Freelance

Freelance Writing Gigs.com which is headed up by one time Performancing contributor Deb Ng has announced that, she has turned the site from one blog into a network of six blogs. This move will enable visitors to quickly find the content they enjoy the most from specific authors. When asked about the move, Deb responded:

“This is a natural progression for the site,” says Deborah Ng, who founded the site in May of 2005 to help work-at-home moms find better writing opportunities. “We have multiple contributors now. By providing six different blogs, we’re making it much more readable. Community members can subscribe to the different blogs rather than scrolling down deeper and deeper to find the content that interests them. This design will provide our readers with much more freedom.”

FWJ is strongly considered by many to be the premier site for freelance writers, especially those looking for a job. In terms of content, FWJ is covered by a variety of experienced writers such as Jodee Redmond, who blogs about writing jobs, including popular job listings, and other matters; James Chartrand, who blogs about the business of freelance writing; resident article writing expert Terreece Clark, as well as well-known bloggers Jennifer Chait and David Peralty, who blog on a wide variety of topics important to bloggers.

So while RWW has disbanded its network, others are creating them. Congratulations to Deb for being able to make the move and Performancing wishes her all the best.

Copyblogger has a good article worth reading if you’re a freelancer entitled, Where Have All the Freelance Writing Jobs Gone? The economy is creating tough times for Freelancers as more and more site owners slash budgets and cut costs. However, Yuwanda Black provides some tips on how to turn a down economy into an opportunity by looking at current trends and then providing information based on those trends.

One thing I think helps freelance writers get more writing jobs is to consider themselves as “information consultants” rather than freelance writers.

When you become an information consultant, your mindset shifts. Then you start looking to capitalize on trends.

For example, the trend right now is on information related to business, finance, and mortgages (sub-prime). It seems like everyday, we see, hear, or read news concerning one or more of these trends. That’s why, if you position yourself to be a leader in covering these trends, this downturn in the economy won’t be so bad.

At the end of the article, Yuwanda offers a 2008-2009 Freelance Writing Jobs Report in PDF format that highlights the hot niches and sub-niches for which Freelancers should be positioning themselves to write about. The report also contains four tips for recession-proofing your freelance writing career.

If you freelance write/ blog for a living, you might have run into a problem that’s cropped up for me in the past: that of working on two articles at once for one client, unable to decide which one will get done sooner. While you might have the freedom to decide, it’s possible that neither one gets done on time if you’re indecisive.

The importance of pillar/ flagship/ comprehensive content on a blog has been much touted. However, when you do it for a client, it’s potentially more of a money-loser if you’re indecisive. To wit, if you have the option of six short articles at $20 each or one larger article at $120, which do you choose? That $120 article might take a bit of research, writing and editing, whereas you might be able to write the short ones with little to no research.

Even worse is when you have the option to work on several large articles, all of which might require an yet unknown amount of research. What if you spent half the week scoping out four articles, starting two or three, and then got stumped. Maybe it’s the fifth article that you didn’t scope out that you could have completed by now.

Four articles half-done means no billables for the week. Obviously, this method of writing can be a real money loser, especially if you have too many open options. If you have this sort of problem, here are a few tips to conquer it:

1. Stay in tune. Creative personalities (i.e., us writers) do go through periods where we question our self-worth. It’s natural. Deal with it by keeping up to date in your niche(s). At the very least, maybe you can reflect upon goings on, if you are having trouble with something original.
2. Scope it out. If you have ten articles to write this week and you are not disciplined, you’d better spend an hour or two on Monday (or better yet, Sunday evening) scoping out ALL ten articles. You can make a list, but I prefer to mind map what I’m working on, in a single map, to get an overview of my week’s work. I can add details as necesary. Estimate how much time each article will take, and what type of tasks are necessary to complete each one.
3. Make a decision. When you’ve scoped everything out, trust your gut instinct (built up from your experience) as to which article to work on first. I know that every single time I don’t trust myself, I end up with an unproductive week and no billables.
4. Get to work. Made your decision? Good, now get to work. Add details to your mind map, for your given article, or just simply start writing. It depends on your technique.

Us creative types do get moody, but you can increasing your effective DPH (dollars per hour) with a little bit of planning, and being aware of what your options really are.

If you do get stuck on the article you’ve picked, you’ll have to make a tough decision: stick with it until it’s finished, or pick another article to work on. Before you do the latter, though, try taking a break or a change of scenery. Sometimes, that’s all you need.

So you think you’re a good writer and you’ve read Skellie’s 10 tips for freelance blogging income, in which she says that you shouldn’t accept less than $50 for a 400-word post – even when you’re starting out. I agree that good bloggers deserve this (though whether they’ll get it is questionable). But are you a good blogger? What skills do you have that warrant getting $50/post?

Here are at least some of the “skills” (which include knowledge and activities) that I feel you should aim for if you want to be a consummate bloglancer and command the rates that Skellie suggests.

