Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Your Writer's Web Site - Five Tips to Get clients and make Money

Are you making the most of your writer's Web site? Discover how you can use your writer's Web site to get clients and make money - never hunt for writing jobs again.

If you're a writer, you need your own Web site because it means that your clients will come to you, rather than you having to continually hunt for writing jobs.

More and more, editors, agents and other clients who want to hire you for a specific project (or, in the case of editors and agents are looking for new books to commission for their lists) are searching the Web.

They know that writers with initiative and creativity are posting their writing to the Web, and they want to work with writers who have those attributes.

So if you don't have a site, get one.

Now let's look at five tips which will help you to use your writer's Web site to get clients and make money.

1. Add pages to your site - from a tiny site to a large one

With millions of Web sites and billions of Web pages online, a single page site is not enough. The more pages you have on your writer's site the better.

Of course, creating a site with many pages won't happen overnight. However, be aware that additional pages to your site make you easier to find on the Web, and easier to hire. This is because the more pages, the more "presence" you have in the search engines.

2. What's it in for me? Your pages should be helpful and useful to your audience

Your writer's Web site needs to be more than an extended advertorial for your business. Add useful content to the site.

This doesn't mean that your content needs to be writer-oriented. After all, your fellow writers are not your target audience: they're not the people who will hire you.

Make your pages useful to your buyers, whoever they may be.

3. Page titles and descriptions: they're essential

Each page of your site needs to have a title and a description, because page titles and descriptions show up when people search for "writer" in the search engines.

This is easy to do. If you're not sure how to create page titles and descriptions in your Web editor, look it up in the Help file, or search the Web.

4. Promote your site

I've just searched for "writer" in Google. Would you believe the 214 million pages contain the reference?

You've got a lot of competition!

This is not as dire as it sounds. You can ace your competition by marketing your site. Do this by placing advertisements, by blogging - there are hundreds of ways you can market your site.

Be aware that you must do this; it's not optional.

Do some marketing each week; all marketing is cumulative - just like a snowball. Each little marketing task you do builds on the other marketing you've done.

5. Create a newsletter

So your marketing has brought readers and buyers to your site. But will they return?

You increase the chances that people will return to your site if you offer a newsletter. Your newsletter doesn't have to be long. Just a couple of hundred words a month mailed out to subscribers means that some will return to your site, and will hire you when they have work for a writer.

So there you have it - five tips to using your Writer's Web site to get clients and to make money. 

Subscribe to SYWON - it's a complete training in making money online

Want to make money online? You can, with Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON) training. Join me, and develop your own home-based business, writing and making money on the Web.

Technorati Tags: Web writing

Squidoo free tutorial: create your own free money-making Web sites

Source: Wikipedia

Like to have your own free money-making Web site in minutes? Squidoo makes it easy.

Here's Wikipedia on Squidoo:

Squidoo is a website designed to make it easy for anyone, for free, to set up a single page on a topic he or she knows or cares a lot about. Advertising revenue is shared with these content creators, and some of it is given to charity.

Squidoo is a network of user-generated lenses --single pages that highlight one person's point of view, recommendations, or expertise. Lenses can be about anything, such as ideas, people or places, hobbies and sports, pets or products, philosophy, and politics.

Lenses aren't primarily intended to hold content; more emphasis is placed on recommending and then pointing to content on the web. Annotation and organization and personalization delivers context and meaning.

Here's a free tutorial I've just created to help you to set up your own Squidoo lenses. Have fun. :-)

Answer and win: Web writing teleseminar poll

I know from working with writers in my Sell Your Own Writing Online NOW training that you have many questions about Web writing.

Therefore I'm creating a series of teleseminars and podcasts to help you to build your Web writing skills.

To help me to understand what your most pressing needs are, please take this short poll.

I'll choose two winners, based on the answers to the poll question "What do you find most challenging about Web writing?" Winners will receive a copy of Writing for the Web.

Please respond to ALL questions. Click here to take the poll now.

The poll will remain open for one week - I'll be announcing the winners on March 22.

Please enter an email address which you check regularly, so I can send you your prize.

Many thanks.

Web Writing Is The Future Of Writing

This week's Fab Freelance Writing Ezine focuses on Web writing with the article "Writing For The Web The Easy Way."

