For those writers, I promised to post links to basic business resources to help them develop those skills or more easily plan and run their growing freelance businesses. Here are those free business resources — from free templates and worksheets to free online courses.

Business – General

• Owner’s Checklist for Starting a New Business (from SmartBiz.com)
• Business Selection Checklist (from SmartBiz.com)
• Small Business Success Course (free email course from About.com – Small Business: Canada)
• Improve Your Personal Networking Skills (free online course from the HP Learning Center)
• Building Your First Web Page (free online course from the HP Learning Center)
• Principles of Entrepreneurship (free online textbook from America.gov)
• Business Fundamentals (free online textbook from cnx.org)
• Business Communication for Success (free online textbook from FlatWorldKnowledge.com)

Business Plans

• How to Write a Business Plan (a free online course from the U.S. Small Business Administration)
• Business Plan Outline (from Bplans.com)
• Sample Business Plans (from Bplans.com)
• One Page Business Plan Template

Market Research

• Conduct a Marketing Analysis (a free online course from Kutztown University)
• SWOT Analysis Worksheet
• Advertising and Marketing Psychology (free email course from About.com – Women in Business)

Marketing Plans

• One Page Marketing Plan Template
• Marketing Plan Outlines (from Mplans.com)
• Sample Marketing Plans (from Mplans.com)

Marketing / PR – Other

• Marketing 101 (free online course from the U.S. Small Business Administration)
• Principles of Marketing (free online textbook from FlatWorldKnowledge.com)
• eMarketing Textbook (from Quirk.biz)
• Core Concepts of Marketing (from OERcommons.org)
• Press Releases Made Easy (free e-book)
• Social Marketing (free online course from The Open University)

Accounting

• Introduction to Accounting (a free online course from the U.S. Small Business Administration)
• Accounting I (free online textbook from peoi.org)
• Sample Business Balance Sheet (from FindLaw.com)
• Sample Profit and Loss Statement (from Findlaw.com)

If you have other favorite free online resources to help freelancers build basic business skills, please share them in the comments below.

Do you wish you could rake in six figures writing for businesses? If you’ve ever considered a freelance writing career as a copywriter and you want to learn how make some serious dough, AWAI’s Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting might be the kick you need.

I’ve been promising these nice folks a review for months now. What’s taken so long? I just couldn’t find the time to get through everything included. There’s that much information. Even if everything isn’t for you, you’re bound to find something here that moves you in the right direction. Look how much this program has to offer!

What’s Included?

First and foremost, you get access to a 13-installment copywriting program designed to take you from the very beginning to your future as a successful direct-response copywriter. The program is set up in digital book format for easy reading or you can download a .pdf copy of each section if you prefer.

Here’s what each installment covers:

1. Getting Started as a Copywriter: The Opportunity & Lifestyle
2. Taking the First Step Towards Copywriting Success
3. Copywriting Myths and Realities
4. The Secret Structure of Direct-Response Letters
5. Communicating with Your Prospect
6. Building Your Offer One brick at a Time
7. Making and Closing the Deal
8. Why We Need Guarantees
9. Ready… Set… Write!
10. Backing Up Your Claims
11. Putting it All Together
12. Becoming a Master Storyteller
13. You’re a Copywriter!

In addition to the program itself, you’ll get loads of extra resources. For example, you’ll also receive:

1. PDF versions of the exercises found in each installment
2. Access to the AWAI Hall of Fame (Learn from copy that really works!)
3. Glossary of Direct Marketing Terms (.pdf)
4. Materials for Writing Your First Direct-Response Package (.pdf)
5. 24 Companies to Start Building Your Seed Library (.pdf)
6. Webinar Access: Use Your Copywriting Skills to Write for the Web (with Nick Usborne)
7. Webinar Access: The World of B2B Copywriting (with Steve Slaunwhite)
8. Bonus Report: How to Safely and Quickly Change Careers (.pdf)
9. Understanding the 4-Legged Stool (.pdf)
10. The AWAI Peer Review System (.pdf)
11. Access to the AWAI Member Forum for lifetime support (talk to other copywriters in all stages of their careers)
12. Access to AWAI’s exclusive job board – DirectResponseJobs.com

Why I Recommend This Program

Let me be clear. I’m not being paid to review this service (although I was given access to review the materials). This isn’t a paid placement and I haven’t joined any kind of affiliate program for this copywriting program.

I’m recommending this to our readers because it’s one of the most comprehensive online resources I’ve ever seen for new writers, and I think it’s incredibly well-targeted.

