Do you want to avoid having this happen to you? If so, you should make it a point to deliver the best possible beauty content to your blog readers — this applies to both bloggers, content creators, and freelancers alike.

As a beauty blogger or social media influencer, your goal should be to make those who come to your blog or online profile look and feel their best. You can do this by providing them with great beauty advice. If you’d like to see some real examples of the top players in this space, look no further than any of the top profiles in reference to fashion on Instagram.

Here are 9 tips that will help you come up with the right advice for those who trust you to be their beauty blogger.

1. Look at What Other Beauty Bloggers Are Doing Right Now

Before you launch your own beauty blog, you should look around at what all the other beauty bloggers that are out there are doing.

Set aside a weekend and spend it scrolling through the blog posts that other bloggers are creating. Write down what you like and what you don’t like about the different blogs that you come across.

This will provide you with plenty of inspiration for your own beauty blog. You can find a way to incorporate some of the things that you like into the mix on your blog while steering clear of making some of the mistakes that other bloggers are making.

It’s good to know what kind of competition you’re going to be up against, too. The only way you’re going to find out is by checking it out for yourself.

2. Find Your Own Unique Niche

Of the many different problems bloggers face, finding a niche that you know a lot about and can write endlessly on, shouldn’t be one of them. With more than a billion sites on the internet today, it’s important to make sure you choose your niche wisely.

Once you have a good idea of what other beauty bloggers are bringing to the table, your next step should be to find your own unique niche. You want to make sure you’re putting together a blog that will offer content people can’t find anywhere else.

Rather than focusing on the beauty industry as a whole, consider targeting a specific aspect of beauty that you want to cover. This will allow you to focus all your efforts on one thing rather than spreading yourself too thin.

3. Figure out Who You Want Your Audience to Be

Are you going to be blogging for teenage girls? Professional women who want to create the right look for the workplace? Men who need help grooming themselves without spending a fortune?

Instead of trying to write blogs that cater to everyone, it’s best to provide advice to a very specific group of people. You should figure out who your audience is sooner than later so that you can start writing blogs for them.

4. Make Sure Your Beauty Blog Looks Professional

People aren’t going to trust your beauty blog to provide them with beauty advice if it doesn’t look, well, beautiful.

If you’re serious about launching a successful beauty blog, find a website designer who can bring all of your many ideas to life. They should be able to create the perfect layout for your blog based on how you want it to look for your readers.

5. Invest in a High-Quality Camera

A high-quality camera is a beauty blogger’s best friend. Without a camera, beauty bloggers won’t be able to show off the latest beauty products and techniques.

You might not want to throw down a substantial amount of money for a pricy camera right away. It’s good to get your feet wet before you do.

But eventually, you’ll need a camera that’s capable of capturing the best images and videos possible for your blog. It’ll help set your blog apart from all the rest.

6. Test as Many Products and Services as You Can

The beauty industry is worth upwards of $450 billion. As a result, it’s filled with more products and services than you could ever count, let alone test.

But that shouldn’t stop you from trying to test out as many of them as you can. You could very well stumble upon a great product that no one else knows about for your blog. It’ll differentiate your blog from the rest when you’re showing your readers products and services they can’t find anywhere else.

When it comes to creating content for your audience, you need to know what they are looking for, and how to provide them with the best content possible. For a clear example of how to accomplish this, look no further than Rockwell Razors, which have created an excellent article on “What Causes Razor Bumps And How Can You Stop Them”.

Not only does this apply to a large audience and ranks well in the search results, it also targets a lot of individuals who would likely go on to purchase from their site as well.

7. Take the Time to Create Great Blog Posts

If you’re going to be a beauty blogger or social media influencer, you can’t afford to slap together low-quality posts that don’t provide people with nearly enough information. You need your posts to be incredibly detailed while still being easy to understand.

Prepare to spend at least a couple of hours on each post that you do. Additionally, try to establish a unique tone and voice for your blog right from the very beginning so that people know what to expect when they come to it.

The same holds true for how top influencers are making money on Instagram. It all comes down to providing high-quality content for your audience, and then having a solution in place, while also monetizing the process as well. Beauty bloggers and social fashionistas are making millions of dollars through the use of their content, sponsored placements, and also providing value to their audience at the same time.

8. Stay Consistent with How Often You Post

If you’re spending a couple of hours on each of your posts, if not longer, you probably won’t be able to post to your blog every day. But you need to post regularly to maintain your readership.