1. Conversational writing style. This is a given, of course, but so many new bloggers think this is the only skill they need.
2. Topical knowledge. Build a thorough understanding of the topic you’re writing about, else you’ll just be regurgitating. (Regurgitation can be purchased for far far less than $50/post.) If you’re still learning a topic, then at least start by offering your viewpoint.
3. Analytical skills. The reasons for this are many – but one reason is so that you can read X other posts about a topic and produce one solid post from your viewpoint (with appropriate references). Question: can analytical skills be taught, or are they built up over many years?
4. Building dialogue. Ability to build and maintain a dialogue – i.e., get visitors to comment, especially on a regular basis. (Though don’t get depressed if this doesn’t happen right away. Most visitors don’t comment, so without lots of traffic, you might not get responses. Ask friends to comment regularly, if you have to. Visitors are more likely to comment when someone already has.)
5. Deep linking. An understanding of why deep linking is important to building a successful blog, and actually doing it.
6. Building backlinks. Ability to build/ solicit/ induce/ seduce backlinks – especially quality links.
7. Traffic building. Ability to build suitable traffic, either by promotion or by writing secondary articles – posted to other sites – that link to the main article.
8. Web metrics. An understanding of web/ blog metrics, and the use of a good package, such as Performancing PMetrics or Google Analytics, to analyze visitor behavior and site performance, and to determine the effectiveness of activities #5-7.
9. Socializing. Spend time “socializing” online, building up social media friends to help you promote articles. Suggestion: join the Hive.
10. Being a watcher. Willingness to stay on top of the trends, by monitoring your niche. This helps you to
11. Monitoring your work. How much time are you spending on paid work? Are you achieving your desired average hourly/ weekly/ monthly rate, all while still managing to have a life outside of work?

Do You Deserve A Better Rate?

Now, if you happen to have ALL of these skills (or more), and can successfully apply them, then you deserve more than $50/post. Though if you build only your writing skills, then you don’t. Plain and simple. (However, there are a lot of good bloggers out there. How many of you are actually getting $50/post gigs, let alone are finding them?)

I should point out that I left a comment on Skellie’s post saying that I felt her suggestion of asking for $50/post when you start out was unrealistic for most bloggers. If you’ll recall, I just wrote a post about leveraging your research to make the best of $10 and $20 per post fees. I hadn’t read her post at the time, but I’m not totally in disagreement with her. I strongly disagree with a couple of points, but I also strongly agree with most of the other points.

Can the Market Support Increased Article Rates?

The real issue is whether the online market can support that rate. Only two years ago, $10 was about the top rate. Then I’d heard last year from some people that $25-30 was standard, but only for experienced bloggers. A couple of very popular tech sites pay $100, but those posts are much longer than 400 words and typically require a fair bit of research.

Can the market currently support $50/post as a basis for qualified bloggers? I seriously don’t believe that’s the case. Having once been a struggling print publisher, I know the feeling of wanting to pay writers more (or anything at all), but also the feeling of whether I’ve got enough to pay the bills. I happen to know a lot of “successful” web publishers who’ll admit they really aren’t making all that much. Web publishers don’t have costs such as newsprint and printing, but there are other costs.

Now I don’t want to be all pessimistic. I do believe that the market will change, and that qualified bloggers will be able to make a good living, comparable to what many successful print freelance writers make/ once made. For the present though, you have to make the best of the work that’s out there.

Do you have dreams of making a living working online, possibly through blogging? Do you have a plan for how to achieve that? This year marks three years of serious blogging for me, though I have been a freelance writer and published author for much longer. Since becoming a committed blogger, the tough decision has always been whether to blog for myself or to freelance. Both have their positives and negatives.

Here I am nearly three years later and still mostly freelancing, not putting enough time into my own web properties. But in general, I’m questioning if there’s any future in pro blogging for the average person wanting to be a web publisher. Don’t get me wrong. I’m almost never short of opportunities for paid work online. But some months are real downers, or the stakes per project are high. So if I miss a deadline or cannot complete a project, there’s that much more to lose. There’s no half-billing if I only finish half of a project. But my own properties are so neglected that they earn very little. Quite the dilemma.

If you’re just starting out in the blogosphere, what should you do? Short answer: learn the good and the bad aspects of both blogging options. Here are just a few of both that come readily to mind.

Pros and Cons of Blogging For Yourself

1. Freedom to blog whatever topics you want.
2. Lots of choices for ads and monetization.
3. Might take a long time to build enough traffic.
4. It’s easy to get discouraged when traffic doesn’t come, and yet another blog on the topic pops up.
5. You brand your own web properties.
6. Your income is not limited to a per-article or per-project fee. If your site’s earnings increase, the money’s all yours.
7. A lot of the highest-earning niches are often very saturated or tough to crack the cliques.

Pros and Cons of Blogging For Hire

1. You might build your reputation and personal brand, but not on your own web properties.
2. There’s a market for bloggers, with lots of opportunities.
3. The pay isn’t always enough for the amount of effort.
4. The pay isn’t always enough to quit a “real” job, and income can fluctuate significantly.
5. If your contract ends and you’ve invested time in learning a niche, it may not always be easy to replace the work. You may have to switch niches.
6. Freelancing in a niche might require that you maintain your own blog(s) in that niche, as part of promotional efforts.
7. Freelancing full-time leaves you little time for your own blogging.

Conclusion?

My preference is to follow a mixed schedule of freelance work and my own projects, but it’s not easy. To build your own web properties – and your reputation – it takes a lot of initial effort. I used to believe it’s an exponentially decreasing curve of effort, getting easier each year. Well, that’s true, but only in very minute amounts. I am spending less and less time blogging (including research) each week, but my overall monthly average income doesn’t seem to want to budge.

Now, all that said, I don’t want you to go away with a picture of doom and gloom. My father’s favorite saying when I was a kid was, “where there’s a will there’s a way.” What’s more, my experience will not necessarily be yours. My health affects the amount of time it takes me to write, and it’s a catch-22 for me. I can’t get better unless I get out of my chair and become active again, but if I do that I’m worried that I won’t get my work done. (Though as I’ll discuss in the future, this is a self-imposed illustion.)

Still, I’m gravitating back to offline work in the next few years – not because I think there’s no hope for online careers but because I actually miss the social aspect of working offline. But for those of you dedicated enough to do what’s necessary, blogging can be rewarding.