Angela Booth's Writing Blog

SEO articles? How do you write them?

I've had several questions this week about writing "SEO articles". You'll often find these gigs on the outsourcing sites SEO means "search engine optimization".

In this article, Writing SEO Articles That Get Results in 15 Minutes » Fab Web Writer: Join The Instant Publishing Revolution I gave you a process for writing them:

"Firstly, what are ‘SEO articles’? Basically SEO articles are articles which you hope will be found via the search engines. The articles use a primary keyword, and a secondary one. People to search for the keyword, and find your articles on the search engine query results pages. You’re writing these articles for a reason: you may have been commissioned by someone to write them, or you write them because you’re promoting affiliate products, or your own products."

Read that article; it gets you started with SEO articles. Once you increase your SEO skills, you'll be able to ask for more money for your articles, so SEO is worth learning. We cover SEO articles and much more in the Web writing training. Want to make great money writing? Discover the secrets of high-selling, highly paid writers, for free. Each week, Angela Booth's Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is delivered in easy-to-print PDF format. Join the thousands of other writers who are using the information to change their lives. You'll learn how to write, and how to sell. Angela's been writing for 30 years, and shares her knowledge with you.

Writing: can you make money writing about your passions?

"Do what you love, and the money will follow" is promoted by self-help gurus, but does the strategy work when it comes to writing?

Yes and no.

If you love writing, of course you can make money from your passions. However, you need to keep  readers in mind -- if you write what people want to read, or need, you will make money. If you write on totally quirky topics no one has commissioned you to write on, you won't make money.

I'd love to give you some examples of quirky topics my writing students were trying to make money writing about, but it would identify them too easily, and that would be cruel, so I won't do it.

But here's short rule of thumb: if there are no advertisers for your topic, it's unlikely you'll make money from it.

Turn your passion into profit

If you want to be sure your passion is profitable, check to see whether there are magazines on the topic. If there are magazines, there are advertisers, and you're golden. You can write about kids, pets, gardening, health... you've thousands of topics from which to choose.

And of course, if there are magazines on a topic, they'll be websites on the topic too -- even more chances to sell your writing on a particular topic.

Testing a passion for profitability: try a blog

I've been recommending blogging to writers for at least seven years. Blogging is instant publishing, and it's a wonderful way to gauge the profitability of a topic.

Just create a blog on the topic, and start posting. Getting a reaction from readers? Bingo, you've latched onto a topic you're passionate about, and for which there's a market for your writing.

The big benefit of a blog is that it can act as a writing sample, AND it will promote you as an expert in the topic. (Buyers of writing love experts, and once you've been blogging on a topic for a little time, hey presto, you're an expert. :-))

Kick off Your Web Writing Career FAST

Here's what a subscriber, who's a new writer, said about Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON): "I'm loving it! I just made my first-ever sale of my writing – ten articles a week, for three months. I'm so excited..."

52 weeks of Angela Booth's amazing SYWON training gives you a COMPLETE training in Web writing. It's the key to a successful writing career, with unlimited opportunities, and a great write-from-home income.

Moms' Work from Home Opportunities: Article Writing

Article writing is a great work from home opportunity for moms. You can write in your own time, at your own pace, and once you're experienced, you can make a great income.

Got questions? Here are some answers.

1. What Are Web Articles?

Web articles are a form of advertising -- they're short articles which are written directly for the web. They're meant to be published online, nowhere else.

Businesses with websites buy these articles to increase their website's chances of being found via the search engines.

Unlike print articles, which are meant to be read with full attention, web articles are meant to be skimmed. Online, people want information quickly. If your article doesn't get to the point immediately, it's easy to hit the Back button.

Web articles are different from those written for print in many other ways -- they often include hyperlinks for example.

Primarily it's important to realize that although your articles are not written for the search engines  (they're written for site visitors), they are however written with the search engines in mind, so you'll be asked to include keywords in your articles.

