Perks of Freelance Web Writing for Business Clients

I’m a freelance business writer, who just happens to focus on Web writing. It has its perks – perks I’ve seen echoed by quite a few other freelance writers in the same boat. But first: What are “Business Clients?” When I talk about business clients (sometimes “corporate clients” depending on your target market), I basically mean any client that’s not a “publisher client.” A publishing-focused

Web Content vs Web Copy

One of the most common questions and misunderstandings I come across with new Web writers is about Web content versus Web copy. If you want to write for the Web, it’s important to figure out what type of writer you want to be. Understanding the difference between content writing and copywriting will get you off to a good start. I’m going to over-simplify for the

Two Ways to Add a Blog to Your Professional Website

In response to one of my guest posts on my blog tour last week, (pretty sure that’s where it was) someone mentioned wanting to set up a professional website to move their service listings off of their blog. In other cases, I’ve seen writers inquiring about how to take an existing static site and add a blog to it. In short, a combination of the

How One Freelance Writer Increased Her Income Ten-Fold

I’ve spent a lot of time over the last several years talking to freelance writers earning $.01 per word or even less, trying to encourage them to raise their rates and get out of their rut–the one where they want to raise rates but can’t, because there’s no time to market to a new client base when you’re cramming tons of articles into your week

101 Niches to Write About

Whether you’re a freelance writer or blogger, you’ve probably had to choose niches to write about at one time or another–perhaps a niche for your new blog or e-book, or choosing what topics to specialize in for client work. There are millions of niches out there that you can write about or blog about, so it always baffled me that people have a hard time

Are Your Freelance Writing Rates "Highway Robbery?"

In one community I’m very active in, there’s a particular member who always gives me a good laugh (unintentionally). He repeatedly claims that the rates professional writers charge are “highway robbery,” essentially because he feels articles are easy and / or quick to write. Originally I figured he was probably just burned by a lousy writer in the past, or jealous because he can’t command

The Client Isn't Always Right (Like This One)

“The client is always right.” You’ve probably heard that a million times. Well guess what–you’ve also been lied to a million times. Clients make mistakes. Worse, they can occasionally become abusive. I’ve been lucky in that these types of clients have been few and far between in my career thus far. However, two colleagues recently weren’t so lucky. What’s worse is that the client /

So What if the Client is Nice?

I saw a writer’s comment on another blog yesterday where they mentioned that a client may have paid very little, but it was OK because the people there were nice (paraphrasing a bit). All I could think was “so what if they’re nice?” Look folks–it’s great when you have a good, nice client on board. Heck, I hope ALL of your clients are nice to

Bringing in the New Year with Bang

Every year the New Year period comes and goes so quickly, and I always regret not using that time for a heavy push. This year, I finally setup an actual plan to heavily promote my freelance writing services, e-book, and blogs, specifically through the first quarter of 2009 (and with even more emphasis on January). Here are some of the things planned (the things that

Do You Get Paid Upfront for Your Freelance Writing Work?

Chris Bibey wrote a great post recently about upfront payments for freelance writers. I commented there with some of my own views, and I wanted to share those comments here and get some of your thoughts on how you bill freelance writing projects. I charge all of my new clients in full up front. Most of my repeat clients also pay up front, even for

You're Not "Freelancing" if You're Not Being Paid

I was digging through Craigslist earlier when doing job postings here, and was reminded of a bit of a pet peeve I have. On CL in particular, you’ll see a lot of unpaid writing jobs. While I don’t agree with taking unpaid work in the vast majority of situations, I’m really not bothered that the requests are there. What does annoy the hell out of

The Worst Places to Find Freelance Writing Jobs

Everyone tells you where you can look to find decent freelance writing jobs or blogging jobs. But are there any places you should forget? I think so. While I know some others won’t agree, as far as I’m concerned the following are some of the worst possible places you can look for freelance writing gigs. The List Odesk – I’m not a fan of these

My 2009 Freelance Writing Goals – Have You Set Yours?

Earlier this month I posted a monthly challenge – to look back on this year’s work, your goals for this year and whether or not you reached them, and to start thinking about your freelance writing career goals for 2009. I hope you were able to make some time to think about next year’s goals, or that you do soon before getting too wrapped up

How to Get Paid Well Writing for Trade Magazines that Don't Pay Well

Writing articles for trade magazines can be fun. In some cases, those trade magazines can pay very well, but in others (generally with smaller audiences) the pay can be downright dismal. After seeing a complaint along those lines yesterday on a writing forum, I decided to share a quick tip for how you can write for those lower-paying trade publications, and make out much better

The Feel-Good Freelancer

I don’t know about you, but I generally feel pretty darn good being a freelancer. I get to set my hours, choose my projects, set my own rates, and… ouch… what’s that pain in my neck? Must be from that two-hour phone conference craning my neck yesterday. And man… that headache! Must be from staring at a computer screen without a break for 10 hours.

