ECopywriters.com is Hiring
If you are looking for some upfront freelance gigs that pays a decent per-hour rate, then you may want to apply at ECopywriters.com. Here is what their website says about pay:
"Our compensation is based on how many projects you take. A normal copywriter can earn up to $20.00 - $25.00 per hour by taking basic writing projects. We have 10 levels of writers in our system, where Level 10 copywriters can earn as much as $0.30 cents per word based on experience and time spent copywriting for us."
Not bad considering that many sites like this one pay $3-$15 per article. I think I may apply here to replace my old stand-by Demand Media Studios. It would be nice to be able to go to a better paying site when my other freelance work slows down.
Thinking About 2011 Goals...Again
So a while back I wrote about my 2011 freelance writing goals. The good (and maybe bad) thing about making your goals so early is that you can rethink them over and over again.While I still like the goals I made back in November, I think I need to add a few more.
I've realized that a big money maker ($40-$100 per hour) will be coming to a close in 2011. This means I have to go into freelance job finding mode. In years past I've had no problem finding great freelance writing jobs. This coming year I'm making the job tougher on myself by giving myself guideline that works with my new motto: "Work a couple hours a day, then enjoy your life."
So, my new 2011 goals are these:
I will find some new gigs that earn around $50 per hour. I will only work two to three hours a day.
How I Boosted My Blog Earnings in December
The AdSense Link I Overlooked
Okay, so I'm not that great on keeping up with new Google Ad gadgets. So, when I noticed that I could add Google ads to my blog email and smart phone feeds I was probably several months late on the discovery. Boy I'm glad I finally figured it out! The new ads have boosted my earnings by around 30%. Imagine my surprise when I looked at my AdSense account today. Wahoo!
Have you ever stumbled upon something that ended up making you a some cash?
Inexpensive Business Cards for Freelancing
I've always carry several different types of business cards with me wherever I go. Why so many? Some are for my art writing. Some are for my illustration business. Some are just general cards for my freelance writing business.
Having so many different types of cards are expensive. That's why I wrote this article:
The Top Five Ways to Get Inexpensive Business Cards
It lists my favorite ways to get business cards inexpensively. I just recently got some cards from Moo.com. I love how stylish the cards look. I highly recommend them.
How to Make Residual Income Without Residual Income Sites
One of My Websites
Yah, so most residual income sites like Suite 101, Hubpages and Buskia have a bad reputation with some "professional" writers. Personally I don't, but some of the arguments against them have gotten me thinking. The most compelling argument, to me at least, is that they won't be around forever, then what?
Okay, point taken. So how do you enjoy the wonderment of residual income without using a residual income site? Make your own.
There are two choices for controlling your own residual income- privately owned blogs and websites.
I've had many of my own websites and blogs, but it wasn't until I had this revelation that I've put any work into them. And you know what? They are paying off at a rate that is comparable to my Suite 101 account, which has been a fantastic residual money maker for years.
Here's what I've learned:
Experiment to find a subject that you are passionate about Experiment with the subject until you find a niche that people are interested in Don't be shy about letting people know about your blog or site Nine times out of ten your traffic will come from Google, SEO accordingly If your blog or site's a flop, try another subject Update your blog or site regularly Go back to your flops and try to revamp them
Freelance Writing While You're Away from the Office
If you are a full-time mom, constantly on the go, sometimes it's hard to get freelance work done. I get plenty of work done each day, though, no matter where I am.
My Droid and My Laptop Boosting My Productivity
My strategy is to have a mobile office that I can slip into my purse. My office computer is a laptop that I can use at Wi-Fi hotspots for free. It's slim enough that I can carry it anywhere if I need to, but most of the time I just use my Droid cell phone (with a buit-in keyboard), which is jam-packed with free apps for taking notes, accessing social networking accounts and checking my emails. My Droid contains poems, article ideas, half completed articles and tons more. I can just upload the information to my laptop when I get home using a USB cable.
My favorite free Droid app for work? ColorNote by Social and Mobile, Inc.
Now, I understand that a lot of people don't have a smart phone and a lot of people have desktop computers. For most of my career I didn't either. What did I do to get work done while I was away from the office? I went old school and took a spiral bound notebook wherever I went. I would write articles, brainstorm ideas and make lists in my notebook, then type them out when I got back home. If you're not into using paper and a pen, you can always use the voice recorder on your cell phone or leave yourself messages on your home voice mail.
