per article. These people are working from countries where this is still good money. But if you live in a Western country with high costs of living, you will not be able to make money from home writing for peanuts. So don't try. Have good samples you can use to demonstrate your skills and bid low but not too low to get started. $5 for an article of 500 words is probably okay for starting out. I made the mistake of writing for $3 an article when I started out and I promise you it is stressful. This is because clients still want a high quality job despite the low price. I almost gave up on my dream to make money from home when I found myself working long hours for very little money. I had to refuse work so I had the time to look for the higher paying jobs. And yes, they are out there! Once we put the right value on our services it becomes possible to make money from home - good money.
The other pitfall common to the new online writer is over estimating how many articles can be written in an hour. It will be impossible to make money from home that's livable if you can only write one or two $3 articles in an hour. Until you get very fast and have accumulated a lot of knowledge in a niche area, you will spend a fair amount of time researching your topic before you even write it. If you want to make money from home as a writer, it is important to factor research time into your article rate.
After reading this article you may be doubting your ability to make money from home as a content writer. Don't be discouraged, many people are able to make money from home by writing for the web and you can too.
Firstly, many writers might claim to be able to make money from home, but they actually have a very uncertain income. They write articles and submit them to various publications and hope they will be accepted. Only 20% of freelance writers are actually able to make a full time living from their writing. So if you want to make money from home as a writer it only makes sense to consider the growing demand for online content.
To make money from home as an online content writer, you must be able to write for search engine optimization. This means that your articles will need to include keywords as naturally as possible. This is not easy if you actually want your writing to flow well. Some of the keywords I've been given have been challenging to say the least and sometimes you just have to do the best you can with them. Nevertheless, it is a skill you need to acquire if you want to make money from home writing online articles. I wrote this article using the keywords 'make money from home' and 'make money'. So if you noticed the phrases being repeated and wondered why I couldn't express the idea differently, now you know.
The possibilities that exist to make money from home by writing for websites include writing articles, e-books, blogs and forum posts. There are some excellent freelance job sites which advertise writing assignments which you can bid for. Scriptlance, getafreelancer, rentaghostwriter and writerlance do not charge for registration but take a fee when you receive a project. Freelance writing classifieds and webmaster forums are other places where you can pick up writing assignments. You can definitely make money from home as an online content writer.
However, you won't be able to make money from home for any length of time if you don't earn enough. This is the number one pitfall for new writers. You will notice when you bid on the freelance sites that some people are willing to take $1 to $2 per article. These people are working from countries where this is still good money. But if you live in a Western country with high costs of living, you will not be able to make money from home writing for peanuts. So don't try. Have good samples you can use to demonstrate your skills and bid low but not too low to get started. $5 for an article of 500 words is probably okay for starting out. I made the mistake of writing for $3 an article when I started out and I promise you it is stressful. This is because clients still want a high quality job despite the low price. I almost gave up on my dream to make money from home when I found myself working long hours for very little money. I had to refuse work so I had the time to look for the higher paying jobs. And yes, they are out there! Once we put the right value on our services it becomes possible to make money from home - good money.
The other pitfall common to the new online writer is over estimating how many articles can be written in an hour. It will be impossible to make money from home that's livable if you can only write one or two $3 articles in an hour. Until you get very fast and have accumulated a lot of knowledge in a niche area, you will spend a fair amount of time researching your topic before you even write it. If you want to make money from home as a writer, it is important to factor research time into your article rate.
After reading this article you may be doubting your ability to make money from home as a content writer. Don't be discouraged, many people are able to make money from home by writing for the web and you can too.
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