Here are five indie fiction pieces you’re going to love! Some of it’s a bit dark and unusual, so be aware of that before clicking through. In the interest of transparency, be warned that these pieces are hosted on my fiction website, Valley of Mist, so this post is a bit cross promotional. All the same, a lot of you are really going to enjoy what Valley of Mist has to offer, and these have been hand picked from the best the site has to offer.

An Apology

Explode

Mrs. Buttons

Aisling

The Liar on Baker Street

If you find these kinds of stories interesting, you might want to subscribe to the Valley of Mist RSS feed for more great fiction in the future!

Guest post by Jonathan Burke

These days, one of the hottest buzz terms in business and technology is “file sharing.” Of course, basic and ordinary business communications are generally conducted on simple email. However, for companies and business websites that require communication involving either high security requirements or large and complex files, specialized file sharing services can be necessary. However, as these services become more and more popular, it is also important to realize their significance outside of large, established businesses.

Online file sharing also offers valuable benefits for independent businesses or freelance writers operating online. In fact, by taking advantage of online file sharing services, a freelance writer can improve security and efficiency, strengthen relationships and communications with clients, and even simplify the process of writing and storing documents. Here are a few of the specifics regarding these benefits.

Improved Security

The most straightforward benefit of most online file sharing services is that they provide you with improved security options for your communications. Not every online business or freelance worker requires advanced security, but features such as password-protected emails and assurance that your communications reach their proper destinations can still come in handy, and help to reassure clients as well.

Additionally, access to a cloud network like that provided by some online file sharing services like Citrix ShareFile offers secure backup of your work documents. With files saved on the cloud, you will no longer be vulnerable to potentially disastrous losses that can occur from computer issues and even hardware damage.

Improved Efficiency

Efficiency can refer to a lot of things, and online file sharing can help your freelance work to run more smoothly in multiple ways. To begin with, file sharing services can help you to easily transfer large or complex files, such as particularly long documents or large collections of smaller documents. Needless to say, this saves you the hassle of having to transfer such files via ordinary email.

Your work efficiency will also be improved, once again, by the presence of the cloud. With your work saved to the cloud, you will naturally become more flexible regarding where you can work from. Any device that can access the Internet (smart phones, computers, tablets, etc.) can log into your cloud, giving you the freedom to work on your projects from anywhere you please.

Advanced Storage

The aforementioned cloud can also help with your basic storage needs, and allow you to maintain a far more organized business. If you work full-time as a freelancer, chances are that you have amounted a considerable number of different documents, files, and projects for a variety of different clients and employers. While this can certainly all be organized on an ordinary computer, things can quickly become cluttered and your hard drive can ultimately become a bit too packed. Saving these files on the cloud allows you to take advantage of an advanced storage option that not only relieves pressure from your computer, but allows you to simplify your organization.

Guest Post by Louise Tillotson

Freelance writing can be a very lucrative job if you enjoy it. The setup costs are surprisingly low when you compare it to setting up virtually any other home-based business, and the rewards can be high.

If you’re new to freelancing then read on to find some cheap and easy ways to get started.

Setting up your home office

You might think you can do without a home office, that you’re perfectly happy writing your copy on a laptop while sitting on the sofa. But I know from personal experience that unless you’re sitting at a desk with a monitor in front of you in some semblance of an office, it’s very hard to get into the required mindset for working. Having a separate space will also mean less distractions and allow you to mentally ‘leave work’ at the end of the day.

Ideally, a home office should be in a location removed from the main household; a spare room or converted attic for example. It needn’t be in the house; my neighbour works from home and she installed a small summer house in her back garden and kitted it out as an office, complete with coffee-maker!

Costs can vary depending on the space you have available, but at the very least you’ll need a comfortable chair, a desk big enough to hold a PC and monitor or laptop, printer/scanner and a phone. You can pick up office equipment for low prices if you don’t mind second-hand; look on eBay, Craigslist or your local newspaper to see what’s being sold.

Software and tools

You don’t need to spend any money on software if you don’t want to. Yes, Microsoft Office is good but it’s not the only software package available. OpenOffice is a free alternative to MS Office, and has a word processor, spreadsheet, database, image editor and multimedia presentation tool.