You won’t find a lot of general advice here. This is for copywriters. More specifically it’s for direct response copywriters. And if that’s what you want to do, and you want to make a great living at it, this is one of the best resources around and it will arm you with the information you really need.

That doesn’t mean it will make you rich overnight. Just like I tell you in reference to my own products, what you do with the information falls on you. But if you’re ready and willing to work your butt off and master this specialty, you’ll want this resource on your side.

What is “Direct-Response” Copywriting?

I’m not a big fan of long sales letters (from a buyer’s perspective). So I don’t write them for clients as a part of my business model. That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with them. They can work for clients. And they can bring in big bucks for you as a writer. Sometimes when writers hear the term “direct-response” these sales letters are all they think of. But direct-response copywriting is more than that.

Don’t write off the program if you don’t want to write sales letters. The skills you’ll learn and the tools you’ll have access to can help you with other types of copywriting as well. For example, when you see an ad or sign-up form designed to get you to do anything from clicking a link to registering for a site, that’s direct-response copy. So is a lot of PR copy. For example, I used to work for a major international nonprofit organization before going out on my own. Even they use a lot of direct response copy — fundraiser letters and volunteer requests as just two examples.

Direct-response copy is any copy that’s designed to get the reader to take a specific action. That’s all there is to it. And because those actions are directly measurable, they give companies numbers to measure results.

Let’s face it. Businesses love numbers. They love stats. They certainly love results. That’s one reason direct-response copywriting gigs can bring in so much money.

How much are you making right now? Would you like to increase that to $100,000, $200,000 or even more each year? If so, direct-response copywriting might be what gets you there.

What Does it Cost?

The price tag for AWAI’s Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting is $397.

Okay. So I can already hear a few of you gasping. But think about this for a minute:

1. Using the skills you learn through this program, you’ll earn several times its cost before you know it.
2. This isn’t a simple e-book. It’s an all-out course, plus an ongoing community, plus access to exclusive leads, plus access to webinars and bonus reports for even more specialized knowledge from the pros.
3. Compare its cost to that of a limited time course at a local community college. Here you get input from more than one professional, access to a community and email newsletters with new information long after you’ve completed the initial course material. And it probably still costs less. Plus, you get to keep this stuff forever — no note-taking required!

Is it worth it? In my honest opinion, yes. It is. And you can’t really go wrong. If the program doesn’t work for you or you realize that direct-response copy just isn’t for you, they’ll refund your money for a full year. Yes. A year.

If you’re ready to start a new copywriting career today, or grow your existing writing business, AWAI ‘s Accelerated Program for Six Figure Copywriting is a great place to start. There’s plenty in here even for existing copywriters — expand your network, find new leads, or improve your craft!

Sign Up Today!

Interested in other independent careers? Check out all AWAI has to offer — programs on self publishing, Web marketing, resume writing, design, and more! Visit AWAIonline.com today to learn more.

To help you get around, here’s a quick breakdown of the forum sections:

Work at Home Chat

This is where freelance writers and other work at home professionals can get together and get to know each other to break up the sometimes lonely days involved with home-based businesses.

• Introduce Yourself
• Freelance Business Chat
• Marketing
• Balancing Work & Family
• General Chat

Book Club

This is where you’ll find our virtual book club. Note that in this section you can reply to discussions but not start your own threads as they’re reserved for book club picks. You can also suggest books for future consideration here.

• Book Club Picks – Suggestions
• Book Club Discussions
  • Book Club Picks — For Authors
  • Book Club Picks — For Freelance Writers and Bloggers

Freelance Fitness

This forum section is based on a former blog post series we ran. It’s not always easy to stay healthy when you freelance or work from home (that darned refrigerator calling your name). So if you’re looking for tips or encouragement, here’s where you’ll find it — from ways to incorporate more activity into your day to healthy snack ideas while you work.

• Fitness
• Healthy Eating

Writer’s Group / Writing Critiques

This section of the forum is where ESL writers can ask for help, you can ask other writers your questions about grammar, or you can see feedback from critique partners or beta readers. This section of the forum is only viewed by logged in members, so you can post without worrying that any old guest can see your works-in-progress. It should also help with concerns about search engines indexing the content before you have a chance to publish it elsewhere.

• Improve Your English
• Article Critiques
• Fiction Critiques
• Copywriting Critiques

And there you have it. The new and improved writer forums are now up and running. Enjoy!

