Tips for Freelance Writers

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Press releases are a beast of their own. That said, many articles writers and web content providers go about press releases the wrong way. Now notice, I didn’t say press releases were difficult to write. Just different.

Quite frankly, press releases are on of my least favorite things to write. Why? Well, the way I look at it, there’s less creativity involved. Rather than figuring out how to weave words together like you do with sales copy, or having the freedom to write about whatever you want as long as you include the necessary keywords with SEO articles and blogs…press releases just don’t give you that much freedom.

Here’s why:

As a press release writer, you’re concerned only with the facts. What you write is going to go out across the web in an attempt to:

• get someone to notice what your company is doing
• gain links back to your site

It’s not the time to try and sell a product or service. In fact, if you try to write it like ad copy, it will fail. That’s right–no news site is going to give it the time of day. Why give you a free platform to post your pushy sales copy? All they want is a good story. And to put their story together, they just want the facts and nothing but the facts.

Of course, being a bit salesy in your press release won’t necessarily keep you from getting the links you want if you submit it to the right places. But if that’s the case, why not just fire out some articles and syndicate them?

Keep in mind also, many sites that accept press releases will not take them if they don’t seem newsworthy. The title and intro of your new PR needs to offer something new or something timely. Comments on recent events from an expert in the field, new products, website launches, etc.

Have any other tips on becoming a press release writer? Share them in the comments.

I don’t know that I’ve ever met anyone who was fully content with their current wage. Be honest with yourself–you aren’t. Otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this. And quite frankly, neither am I.

That’s why I started freelance writing a few years back.

After thoroughly researching ways to generate additional income, and trying a few that didn’t turn out so hot (get paid to take surveys, anyone?), I finally came across the online writing world. It all started with SEO article writing.  After spitting out a few keyword centered articles, I just couldn’t believe I was getting paid REAL MONEY to write. Sure it was only a few bucks an article, but that few bucks each time was slowly but surely starting to fill up my PayPal account.

It sounded too good to be true, but it wasn’t.

In fact, after my first 6 months of writing, I put aside enough money to take my wife on one last trip before our baby was born (incidentally, I took here to this Texas Hill Country Bed and Breakfast. It was fabulous!).

All by supplementing my income with my new freelance writing career.

Although at that point, I didn’t really see it as a career. It was more of a side job. Something I enjoyed. Something to help me escape the reality of my day job. But shortly after, that mentality changed and I began seeing freelance writing as a legitimate career option.

But guess what? Here I am, 2-3 years later (I’ve lost count!) and I’m still working my day job. Saying I write part time is a bit of a stretch (I put in nearly as many hours writing as I do working my day job), but I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll ever go full time.

A few things to consider:

• By keeping my day job, I get a stable salary. No worries if a client fails to pay or even fires me.
• Insurance through my employer is waaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper than if I had to get it on my own. And going uninsured isn’t even an option with my family.
• I’m doubling my income (almost). Could I make that much if I dropped the day job and went full time freelancing? Maybe…

Whether I end up saying bye-bye to the 9-5 or not, one thing is for certain: There is very real money to be made in freelance writing. No tricks. No schemes. Find the right clients and you’ll be supplementing your money in no time!

Curb Your Enthusiasm is the funniest show currently on television. There–I said it. And you don’t have to agree with me. But quite frankly, you’re wrong if you don’t. Whatever show out there you think is funnier…it isn’t. Not unlike Seinfeld, the show is just plain smart. Which only serves to prove that Larry David is the brains behind all of it.

Now being a freelance writer, I have this really annoying habit of trying to compare everything in the world to my writing career. And I also have this annoying habit of comparing every life situation to something that happened on Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm. Having said that, I’ve been thinking, why not take a look at both? Sort of meld them together?

So with that in mind, I’ve come up with a few simple truths about our business that we can learn from watching Larry. Here goes…

Don’t be afraid to piss people off

Here’s a secret: pretty much every episode of Curb has the same formula. And it begins with a good intentioned Larry pissing someone off. And while he doesn’t mean to, at the same time he isn’t afraid to. Why? Because he stands up for what he believes in–his principles–no matter how ridiculous they may be. And he doesn’t apologize either.

Now when it comes to blogging, you’ve got to take chances. Meaning, you need to put your real views out there, no matter how silly or unpopular they may sound. The fact is–when a post is created with passion, readers can tell. They can also tell when you’re just throwing out some empty drivel to fulfill the need for “another post.”