Google Docs is another option, and especially useful if you need to share a document with other people in real-time. Google Docs allows you to make a file visible to just specified users, and give them read-only or editing permissions. Again, it’s free to use and offers a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation tool. You can also create forms and simple images. All you need is a Google account, which comes in handy for many things!

When it comes to accepting payment for your work, you can’t go wrong with PayPal. A personal account allows you to send invoices to a client free of charge, and send reminders out if they remain unpaid. You can transfer money between your PayPal account and a designated bank account or credit card.

Setting up a PayPal account is free, and fees only apply in certain situations, such as receiving money from someone paying with a credit or debit card, or if sent in a foreign currency. Despite this, PayPal remains the easiest and safest way to receive money online, especially if you have clients in different countries.

Getting an online presence

You’re putting yourself out there as a writer of web content, so it stands to reason you’ll need an online presence. Potential clients will expect it and they’ll want somewhere to go and find out more about the person they’re thinking of hiring.

About.me is a free website which lets you set up a personal one-page profile on which you can list areas of expertise and whatever other information you think clients would want to know. Or try LinkedIn; it holds a bit more information about you as well as allowing you to list previous jobs and network with others in groups and shared connections.

As a copywriter you’ll also want to showcase the work you’ve done, so an actual website might be the next step.

WordPress is currently one of the most popular ways to set up a free website, and it’s easy to convert to your own domain if you choose to do so. A basic yourname.wordpress.com site costs nothing but setup time, and is a good place to start if you’re not sure about running a website. You can provide links to work you’ve already done (make sure you don’t just copy the work directly) and give potential clients a way to contact you.

If you decide to take the next step and buy your own domain, expect to pay between $10 and $25 per year for most domains, and between $5 and $17 per month for hosting. You can get free hosting from sites like 000webhost but features are limited. You can still use programs like WordPress if you buy your own domain and hosting, as the software is set up to install on any web space in a matter of minutes.

Self-promotion

Nobody will know you’re a freelancer looking for work if you don’t promote yourself as such. To start the arduous task of self-promotion, get yourself listed on freelance databases such as Freelancer. You can browse the projects that people are looking for work on and be listed on a searchable database so people can find you. If you’re accepted to work on a project you’ll need to pay a nominal fee; usually 10% of the payment.

There are also free databases out there, although it can be hard to find one which has a large readership and frequent updates. Give FreelanceFree a try to begin with; you can always join one of the fee-paying sites later on.

Another way to promote yourself as a freelance copywriter is to track down sites within your areas of expertise, and contact them directly. If the site is a blog you might want to spend some time reading and commenting on the existing posts to get a feel for the type of content they like, and making yourself known to the blog owner. It’s not mandatory but it all helps.

You can also email site owners offering your services as a writer; be sure to put some reference to their site in there to avoid sounding like an automated spam bot! If there are ‘guest post guidelines’ on the site, adhere to them. If you buy your own domain you’ll get an email address included; if not, get a free Gmail account (see, a Google account does come in handy!).

Finally, use social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to promote yourself. Set up a new profile on each and use them to promote the work you’ve done (the site owners will thank you for this) and share other news within your specialist industry. Twitter is best for this, as with the right strategy you can really become known as an expert in your field. And it’s free!

Finally…

Of course, the best advertising is word of mouth. Get your happy clients to tweet/share the content you write for them, ask them to write endorsements for your personal website, and they might even be willing to pass your details onto any other site owners they network with. Don’t be afraid to ask for a bit of free publicity!

Wondering how to be a blogger? If so, I’m writing this article just for you.

Being a blogger can be easy if you use the word loosely. If you focus more on yourself than your reader, you might as well just rush over and put up 3 posts about your cat on a blogspot blog named after you. Congratulations, you’re a blogger. Not what you’re looking for? Good, keep reading.

In fact, being a blogger is about providing quality content to interested readers. That takes skill, talent, and luck. If you’re hoping to learn how to be a good blogger in 30 days or less, the first thing you’ll need to do is…

 Day 1: Pick a Niche

Are you passionate and knowledgeable about anything? That’s probably what you should start off blogging about then. The guide on how to be a blogger would read very similarly in this respect to the guide on how to be a writer in any other medium. You need a topic, and you’ve got to know and care about that topic.

You don’t have to start off as an expert. You just need to know enough to write eight useful articles, and have a passion for learning more.