Thursday Bram contacted me a while ago about The Creativity Toolbox released on Constructively Productive. It took me quite a while to make time to go through the extensive resources in this collection. For that I apologize. On the other hand, it speaks volumes about the sheer amount of information you’ll receive when you buy this product. Let me start off by telling you a bit about The Creativity Toolbox and what you’ll get, followed by some highlights and a single suggestion for the future.

Summary

The Creativity Toolbox from Thursday Bram and Ali Luke goes beyond your typical information product. Rather than buying a single e-book, you get a diverse collection of resources directed at creative professionals (freelance writers and others with similarly creative backgrounds). You receive several e-book / reports as well as a collection of audio interviews with successful professionals in the creative arena and multiple creativity coaches. Here’s a full resource list for you:

Interviews

• Interview with freelance writer, Lexi Rodrigo (audio plus transcript)
• Interview with artist and costume designer, Lorna Cowie (audio plus transcript)
• Interview with illustrator and comic book publisher, Willie Hewes (audio plus transcript)
• Interview with graphic designer, Charlie Pabst (audio plus transcript)
• Interview with momentum coach, Charlie Gilkey (audio plus transcript)
• Interview with e-book and e-course specialist, Kelly Kingman (audio plus transcript)
• Interview with life development blogger, Glen Stansberry (audio plus transcript)

E-books / Reports

• Game Plan: Spark to Business
• Mapping Your Project: The Big Picture and the Details
• Balancing Life and Creativity

All in all, the guides total 84 pages.

Other Resources

• A resource directory featuring blogs, books, and other tools that can teach you more
• 65 Ways to Spark Your Creativity
• As a buyer you can sign up for the toolbox’s mailing list, where you’ll receive new resources to add to your collection in the future.

Highlights

• My favorite element of The Creativity Toolbox structurally was the transcripts of the audio interviews. Yes, you can always pop these onto your mp3 player and take them with you anywhere, but sometimes we just want to scan for the information we really want quickly. And the transcripts included here were some of the best laid out examples I’ve seen, allowing you to easily find what you’re looking for and identify where in the audio file you can listen to certain parts of the conversation.
• I like that there’s some diversity here and it’s not all about writing. There’s nothing wrong with writing-specific projects, but I think professionals in different creative disciplines can learn a lot from each others’ experiences. There’s more overlap than we sometimes realize.
• I love the way they broke down the 65 ways to spark your creativity into groups based on how long each method takes — from pretty much instant gratification to lifestyle changes that can improve your creativity and productivity over the long haul.

Suggestion

Generally when I review any product I like to keep things balanced by featuring highlights of things I really loved and suggestions for improvements if updated releases are put out in the future. But with The Creativity Toolbox I could only think of one suggestion.

• The one thing that I think could improve The Creativity Toolbox would be to have some kind of central hub where the information can be accessed more easily than trying to remember where the folder and content is saved. There’s simply a lot to sort through with the files. Maybe membership site access for buyers where they can view updates that are released whenever they log in? I know that personally I’d probably miss the emails with updates because anything that looks remotely like marketing or an email newsletter gets deleted 90+% of the time due to time constraints. Being able to access updates on my own time from a member-area login instead of having them appear in my email on a day where I’m too busy to look and they get deleted or buried in the mountain that is my inbox would be an awesome addition. But even that really isn’t necessary.

In the end, I’m completely comfortable recommending The Creativity Toolbox to the freelance writing community. At $47, think of it as a self-paced course in working more productively as a creative professional. Want a copy of your own to check out? Visit Constructively Productive to learn more and buy your copy today.

Download Now

This is a form you can print out for projects yet to be launched. It can be used for blog launches, e-books, books, other types of websites you might want to build, or other products you might want to create to sell for additional revenue. Below you can see the form in action, providing a snap shot of upcoming work for a hypothetical blog launch.

Last year Black Friday was actually the day I finished my holiday shopping. I even sat outside a Sears starting at 11pm the night before just to be one of 4 or 5 people to get a washer / dryer set that my mother really wanted (it was awful — freezing and raining — but the savings were honestly worth it).

This week I’ve been digging through Black Friday ads online, trying to decide where I want to shop this year. And in the process I’ve noticed quite a few great deals for freelance writers. So today I want to highlight some of them to give you a heads up on where you might want to go if you’re looking for any of these items for your freelance writing business. Enjoy!