And sometimes these controversial posts are better for business anyway. For example, my last post about Google killing Facebook–let’s just say there are quite a few people who don’t agree with me. In fact, I was at a writer’s meeting for a magazine the other day and a web guy basically laughed at me when I started talking about my post. But hey, guess what? I think it will happen. And I’m going to laugh my butt off and be overly obnoxious about it when it comes to pass. And if it doesn’t? Oh well. I’ll deal with it somehow then. maybe deny ever saying it? Hmmm.. wonder how Larry would handle it?

Now at the same time, be careful not to write stuff that screams “hey look at my crazy off-the-wall opinion!” because your readers will see right through what you’re doing. Obviously, you’re just begging for attention. And who likes that?

Know when to let things go

While Larry is great about speaking his mind and not stepping down, he’s also not very good about knowing when to walk away, which makes up another piece of the show’s formula. He will keep something going, an argument for example, way longer than necessary. To the point where it’s extremely uncomfortable and you have your hands over your face, shaking your head in disbelief. And laughing too, of course.

Case in point, episode one of the new season. ***SPOILER ALERT*** If you haven’t seen it yet. Stop reading now! Otherwise…continue.

So Larry’s working on getting back with his ex-wife and it looks like everything is going great. They’re starting to make out and just when you think it’s on, so to speak, he has a realization: his ex-wife was the one who made a water stain on a wooden table at a friend’s party. And he was blamed for it. A seemingly unimportant event of the past, right? Well not to a man of principle like Larry.

As a result, he proceeds to tell her she needs to call his friend and explain that she made the water stain. Obviously his ex wanted nothing to do with it. Yet Larry persisted. And persisted. And persisted. Until eventually she got up and left.

And divorced him.

Now, as a blogger, there are going to be times when we get into it with people. Perhaps commenters. Perhaps clients. Whatever the case, you need to know when to stop. Whether it’s arguing back and forth in the replies or it’s bickering via email…at some point you have to know when to close your mouth and walk away. Otherwise you;re going to pull a Larry and start losing readers and/or clients.

Be spontaneous

Did you know that each episode of Curb has a very loose script that acts more like an outline than anything else? So Larry and his fellow actors basically make everything up as they go along. The benefits here are obvious:

• It feels more real to the cast.
• It feels more real to the audience.
• Natural humor comes forth because nothing is forced.

That said, I have a confession to make. I’m making this all up as I go along. I didn’t even type a draft into Microsoft Word or anything. I decided before starting that I was going to open up WordPress and fire away. And whatever came out, that’s what I’m going to post. Hell, I’m not even going to edit this. As soon as I’m done I’m hitting “Publish.”

So I’m putting this point to the test. And you can let me know if you think the whole idea of “flying by the seat of your pants” really works. This can be sort of a case study, right? Please feel free to dissect this idea in the comments.

Please cue the Curb theme music in your head. No wrap up. No conclusion. Doo-do-doo-doooooooo-do-do….

Everyone’s blogging about it. Google’s attempt at taking over the social media world. Will it succeed? Will Facebook come to its knees? What can we expect? And the truth is: no one really knows at this point. But we all have our best guesses. With that in mind, I’m going to give you my two cents by attempting to answer a series of important (or so I think) questions.

Does Google Plus Spell “Doom” for Facebook?

Out of all the posts I’ve read, pretty much everyone who is anyone says “No!” In fact, some people think the battle has ended before it even began. It seems the opinion that’s most prevalent is that Google Plus isn’t really adding anything that new to the table. Therefore, it won’t be easy enough to get people to switch from Facebook. Many of these same people are singing the praises of Facebook–saying how its the end all be all.

Truth be told, Facebook has adapted well since its inception. And no one ever thought it would topple MySpace.

But isn’t that the point we’re overlooking? No one thought it would topple MySpace. And it did.

Here’s what I think: Facebook is scared. Don’t believe me? Check out Mark Zuckerberg’s picture on Google Plus. Sure he looks pissed. But I’m thinking that’s not just anger. That’s fear.

See, he knows a simple truth. Have you ever heard that saying, “Every empire must fall?” The Roman Empire…the Egyptian Empire…and then we have the United States. Well, I would compare the U.S. to Facebook. Most Americans are going about their day to day life, oblivious as to what’s really going on in the world around them. They have no clue what it’s like to live in a country where you never know if a bomb is going to go off in the bus on your way to work in the morning. As far as they’re concerned, we’re the most powerful country in the world and we always will be.

But is that what history shows us? No, history tells a different story. One where superpowers get fat and jolly and prideful. One where these superpowers end up falling. Is America really invincible? Not likely.

