As a part time freelance writer, there are all sorts of places to find work. One of which is often overlooked is blog management services. What is a blog management service? It’s a company that writes blogs for other businesses.
Now let me be clear here–for a part time freelance writer, writing for blog management services isn’t going to make you rich. Depending on the length of blogs and subject matter, you will likely get paid anywhere between $5 to $2 per post. However, the best thing about getting hooked up with one of these companies is that it can be a source of recurrent work.And of course, recurrent work means recurrent income. Imagine not having to find your own clients. Instead, you take a bit less pay and someone finds them for you…sounds good, doesn’t it?
Now if they are doing well, chances are they are looking for writers. So you need to be the right guy in the right place at the right time if you want to write for them. But how?
I advise drafting a sales letter that specifically targets such companies. Make it as personal as possible and explain exactly how you can help both them and their clients. Then look up blog management services online, copy down their addresses and send them out. Last but not least, wait for them to call.
Now I know what you’re thinking. That will take forever!And you’re right. But so will going out and trying to find your own clients job after job after job. By spending a few hours looking for companies, addressing envelopes, and signing letters, you can land yourself an income source that keeps on giving.
Don’t have the time to do all that? Make time. Or you could hire a personal assistant. Houston residents have an especially good source for these tasks and much more in Cori Brantner (who happens to be my wife). How’s that for a shameless little plug?
Anyway, get that sales letter together now and
I look at Craigslist like this– it’s a whole sea of junk leads with a few good opportunities mixed in. So is it worth your while to try and find gigs on Craigslist? Sometimes. Honestly, I scored one of my best gigs on Craigslist. My first print magazine job. It’s legit, consistent, and pays well. And I’ve picked up a few other decent clients along the way.
However, for every good job I’ve picked up on Craigslist, I’ve applied for at least 20 bogus ones. Some I never hear back from. Others send me sketchy emails requesting sketchy actions. I’ve even been fooled by a few along the way and regretted it later.
In retrospect, the writing was on the wall. If I had just paid attention to a few key phrases, I would have known not to mess with them. Here are some phrases that indicate bogus gigs on Craigslist.
1. “Great for those looking to build their portfolios”
Translation: “Since you have to build your portfolio anyway, can you give it to us?”
Honestly, I’ve never taken a job I didn’t get paid for. Not even to build my portfolio in the beginning. I would much rather take a low paying job to start building my portfolio because:
Little money > no money.
And if I couldn’t find any low paying jobs that would take me with no experience, I’d just create my own samples for myself. Why should some undeserving company reap the benefits of my hard work?
2. “Ideal for students”
Translation: We’ll treat you like a kid, not a professional.
You know why it’s ideal for students? Because kids are used to being bossed around by middle-aged, power-hungry, pseudo-successful managers at crappy jobs like McDonalds. So if you take this job, expect it to be a complete pain in the butt.
3. “No experience required”
Translation: “I need a writer but can’t afford to hire a good one.”
Now, if you’re just starting out, this might not be a bad setup. But if you’ve been writing for awhile, then you have experience and you don’t need to take jobs like these. The pay will be low.
4. “Intern position”
Translation: “We need your work, but can’t afford to pay you.”
You are not an intern. You don’t want to be an intern. You don’t need to be an intern. Interns don’t get paid. You’re trying to build a business. And if you aren’t seeing something go into your bank account, you’re not building anything. Advertising firms looking for interns will want good work for nothing.
5. “No pay for now, but will likely change as we grow”
Translation: “We’re a startup company looking to make money out of thin air.”
Guess how many startup companies fail? Most of them. So if you’re writing on good faith that one day you’ll make your millions… well, you’re just wasting your time. Don’t get me wrong, they probably have the best of intentions. But do you really want to put your blood, sweat, and tears into a gamble?
6. “For someone who wants to work their way into journalism”
Translation: “You want glamour? You’ll get it after you work for us.”
People who promise to give you the experience you need to obtain a job in a certain field try to make you think they’re doing you a favor. If you fall for it—the joke’s on you. And they’re likely laughing at you as they cash the checks they’ve made off the free work you’re giving them.
7. “Write a sample on [insert topic here]. If we like it, we’ll use you.”
Translation: “Write us a sample so we can use it and never speak to you again.”
I hate to admit it, but I fell for this one when I started out. I saw an ad for a guy who wanted a news post summarized/rewritten in about 200 words. He said if he liked it, he would use it and pay. I completed it, emailed it, and never heard from him again. Even after I tried to get in touch a few times.
If you choose to freelance job hunt on Craigslist, be wary. There are lots of people looking to take advantage of you. It’s not a case of “a few bad apples spoil the bunch.” It’s more like “lots of rotten apples hide a couple of good ones.”
What other wording have you seen in posts that signify sketchy jobs?
It just occurred to me that you part time writers might not be the only ones reading this blog. In fact, some of you might actually come here looking for freelance writers. Maybe so, maybe not. Either way, I was thinking that if this was the case, I might be able to offer you a little advice on where to find a good writer. First of all, choose me… just kidding. Kind of.
But in all serious, if you run your own SEM company, you just might be in the market for a good writer or two. I mean, you need someone to write your SEO articles for you , right? And it wouldn’t hurt to have someone who can write professional web copy for your clients. But where do you find them?
- Referrals—Why take a shot in the dark if you don’t have to? Ask your friends in the business who they use. You can’t go wrong here. I’ve actually landed quite a few gigs through referrals. In fact, my most recent gold mine came from a guy asking the primary SEM company I write for if they had any good copywriters. Luckily I had made the client happy enough that they eagerly passed my name along.
- Craigslist—I don’t run my own Internet marketing company, but I have needed to find a few SEO article writers in the past for some random jobs. Not knowing anyone else who would fit in the price range I was looking at, I posted an ad on Craigslist. Of course, I was overrun with responses. And yes, most of them absolutely sucked. On the other hand, I did find 2 good writers through the process that I still push work over to every now and then. So my advice here is use CL but be patient. You’re going to have to sift through some crap along the way.
- My Blog Guest—Sure it’s aimed mostly at guest blogging, but My Blog Guest also has a job board. And many bloggers don’t just write blog posts. Chances are they write copy, SEO articles, press releases—you name it. I’ve never actually hired a writer there, but I have picked up a gig or two.
And of course there are other places like Freelance Writing Gigs where you can pay to post ads that thousands of writers will probably see. But if you’re lucky, your Craigslist posting will get picked up by them and their readers will see your posting anyway.
What about you, SEM people? Where do you find the writers you use? I’m sure our readers would love to know.