Day 2-3: Keyword Research

Now that you know what you’re going to write about, you need to spend a day or two picking out some keywords. You don’t need to choose every keyword you’ll ever use, but you must try to figure out what people looking for a site like yours will be searching for when they sit down to Google.

Brainstorm words and phrases people might type in looking for the content you want to write, and make yourself a list.

Now check the words on your list using a keyword tool. I suggest you start with Google’s Keyword Tool since it’s free. You can pay for something more powerful later, if you need it.

You’re looking for words with low competition and decent traffic. Choose a handful of them to begin with, and make a note of them. Now take some of the highest traffic options and type them into the Google search box.

See the suggestions it’s making? Those are longer phrases that people type in frequently. Take them and type them into the keyword tool to check what kind of competition there is. If there’s low competition and at least a few thousand searches, record that exact phrase.

Day 4-6: Brainstorm Article Ideas

Of course, the most important part of being a blogger is the actual blogging. Articles and posts that readers will find useful are the alpha and omega of blogging. Search Engine Optimization, blog design, and even high traffic are of little use if you don’t have content on your site worth consuming.

Sit down on day 4 and brainstorm until you’ve got 12 ideas for articles. On day 5, come up with another 12. On day 6, cull 8 of the least interesting ideas, and mark 8 of the best ideas.

Day 7-15: Write Your Articles

On days 7-14 write one article each day, and starting on day 8 edit the article draft from the previous day. Each day you’re writing one article and editing another. This is probably going to take two hours or more a day if you’re doing it right.

Remember to use the key words and phrases you came up with a few days before in your articles. (Warning: Never use a keyword or phrase where it doesn’t belong. Write for people first, search engines second.) Ideally, the keywords and phrases should be used in the title, url, and several times in the body text. This shouldn’t be hard, since the keywords should relate very closely to the article’s topic, and weave easily into the articles natural flow.

On day 15 you’ll edit the final article, then read each of your articles in turn. Don’t focus too much on editing, but don’t hesitate to apply polish where it’s lacking.

Day 16-17: Choose a Platform

Now that you’ve written 8 articles, you’ll need to start working on building a blog to host them. The first step is choosing your platform. Don’t rush yourself here, since changing this later is extremely disruptive and a lot of work.

Completely free options like WordPress.com and Blogspot.com exist. These are fairly simple to set up and use, and they cost nothing. For your first blog, one of these might just be your best option.

You might also want something more like Square Space. I wouldn’t suggest it for most, but it’s ideal for some. It’s similar to an expanded version of the blogspot or wordpress.com options, except that it comes at a price.

The best option for most people reading this is going to be a self-hosted wordpress site. These require a more tech savvy user to  setup and maintain, but ultimately offers the best experience.

Don’t take my word alone for it though. Read the information available on your options, and make the decision that best suits your needs and budget.

Day 18: Choose Hosting

If you choose any kind of self-hosted site, you’ll need to choose who’s going to host it.

I use Host Gator, but there are many options out there, and many of them are great choices. Again, read over your options and choose the one that best suits your budget and needs.

Day 19: Choose a Name and URL

While your articles will be the real power behind your blog, the name and subsequent URL are going to be critical to getting people to give your blog a chance. You need something easy to remember and type, while still being catchy and unique.

Think hard about your name and URL, since they’re going to be hard to change later. Try to choose something you won’t regret in a year. Think about it from your target audience’s perspective. If you were them, and you saw there was a blog named that, would you give it a chance?

Day 20-24: Set Up Shop

I’m not going to go into the technical aspects of setting up a website here. That could cover a whole host of articles by itself. Especially since at the time of writing this I don’t know what option you’re going with.

Suffice to say, there’s a decent chance you’ll need a few days to set the site up. This might be spent configuring your Blogspot sidebar, or wrangling in the DNS and securing your URL.

Day 25: Lightly Monetize

Lightly is the key word here. This isn’t an article about what ads to use, but whether it’s Adsense or Project Wonderful or something else, don’t go crazy. Having more ads isn’t going to make you more money. Satisfied readers make you money. Excessive or obnoxious advertising only drives visitors away. Don’t use text link ads in the text of your articles, don’t use pop-ups, and don’t use huge or ugly ads.