Top Ten Gift Ideas for Freelance Writers – 2008

Earlier this month I mentioned that you should be putting together gift idea lists and related holiday posts. I realized I still hadn’t gotten around to mine, so it’s time. Here are my top ten gift ideas for freelance writers for the 2008 holiday season: Books – Sure, this is a given. Writers love books. More specifically, give them the gift of books that will

E-Books and Reports – An Additional Income Stream for Freelance Writers

We’ve been talking lately about additional revenue streams / income sources for freelance writers (beyond client projects). So far we’ve talked about making money through blogging and flipping websites. Today we’re going to talk about earning extra income by writing e-books and reports. I’m not going to go into the “how to” of writing e-books in this post. If you decide that e-books or reports

My First Content Site (And How it Helped Me Get Into Freelance Web Writing)

Now I work as a full-time, Web-based freelance business writer, but that wasn’t always the case. When I first went into business for myself, I specialized in music PR – writing on the Web was something I soon after started doing on the side. But how did I go from music PR to freelance Web writing? A reader emailed me yesterday asking me to share

Flipping Websites – An Additional Income Stream for Freelance Writers

As a part of our series on additional and residual revenue streams for freelance writers, today we’re going to talk about flipping websites. I’ve discussed flipping websites in a previous post here, explaining it in a very general sense and discussing some past sites I’ve flipped myself. Let’s go more into how flipping websites can earn you more money in freelance writing, and what you

How Many Freelance Writing Projects do You Take on Each Month?

The number of actual projects (or clients) I take on each month as a freelance writer can vary pretty greatly, and more clients doesn’t always mean more income (often the opposite). So I’m curious – do you seem to have a typical number of projects each month, or do you vary a lot with your freelance writing work too? In the past, I worked mostly

Freelance Writing Success: How do You Define It?

What do you consider “success” when it comes to your freelance writing career? I mean, is the fact that you’re a full-time freelance writer enough to make you successful? Are you a success when you can pay the bills? Are you a successful writer as soon as you land your first paying gig? What makes you feel like a success (or what would make you

The 10 Second Trick that Doubled my Productivity as a Writer

Lately my work days have been so much more enjoyable than before. I get a solid 7 hours of client work and administrative stuff out the way, I’m actually taking my lunch hour for myself instead of working through it, have the energy to put a few more hours into my own projects daily, and still have time to take care of housework, working out,

Lessons on Freelance Writing from the Dating Scene

A chill runs down your spine. Your palms are getting sweaty. You’ve laid it all on the line. You’ve put yourself “out there.” You want them – bad. You share the same goals and ideals. You know you’d be a compatible match. But will they say yes? Or will they reject you? No, we’re not talking about that elusive “perfect man” (or woman). Then again,

Freelance Writers and Referral Fees: Would You Charge (or Pay) One?

I know a few writers (and other professionals who sometimes refer writers) who charge a referral fee. I have a strict policy on not accepting referrals for freelance writing jobs that come with this kind of fee, and I never charge one. How do you feel about them? How Referral Fees Work Here’s an example of how a referral fee might work, based on a

Don't Market Freelance Writing Services on Price

Are you trying to build your freelance writing career around price? Do you figure if you offer the lowest rates, you’ll be more successful than all of those writers who “charge too much?” Have you ever lowered your rates just because you saw cheaper services getting picked more often? Do you assume more freelance writing jobs equals a better writing career? Uh oh. You may

Why Freelance Writers Should Never Write Free Samples

I’m sure you’ve seen the ads for freelance writing jobs where you’re asked to write and send a custom sample. Something like: “Must include a unique sample article (at least 300 words) on paying down student loan debts, following the article format at XYZ.com. Applicants who do not submit a sample will not be considered.” Every time I see something like this I can’t help

How Writing Contests Can Kill Your Freelance Writing Career

Writing contests can sound appealing sometimes, right? You can do something you love, pit yourself against your colleagues or peers, maybe win a prize of some sort for the effort, and get a little bit of attention in the process. Then again, that sounds a lot like work when you think about it. I’m not a huge fan of writing contests. That’s not to say

Invest in Your Writing Career and Build a Richer Future

I took most of this week off from client projects to devote time to my own, and I’d like to talk today about why you should consider it too – investing in your freelance writing future. We’re not talking about investing money (at least not much). We’re just talking about time – your most valuable asset as a service provider. Why should you reserve some

Why Should Clients Pay You More Just for Doing Your Job?

I was doing a bit of blog reading this morning, and came across this quote in regards to freelance writers bidding low on writing jobs when they’re new: “A novice copywriter can start with a low price at first. Companies will eventually increase the pay of a copywriter who always submits quality work.” I see this being said to new writers of all varieties all

5 Ways to Get More Done Today

When you work as a freelance writer, you generally have a lot of control over your own schedule. That may sound great, but what it often means is that we’re prone to procrastination and distractions – it’s too easy to say “Well, I can always just work extra hours later tonight to finish this up.” It doesn’t have to be hard to be more productive