No matter what you use, there are always ways to get your freelance work done. How do you get things done?
Lack of Freelance Work: What to Do When You Have Nothing to Do
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Cartoon by Alina Bradford
When you work as a freelance writer you're going to have times when there's more work than you can handle, and other times when you have nothing to do. Even if there's no client work, you can still find plenty to do to earn money for the day.
Write a post for your personal blog Come up with an article pitch for a print magazine Write for a mill like Demand Media Studios or Break Studios Write a residual income article for sites like Suite 101 or Like My 5 Bid on some work at Elance or Guru Apply for some new freelancing writing jobs Work on your own website so that you can have Adsense rolling in during your next freelancing drought. There's always something you can be doing to generate extra income. Don't let these slow days pass you by.
How to Make Google AdWords Work for Your Writing Niche
Don't Let Google Advertising Confuse You
I don't know how many times I've read forum posts by web writers complaining that their niche is has horrible Google AdWords rates and that they'll never make any money from residual sites. Bah! There is a science to turning any niche into a money maker. Here are my key SEO tips:
Brainstorm keywords that relate to your niche. Take one of your keywords and plug it into Google AdWords' keyword tool. Click on the button that says "Columns." Click on the Estimated Avg. CPC option in the box that pops up and click "OK." Now, instead of just seeing what the CPC rate is for the keyword you looked up, you are going to do one better. Click on the Estimated Avg. CPC header at the top of the CPC column. This will sort your list of keywords from highest CPC to the lowest. Write down the keywords with the highest CPC. Note: Some of these keywords won't be relevant to your niche, so pick and choose. Brainstorm webs of articles that can incorporate these new keywords. Use your main keyword six times in a 500 word article. Link the articles together and make sure that the titles use one or two of the keyword phrases. This is how I make my niche, art, profitable even though most people have found it to be a Google advertising wasteland. For more info on adding keywords see: How to Add Keywords to Articles without Looking Spammy
Tackling the Messy Desk of a Mommy / Freelance Writer
My Desk When it's Clean
My Art Desk When it's Clean
It's inevitable. After a week my desk is a pile of sketchbooks, drawings done by my two children, notebooks and mail. My desk gets so messy that I have to wedge my arms between the piles to type.
And every week I tackle my messy desk and return it back to a manageable state. Here's my process:
Throw away all but the very best kid drawings. Post the best kid drawings on the side of my filing cabinet with magnets. No space goes unused in my office! Take the old drawings that I had to take off the filing cabinet to make room for the new pictures and put them in a keepsake box. Move all my sketchbooks to my art table, which is more cluttered than my desk. Mental note: Clean art table. Throw away junk mail and file bills or letters from my military hubby. Shelve the reference books, art books and kids books. Put extra pens in jars and other office supplies back in my desk drawers for the 100th time this week. (I swear my kids use my office supplies more than I do!) Find a bill that I forgot to pay and scramble to the mailbox. Come back and collect the Diet Coke cans for the recycling bin. Take the empty cereal bowls and yogurt cups to the kitchen. Eating while working is productive, right? Ahh. That's better.
What are some of the more unusual things that can be found on your desk?
Suite 101 Revenue Share VS. Demand Studios Flat Fee Payments
So, yesterday I compared my eHow revenue share earnings versus what I would have made by just selling the articles to Demand Studios. Well, I decided to try the same kind of experiment with my Suite 101 articles.
I have made well over $7,000 by placing my articles at Suite. If I had sold them to DS I would have only made $4425. That's a HUGE difference. Plus, I will keep earning on my Suite articles and I still own the copyrights to the articles.
I've been having some doubts about sticking with Suite 101 lately, but experiment shows me that the site is really paying off for me.
Proof that Residual Income Pays Off
Revenue Share Makes Me Dance!
I was just over at Felicia A. Williams' No Job for Mom! blog and on one of her newest posts she wrote about taking leaps of faith when it comes to creating residual income. Her post spurred me to see just how much success I was having doing residual income vs. regular up-front payment.
This type of test needs apple to apple comparisons, so I took a look at my eHow earnings vs. what I might have earned if I'd wrote the same article for Demand Studios. Let's be honest, you can't really compare these short, on-the-fly eHow articles to what I would write for a higher paying site, so DS is the perfect comparison.
The results are very good. So far I have earned $3015 and would have earned only $2205 if I had done the articles for DS at $15 a pop. As you can see, residual sites really do pay off.