Just put one or two ads in your sidebar. Don’t worry about making money with them yet, since it’s probably going to be a while before they make more than a few pennies. Instead, focus on making them unobtrusive and nice looking. Never sacrifice reader experience for money.

Day 26-28: Design Your Blog

Now focus on making your whole blog look good. Create a simple but nice looking header, and make whatever tweaks you can to make the site look good.

Remember to keep things simple unless you have web design experience. You don’t need to do anything crazy with it. It doesn’t need to start off as the best looking site on the web, though that wouldn’t hurt.

Down the road, if you find your blog really taking off, you can hire a web designer to revamp the site. Re-designs are usually fairly easy to do without disrupting site function.

For now though you’re just looking to make the site look nice enough to avoid driving visitors away. Something simple and professional, with a useful navigation menu and easy to read text.

Day 29: Schedule Your Posts

Now that your site is ready and waiting, schedule your posts. Schedule them to post twice a week, over the course of one month.

Day 30: Cleanup

Look hard at your blog inside and out. See if you can find anything that isn’t working quite right. Fix any problems you find, polish any dull areas. Try to find time to read your articles one more time before they start posting.

Congratulations! Now you know how to be a blogger! Following these steps, you’ve got a blog that’s going to have fresh content for a month, even if you do nothing. Of course, you shouldn’t let yourself do nothing. Remember those 8 articles you neither culled nor noted on Day 6? During this next month, you need to write those articles and brainstorm articles for next month.

Think I missed something critical? Have experience on how to be a blogger you think readers could benefit from? Let me know in the comments!

So you have your website, form contracts, and business cards. You’re ready to serve your first client.  Speaking of clients though, where are they?

Finding work can actually be more daunting than the work itself. If we were experts at attracting and selling clients we’d be salesmen, right?

Bad news. Since you’re a freelancer, you ARE the salesman. You’re the sales department, accounting, HR, and management. With the blessing of deciding when the work day ends, comes the curse of being personally responsible for finding your own clients.

Once you’re well established you may be able to find clients more easily through repeat business and word of mouth. When you’re unknown though, you can’t wait for clients to come find you. So, how do you get those first clients?

6. Specialize

If there’s an original sin of freelancing common to nearly every new freelance writer, it’s over-generalizing. It’s great that your skill sets are diverse, but you need to specialize. Specializing will help potential clients recognize that you’re the kind of writer they’re looking for.

5. Exemplify

As a writer on the web, employ your specialty for yourself. If you’re selling your blogging talents, make sure your blog is displayed and that you give the posts your best efforts! If you sell website copy, make sure the copy on your website is excellent. Whatever you sell, odds are you can use it to impress potential clients and visitors to your site.

4. Advertise

Find some free or inexpensive advertising. Craig’s List, Project Wonderful, Google Adsense, and others are all good starting places. Get people flowing to your website. If your advertising is well targeted and sounds professional, some of those drawn to your site will become clients.

3. Respond to Job Listings

Many clients are looking for someone like you. They just don’t know it’s you they’re looking for yet. Check forums and job boards for people looking for someone with your skills. When you find them, respond. You’re not the only one doing this, so you won’t get every job you pitch. You can probably get some of them though, and that’s all you need.

2. Connect

Connect with people on a personal level through social media, forums, and other communities. This means connecting with both your fellow freelancers and potential clients. Your fellow freelancers probably already have clients, and you may learn something about where to find some of your own if you talk with them. And getting to know your potential clients has obvious benefits too.

1.Experiment

Finally, you’ve got to keep trying different things. Don’t try a few things and decide that’s enough. Keep pushing yourself to find a few more places and explore a few more options. Keep tweaking the way you approach new clients, the way you advertise, etc. Keep experimenting and trying to find better clients in larger numbers.

Do you think I’ve missed a critical step? Have you tried these techniques? Let me know in the comments below!

Being a freelance writer comes with a huge backpack of double-edged swords! One of the keenest among those blades is managing your own time.

You can decide when to start your work day. You choose when to take lunch. You choose when to take breaks. This seems great until you realize that you’ve also got to be the one standing over your own shoulder, making yourself get that project done on time. Believe me, standing over your own shoulder is harder than it looks.

Luckily for you, your fellow writers have all had to handle this same blade and lived to pass on this great advice!