Create a posting schedule for yourself and stick to it. Even if you only put up one blog post every week, people need to be able to count on you putting it up on time.

9. Ask Your Blog Readers for Feedback (And Put It to Good Use!)

As your beauty blog starts to take shape and develop, there are going to be things that your readers love as well as things that they hate.

Ask your readers for feedback every so often to gauge what they like about your blog best. You can provide them with better advice when you know what they want out of your blog.

Transform Yourself into a Successful Beauty Blogger

There are so many people making a living by blogging about beauty today. If your dream is to become one of them, you need to make sure you’re ready to dish out amazing beauty advice to your blog readers.

By following the tips provided here, you can get yourself off to a great start. You can also grow over time as long as you push yourself to provide people with the best advice that you can.

As always, feel free to check out the many other articles on this blog to further improve your writing, while becoming a better beauty blogger in the process.

The post 9 Tips for Freelancers and Bloggers to Find Success in the Beauty Industry appeared first on Freelance Writing Jobs.

This doesn’t mean every piece you write has to be a scholarly dissertation. In fact, readers often find a simple, direct style to be the most appealing. But there’s a hitch: achieving a simple style is harder than it might initially seem.

Author William Zinsser put it this way: “Hard writing makes easy reading. Easy writing makes hard reading.”

Zinsser’s evaluation is spot on. It takes a lot of time and hard work to achieve an effortlessly simple style. Why? Here’s Zinsser again:

“Our national tendency is to inflate and thereby sound important. The airline pilot who announces that he is presently anticipating experiencing considerable precipitation wouldn’t think of saying it may rain. The sentence is too simple—there must be something wrong with it.”

American English is particularly guilty of inflating language to monstrous proportions. It’s often well intentioned—many writers simply don’t want to leave out any important details. Other times, it’s a matter of a writer hedging their bets and refusing to make a strong, direct statement to the reader for fear of making a mistake.

Eschewing the Exotic for the Quotidian

And that’s the challenge of writing for people who love to read: how to say everything you need to in as few words as possible. Although this is hard work, it isn’t meant to stifle your creativity or pile on an extra layer of writer’s block. In fact, you don’t need to change much about your workflow at all. You’ll just need to do a little extra work after you finish your first draft.

Source

“Rewriting is the essence of writing well: it’s where the game is won or lost,” Zinsser writes in his award-winning book On Writing Well. “The idea is hard to accept,” he continues. “We all have emotional equity in our first draft; we can’t believe that it wasn’t born perfect. But the odds are close to 100 percent that it wasn’t.”

The rewriting process is essential to writing well. It’s your chance to refine your work and turn it into something truly memorable. What kinds of things should you look for while revising your draft?

Take a look at that last sentence. It can easily be simplified by removing the phrase “kinds of things.” Not only does ‘What should you look for while revising your draft?’ sound better, it’s less likely to lose the reader’s attention because the clutter has been removed.

Think about the difference between a Hemingway novel and a school textbook. Hemingway’s writing contains virtually no clutter—each sentence is full of useful information that intrigues the reader and drives the story forward.

By contrast, our eyes glaze over academic textbooks because they’re cluttered and broad. There’s certainly nothing wrong with this; textbooks are made for reference and need ultra-precise language. But when we’re writing for people who love to read, we must remember that simplicity is key to retaining their attention.

I’ll end with another William Zinsser quote.

“…the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that’s already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what—these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence.”

The post Beyond Going Viral: How to Write For People Who Love To Read appeared first on Freelance Writing Jobs.

Although SEO is a fairly new concept when it comes to writing content, it’s something that many writers today are having to scramble to understand; especially if they were trained in other areas. Writers need to ask themselves a few questions: Do I want to learn SEO, why do I want to learn it, and how do I even begin?

Tips and Tricks for Writers Trying to Understanding SEO

If you are a writer and have determined that SEO is something you want to add to your skillset, there are a few different ways you can begin to break into the SEO scene:

1. Do a lot of reading.

This is of course the number one way to help get a grasp on SEO. You don’t just want to read articles about how a writer can learn SEO, but rather just read articles about SEO in general. The more you can understand the overall picture and reasoning for SEO, the better you’ll be able to see where your writing skills fit into place. There are several sites (in addition to this one) that I recommend reading:

• Search Engine Watch
• Search Engine Land
• Moz (formerly SEOMoz)
• Search Engine Journal
• HigherVisibility (this is where you’ll find all of my articles covering SEO-related topics)
• Performancing (also powered by the SplashPress Network)

Even though you might not understand every article you read at first, you’ll begin to see a pattern. You may also want to consider searching for beginner resources on all of these websites (they all have some sort of tutorial for you!). These are trusted sites that even the most advanced SEOs read.