2. Who Buys the Articles You Write?

Your articles are purchased by businesses, large and small. Generally speaking, large companies require your articles to be of a higher quality than small businesses with smaller budgets. (They pay more for that quality.)

That said; there's no writing down involved when you write for smaller companies. Your aim is to write to the best standard you can. In general, the standard of web article online is low; this is good news for new writers. It means that you don't need extensive experience to write articles for the web.

3. How Do You Get Started?

Familiarize yourself with the articles you see online. Choose a couple of websites you enjoy reading, and check out their articles. Can you pick the keywords? Can you see other ways in which their articles are different from the articles you might find in a magazine?

It's easy to get started writing articles. Check the About page on your favorite sites. You'll find requests for articles on many sites, and this is your chance to build a whole new work from home career.

Subscribe to Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON) - it's a complete training in making money online

Want to make money online? You can, with Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON) training. Join me, and develop your own home-based business, writing and making money on the Web.

Quick Money Writing: Work from Home Writing Articles

Want to make quick money writing? There are many writing opportunities online, because there's a great need for content. So if you can write, you can meet the demand for Web articles.

1. You Can Get Paid to Write Articles

If you're used to writing in your job, you'll find writing Web articles is very simple.

These kinds of articles are short, often just 300 to 500 words, and they're written in an informal, and conversational style. Basically they're on topics for which people search online.

When you get hired to write, the business which is hiring you will usually give you the terms which they want you to use; these are called "keywords". These keywords may be words and phrases for which there are millions of searches each month, or they may be phrases for which there are only a few hundred searches.

Realize that in the beginning you won't make much money writing articles. This is because you don't have feedback (testimonials).

Articles have become a commodity online and in order to get better writing jobs for which you'll be paid a dollar a word, you'll need considerable experience.

Over time as your article writing skills improve, you'll be able to charge more. It's a big mistake to worry about what you're paid initially, because you're being paid to learn. So take any article writing jobs you can get, and ensure that you ask your buyers to give you feedback. You may need to nag them to do it, but make sure you do -- it's vital.

2. Visit Article Marketing Directories: Can You Write These Articles?

If you're not familiar with Web articles, visit several article directories, and read the articles posted there. Unfortunately at the moment most web content is of a very low standard. However the Web is becoming more competitive, so aim to write high quality articles. The better the quality, the more you can charge for your articles as you become more experienced.

3. Earn While You Learn

Writing articles is a way of making quick money, and you will learn as you earn. As you write for more people, you can develop your own list of buyers of your articles. At this stage you'll be able to choose your own article topics.

"If You're Not Making the Money You SHOULD be Making from Your Writing, Do You Realize That You Can Make $100,000 a Year, Just From Web Articles?"

Whether you're a new writer, or are an experienced pro, you can make great money writing web articles. Discover a fast and easy step by step process to launch your new web writing career in "Article Dynamite: Make $100,000 a Year Writing and Selling Articles".

Make money writing: subscribers get exclusives, which YOU don't

Not a member of Fab Freelance Writing Ezine? You may want to bite the bullet, and join.

Membership has its benefits.

Not only do you get my free writing tips, week after week, which will help you to make money from your writing, you also get exclusive offers.

These "exclusives" are strictly subscriber-ONLY. Subscribers receive up to 50 per cent off when I launch new writing guides. Since the offers are never repeated, you have only one way to receive them... and that's by joining us.

Offers are sent out three to five days before products are officially launched.

Of course, there's lots more to our writing tips ezine than offers, much more. Each week, I create an Editorial which shows you exactly HOW to do something or other. That "how to do it" is never revealed anywhere else; it's just for our members. (Ezine issues are not archived, they're removed. I don't want my hottest info to be publicly available, it's just for YOU.)

Is there currently a subscriber special? Yes, there is. But of course, I can't tell you what it is. You'll never know unless you subscribe... :-)

If you want it, join, and then watch for my email message -- I'll be sending out a "24 hours left" message to subscribers shortly.