Here's an excerpt from my editorial,"Web Writing Is The Future Of Writing":

Whether we like it or not, Web writing is the future of all writing. Newspapers and magazines are losing subscribers, partly because they can't keep up with pace of information flow on the Web, and also because of the cost to their readers in time and attention.

The Web is winning the war for readers' attention

Attention is priceless. As I sit at my work desk, there's a huge stack of magazines under the desk to  my left. Sadly, I know I'll discard those magazines after flipping through them briefly. There's also a stack of weekend newspapers I'll discard without reading.

I just don't have the time to read offline publications when I can read more easily and quickly online: I can find exactly what I want, and with RSS feeds, I can get it delivered to my RSS reader. I know I'm not alone in transferring my reading time to the online world, and as attention flows to the Web, all publishers are ramping up their Web sites and Web offerings.

If you're a writer, it means discovering the Web. Like it or not, the Web is your future. Finding out how words work on the Web is no longer optional, it's vital to your survival as a writer.

Read the rest in Wednesday's issue.

Technorati Tags: Web writing

Web writing ezine issue hit a nerve - you don't need anyone's permission

I've been publishing Fab Freelance Writing Ezine for 37 issues, and have never received as much email as I did for Wednesday's issue, "Web Writing Is Booming."

Web writing still seems to be unknown territory for most writers. Underneath the specific questions was a note of uncertainty: Web writing seems scary, especially if you're writing for yourself.

No one tells you what to write

When you write for the Web, if you're self-publishing a blog or whatever, no one tells you want to write. You can do as you please. The gatekeepers - editors - are gone: it's up to you.

This gives writers an immense amount of freedom - accept it. Take advantage of the million and one opportunities.

If you find yourself hesitating about starting a blog, writing an article, applying for a Web writing gig, and most of all, if you're hesitating about promoting yourself - please realize you don't need anyone's permission.

The doors of the cage are open - write! :-)

Read Wednesday's issue here.

Technorati Tags: Web writing

Discover the Web writing bonanza in this week's ezine

In Wednesday's Fab Freelance Writing Ezine, we discuss Web writing. Here's an excerpt from the editorial, "Web Writing Is Booming – Get Your Share Of The Loot":

Web writing is booming: are you getting your share of the loot? Every seasoned Web writer I know is turning away projects – there just aren't enough hours in the day. New writers are discovering writing nirvana: no experience necessary, they're writing and being paid very well, to learn while they earn.

However, as you might expect, there are challenges for new Web writers to overcome – the biggest challenge is to ensure that they're paid for every Web writing job. In this week's article, " Web Writing: Top Five Rules To Ensure You Write And Get Paid" you'll find out how to avoid Web writing hassles.

Subscribe to Fab Freelance Writing Ezine now.

Technorati Tags: get started freelance writing, Web writing, writer's scams

Write and build your online presence - you can end job hunting for good

I'm a huge believer in getting your name out on the Web: in building your online presence. If you're a writer, or you want to be, anonymity is not good. Whether you're selling your expertise on Subject X, or your writing skills in general, people do Google searches on your name, and they expect to see you there. Make sure that they can find you.

Web Worker Daily has an excellent article "Why You May Need an Online Persona", that you should take to heart, even if you're not writing for the Web.

When I talk about writing and blogging with writers, I emphasize that the first step you need to take is to buy your own domain name - that's YOUR NAME, as a domain - a Web address. For me, it's my angelabooth.com domain. You can buy your domain name at Namecheap.

There are many ways you can develop your online presence - setting up sites and blogs, writing articles for other sites, and so on. This helps you at whatever level you write, whether as a beginning writer, or an established writer.

I wrote about resume blogs - "Blogging For Writers: Three Blogging Tips To Boost Your Writing Career" - but you should look on all the online writing you do as a part of your resume. If you're writing books, you're building a "platform" - this is, people who know and like your work, and will buy your books, your fans, so to speak.

It also helps you when you're job hunting, because you'll get job offers from people who see your name online, and want to hire you.

If you haven't devoted time to thinking about how total strangers across the globe get information about you, do so. The Web truly is a web of information. Anonymity is not helpful to a writer - the more people who know your name, the more your writing is worth.

Do occasional "ego" searches - Google your name, and see what the results are. You may be surprised, or even shocked. Ego surfing isn't just an ego thing. When you're a writer, it's managing your brand.

Read my Fab Web Writer and Blogging For Dollars blogs to discover more about how to build your online presence, and making the Web work for you.