2. Connect with SEO experts.

Staring up a Google+ profile and trying to connect with experts is a great way to do several things. First, you gain a connection, which could help you earn a guest article on his/her blog or someone to help answer your SEO questions, and second, you see all of the social shares from that person, which will help introduce you to new articles. It’s a good way to keep up with what is going on in the SEO world.

Don’t know where to find SEO experts? Take a look at who wrote some of the articles you liked on the sites mentioned above. I also recommend checking out this article that discusses some of the top places to find influencers in the SEO industry.

3. Start your own website.

This is a bit of an undertaking, but if it is something you have considered for a while, now is the time. Starting your own website helps you put your newfound SEO knowledge to practice. You will learn more, and it will be a great way to show future employers you’re familiar with SEO. Read more about starting your own website here.

4. Apply for freelance SEO jobs.

There are tons of freelance SEO jobs out there that can help you get some practice. These jobs are typically just a few articles every once and a while, but any experience is good experience. This website is a great place to start finding these opportunities and applying. Just visit the Job Ads page to see results.

The Takeaway

One thing to keep in mind is that it isn’t absolutely necessary to understand SEO if you want to be a successful writer. You have to know what type of writer you want to be, and for many, that isn’t writing online content. There is nothing wrong with choosing to ignore SEO and put your entire focus on creating the best piece of content you can. That should always come first, for any writer, but for those that are interested in SEO, it’s good to know that there are things you can do and places you can go to make it happen.

Are you a writer trying to understand SEO? What has helped you begin to grasp this way of writing? Let us know your story and your thoughts in the comments below.

Amanda DiSilvestro gives small business and entrepreneurs SEO advice ranging from Google Analytics How-To’s to AdWords best practices. She works as a ghost writer and freelancer at amandadisilvestro.com and Coastal SEO Consulting, and works as the Marketing Manager for a Travel Company, Discover Corps, full-time. Visit her website to learn more!

The post From the Writer’s Perspective: How to Get In on the SEO Scene appeared first on Freelance Writing Jobs.

Probably the most common question I hear from people new to the business, or even occasionally those who have been in it for awhile, is how to find work. The market is vast, but so is the competition. Worse, there is a serious gap between what some clients want to pay and what some writers can make a living off of. It is a dilemma that is faced by even the most seasoned freelancers.

You have to be able to find potential clients, promote your work and come up on top of the competition. To do this, it is best to really build up your arsenal, keeping all those weapons that will blast you to the top of every potential client’s go-to list.

Freelance Writer’s Weapon No. 1 – Work Quality

This isn’t going to sound like a weapon, but it is your most important one. When finding clients (or letting them find you) it is crucial that you have plenty of high quality, top-notch work for them to read, especially if you post your work around the web, and so they might come across you through your articles. You would be surprised by how often this happens.

Your absolute best bet at finding people bearing work is by always making sure your own is the best possible product, especially when something is in your name and on a site or in a publication that has any kind of real readership. That means no doing a poor job to get it done and then forgetting about it. Always work your best to make sure the client is seeing your best face.

In addition, you might want to go through past work and see what it looks like. Did you have a couple of posts on your blog that weren’t so good because you were miserably sick? Maybe you hired a ghostwriter or two during a busy period, and they just didn’t match up to your usual standard. Whether fixing those up or removing them altogether, you should always know that whatever you have up is good.

Freelance Writer’s Weapon No. 2 – Own a Blog

Portfolio websites are great – don’t get me a wrong. They provide you with a creative and stylish way to show off your past projects. But they aren’t so necessary for writers, who will always be showing off a more text-based media, unlike graphic designers who have to have a site to show what they can do.

My advice would be to have a blog. If you already have one, keep up on it. Post at least a few times a week (preferably on the same days) and promote from that platform. Because that is exactly what it is: a foundation for you to express your views, show off your skills and gain a following.

To help you gain more readers, it is a good idea to start guest blogging, as well. This will not only give you more work but will expand your visibility, bring people to your blog and give yourself a list of networking individuals who might just refer you out or turn to you with a project idea.