Want to make great money writing? Discover the secrets of high-selling, highly paid writers, for free. Each week, Angela Booth's Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is delivered in easy-to-print PDF format. Join the thousands of other writers who are using the information to change their lives. You'll learn how to write, and how to sell. Angela's been writing for 30 years, and shares her knowledge with you.

Writing: what do YOU want to see in the ezine?

I finally got organized with Fab Freelance Writing Ezine and created an Editorial Calendar. This makes it easier for me, because I can see what I'll be writing about in coming weeks.

FYI, next week's ezine theme is "Get Easy Writing Jobs Fast"; if you haven't got all the writing jobs you can handle, this issue will help you out. In coming weeks we discuss niche blogs, how to turn your writer's website into a money machine, and much more.

Now it's your turn. Please tell me what you'd like to see in upcoming issues. You can leave a message in the comments, or you can contact me, your choice.

Enjoy the ezine. :-)

Writing: Turn Your Hobby Into a Money-Maker

Want to make money from your writing? It's surprisingly simple, once you make a decision. You're changing your status from an amateur to a pro, so let's see how you can do that.

Tip: I said that you need to make a decision, and that explicitly means a commitment. Can you commit? Great! That's all it takes.

1. Discover Who Makes Money Writing

There are many different kinds of writers. Novelists, screenwriters, commercial writers, online writers, copywriters...

For the next week or two, carry a small notebook with you, and find out who makes money from their writing, and how they do it. Talk to people. In the online world, many writers are surprisingly accessible via their blogs, and via social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Visit bookstores, online forums, and read blogs. Sooner or later something will resonate with you, and you'll think: "I could do that!"

Many professional writers turned professional when they had this epiphany. They read something and realized that they could write that kind of material, with just a little training and determination.

2. Research Markets and Pay

Once you've found something you feel you could write, it's time to research who buys that kind of material, and how much they pay.

Again, ask professionals via blogs, and networking sites. It's unlikely that someone will tell you exactly how much he makes each year, but most professionals will tell you how much an average writer of ________ (whatever) makes a year, and how much income you should be making in your first year.

Now you know what you're writing, and roughly how much to expect in terms of payment. From now on, it's up to you.

3. Set Goals and Schedule Your Time

Everything takes longer while you're learning. Once you know how something works, it's a matter of practice.

Get into the habit now of setting goals. A goal is simply a destination. Goals can and should be reviewed, updated, and changed if necessary. Review your goals at least once a week.

In addition to yearly, monthly and weekly goals, you need daily goals. When you're writing part-time, schedule a block of time for writing, even if it's only half an hour. You don't need a lot of time. You'll be amazed that once you're writing, your time expands -- and you have more time to write than you thought.

Recession-proof your freelance writing career

"Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process" gives you all the tools you need for a thriving writing career, no matter what the economic climate.

Three weeks after completing the class one student wrote:

"Thanks Angela, for all your help and advice in class. I'm quitting my job next week. I printed out my letter of resignation tonight after landing a contract writing job that will pay me more for three months part-time work than I earned in from my day job in the whole of 2008! You were right – the great gigs are out there, and now I've got the skills to land them. Your class opened my eyes. Bless you…"

"Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process" shows you how to thrive as a freelance writer. Would you like to write five times more than you're writing now, and sell to higher-paying markets? Take the class.

Writing: make great money writing articles

Next week in Fab Freelance Writing Ezine, we discuss making money writing articles.

Here's an excerpt from the Editorial:

If you're not making more money than you can spend from writing articles you're not handling your writing/ marketing/ selling effectively.

Here's the thing: you may have noticed that times are tougher than they were. This means that businesses are cutting back on flashy advertising (TV, newspapers, magazines), and are opting for promotions with long-lasting results, ergo, web articles.

So, there's a HUGE market for articles.

If you want to be able to deal with that market effectively: that is, you want to sell every article you produce at a great price, you need to:

•    Understand the market

•    Know how to find qualified buyers

•    Know how to get the payment you want for your articles

•    TEST, and test again, so you turn your "knowledge" into experience, and RESULTS

Many writers fall down on the testing phase. They think they know how to write and sell articles, but they obviously don't, because they're not making the income they want.