Technorati Tags: blog your writing, get started freelance writing, how to blog your business, make money writing, Web writing

Web Writers' Pay: Demystifying The $2 Article - You Can Make A Great Income As A Web Writer

Many competent writers who could make a great income writing for the Web are put off by the perception of low payments for Web writing. How, they wonder, can a writer make great money writing for the Web?

One writer wrote to me: "I find content writers offering their skills for $3, $2 or maybe $5 for a 500-word article."

Yes, this is true. However, these $2-article wonders are worth exactly what the "writers" charge - they're copy-and-paste "content", with slight rewording to escape accusations of plagiarism. The Web site owners who buy these articles just need keyword-enriched content to separate the ad blocks on their sites. These articles achieve their purpose: they're not meant to be read, they're meant to attract Web surfers, who then click on the advertising on the Web page. On these Web pages, the aim is not to get readers, it's to get advertising clickers.

On the other hand, many Web writers charge much more per article for articles which are meant to be read. If you're writing for a Web site on which the content is meant to be read, then you can charge prices which are comparable to articles for print magazines.

There's another way you can make a great living writing articles for the Web: sell article packages.

How To Make A Good Income As A Web Writer - Article Packages

To make a good income as a Web writer, you need to understand the many different kinds of Web pages, and what their aim is. The $2-article is at the very bottom of the market. Don't go there.

If you can write a real article that's worth reading, you'll be paid what the article is worth. Just as with print media, you need to research the online world, identify the markets which pay well, and target them.

An easy way to get all the Web article-writing gigs you want, and at a great income, is to think in terms of $50 to $100 per article for article packs, that is, around ten articles on the same topic.

To sell article packages, you need to brand yourself online, that is, build your name as a competent writer, and build a client base of clients who know and love your work and buy from you regularly.

In the Web writing world, just as in the print writing world, you need to build your name and your reputation. That's really all it takes. And the $2 articles? They perform the function for which they're purchased. Write good articles, and you'll be paid well.

Want to become a Web writer? You can make a full-time income as a Web writer with my new ebook "Beat Your Paycheck! Web Writing SECRETS"

Visit my new Web writing blog, Fab Web Writer for daily Web writing tips and information.

Technorati Tags: make money online, marketing, marketing your writing, Web writing, write for the Web

Writers' PLR Cash Cow: Make Money With OWW (Other Writers' Work)

This week's article in Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is "Writers' PLR Cash Cow: Make Money With OWW (Other Writers' Work)".

Here's an excerpt:

Words are money online. Over time, they are BIG MONEY. So if you're a writer who's selling the occasional print article that you've spent two weeks researching and writing, the Web content world can be an eye-opener for you. In that same two weeks, you could create content that will keep earning for you week after week, and month after month.

Read more...

This issue will only be online for a week.

Technorati Tags: get started freelance writing, make money writing, Web writing, write for the Web

Article Cash: the latest issue of the ezine is online

The latest issue of the Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is online. Here's an excerpt from the Editorial:

Writing For The Web - Mad Money - Are You Getting Your Share? You Don't Need To Be a Tech Guru, Just An Article Writer

 

I hope you're snapping up all the Web writing offers which seem to be increasing every week at marketing sites and out-sourcing sites. But, as with everything else, there's good news, and lots of it about Web writing, and some bad news as well.

Here's the good news. You certainly don't need to be a technical guru to write for the Web. On Web sites, the backend work is done by technicians, and the design work by designers, so you don't need to know how to write HTML or create Web graphics, etc. You deliver your writing as an MS Word doc or plain text - no tech expertise required.

More good news: much of the work available for Web writers is content-creation, in other words, ARTICLES. Since articles are bread and butter to writers, if you can write articles for the Web, you're golden.

Read more...

Don't forget to subscribe. The ezines's subscribers get bonus issues which are never archived online.

Technorati Tags: be more productive, get started freelance writing, make money online, make money writing, productivity

Fab Freelance Writing Ezine: Top Five Tips For Writing For The Web

This week's issue of the ezine is online now.

Enjoy. :-)

Technorati Tags: freelance writing, get started freelance writing, make money writing, Web writing

(Ezine) Writers Are Golden Online Right Now

Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is out tomorrow. If you're interested in writing for the Web - the easiest market ever for writers - you'll enjoy this issue.