Computers and Laptops

Best Buy

1. eMachines AMD Athlon PC with a 20″ widescreen LCD monitor, 500 GB hard drive, 3GB RAM, Windows 7 Home Premium, and an Epson printer included — $349.97
2. HP 15.6″ laptop featuring Intel Core i3, 4GB RAM, and a 500GB hard drive — $499.99
3. Toshiba 15.6″ laptop with an AMD Turion II dual-core processor, 3GB of RAM, and a 320GB hard drive — $349.99

Office Max

1. HP laptop with an Intel Pentium T4500 dual-core processor, 3GB RAM and 250GB hard drive — $369.99
2. Acer Aspire 15.6″ notebook with 4GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive — $499.99

Radio Shack

1. Acer Aspire 10.1″ Netbook with a 160GB hard drive and 1GB RAM – $179.99
2. HP 15.6″ laptop with 3GB RAM and a 320GB hard drive – $349.99

Staples

1. HP Pavilion desktop PC bundle featuring a 750GB hard drive, 6GB RAM, DVD burner with LightScribe, a 20-inch widescreen LCD monitor, and Windows 7 Home premium — $599.98
2. HP 15.6″ laptop with 2GB RAM and a 320GB hard drive — $299.98

Walmart

1. HP Pavilion desktop PC bundle  featuring 3GB RAM an 18.5″ widescreen LCD monitor, and a 320GB hard drive – $398
2. eMachines 15.6″ laptop with 2GB memory, a 250GB hard drive, and Windows 7 Home Premium – $198.00
3. HP 15.6″ laptop with 3GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and Windows 7 Home Premium – $298.00

Office Furniture and Equipment

Best Buy

1. Canon PIXMA MP560 wireless all-in-one printer – $49.99
2. Epson Stylus 127 all-in-one printer – $49.99

Lowes

1. Waterproof fire safe – $19.94

Office Max

1. Brother HL-2240 laser printer – $49.99
2. HP Color Officejet 4500 all-in-one printer – $49.99
3. OfficeMax 8-sheet micro-cut shredder – $29.99

Staples

1. Brother HL-2240 laser printer – $49.98
2. Omnitech 11-sheet cross-cut shredder – $19.99
3. Staples Cormac Computer Cart – $29.99
4. Montessa Luxura manager’s chair, black – $29.99

Target

1. Manager’s chair – $49.99

Walmart

1. Aurora 8-sheet cross-cut shredder – $20.00
2. HP Deskjet 1050 printer – $20.oo
3. Sentry Waterproof fire chest – $20.00

E-Readers and Other Electronics

Best Buy

1. Barnes & Noble NOOK WiFi eReader – $99.99
2. Literati WiFi LCD eReader – $119.99
3. PanDigital Novel WiFi LCD eReader w/ Internet Browser – $139.99
4. LiveScribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen – $99.99

Kmart

1. Augen 7″ color touch screen tablet PC powered by Android 2.1 – $139.99
2. PanDigital Novel 7″ eReader – $139.99

Radio Shack

1. Ultra-thin LED book light – $4.99

Sears

1. Libre e-Book Reader – $89.99

Walmart

1. Sony Reader eBook pocket edition – $99.99

Please keep in mind that ads and availability can vary depending on your location. Also note that some final advertised prices may involve rebates. Check individual ads for more details (linked above) and check with your local store to make sure things are available before you risk waiting around on Black Friday for nothing.

I’m sure these are far from the only great deals this Black Friday that might appeal to freelancers. Have you found others? Feel free to leave a comment and tell us about it.

Use our simple word count tracker to get a progress bar for your website or blog. Let everyone know how far you’re coming along. You can even customize the color and size to make it work on your site.

Or use our free advanced word count tracker instead. This one is more than just a word count tracker. Even non-NaNoWriMo folks might want to give it a look. Use it to track any of your daily, monthly, or even New Year goals — from word counts to blog post goals to things completely unrelated to writing, like weight loss goals.

Give ‘em a try!

While I no longer consult in public relations issues, I’m still quite heavily involved with social media — branding new social media sites for clients, managing their Twitter accounts, working as a professional blogger, Web publishing and blogging on my own, etc. I decided quite a while ago that I wanted to relaunch NakedPR. The problem was that, no matter how strong that brand was, it was too focused on the PR side of things. And I wanted to move the primary focus to the social media side where I could incorporate not only PR issues but also marketing, social media as a business model, and more.