Freelancing Goals for 2011
So it's that time of year again. Time to come up with my freelancing goals for next year. Usually I put it off until, like, January 20th or so, but this year I'm firm on getting them out of the way before the New Year's. It's one of my goals for 2010.
Freelancing Goals for 2011 List:
Add 3 new posts to each of my blogs every week Add 30 articles to my website DefrazzleMom.com Start a new website with a Military Wife I plan on working to get $200 more per month from Suite 101 in 2011 Hitting the 200 mark on List My 5 What are your goals?
Residual Income: Does it Really Work?
I read a post on another blog the other day declaring that a freelance writer should never write articles for a residual income site. The major reasoning here was that you can't predict how much you will earn and that you may not earn enough to justify the work.
Well, as a seasoned residual income writer I'd have to say just the opposite. I think every freelance writer should have at least one residual income account.
Here are my reasons:
An Article Depository
With a residual income site you'll always have somewhere to put articles that you can't find a buyer for. You'll also have a place to put article that you've already sold, but still have reprint rights to. These articles can keep earning instead of languishing on your hard drive.
Income that Keeps Going, Even if You Don't
How else can you make money without doing any more work?
For example, I joined up with eHow when they were still in infancy. Today, they're not accepting new articles unless you write them through Demand Media Studios. My time was wasted, right? Nope. I ended up making $15 on each article that took me 15 minutes to write. Plus, I'm still making over $100 a month, even though I haven't written a new article for them since March.
There are other reasons I like residual income sites, but this seems like the best reasons for other freelance writers to give them a try.
List My 5 Residual Income Site Review
I've heard a lot of good things about List My 5 residual income site from other writers, so I decided to give it a try.
This site focuses on articles that are in list form, like "Top 5 Best 2010 Movies." As you may have guessed, each article has to have five things in the list. Here are some more specifics about the site:
There is a 125 word count minimum to each article. The site doesn't glitch like most residual income sites. You can add links to other residual income articles, even if they are on other sites. They have a $10.00 threshold, like most residual income sites and they pay around the 14th of each month by Paypal. The best part is that you retain all of your rights to your articles. Sounds like a fun way to make some extra residual cash. I just added my first list, Top 5 Ways to Work at Home with Small Children, and it was incredibly simple. I'll let you know how my earnings go.
Cooks Source Magazine Update
Cook Source Magazine is still trying to get away with plagiarizing articles. It has switched to a new Facebook page, hoping that advertisers and new readers won't see all of the bad publicity on the old page. It still denies that it has really done anything wrong, even though writers all over the web have uncovered numerous plagiarized articles. Here is the new Cook Source Magazine Facebook page if you would like to leave a comment.
ETA Another Update: Cooks Source has finally apologized, but in a way that once again blames it all on the writer. Apparently the writer jumped the gun? Here's the Judith Griggs apology.
$100 Days for November...Then Another Vacation
If you read this blog with any regularity you'll know that I take a lot of vacations (see: How to Use Vacations to Make You a Wealthier Freelance Writer). This year my family and I have taken a vacation once every other month or so . Ah, the freelancing life.
Now, I'm not gloating. My point is if you're going to be a freelancer, make sure that you take advantage of one of the major perks: making your own hours.
I'm not able to take a vacation every other month because I don't work or because I make lots of money. I'm able to do it because I take full advantage of the days I do work. Here's how I do it:
I decide how much money I need to meet my financial goals. I divide that amount by how many days I want to work that month.The answer is how much money I need to make each day I work that month. Finally, I figure out how much client work will get me to my goal each day. This month I've decided I need to work 13 days at $100 per day. That's easy enough. Here's how I broke it down:
At Suite I make around $200/month. To make my quota I need 4 articles. 2 articles/day = $100/day for 2 days. (I know Suite is residual income, but this is how I justify it in my head. Don't be hatin'. :p ) I get $1000 per month from one client. If I break the job down into 10 bite-sized bits that's 10 days @ $100 apiece. I get over a $100/month without doing anything for eHow, so that's a $100 free day. I'm not even counting the residual income I make from my blogs. $1300 for only a couple hours of work per day for 12 days? Sounds like a plan!