Freelance Writer’s Weapon No. 3 – Utilize Social Media Sites

I will never understand why so many writers have been bagging on social media lately. Sure, it isn’t a way of expressing literary genius, but it is a nice method of promotion and communication with readers and clients alike. That is why I will always recommend it.

Your social media contacts are your business cards you collect in real life. You never know when you use one!

You have the basic ones like Twitter and Facebook. But if you want to connect with clients you should have a LinkedIn profile, which is a great way to network with people in various niches. It is also a great online profile.

Freelance Writer’s Weapon No. 4 – Referrals

These are your best friend and your bread and butter. Existing clients can pass you on to people who need writing services. Just let the people you work for know that they are free to pass you along to anyone who needs stuff done. To be honest, most will probably do that anyway.

But make sure you are up to date with information. For example, if you are offering a certain price to an existing client that is less than your current rate, let them know that is a discount and what your actual rate happens to be.

Conclusion

These are all common sense, useful tips that will expand your promotion arsenal with very little effort. That will, in turn, get you more work, increase visibility and perhaps double your readership or more.

Tom Chu is the SEO manager at PsPrint, an online printing company specializing in brochure and poster printing among other popular services. Follow PsPrint on Twitter and Facebook

Image Credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

The post Build Your Arsenal to Better Promote Your Freelance Writing appeared first on Freelance Writing Jobs.

BOO!

OK so that’s all I got. That’s my splash. Spectacular wasn’t it?

Kidding.

Seriously though, all this labor and angst over finding your “voice” as a writer… does it really have to be so damn hard all the time? (Hint: OF COURSE IT DOESN’T.)

Sorry, was I shouting? Forgive me, it’s all the pent up passion y’know. Wreaks havoc with my social filters.

Anyhoo, you probably already know the usual tips to finding your writing voice and groove, like:

• Write a lot.
• Write a lot more.
• Then write even more.

Or you could try:

• Write a lot.
• Write a lot more.
• Then write even more, plus read a lot from all the writers and “voices” you admire.

You could even try:

•  Reading this post!

Then of course you slowly absorb all these different tips, styles and voices by osmosis, and it suddenly mutates upon regurgitation into something resembling you, except you sound super cool and shite.

Right?

See how that works?

But it sounds mildly painful, doesn’t it? Sure it will help you of course, but does it really have to be so dang painful all the time? (Hint: And I reiterate- OF COURSE IT DOESN’T.)

So I’ve got a better idea, which you’ve probably already sussed out from the title of this post (you smarty pants, you) that involves far less pain, and almost makes developing your own unique voice kinda easy. (Look I said kinda, so don’t get your knickers in a twist.)

Of course we all know that as a writer, finding your “voice” is never as easy as you might want it to be, but if there is a lesson to be learned from my lame-o comedy act, it’s that it can be a little easier than you think, if you simply allow yourself to let go, and have a little fun with your writing.

Yes, I said fun!

One thing I’ve observed in my crash course to becoming a freelance writer, it’s that trying to follow a bunch of rules only winds up stunting your creativity and natural rhythm as a writer.

You find yourself on this hamster wheel of writing, self-editing as you go, analyzing whether or not you “sound” the way you want to sound, if you dotted that i and crossed that t correctly, and then editing some more when you think you “sound” less than perfect.

Before you know it, that great idea you started with has become hacked and mangled beyond repair, and you’re wailing at your computer screen, pounding your keyboard in frustration, and bounding out of your chair to hunt down the nearest bottle of vodka and box of chocolates. (Oh come on, don’t be a prude, you know vodka and chocolate sooo go together.)

So, while I am very aware that finding your way as a writer and nailing down your own unique voice isn’t always easy… (let’s hammer the point home one final time), it doesn’t have to be painful either.

And because I know ya’ll love to read shite that gives you something to take action on, I’ve come up with a few tips that will help you to inject a bit of fun and humor into your writing, so that your natural voice can begin to emerge and shine. So you can stand head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd.

So you can even make a (vocal) splash, if you will.

Use Humor- Your OWN Brand of Humor

It’s all well and good to use humor in your writing, but the key component to that tip is to use your own sense of humor, not the sense of humor of the charmingly hilarious Jen McCoy or the bitingly funny Redhead named Erika.

The whole point of developing your own voice is to be unique and set yourself apart from all the other boring (or not so boring) blatherers in your industry. Using your own brand of humor can do that, by allowing your readers a glimpse of you in all your (dorky? uber cool?) glory.