So I decided the only option for relaunching NakedPR was to rebrand the site. Now that is complete and the site has relaunched at its new home — SocialRealist.com. The style will be very similar to that of NakedPR in that it’ll be a blog dedicated to getting away from the Kool-aid crowd and looking into more serious issues of social media and why popular opinions of social media tools can be precisely what lead to their demise (covered on another social media blog I write for recently, discussing the recurring social media lifecycle). It will be about keeping ourselves safe while staying networked. It will be about using social media to build and grow businesses without falling into a “me too!” line of thinking — being able to really stand out. It will be about becoming true influencers rather than popularity whores. And it will be about making sense of social media in each of our lives, no matter what we want to get from it.

I hope you’ll stop by and give it a read sometime. Other than the introduction to the new brand, the first post will talk about social media’s role in extreme cyber-bullying, how things are different from when I was in school (which really wasn’t all that long ago), and what I really think of people who would use social media tools in that way. If you have social media questions or want to see me talk about specific social media related topics there (such as how different issues apply to freelancers), as always feel free to let me know. You can reach me here, there in the comments, or at jenn@socialrealist.com.

Note: NakedPR is still currently a live site archive, but will be redirected to its new home later this week (still hashing out some hierarchy concerns before doing the massive redirect list).

–

There are plenty of SEO tools available on the Web, and most of them are great for giving you a simple keyword density analysis. This is important to any writer who publishes work online, since SEO works best when following keyword density protocol and clients may even request a certain number of keywords per piece of writing. So it helps to have a tool that enables you to determine the keyword density of an article you’ve written, and you may also need to compare this with your total word count to get a keyword-to-plain text ratio. But wouldn’t it be great to have one tool that also picks out keywords and keyword phrases in a visually effective way? After all, readers are going to be looking at your text and perceiving word placement as well as comprehending your meaning. Our readability and SEO tool, or keyword density analyzer, can make that happen and get you and your writing on the way to online success.

Readability and SEO: Benefits for Writers

1. You can advertise the fact that you analyze readability and SEO for every piece you write. Clients will be happy to take advantage of this fact and may even send you a set of keywords to use, including their company name. Tell clients that you can offer increased accessibility to their websites, brand visibility, targeted traffic, and better usability ratings. All of this can be accomplished with effective SEO strategies and readable pieces.
2. You’ll get increased exposure when your writing is read by more people, even if it’s not your website. A simple byline will do the trick.
3. Once you’ve got successfully optimized articles online and are attracting more readers, you’ll have social proof for future clients that your writing is readable and your keyword densities are on-target.

The Keyword Density Analyzer

You can increase your readability, SEO, and success when you take advantage of the keyword density analyzer. This tool is unique, free, and can improve your writing on a daily basis. It’s easy to use and even allows you to set a minimum character limit, which removes two- or three-letter words from your total word count. In addition to keyword density and word count, you’ll notice that once the tool has performed its analysis, each keyword or keyword phrase is highlighted in a different color. This enables you to quickly and easily pick out the most important pieces of text for readers so you can improve the overall readability of your article. Check out the following tips to help you make the best use of the readability information you gather from the keyword density analyzer.

Tips for Improving Readability

1. Make use of space between paragraphs. Your paragraphs don’t have to be long, but you shouldn’t be spacing every other sentence, either. Try to position your keywords so that they easily catch the eye’s attention in the first and last lines of your paragraphs.
2. Now that you know which phrases are important, you can take out some of the filler. No matter what you’ve written, you can always remove something without changing the content, so keep your articles from overwhelming readers by editing after keyword density analysis.
3. If you can put some of your keywords into your headings, this will go far toward increasing readability.
4. Try to find a pull quote (from a relevant and credible source) that contains one of your keywords, then make sure you place the quote near the top of the page in an obvious format (such as a colored box with larger font).

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Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education and performs research surrounding online schools. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

Why an e-book sales conversion calculator? I don’t know. Because we just finished a 14 day e-book writing challenge here perhaps. Really, you can use the calculator for any type of product you want.

Go check out the tool. There are two versions (click the button at the top of the calculator to switch modes). The first version lets you enter traffic and sales stats to calculate an earnings estimate and sales conversion. The other option lets you choose a conversion rate you want to target, enter an estimate of traffic for the coming month (or week, or whatever you want), and it will tell you how many sales you need to make to reach that goal.

As always, if you have ideas for writer freebies that you’d like us to consider creating or contracting for exclusive release to All Freelance Writing readers, let us know (leave a comment or send an email to jenn@allfreelancewriting.com) and if it’s feasible and fits in with other plans, we just might do it!