Freelance writers need to deal with web content all the time, as more and more of publishing goes online.

Although the basic principles of good writing don’t change in the online realm, there are certain differences that writers should be aware of. One of the most important aspects of online content is that it should be easily searchable by search engines, especially Google.

This is what ultimately gives power to online content, because people are able to search and get to the content they are looking for.

Irrespective of what kind of online content you write, it always helps to know about search engine optimization, or SEO. If you are new to SEO, you should look at our SEO guide for deeper information on the subject.

It helps to know that SEO is not about keyword spamming or including some peculiar grammatically incorrect keyword into your writing as many times as possible. This is, in fact, the worst thing you can do from an SEO point of view.

SEO trends change all the time as search engines evolve. It should be noted that the ultimate goal of search engines is to deliver the best quality information on top. The means to this end differ all the time and thus the changing SEO trends. Here are some of the things you need to be aware of in 2012 with respect to what is good SEO and what is not. Continue Reading

If you are reading this, chances are, you’ve already made up your mind that you want to be a copywriter.

However I do have to warn you, it isn’t easy!

Most potential copywriters wish to take up the vocation because they love writing. When you have to write 8 hours per day, 5 days per week, the fun tends to leak out of it. What you’ll actually need is a love of running a business and constantly being a salesman for yourself!

Aside from drive, resilience and inspiration, here are 5 things you need to be a successful copywriter:

• An insatiable curiosity about your fellow human beings, why they behave like they do and why they buy what they buy.
• Understand how people see themselves and view their life and choices.
• A good understanding of the rules of spelling, punctuation and grammar, also the courage to break them when necessary!
• A way with words. You need to be able to weave a story with your words that can intrigue, excite and captivate.
• Research skills – you need to know everything about the products or services you are selling. Being good at desk-research (secondary) and having good interviewing skills are vital for getting to the main issues.

A copywriter is a magical combination of writer, psychology researcher, salesman and marketer. It takes a lot of different skills to make it as a copywriter, but if you have those skills you are quite a step ahead of the majority of copywriter-wannabes. Continue Reading

Many freelancers, in a wide range of fields, think of hired writing help as something for larger projects, for corporate clients, not something for the independent one-person shop. It can be hard to imagine hiring someone to help with writing tasks if you:

• Cannot see a reason why you would need writing help, or
• Cannot visualize how you would work with that writer.

Why Hire Writing Help?

Some freelancers feel a little guilty when they do not do their own writing. It’s on their list of tasks they mean to do. But they avoid it, or they do not have time, or what they write just does not seem to have the impact they are looking for.

Part of the problem is that everyone one of us knows how to write, and we all do it every day. It is hard to farm out a task that seems like an extension of a daily activity. And that’s just the kind of thinking that perpetually postpones the creation of marketing content.

It isn’t a question of whether you should do your own writing on principle. It is a question of what gets the writing done. A white paper that is never finished (or never started) will bring you exactly zero new prospects.

What are some symptoms that point to the need for a little help?

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A powerful way to build trust and rapport is to develop authoritative and informative white papers.

Learn what a white paper is, several techniques for marketing with white papers, and tips for getting a white paper published.

With a little work, you can connect with customers on an entirely new level than a blog or website article, even if this is only due to the perception of white papers being at a higher level of expert status.

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Thanks to the internet, reaching prospective clients has never been easier.

Whether you are a freelance web designer, writer or international mountain guide, you are likely to have a website, twitter account, LinkedIn profile and blog – and so you should. Without these tools, most of us would be lost.

The trouble with the internet is that it makes publishing and communication dangerously easy. With the ‘publish’, ‘send’, ‘tweet’ or ‘share’ button ever present at the top of your screen, online business communications – and that is what they are – are often shared prematurely.

No matter what business you are in, for freelancers, first impressions are crucial. Continue Reading

Starting out as a freelance writer is not as easy as it appears. Learning how to become a freelance writer requires business considerations, not just writing chops.

Beyond getting out there and securing contracts, you need to be self-motivated and organized. This is a difficult transition, especially if you don’t have colleagues or friends who have been in the field and can help you along.