Here's an excerpt from the editorial:

This week's issue is all about selling your words, specifically about writing for the Web, which is the easiest market for any writer to break into. Whatever your experience (basically as long as you have a pulse), you can write for the Web.

I frequent a lot of Internet marketers' and publishers' forums and discussion groups. I also hang out at out-sourcing sites like elance.com. The big challenge for all Web site owners and business owners, who have lots of money to spend on writers, is finding enough writers to meet their needs. They need writers to write Web content, in vast amounts.

In 2007, I'm amazed that writers still bother writing for the mainstream media. The pay is much better on the Web. Yes, you can get teeny tiny pay for online articles, BUT if you learn how the online world works, you'll soon be getting payment rates which are not only comparable to the offline world – they're better. Online, it's a provider's market.

Not a subscriber? Join here, it's free.

To get up to speed on Web writing quickly, read my ebook, Writing For The Web.

Technorati Tags: Web publishing, Web writing, writing jobs

Watch what you write online: it won't go away

I've often been bemused (and yes, shocked - but then I'm easily shocked) by the blase way in which writers spill their thoughts online. I'm not advocating self-censorship, or any other kind of censorship, but the Internet is forever. As BL Ochman points out:

Even if something is removed from a site or blog, it can be found in the 55 billion pages archived on The Wayback Machine archives...the bottom line is, and always has been, if you don't want the whole world to see it, don't put it on the Internet.

My very first Web site, circa 1997, is still drifting unanchored through cyberspace. I stopped paying for the hosting for that site many years ago, but it's still on various servers and comes up regularly for searches.

Please watch your words online. If you're trying to sell a novel, for example, don't complain about the numbers of rejections you've had - or about a specific editor or publishing house. Don't get into flame wars or arguments with other writers in discussion groups: editors read these groups too. Don't post anything on your blog or on a social networking site that you wouldn't want to read on the front page of a newspaper.

Expect that anything that you write online will be read by people forever. And that includes (supposedly private) email.

Technorati Tags: branding, email, how to blog, Web publishing, Web writing, Writer's Web site

Writing For The Web: be a price maker, not a price taker

There's just one more day left on the special introductory offer for Writing For The Web, our new ebook.

Tomorrow, the price will rise to $47 -- I can't keep it at the introductory price, because the price includes coaching.

If you want to know how to get started writing for the Web, this book is for you.

How much do Web writers make? Experienced Web writers make between $120 and $250 an hour. Those who focus on writing Web sales page make much, much more.

I've been asked whether Web-writing jobs are difficult to get. Here's my answer:

The demand for competent Web writers far out-strips the supply. This means that you can set your own fees at levels that make sense for you.

Setting realistic prices for their work is a definite challenge for many writers, who are used to being price takers, rather than price makers.

However, if you're a good writer, and you retool your skills to write for the Web, this means there's a significant investment in time you've made. You need to be recompensed for your time at a level that's commensurate with the amount of money that people will be making from your work.

You're a price maker when you write for the Web -- not many writers have these skills. Set your fees appropriately.

Technorati Tags: get started freelance writing, make money online, make money writing, Web writing

Blogger jobs: read my new blog and get ready for your new career

(Cross-posted from the Blogging For Dollars Blog, with some additional info for writers re copywriting.)

Who's hiring bloggers? Businesses, primarily. Thousands of businesses from single-person micro-businesses to major corporations.

Type "blogger jobs" into the search query box at www.google.com -- this gives you a small (very small) notion of what's available. However, because of how long it takes pages to index on Web search engines, most of these jobs are old.

Then, go to http://www.monster.com and search for jobs for bloggers.

Please note, that searching Google, and searching job sites, are NOT the ways I recommend that you find the best blogging jobs. You'll need to read Blogging for Dollars to find the BEST ways to get great, high-paid blogging gigs. :-)

How to start your blogger job hunt
You need a blog. Start a blog TODAY. This blog will act as your blogger-portfolio. You can start a blog within seconds at Blogger.com.

Copywriting skills will help you to land a blogging job
Are you a writer? You can get s fast start as a career blogger by developing your copywriting skills. Read my short manual, First Steps in Your Copywriting Career: cash in on the demand for business writers. With good copywriting skills, you can demand more money as a blogger-for-hire.

Technorati Tags: blog how-to, blogger-for-hire, blogger.com, blogs, career blogger, get started blogging