5 Simple Tips to Maintain Focus on Your Writing

Having a lot of days when keeping yourself going seems impossible? This article gives some excellent tips on getting yourself to start working and keep working!

5 Strategies to Banish Writing Distractions for Good

These tips focus on banishing the distracting elements from your writing environment by any means necessary. Great article that makes staying focused way easier.

How to Avoid Distractions as a Freelance Writer

This article offers advice on keeping yourself so focused that you’ll consider becoming a task juggling work hermit! Seriously, don’t go in there if you want to procrastinate!

How To Stop Being Distracted and Get Stuff Done

Think procrastination is your fault? Well, maybe you’re half right. There are a a lot of distractions out there in freelance workplace though, and distraction happens to the best of us. You can’t control all of them. This article is about dealing with the part you can control: You.

Procrastination: Understanding & Overcoming

This article strikes at the heart of the problem, attempting to help us understand why we get distracted, and get past that so we can actually get some work done.

When you’re writing copy for the web, what do you focus on?

Do you focus on making sure yesterday’s search engines will be able to understand what you’ve written? If that answer’s yes, there’s something you should know: Search engines have changed.

When writing for the web, copywriters have worked towards “optimizing” their writing for the web. SEO Copywriting has developed many complex methods for getting search engines to push traffic to their pages. Most of these methods involve stuffing their page with keywords, even in cases where this makes it sound awkward. While this did get a jump in traffic for a long time, it was never a good idea. A better idea would have been optimizing the copy for people.

Afterall, why are you search engine optimizing your copy? The answer is probably that you want to rank well in search engines. Why do you want that? To get visitors. But what’s going to happen once they arrive on your site and read the copy? The answer was that you were usually going to lose so many of the visitors that the boost in traffic didn’t matter in the real world.

Sure, the traffic looked good to advertisers. It didn’t look good to visitors though, and the search engines want to give their users the highest value sites. If otherwise low value sites were stuffing themselves with keywords to draw attention, or were spamming or buying low quality artificial links to inflate their search engine rank the search engines needed to evolve to weed them out.

Skip to today. There have been articles claiming SEO copy writing is dead for a few years now. They make the case that because stuffing your copy with key words and phrases doesn’t work like it used to, that SEO copywriting is no more. What many of them overlook is that writing copy that’s optimized for search engines hasn’t died, it has evolved.

The search engines want to give people what they want, and they’ve been forced to adapt to a marketplace full of keyword abuse. Today’s search engines look at a lot more factors. They’re coming ever closer to human level understanding in terms of what a page is about, and how valuable it is. What’s more, they look very closely at what others have to say about the page.

If you make your copy awkward, you’re going to make PEOPLE like your site less. That’s going to translate to not just a lower retention rate when people do come to your site, but it’s going to mean people don’t link to your page, which will directly effect how search engines view your site.

Instead, you should be writing for people. When you write something great, the readers like what they’ve read. Whether it’s useful or entertaining, readers are the ones who will recognize the value of your site and share it with their friends. They’ll link your page on their pages, social media, etc.

I’m not trying to tell you not to do some keyword research and other basic whitehat SEO. Those are still good ideas. However, the evolution of SEO copywriting holds search engine considerations a distant second to  human considerations. Afterall, in the end it’s all about the readers.

Agree? Disagree? I want to hear what you think! Leave me a comment below.

When you set out looking for clients as a freelance writer, everyone wants to see samples or clips of your work. For a new writer, this request is often a hurdle between you and paying contracts.

Clients won’t be impressed if they look at a writer’s samples and see a series of college essays or class projects. It won’t matter how good the papers are. If the client sees school work listed as a sample, they’ll think you’re too green.

Without clips, a writer’s hopes of being hired shrink. But without clients, how can you generate clips?

Content Mills

Don’t write for content mills. It’ll make the writer in you feel dirty.

Content mills provide bulk low quality writing for clients. What the articles are for varies, but the answer rarely involves any kind of reader value. They pay low wages, accept anything that’s not gibberish, and use the content unethically. Writing for them tells them and their unethical clients that your writing is nearly worthless.

They might seem like a good place to start since they’re willing to give you a little bit of money even though your samples suck or don’t exist. They’ll pay you to generate some awful clips, but you’re a lot better off making your clips virtually any other way.