The same goes with Facebook. Now that soooooo many people are on Facebook, they see it as THE SOCIAL NETWORK (no pun intended). And in their mind, it will always be THE SOCIAL NETWORK. Because that’s human mentality, right? What we have now is always “the best ever” (anyone listen to Travis Rodgers? If so then you’ll catch that reference).

It’s shortsighted. Facebook’s time on top–how much longer can it really last? It can’t last forever. People in the know are just waiting to see who is going to take the mantle. Just like Facebook did it to MySpace. Just like MySpace did it to LiveJournal. Just like LiveJournal did it to Friendster. And MakeOutClub. And all those other social media networks from the good ol’ days.

(side note: were any of you on those old social media networks? I still have a LiveJournal account sitting stagnant)

Google Raises the Middle Finger to Facebook

There’s something big Google has done with Google Plus that I’m not seeing much talk about–including the option to stream your Facebook wall through Plus. While everyone’s busy arguing “why would anyone ever leave Facebook to start something new?” Google has basically answered it with “who said you gotta leave?” Meanwhile, they’re giving the middle finger to Zuckerberg.

For those in-betweeners, they’ve offered a compromise. Register for Google Plus and you can still see Facebook while you use it. GENIUS. Obviously the idea here has to be that while new users are streaming Facebook accounts through Google Plus, they’ll slowly be won over and eventually leave Facebook altogether. Sort of a weening off process.

Like nicotine patches. Or electronic cigarettes.

It reminds me of that old movie Miracle on 34th Street, where Santa starts sending customers to other stores when the one he was working at didn’t have what they were looking for. Well, it’s sort of like that anyway.

I’m Going on Record Here–Facebook is Going Down

Maybe I’m rambling a bit. But here it is in a nutshell. I’m not betting against Google. And I’m not going to blindly bow down and worship Facebook. Google Plus will be issuing the fatality. And I’m betting it will be sooner rather than later.

Your thoughts?

Okay, I have a confession to make. My blog sucks. I don’t think this was always the case, but the truth in the here-and-now is that it’s pretty crappy. But luckily, I think there are some things we can all learn from my crappy blog. Let’s take a closer look.

What’s the Problem?

As with all business ventures, it’s crucial to take a step back every now and then and evaluate what’s going on. I recently did this with my copywriting agency, HELP! Copy & Design, and now I’ve decided to do it here with the Part Time Writer. Except, I’m making this revaluation public. Care to listen in?

1. I didn’t do enough research in the beginning. I’ve been copywriting for a few years now. That includes writing actual web and print copy, as well as article writing and blogging. However, this blog is my first real attempt at running my own blog. Well, besides and education-based blog that I did for a bit. Which incidentally had one post that went MASSIVE. But the rest…eh. Anyway, the fact is, I didn’t know much about running my own blog. Sure I knew how to pick good topics and how to write engaging posts (see Sending Your Blog to Hell for what I consider to be a pretty good example of just that), but as far as building and growing a healthy blog–well, I just sort of jumped right in. What I should have done was do my homework, formulated a growth plan, and stuck with it. Which leads me to my next screw up.
2. I didn’t stick with it. At first I was all about posting to the Part Time Writer. After all, it seemed like a great idea. the perfect niche. Guys like myself breaking into the freelancing world on a part time basis…trying to figure out how to make this their career. However, somewhere along the way, I became disenchanted. Posting every day moved to every week. Every week moved to every month. And so on. But why did I become disenchanted? Do I just have a short attention span or what?
3. I didn’t make any money. Let’s face it, that’s what this all boils down too. See, when I’m writing copy for people, I’m making money. GOOD money. But when I’m writing these blogs, I’m not seeing  a single penny. There’s no short term gain.  Which means that…
4. My whole reason for starting this blog is all wrong. I wanted  a way to generate cash. I planned on doing so by selling ad space and eventually selling some ebooks I was working on. But I planned on making the cash quick. And when I didn’t see it happen, I got annoyed and bored. So then I decided, why not repurpose the blog?
5. I was writing posts for links. It’s not uncommon for people to have offsite blogs to generate links back to their primary site. But let’s face it–usually those blogs suck. but what did I do? I turned this blog into a place to post thrown-together, half-assed posts in order to insert links back to my copywriting site. For what? A little extra Google juice? Let’s face it, these posts probably did little to help my site’s ranking. But they did serve to scare off any readers looking for good, outside-the-box content.
6. My WordPress theme is lame. If  you think you’ve seen it before, you have. It’s copyblogger. You know, one of the most famous copywriting blogs in the world. Yeah. I wish their blog was mine, right? Imitation… the sincerest form of flattery? Gag me. I know I need a new theme. It would make this whole site look and feel more legit.
7. I never spent the time and energy I should have to properly promote it. Sure a few posts made it on SERPD. And sure I tweeted some links. But have I ever really done anything to give this blog the push it needed? Negative.

