When I first went into business for myself (full-time PR firm, part-time business writing and blogging), I had a pretty standard formal business plan. Later, and I expanded my Web publishing efforts, I started using a much simpler model — one page versions that help me map out my plans and ideas on a project by project basis. I’ve even released the templates I use
If you’re a blogger, you probably get more than your fair share of blog comment spam. This can include anything from robots to bad SEO professionals spamming you for backlinks to trackback spam. You have a few options to deal with them: You can let them go live on your site. (Ick!) You can moderate all comments manually. (But why?) You can implement intrusive captcha-style
I’m sitting here writing a post for Wednesday on a Tuesday night because we’re anticipating power outages tomorrow (“today” I suppose if you’re reading this). I can’t control ice storms or the fact that they rolled in at least eight hours earlier than forecasters expected. I can’t control the woods around our house and whether or not the ice will bring down branches on the
I read a lot of blogs. But my time is limited like most people, and that means I can’t always comment as much as I’d like. When I do take the time to write a comment for one of your posts, it’s because I thought you had something interesting to say and I wanted to engage in the conversation. But sometimes in the process of trying to
Whether you maintain a blog as a way to market your freelance writing services, as a way to maintain an author presence, or as its own business model, tying your blog to your larger social media presence is vital. That includes giving blog readers the opportunity to share your posts on their favorite social networks. And it involves telling readers how they can connect with
Have you thought about getting into freelance blogging? Are you already a freelance blogger, but you’re struggling to find new clients? Blogging is one of my favorite projects to take on as a freelance writer. Finding clients was easy for me early on because the client base I was working with on PR writing projects also happened to have a strong need for blogging services.
One of the biggest benefits of writing for the Web is that it gives freelance writers the ability to work with clients all over the world. These days everything can be done online from invoicing to delivery. But that doesn’t mean you have to work with clients outside of your area. Some writers are more comfortable working with local clients, and that’s perfectly fine as long as
The post below was originally published on my small business blog after a friend asked me some basic questions about how he could begin to make money blogging. I’ve since shared it here as a way to help freelance writers build an additional revenue stream (originally on October 16, 2008). And I’ve now updated it for All Freelance Writing readers with even more blog revenue streams
As a blogger, you’re probably well-versed in content writing. After all, that’s what you do every time you write a blog post for your readers. Content is designed to inform, educate, or entertain. But it isn’t the only type of writing that you might pursue. There is also copywriting. This is writing designed to sell, persuade, or otherwise influence readers. Is copywriting important for bloggers
As a blogger, it’s important that you continuously strive to improve your writing skills. While no one is expected to be perfect all the time, you’ll want to focus on a few key things including: decreasing spelling and grammatical errors; making sure your writing style and language choices are appropriate for your audience; keeping your blog posts clear and concise. It’s true that some bloggers
Previously we’ve talked about what blog content audits are and how you can create a simple blog content audit spreadsheet to make the process easier. But why would you want to take on this potentially huge project in the first place? Let’s look at three good reasons you might choose to conduct your own blog content audit. A content audit lets you: 1. Fix problems
Have you ever written a guest post for someone’s blog? Have you considered turning that marketing strategy into paid freelance blogging opportunities? If so, you might find inspiration in Ruan Ooosthuizen — a blogger who successfully made that transition. You already know that we’re big fans of sharing personal experiences here at All Freelance Writing. We share our successes and failures with you on a
Social media marketing is a great way to promote your blog. And when you think about social media, you might think of networking and community as the most important aspects. If so, you would be right. That said, good writers will always have an edge in professional social networking and social media marketing. That’s because so much of social media these days still involves the
While every blogger can improve their blog through better writing, “better writing” doesn’t mean the same thing for every blogger. There are some common things we can all improve — our spelling, grammar, and paragraph length for example. Beyond those basics, “better writing” largely revolves around your chosen writing style. And it’s important that you choose your blog’s writing style based on your audience rather
Do you enjoy blogging? Do you enjoy it enough that you’d want to make a career of it? If so, professional blogging might be in your future. But do you have what it takes? Let’s look at what professional blogging means and some of the attributes that you might need if you want to successfully launch a career as a professional blogger. What is Professional