Stay Clear of Cooks Source Magazine
I often post reviews of publishers for my freelance writer friends reading this blog, so it may not come as a surprise to you that I have to pipe up about Cooks Source Magazine. This magazine regularly steals content from other websites and publishes in its online or print editions. According to one freelance writer, Cooks Source Magazine ripped off her article, and then when she complained about it the editor told her that the magazine should be paid for editing the article. DO WHAT? That's some steel balls right there.
If you visit the Cooks Source Magazine Facebook page you will find and endless mob of angry writers leaving comments on the wall. Feel free to join in after you read the blog from my first link above. We writers need to drive "publishers" like this out of business.
ETA: The Washington Post has now written about this, as well. It has become a firestorm!
How to Use Vacations to Make You a Wealthier Freelance Writer
Well, I took another vacation last week. I seem to be taking vacations every couple of months now. It's one of the biggest benefits of being a freelance writer, at least to me.
You may be surprised to learn that I often take my vacation time and use it to get wealthier while I relax and travel. How do I relax and make money at the same time? Simple. I pay attention.
For example, on a recent trip to Oklahoma City I noticed that there was an art show being held. Since I write art related articles, I just had to go. I packed up my best carry-on luggage and headed out. I talked to the artists and exchanged business cards. My little trip resulted in a $150 article assignment about one of the artists.
My Family, Minus Husband, On Vacation
You never know where your next article idea may come from and vacation time is one of the best times to gather ideas. You're relaxed, so your brain is going to be more receptive to new ideas. Plus, you are experiencing new things, which is also conducive to creative thinking.
Here's how I reap article ideas while still having fun:
Keep your eyes open. Watch people. Talk to them. You may find a great story. Take lots of photographs of new things. These may come in handy later. Always have a notebook on hand to jot down ideas. Don't writer everything down. Take a picture of plaques and signs that you need to remember. Gather brochures, free local magazines and pamphlets to get ideas for travel destination articles. Visit the Chamber of Commerce and talk with someone who works there for all the local dirt.
WanderWomen Write Contest: Win a 10-day Tour of Vietnam & Cambodia
I just got this press release and I thought you all may like to read it, too. Sounds like fun! Here it is:
SEATTLE, WA. October 1, 2010 - Wanderlust and Lipstick, the ultimate resource for women travelers, announces the third annual WanderWomen Write Contest for female travel writers. Participants may enter their original travel stories for a chance to win a spectacular 10-day tour for two through South Vietnam and Cambodia with Buffalo Tours.
The contest is open to women, whether they are newly-emerging or seasoned travel writers. Wanderlust and Lipstick founder, Beth Whitman, says, "The WanderWomen Write contest is now in its 3rd year and was created to encourage women to pursue their passions in both travel and writing. Last year, there were more than 300 entries from some very talented established, as well as budding, travel writers."
The contest runs October 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010, and the winning writers will be announced in mid-February. Entries may be submitted under one of the following categories: Adventure, Family Fun, Food & Drink, Off the Beaten Path or Spiritual.
The Prizes
Grand Prize: A 10-day tour for two of Vietnam & Cambodia with Buffalo Tours (value $3,550). Vietnam's Majestic Mekong and Amazing Cambodia provides the traveler with a chance to enjoy the preserved cultural treasures of this beautiful region while being immersed in its modern-day vibrancy. Highlights include visits to Saigon, the Mekong Delta by boat, Phnom Penh and the amazing Angkor Wat temple complex.
Category Winners: Each category winner will receive a Briggs & Riley BRX Explore 22" Upright carry-on bag (value $290). For the adventurer who takes packing light seriously, this bag is built to maximum carry-on dimensions, with a zippered expandable main compartment.
Contest Judges
Harriet Baskas - Travel Writer
Rosalind Cummings-Yeates - Travel and Culture Writer
Pam Mandel - Freelance Travel Writer
Anja Mutic - Travel Writer
Angela Nickerson - Writer, Photographer, Traveler
About Buffalo Tours
Buffalo Tours is an internationally renowned, award-winning travel company spanning Indochina. They offer a wide range of inspirational travel options in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, from adventure travel and voluntourism to luxury travel. For more information, visit www.BuffaloTours.com
About Wanderlust and Lipstick
Wanderlust and Lipstick is THE destination for women travelers. This growing media company includes a series of comprehensive travel guides for women, adventure tours and a website featuring tips and extensive information to ensure safe and enjoyable travel. Founder Beth Whitman, has more than 23 years of travel experience. For more information, visit www.WanderlustAndLipstick.com