If you’re just starting out and hoping to make your livelihood writing, take a look at the seven tips below. Keep in mind that these are geared toward beginners who are pursuing freelance writing as a full-time job—not for those who simply do a little extra writing on nights and weekends. Continue Reading

On November 3, 2011 Google published a new article on their blog informing readers that fresh new content is now being seen as highly valuable on their blog or website. This “freshness update” is a new addition to Google’s “Caffeine web indexing system”.

Now blog owners who update their sites regularly will be rewarded with a higher search engine ranking. Let’s look at how freelance writers can put this new update to use in their business. Continue Reading

 

Internet and the English language brought people with common interests together from all around the globe, and blogging earned its big slice in launching individuals’ careers as freelance writers. What a great option to hone writing skills, learn how to interact with a readership, and build quality clips?

While the majority of these blogs are well written, no matter the author’s nationality, a number of non-natives’ blogs show poor English skills. Causes are diverse and not always a consequence of the author’s negligence: poor teaching, lack of feedback, and little opportunities to put language skills in practice.

The result, however, is the same: compromised readability turns off readers, and writers can have a tough time breaking into the writing market. Language skills are crucial to landing a job, along with an eye for storytelling and proofreading.

Don’t let this discourage you. If you are a non-native English writer with (still) unripe English skills, you can work on perfecting your writing for the English-speaking market, and advance your career.

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“Ghostwriting” business communications is a lucrative and satisfying writing niche that requires some special skills and the right mindset. I’ve had excellent projects writing presentations for CEOs of very large corporations, and writing trade and newsletter articles for one-person consulting shops.

What they have in common is that these projects go beyond contributing good writing — professional, grammatical, persuasive, interesting — to capturing the client’s voice. When people are familiar with a given CEO or consultant, for instance, hear those presentations or read those articles, the ghostwriter’s contribution should be transparent, leaving the client’s themes, values, and style clearly visible to the audience.

These opportunities often come along after you have already been writing for a client for a while, or as a referral from one of your new client’s colleagues. You have been recognized as a skilled and dependable writer, and the client asks if you could help them with a more personal message, whether that message is delivered to employees or investors or trainees or clients or the media.

If such an offer comes your way, recognize from the start that this is different from your previous writing projects, and make sure you don’t blow it!

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There was a time when getting one’s words into print and out to the reading public was time-consuming and expensive.

If you were going the conventional route and seeking publication with one of the major houses, you wouldn’t have been considered unless your project was submitted by a literary agent. Which meant that you’d have to find an agent first.

I’ve traveled this route myself – and I quickly found that the literary agency world has a hierarchy. Up at the top are the name-brand authors who write the bestsellers. Below them are the seasoned authors who may not have the name recognition of the superstars, but they can be counted on to produce books that sell.

Then there’s the third tier, which consists of everyone else – first-time authors, unknowns who aren’t first-timers, and that guy down the street, you know, the one who writes poetry on weekends. I found myself firmly in the third tier, which meant that my book project only got cursory attention from the agency I signed with.

So, what’s a resident of the not-so-exalted third tier to do? Well, if you’re bound and determined to get your book into print, consider publishing it yourself.

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As a freelance writer, you have probably created a niche around your expertise. Maybe it’s healthcare, knitting, or finance. And I bet you spend the majority of your time writing about things you know a lot about. But what happens when you are asked to write about a topic you’re not all that familiar with?

No one expects you to be an expert on every topic. However, if you truly are a professional writer, you should be able to write about anything. And tackling a topic you don’t know anything about can be a good exercise in research.

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You’re an awesome writer. So why aren’t your clients in awe?

Most of us become freelance writers because… well, we’re talented writers. We love finding the perfect words and putting them together with skill and finesse. We take our craft seriously and work hard to deliver polished, readable copy to our clients.

But sometimes we turn in our best work only to have the client come back to us with a less than enthusiastic response. When it happens, it’s easy to fall prey to self-doubt: “Am I not an awesome writer, after all?”

In fact, when good writers get a bad reaction to their work, it often has less to do with the quality of their writing skills than the quality of their people skills. After all, we become writers because we’re good with words, not clients. But to become a successful freelance writer, we need to learn to manage clients as skillfully as we manage the words on the page.

Are you getting the balance right? Take a look at three limiting beliefs writers fall into when they pay more attention to the words themselves than to the clients who pay for them.

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