Ultimately, most readers love it when you make them smile, and as I read somewhere once- if you can keep them smiling, you’ll keep them reading.

And keeping them reading is the ultimate end goal for a writer, wouldn’t you agree?

Stay the Course- Make Your Point

Remember that having fun in your writing doesn’t mean you bound off on every tangent that pops into that little brain of yours. Sure it’s OK to branch off on a wee side road to crack a joke, or to emphasize something in a funny way. (Lord knows I do it myself, in case you hadn’t noticed!)

But ultimately, your writing needs to have a goal and a purpose, and you need to achieve that goal or purpose without losing your reader. So while injecting humor is great, make sure you stay the course and still get your point across effectively by avoiding overly prolific tangents and limiting yourself to a more healthy number of side roads.

The upshot to that strategy is you won’t leave your readers blinking and thinking WTF. Capisce?

And FYI- sometimes just allowing a little silliness in your writing can do wonders for breaking the ice with a reader, and helping you to establish a voice they connect with. Really, it doesn’t take much, so don’t be a stick in the mud.

Try it!

Make Sure Your Readers “Get” It

While it is fine and dandy to think you’re the funniest thing since Jack Black, you have to make sure it translates in your writing and that your readers agree.

Of course not everyone will always get your sense of humor all the time, but it’s important that if you’re using humor in your writing to cultivate your voice, your readers feel “in on the joke”, so to speak.

And all of that really boils down to knowing your audience and who you are writing to, and whether or not your brand of humor is appropriate for them. In other words, do they “get” it or even want to “get” it?

And to really put it to the test ask yourself this-

• Does this sound even half as funny when I read it out loud to myself, as it does in my head?

If it doesn’t, you might want to reword it or scrap it altogether. That way you’re not cracking jokes that are falling in a bottomless black hole of shite labeled “ridiculously unfunny” to your reader. (Just a recommendation. That is all.)

Ultimately, as with everything in life, you never know how something might work for you until you try it.

My strategy?

Experiment a bit, have a little fun.

Then give all that pain and angst the finger, and see what happens.

Cori is a wildly hire-able freelance writing ‘ghost’ as well as the creative brains and dubious brawn behind her blog Big Girl Branding. If you’d like to harness her creative brains and dubious brawn to write for your blog, just stalk her on Twitter @BigGirlBranding and ask her. I’m “almost” sure she doesn’t bite. Well… like 95% sure.

Image source:

writeawriting.com

www2.elc.polyu.edu.hk

indyposted.com

The post Write and Be Merry- How to Make a Vocal Splash without Even Trying appeared first on Freelance Writing Jobs.

Every “no” is not rock solid. In fact, many have a little wiggle room if you look and listen closely.

Absolutely Not

“Not in this lifetime.” “Hell no.” “Your writing makes me weep for the educational system.” These are firm, but why dwell? Let’s move on…

Not right for us.

Ah, this is a good one. This says the piece or query:

• In its current state doesn’t fit the the publication or site’s theme, audience or editorial direction BUT
• It likely would fit another publication OR
• With some changes it could be just what they need.

Turning “Not a Fit” into the Right Size

Send a follow-up communication to ask how you could change the piece to fit their needs. The follow-up should offer well-researched suggestions. This means going back to analyze the publication or site again. Look for the following:

• Ledes – How do their published articles draw readers into the piece?
• Perspective and tone – Did you match their tone if not, can you adjust your query to reflect their style?
• Numbers and experts – What kinds of sources does the publication typically use? Will concrete statistics build up your pitch?
• Editorial calendar – If you didn’t do it before, check their media kit and see what the publication has planned. Can you adjust your pitch to fit a different issue?

Not Accepting at This Time

Wiggle room! Investigate. Find out if they not accepting a particular type of piece or new work in general? A nice, quick follow-up can make the difference between your pitch never getting published there or simply published later.

Life After Death er, No

Research the publication’s competition and explore different markets. Mashable may not want your article but IT News might be interested.

• Web – Everyone wants to see their pieces in print, but some articles may find a better home (and longer shelf life) online.
• Trade – What industries would be interested in the information your piece provides? Trade magazines are an often overlooked source of revenue.
• Local – Look around you. Try sending your pitch to local/regional sites and magazines. It may help to adjust your query to demonstrate it’s local angle before you hit ‘send.’
• National – Writers are always advised to start local. Build up clips before going to national sites and publications. It is good advice, but really, there is nothing stopping you from taking that local piece and sending it to a broader market.