Make up Clips

Try creating some mock clips. These could be sales letters, web pages, brochures, articles, or whatever else you’re hoping people will hire you to write. Take two hours each day for a week to create a handful of samples for nonexistent businesses.

Put as much work as you can into them, and produce something you’re proud to show a potential client. You don’t need to specifically label it as a mock up. Just label them by company name and let viewers draw their own conclusions.

Write for a Good Cause

There are a variety of charities and causes you could offer your services to. Many local causes appreciate the willingness of creative talent like you to offer your services free of charge. They won’t all need a freelance writer, but some of them might and it’s an excellent way to get some clips. Especially if you can work with a branch of a well known charity.

First for Free Promotion

If you offer to do the first project free, you’re probably going to have at least a few takers even without samples. Don’t treat this as working for free, treat it as a promotional event. Put in your all and give them your best work, then try to get a testimonial once you’re done.

Do this for a few clients, and you’ll soon find yourself with a handful of clips and testimonials. Even better, some of those you wrote for may hire you for future projects or recommend you to someone who will.

Where did you get your first clips as a starting freelance writer? Let me know in the comments!

At this point, there aren’t many people who don’t know the power blogging can have to benefit small businesses.

A blog is a powerful, inexpensive form of advertising that your customers will seek out and read intentionally. You could spend thousands of dollars sneaking it into their magazines while customers try hard to ignore you, or you could craft it properly and stick it online where your customers will line up to get more.

That choice isn’t hard, so this isn’t an article about whether a blog would benefit your small business or not. Instead, it’s about who should write your business blog. There are four primary options:

You could write all of the articles yourself, your existing employees could write the articles, you could contract a freelance blogger to write the articles, or your could hire a blogger as an employee.

A business blog is a marketing asset like a billboard, storefront or company vehicle. Choosing the best option for creating and maintaining it can mean the difference between a business blog that makes you world famous and one that’s a public embarrassment.

So I’ll walk you through the pros and cons of each option, then briefly explain what situations that option should be used in.

Writing the Articles Yourself

If you’re a small business owner, you’ve got a lot on your plate. Taking time out of your day to write articles is going to mean there’s something else that you don’t get time for. Even so, early on or in hard times your marketing budget could probably be kept in a change jar on the night stand. A blog can be an extremely effective means by which to do your marketing, and doing it yourself might minimize expenses.

Pros

No one knows your business like you do. While many writers will research your business in detail before they start blogging on your behalf, they still won’t see your business exactly the same way that you do.

You can put as much or as little work into your articles as you’d like to.

Cons

Your time is valuable. Writing the articles yourself seems like it means not having to pay any cash out. Time is money though.

You’re probably not an experienced writer or blogger. Your articles are going to contain mistakes you can’t see, or don’t understand yet. Those mistakes will reflect poorly on you and your business.

Running a small business is hard. It places large demands on your time and energy. If you attempt to write the articles yourself, you’ll probably end up only posting once in a blue moon. This is going to severely cripple your blog’s performance both with readers and search engines. That’s going to push your customers to the competition who have more up to date blogs.

When is this your best option?

If your small business is operating on a shoe string budget early on, writing the articles yourself might be your best option. Especially if your business has down time to work in,  so that writing it doesn’t interfere with your other duties.

Having Your Employees Write the Articles

If your company has employees, you may ask some of them to help with the blog. If you can find four of them willing to write one short article a month, you’ll be able to supply your blog with an article a week without over taxing any one person’s time.

Pros

This can provide a variety of viewpoints and writing styles to your articles.

It allows customers and community members to feel like they’re getting to know the faces of the business by reading the articles.

You’re already paying your employees. You won’t usually have to put out more money to contract or hire a new worker specifically to write articles for your blog, since the employees are already on the payroll.

Cons

Your employees may not be the writing type. Writing is a skill, and writers are usually paid more than minimum wage for a reason. The articles your employees write may not be very high quality, since you didn’t choose your staff based on their writing abilities. In a small business, finding a few people who can write articles you’d want representing your business would be luck more than anything.

The time they spend writing articles is time they’re not spending on whatever you hired them for.

When is this your best option?

If you don’t possess the time or skill to write articles for your company blog, but your budget is too tight to pay a freelancer or hire someone new then this may be your best option.  Of course, for some companies it’s not going to be an option at all.