If you’re getting started as a blogger, chances are good you’ll hear about something known as search engine optimization, or SEO. SEO is everything you do to make your blog rank well in search engine results. Ranking well in search engines can bring more targeted traffic, meaning new readers, to your blog. There are countless “SEO experts” out there who will try to teach you
Recently we talked about how to write a blog business plan. As promised, I’ve put together a simple blog business plan template that you can use for your own niche or business blog. Why Have a Blog Business Plan? If you want to make money blogging, a blog business plan is a must. Business plans help you get a better picture of where your business
In the past, we’ve talked about the issue of deleting blog posts and why you shouldn’t do it. Yet I’ve been doing a lot of that over the past couple of weeks. In light of that, I’d like to revisit the issue. My Stance on Deleting Blog Posts My general feelings on deleting blog posts haven’t changed. There are good reasons to leave old posts
Have you ever visited a blog that didn’t give you any background information in the form of an About page? I have. And I always find that frustrating as a new visitor. I want to know what I should expect if I invest more time in browsing that blog. Today let’s talk about how you can avoid being one of these mysterious bloggers who publishes no background
It’s no secret that I manage multiple blogs. Currently I have 50 active WordPress installations — large blogs, small blogs, author sites, business sites, and several in various pre-launch phases. Every work day I have to manage these blogs, including the ones that haven’t launched yet. What does this include? Approving comments that are in moderation queues Deleting spam comments Upgrading any out of date
Recently we talked about the basics of blog content audits. In the comments, Joanna Haugen asked about using spreadsheets to track your plans and progress as you go through the content audit process. I promised a simple tutorial on creating one, and that’s what you’ll find here. Export Your WordPress Data The first thing you’ll want to do is export key data from WordPress. You
Bloggers are expected to come up with fresh content ideas on a regular basis. But sometimes those ideas don’t come easily. As bloggers, we’re not immune from writer’s block. Fortunately there’s an easy way to brainstorm new blog post ideas. Start with a basic blog post type, and move on from there. While it’s wonderful if you have a long list of specific blog post
When it comes to blogging, how your words are visually presented to the reader can be just as important as what you write. People read differently on the Web than they do in print. And your blog post formatting should reflect that. Here are five basic blog formatting tips that can help you improve your blog post presentation. 1. Use subheadings. Subheadings break up your
Running a successful blog isn’t only about the new content you create. It’s also about your archived blog posts. Moving forward with strong content is always important. But if you want to improve your blog content strategy, increase traffic and give readers what they really want, you should start with a blog content audit. What is a Blog Content Audit? Think of a blog content
My inbox has been flooded with newsletters that I subscribe to from SEO, marketing, and Web development sites. And lately all they seem to be talking about is Google. Panda. Penguin. Whatever update they’re rolling out or mucking around with at the moment, it’s always the same cry. “The Internet as we know it is ending! Duck, cover and prepare yourself for plummeting rankings and
Guest posts are one of the hottest strategies for increasing online visibility. Like most marketing strategies, there are different opinions on how to do it right. I am not a fan of the do it this way, not that way mantra. You need to find what works for you. However, there are two sides to the guest post story – the side of the guest
Yesterday we talked about when it makes sense to have multiple blogs, and I shared some information on some of the main blogs I run. But even if it makes sense for you to launch several blogs, that doesn’t mean you have the time or energy to stick with it. Having done this for years — managing multiple blogs and knowing when to launch more
In addition to being a freelance writer for clients I’m also a professional blogger and Web developer in my own right, running several different types of websites over the years including dozens of different blogs. That experience lets me appreciate the value having multiple blogs can bring through exposure, new contract work if you’re looking for it, and product sales. But running multiple blogs isn’t
You may remember that we recently lost several weeks’ worth of content here at All Freelance Writing. There was apparently a problem with database backups that began after our recent server move that caused the database backups to be incomplete and impossible to restore. While this wasn’t an ideal way to discover that issue, fortunately we had another way to retrieve the last few weeks’
When you host your own professional site or blog, you have several hosting options. Many freelance writers use shared hosting accounts, especially when starting out. While it can be a cost-effective option until you need more resources, there’s another concern — shared IP addresses. The IP address is basically a number that identifies the server you host your site or blog on. When you use