No is never the end. It may be a jumping off point for negotiations or an opportunity to move to another market. Look past the closed door to the open window right next to it.

Have you ever turned a ‘no’ into a ‘yes?’ Tell us!

The post Freelance Writing – Turning “No” into “Yes” appeared first on Freelance Writing Jobs.

Three months and several rejection letters later they sit alone in their basement home office muttering about being an under appreciated, true artist. Instead of writing for a living, they spend the majority of the day failing at freelancing. Fortunately, after spending a fair amount of time sucking at this job and talking with other writers who have also, at some point sucked, I have found five truisms that should keep you from flunking out of freelance writing:

Freelancing is a J-O-B.

The bunny slippers, the special hours, the inordinate amount of time spent checking email or taking photos of food may make this gig look like a cool excuse for tax write-offs. I assure you, whether you are wearing a bathrobe or a business suit, if you don’t commit to working you won’t eat. Internet currency/street cred/real estate cannot be printed off and used as cash to pay the gas bill. I’ve tried it already.

Real world client interactions rock.

It’s shocking I know, and if you need to take a few moments to compose yourself I understand. There are times where you’ll have to *deep breath* unplug from the Matrix and get out there to find clients. Networking events,

business events and conferences, etc. are places to find these clients. If you have a niche, go to events for that niche, then you can hit them up on Twitter, FB, LinkedIn, etc.

If you never leave the house, you will miss out on a lot of opportunities.

Embrace technology.

If you want to pick a low-budget, start-up business, freelance writing is the way to go. To start, all you really need is a computer, an internet connection and a printer. However, if you stop there, the freelance writing money wagon will not stop at your door.

Okay, I’m not sure about there being a wagon, it could be an internet rumor like Facebook shutting down. The truth is, if you are unable to communicate with an editor, don’t have a website with links to your work or refuse to get on that Tweety thing or Faceplant you are going to miss opportunities.

You don’t need a fancy website, but you do need a little slice of internet real estate where you can host your clips. The advantage is two fold: many editors don’t open files from people they don’t know which means your query with clips attached may be deleted or shunted to the spam file. Also, you cannot rely on a website to keep your clips live. Saving them as a PDF and uploading them to your website will keep you from losing clips to limited bandwith or upgrading tragedies.

While you’re setting up your site, grab yourself an email account, an IM (instant message) profile and a social media account. If you have to pick one I would start with Twitter. Facebook tends to be more personal, while Twitter allows you to follow people in the industry without being personally connected.

Avoid begging.

You don’t need a paying client immediately to pay the rent, you have an opening in your schedule. It’s the difference between “Please go out with me, I haven’t had a date in a year” and “I scored two tickets to the game on Saturday, would you like to go with me?” Desperation is a turn-off in both the public and private sector. So don’t announce to Twitter that you need a job. Approach clients/editors privately – dm, email, phone call and let them know you  are available.

Do Your Research.

Not a week goes by that I don’t get an email that says “I love/like/tolerate/skim your work on Freelance Writing Jobs, how do I become a freelance writer?” I always wonder why they left a site chock full of info, from a variety of industry professionals, to send me an email.

When I write back I always direct them back to FWJ and include a few of my favorite “Get started links.” I do this not to be an ass, but to give them the opportunity to use their own research skills to find the information that is important to them. Every writer has different goals, pathways and priorities when it comes to this profession. Putting in the time to research the industry boosts a writer’s confidence and affords them an opportunity to personalize their writing journey.

Being a freelance writer isn’t easy, but it is a worthwhile, bankable profession as long as writers keep an eye out for possible pitfalls on the way to writing success. Starting out well and maintaining good habits along the way will hopefully keep you from enduring a suckfest. I’ve been there and it’s not fun. You don’t need to be a starving artist to have a successful writing story. Plus, a rumbling tummy interferes with your inner monologue as you write.

Got any tips on how to stay sucker free? Share them below!

The post How Not To Suck at Freelance Writing appeared first on Freelance Writing Jobs.

Eh.

Talent will take you far and connections will help you get your foot in the door, but there are three things that, when all else is equal, separate the cream from the watery stuff no one wants.

Communication.

