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By on May 15, 2013  |  Comments 2

Do You Make These 5 Careless Small Business Social Media Mistakes?

careless-social-mediaRecently I shared the three vital elements of content marketing. Leave out one of these elements, and your content marketing strategy is likely to fail.

In the next few weeks, I’ll examine each element separately for the needs of a small business–starting with social media engagement.

Are you a small business owner? Are you using social media to promote your business? If not, you could be missing a vital opportunity.

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By on June 25, 2012  |  Comments 4

A Review of The Freelance Writers Den!

Over the years, I’ve noticed a real need for freelance writers to find more mentoring relationships with each other than can normally be accomplished through commenting on blogs or participating in social media. Freelance writers need specific information about how to succeed.

So, I went looking for a place that could provide both a chance for freelance writers to interact and an opportunity for writers to learn more about writing. Of course there are a lot of resources out there, but what I found was The Freelance Writers Den (affiliate link).

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By on June 16, 2011  |  Comments 3

Don’t Let Poor Writing Skills Hold You Back

Headline after headline proclaims the sad news–writing skills are deteriorating.

Blame the texting. Blame social media. Blame the schools. Blame whoever or whatever you want–it doesn’t really matter. The facts are the same.

The sad truth is that if you can’t write well you’ll have fewer opportunities in life. Communication skills are key to success.

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By on April 12, 2011  |  Comments 3

Product Review: AWAI Accelerated Copywriting Course

“How can I earn more money as a freelance writer?”

This is probably the number one question that other freelance writers ask me. My answer to them is always the same.

My answer is this–write for the business market. You may not get a byline, but the pay for commercial copywriting is much better than the pay for blogging or writing for magazines.

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By on June 16, 2009  |  Comments 19

Available Now – How To Start a Freelance Writing Business E-Book

Are you just starting your freelance writing business?

Or, maybe you’ve been operating your writing business for a while now, but you wish that you had business advice from someone who’s been there. Wouldn’t it be great if someone with some experience would answer your questions?

I’ve written the How To Start A Freelance Writing Business e-book (published through Freelance Folder) specifically to help you succeed as a freelance writer. I’ve been a professional writer for 19 years, and I’ve been freelancing for seven of those years. I want to share with you what I’ve learned.

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By on January 15, 2009  |  Comments 15

Book Review: The Unlimited Freelancer

Post Updated 1-21-2010: The price has now been lowered to $19.00

Let me confess something: I rarely read e-books anymore.

That’s because the last few times I read an e-book I was disappointed. Those e-books were twenty or thirty pages rehashing information that was available elsewhere on the Internet (and quite frankly, that I already knew).

That’s why I approached reading The Unlimited Freelancer skeptically, even though it is written by a couple of colleagues that I respect greatly (Mason Hipp and James Chartrand). Click here to visit FreelanceFolder.com website! (affiliate link)

unlimited-freelance-cover-250

This time, however, I found more in the e-book than I expected. Much more!

What would you give if you were able to peak into someone else’s successful business and learn all of their trade secrets?

In essence, that’s exactly what The Unlimited Freelancer lets you do.

Mason and James walk you through the methodology, step-by-step, that helped each of them build a successful freelance businesses.

This isn’t some rehash of common knowledge – this is a full-fledged business book (200 pages) that I know I will refer to often. I can easily see a print version of this book (not currently available) becoming a staple for most home offices.

Even if the business model presented in The Unlimited Freelancer doesn’t fit your particular freelancing business – you’ll learn something when you read this book and you’ll find something that you can use.

You can purchase The Unlimited Freelancer through the FreelanceFolder website. Click here to visit FreelanceFolder.com website!

(Note: I received a review copy of this e-book. This post contains an affiliate link.)

Contents (c) Copyright 2009, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

Image Source: The Unlimited Freelancer, used with permission (Thanks Mason!)

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RSSRecent Articles

The 3 Vital Elements of Content Marketing

three-elements

Content marketing is one of the latest catch phrases–as well it should be. Content is vitally important if you do business online.

As a result of the new interest in content marketing, there are many folks out there doing content marketing. Unfortunately, many of those new content marketers are also doing it wrong.

In this post, I’ll identify three vital elements of content marketing–elements that many people miss.

A Banana’s a Banana, but Not All Web Content Writers Are the Same

web-contentAs I was buying our weekly groceries last week, it struck me (again) how much writers vary.

You see, I always buy a bunch of bananas during our weekly shopping trip. In fact, the store I go to really only offers two different kinds of bananas: organic and non-organic. (Once in a great while, they also offer plantains.)

Bananas are pretty much the same wherever you get them. But that’s certainly not the case with web content.

Is It Still Possible to Earn a Living as a Freelance Writer?

earn-lving

The recent Internet uproar about a freelance journalist, Nate Thayer, who was asked by a major magazine to revise one of his articles for free has mostly died down. But for many the question remains–is freelance writing a viable career choice?

Can you really earn enough money from freelance writing to pay the bills?

Book Review: The Freelancer’s Bible

freelancer-union-reviewIf you’re thinking of becoming a freelancer, it can be hard to know exactly where to start.

That’s where The Freelancer’s Bible by Sara Horowitz with Toni Sciarra Poynter comes in. Not long ago I received a review copy of the book.

Now that I’ve had a chance to look at the book, I’d like to share my thoughts.

Gems from the Freelance Writing Community

writing-community

The freelance writing community has always been vitally important to me.

In fact, when I first started this blog I attempted to profile as many writing blogs as I could find in my Of Note series. (Sadly, some of the blogs profiled in the series no longer exist.)

Today, I’ve once more decided to highlight some of my favorite writing blogs. I’ve also linked to last year’s writing community post.

Should You Start a Sentence with And or But?

My sixth grade English teacher would have said “no.”

If you’re a sixth grade English teacher, you probably need to stick to the rules when you write. After all, you don’t want your students picking up any bad habits.

If you’re a blogger or a marketer, however, you have a bit more leeway.

What Is Your Client’s Communication Style? What Is Yours?

Everybody has their own communication style. Yet many freelance writers do not realize this, and try to use a cookie cutter mold to communicate with all of the clients.

The cookie cutter approach doesn’t work.

You need to be aware of how your clients prefer to communicate and how you prefer to communicate.

Book Review: Social Media Marketing All-In-One For Dummies

Social media should be a big part of your freelance writing marketing efforts. If it’s not, you’re missing out.

That’s why I was excited to receive a copy of the new book from Jan Zimmerman and Deb Ng, Social Media Marketing All-In-One For Dummies.

In this post, I’ll outline some of my thoughts about this new resource. I’ll especially cover how I think that writers ought to use this book.

Should You Market Yourself as an Expert?

Being able to write articles and posts as an expert can bring you more money, so the motivation for a freelance writer to label themselves as an expert in a particular field is evident.

But should you do it? Should you call yourself an expert?

In this post, I’ll examine the trend of “expert” freelance writers and explore what it really means to call yourself an expert.

Is the Age of the Comment Really Past?

Recently, I read a blog post about how that particular blog had eliminated comments. The change was hailed as an improvement, but was it really?

Eliminating blog comments is nothing new. Several blogs have taken this approach. And some blogs never had comments in the first place.

In this post, I’ll discuss whether comments are still relevant for today’s web. At the end, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic. (Yes, I have comments enabled on this blog.)