Remember that if your employees are always overworked, asking them to start writing articles for the company blog isn’t the best idea. What’s more some employees may have specific contracts that prohibit that kind of activity.

Contracting a Freelance Blogger

Hiring a freelance blogger brings the talent of a writer to your business blog without having to pay a full time writer or deal with another employee.

Pros

You don’t have to write the articles yourself. Your time is money. If your time is worth $40 an hour, and you can hire a freelance blogger for the equivalent of about $25/hour, then you’ve actually saved $15/hour on those articles.

The freelancer is probably a better writer than you and your employees. He knows how to write posts that are going to be useful and attractive to readers, and this skill will reflect well on your business.

A freelance blogger will know how to generate articles that are search engine optimized. This draws in more visitors to your business blog, and translates to more leads and more money for your business.

You can hire the freelance blogger for as many or as few posts per month as you’d like, and the services you receive are the services you pay for. You don’t need to add the freelancer to your healthcare plan or process a new employee’s paperwork.

Cons

You’ve got to come up with money to pay your freelance blogger.

When is this your best option?

A freelance blogger will usually be your best option. This is because of the large middle ground between a company so small that they’ve got to do the writing themselves and one so large they need a full time writer. Companies in this middle ground are going to find contracting a freelance blogger a great use of their marketing budget.

Hiring a Blogger

If your small business is getting bigger, it might suit you to hire a full time writer. Blogging may not be their only duty, but it would be one of their duties.

Pros

Professional writing quality for your business blog. The consistency and quality will make your blog much more popular.

As an employee, the blogger will get to know your business a little better than research would allow. They’ll get to know the personality of the people and the place better.

Cons

Hiring a full time writer can be expensive. You’ll need to have a lot of work for them for this to be worth it.

You’ll have to file another employee’s paperwork, and deal with the liability and risk that comes with having another employee.

Conclusion

So is a freelance blogger right for your small business blog? Probably.

There are some small businesses that wouldn’t find contracting a freelance blogger a good investment. Those without the money to afford them, or those with so much writing work to do that they need to hire a full time writer. The majority of small businesses are going to be somewhere in the middle though, and they’re in a position to get the most out of a freelance business blogger.

What separates a professional writer from an amateur?

Okay, yes. Technically making a living writing is the barrier. A larger vocabulary, impressive clips, and industry experience should be mentioned. Alright, lots of other stuff too.

There is one difference in particular that sometimes isn’t obvious. An amateur writes words, but a professional writes ideas.

An amateur often uses too many adjectives and writes on endlessly about a topic. The professional outlines the ideas and information they want to convey, and writes it in as few words as possible. Does this mean that the professional just doesn’t have the necessary descriptive powers or stamina? No.

It’s just that almost nothing you can write benefits from being wordy. There’s a certain point where further description or specification doesn’t add value for the reader. The professional writer knows that point and won’t cross it. The amateur may never realize such a point exists. Readers aren’t very patient these days. If you start wasting their time with a lot of unnecessary words they’re not going to keep reading long enough for you to get to the point. It doesn’t matter what you’re writing, you need to focus on getting your ideas across instead of focusing on long or flowery writing.

Why is the amateur’s writing so much more fatty than the professionals? Personally, I blame the schools.

Instructors even up through college often assign papers of a certain minimum page length. Depending upon the class and instructor you usually need to have all the major parts. An introduction, thesis statement, supporting points, and so on. What they don’t demand outside high level writing classes though is lean writing. Rarely have I seen an instructor dock any major points for wordiness. The result is that the student pads their paper with descriptions and digressions and needless specifications that add nothing but length to the paper, and they think they’re supposed to. They’re encouraged to write papers that are one part content to two parts fluff.

The result is papers that technically meet all of the criteria for a high grade, without offering very much at all in terms of reader value. This is something the writer needs to unlearn when struggling up into the world of professional writing. It doesn’t matter if your client is an advertising agency, a small business, or a newspaper; they’re not looking for a lot of fluff. They’re looking for lean writing that gets the job done without wasting the reader’s time.

So how do you write like a professional? Cut your writing down to only the words that will add value for the reader.

Has this been an issue for you? Do you have a specific aspect of professional writing that seems more critical? Let me know in the comments!