Star writers are excellent communicators. They keep their editors informed on article development, including any changes or source issues. They are accessible. Emails are returned quickly and phone calls are returned by the next business day. Skype or an IM are just a click away. An editor never has to worry about what’s happening when they work with these rock stars.

These same writers know how to keep in front of editors and clients without being pushy. They follow what publications are doing, drop a line of hello, forward an article someone might be interested in – and not in the same day. They are unforgetable without effort.

Delivery.

Better than any pizza delivery service, rock star writers are always early. Not on time – early. They understand that editors/clients are always facing a huge time crunch. Getting it in early shows that they are on their game and they can be trusted with the big gigs because they manage both their time and the publication’s interests well.

Independence.

There’s a difference between communication and hand-holding. Rockin’ writers use their problem solving skills and don’t wait for an editor to lead them. They are proactive. If there is a problem with a angle, they keep the editor informed and will give them several options or alternatives.

They are also masters of clean copy. An editor knows with their go-to folks they will get timely work, clean copy and one less migraine.

Talent is incredibly important, contacts can be made fairly easily, but professionalism will keep you in the green long after the wishy-washy Hemmingways and sloppy Stephens are dropped for missed deadlines. Editors and clients want someone dependable and who consistently exceeds their expectations.

How do you knock a client/editor’s socks off?

The post How to Influence Editors and Make Friends appeared first on Freelance Writing Jobs.

There are still only 24 hours in a day and the majority of our problems with time management involve unrealistic expectations. When you have a daily 20 or 30+ list of items that must be accomplished, you are setting yourself up for failure. The same goes for a list of three time consuming items.

There are three quick ways to tell if your list of action items is too long:

1. Carry over. If you are still finishing Monday’s list on Friday, you’ve got a problem.

2. If  you never feel finished, you might have a problem.

3. If you are always in catch-up, grumpy mode, you might have a problem.

So now that the problem has been identified, how do you fix it?

Set Goals.

What are you four main goals? You can go micro: four main goals for work, four main goals for family, etc. or you can go macro: four main life goals. Let’s look at Busy Bea’s goals:

Spend more time with family, land more feature articles, work-out more, have more free time.

Before Bea can get the “mores” she wants, she has to check off the items on her list that do not align with her goals. Reducing her email time gives her more time to put into her queries.

See? Not so bad!

Revisit your goals frequently.

When the list gets long, that’s when you have to stop and check your to-do items against your goals. I still have 20+ item days. Still. As recent as last week. That’s why Monday I had a conversation with myself, pulled out my goals list and started crossing things of my to-do’s that didn’t help me reach my goals.

Time management is tough. Each day we struggle to stay focused and to prioritize, but being realistic, setting goals and following them helps. So take off the cape – no need to be Superwriter anywhere but in your prose.

How do you manage your list?

The post Time Management Tip #2: Be Realistic appeared first on Freelance Writing Jobs.

The bad news: there isn’t enough time. The good news: not everything has to be finished today.

One of the craziest things that people do when trying to manage their time is giving each to-do item equal priority.

I’ve talked with friends who have said that everything they do is important. I get it, I like to feel important and busy too, but everything I do throughout the day does not have equal importance. It took me a long time to figure out how to prioritize, but let me spare you the years of bewilderment with three ways to put your priorities in order.

#1 Develop a System

Tornadoes, terror alerts, snow emergencies, they all have one thing in common – set standards that determine which actions to take and when they should be taken. Is that email about dinner as important as the email about accepting a new gig? Is deleting spam as important as editing a piece to make your deadline?

Whether you use color coded Post-Its, numbers or electronic alerts, develop a system that combines standard actions with level of importance. Be careful not to set too many levels. An overly complicated system is ineffective – right, U.S. color-coded terror alert system?

#2 Make a decision.

Trying to figure out where things land within your shiny new system is the toughest part. Start with the obvious items – deadlines, contracts, billing, etc. Then move on to communication items such as  research and writing, followed by social networking and follow-ups. Or work backwards – whatever works for you!

#3 Stick with it.

Another thing I have struggled with is implementing a system and sticking with it. It’s one thing to tweak things along the way, but it’s unproductive to scrap the whole thing and start over every couple of weeks. Give your system a chance to work and become a habit.

There are only 24 hours in the day. At some point you have to sleep, spend time with your family and eat. The rest is filled with deadlines and to-do’s. Successful writers figure out what must be done and when to do it.

How do you manage work priorities?

The post Time Management Tip #1: Prioritize appeared first on Freelance Writing Jobs.