Now What?

So where do I go from here? The way I look at it,  have three options:

1. I can shut this POS down now and erase it from the face of the Earth.
2. I can crap out 300 word posts that take me 10 minutes to “create” and get a link back to my business site in hopes that it’ll help my rankings a bit.
3. I can use my self reevaluation to make some changes, formulate a new plan, and relaunch the blog.

Which will I choose? To be honest, I’m not quite sure. My copywriting business is booming, making me real money as we speak. Do I have time to invest in a blog that won’t pay off for quite some time… if ever? I just don’t know if I can commit to it.

What You Can Learn from All of This

Before you launch a blog, create a plan and stick with it. And like investing, be in it for the long term. Short term investors end up losing money and interest. And finally, you have to work your butt off, day in and day out to build your readership. This isn’t a get rich quick kind of deal. I’m living proof of that.

In 2011, you don’t have to look far to find website copywriters. They’re everywhere. And with such an overabundance of them, you’d think it would be hard for a part time writer such as yourself to make any money at it. But let me tell you–I’m living proof that it isn’t.

Here’s a secret for you: there’s always room for another web copywriter because the vast majority of those offering their services aren’t doing that great of a job.

Don’t believe me? Go to Craigslist and look at ads by copywriters. Or better yet, post that you’re looking for a copywriter and check out your responses. You’ll undoubtedly get quite a few chuckles as you read through the samples. That’s not to be an ass and say I (we) are so much better than them… but let’s face it–like anything else, the web copy industry has gotten pretty watered down.

Many of the copywriters are getting it all wrong. Here’s just a few of the things I see:

• They don’t worry enough about copy length–Look, I’m not one of those guys who thinks your copy has to be a minimum of 500 words to get crawled. But at the same time, I understand that copy that’s too short doesn’t convert as well. And I also understand that copy that’s too long will never get read.
• They do whatever the client says–You have to remember, you’re being hired for your expertise. That means, your clients need to be told if they’re idea of copywriting sucks. Odds are they want you to write copy that focuses on them. Yet we all know that we-we content everyone is so fond of is terrible for your conversions. Attempt to stick by your guns and tell your client to let you do your job!
• They don’t consider keywords–We spend plenty of time talking about keyword stuffing and how bad it is. But how about website copywriters that don’t pay any attention to keywords? The fact is, to be a good web copy professional you have to think about keywords and how to naturally place them in your writing.

Don’t be discouraged! With so many people out there making mistakes, there is plenty of opportunity out there for website copywriters that understand what they’re doing. Press on!

As a part time writer, you may find clients calling on you for press release writing services. And even if they don’t, you can write press releases to help get the word out about your company. Don’t be scared–they aren’t hard to write. Just different. Here are a few tips to get you started.

1. Keep them short and to the point. Don’t let people try and tell you there’s a target word count for press releases. There isn’t. Keep them precise and concise. No extra info.
2. Avoid ad copy. A press release is purely informational. It’s not the time to try and con someone into buying your product or service. All you want to do is convey your new information. Period.
3. Use your keywords. When distributed across various online press release sites, your press release can result in some good back links. Make sure you use and link the proper keyword(s). Of course, as always, don’t overdo it!

Have you written any press releases yet? Have any tips to add? Tell us about your experiences in the replies!

So you love to write, you’ve heard about copywriting, and you think it’s the career for you. Great! Now how do you get started? Let’s keep this short and straight to the point:

1. Get samples live online–Any jobs you apply for will require that you present a sample to show off your writing skills. And often people will not accept file attachments. they want to see live copy. So how do you get samples before you have any experience? Easy–redo a friend’s website for free. They’ll get fresh copy and you’ll get legitimate samples. Everyone wins!
2. Set your rates–You need to know what you’re going to charge. You can be flexible, but for the most part, stick to what you set. Now there are different schools of thought when it comes to rates. There are those that say you should start off with low rates and build up with experience. Then there are those that recommend you begin with larger rates. You know, set the bar high from the get go. Me, I say begin in the middle.
3. Get a website–It’s difficult to offer copywriting services without a professional looking website. Few people in 2011 will take you even remotely seriously if you don’t have one. So make this a priority. in some cases, you may find a web designer who will barter with you on this. Exchange web copy for web design. It works!

Of course there’s more to starting a copywriting business, but the above should get you moving.