There's a big gap between having some information, and knowing how something works. You only know, when you know: when you've made something work.

Information is just information: it becomes knowledge when you KNOW because you've done it

Everything you learn needs to be applied, before you can be sure you've learned it.

If I had a dollar for every writer who's told me "I know how ______(article marketing, or whatever) works" and then went on to complain they weren't making any money, I'd be able to retire to fabulous Noosa and write mystery novels...

If you're not making money writing articles then you don't know how it works – no matter what you think you know. :-)

Read more in the ezine on Tuesday...

Not a subscriber? Join now, and get free writing tips delivered to your Inbox each week.

Writing for Money: The Two Biggest Mistakes You Can Make

Do you want to make money writing? The amount of money you can make depends on your output. When you write more, you make more. So let's look at the two biggest mistakes you can make.

1. Not Writing Regularly

You need to produce. Writing is both an art and a skill. The more you write, the better you get at writing. This applies to any activity -- you need to practice.

Writing more has another benefit: it builds your writing muscles.

When you first start writing, it might take you a couple of hours to write a simple web article of 400 words. What you've been writing for a while you can do the same thing in around half an hour.

However, while writing for clients is all very well, you also need to be able to access your creativity at will, and over some 30 years of writing, I've discovered that if I don't write purely for myself for some of my writing time, my creativity suffers.

You're most creative when you're having fun, and some client work tends to rank pretty low on the fun scale.

You need to have some writing of your own, in addition to the writing you work on for clients. What can YOU write for fun? (I write blogs and websites.)

Write every day. If you're writing full-time, you need to spend at least three to four hours a day writing. If you're writing part-time, you'll need to spend at least two hours a day writing.

2. Embracing Perfection

Perfectionism lives in your left brain. It makes you over-think your writing.

Perfectionism can't coexist with creativity, which is a right brain activity.

Yes, you need to "perfect" your writing. You need edit, and revise. However, separate your writing from your revision and editing; ideally edit a project some time after you've written it. If I'm writing for a client for example, I like to leave at least four days between the writing and editing process, so I can look at what I've written more objectively.

Discover how YOU can make money writing.

Make Money Writing and Build a Great Career

Get free weekly writing tips...

Want to make money with your writing? Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is your free weekly resource.

Build your skills, get motivated - it's never been easier to build a great writing career.

Whether you're a brand new writer, or are an established pro, Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is packed with writing tips you can use.

Here's what a new writer said: "I've always wanted to sell my writing - you showed me how. I made three sales on one day, just from my blog."

You and Fab Freelance Writing Ezine are a powerful combination. Subscribe today... it's free.

Writing, and getting well-paid for it

In next week's issue of Fab Freelance Writing Ezine, we discuss getting well-paid for your writing. How do you get paid $250 an hour and more?

All will be revealed. :-)

Here's an excerpt from the Editorial:

This week, we discuss the contentious issue of getting paid well for your writing.

Contentious? Yes. However, the contention comes NOT from others… it comes from YOU. That's right. YOU are all that's standing between you getting $7 an hour for your writing, and $300 an hour.

There's one proviso here. If you're a new writer, please understand that you need to be worth $300 an hour to your clients before they'll part with huge chunks of cash.

That said, I know many writers with a dozen and more years of experience, who get paid a miserable $5 an article, simply because they're standing in their own way. They can't pay their utilities, they can't afford a new computer, and they live from pay check to pay check in their day job, all because they've never learned to value themselves and their writing, and to present themselves well.

Getting paid well starts with YOU

One of the most common sentences I hear from writers is this one: "I don't want to get rich from my writing."

Whenever I hear this, because it's a very, very common attitude among writers, I'm tempted to say: "If that's your decision, you will always struggle." Sometimes I do say it, because that writer needs to hear it – they especially need to hear what they're saying to themselves, because they've never thought it through.

Read the rest in next week's issue of the ezine. Enjoy. :-)

Subscribe to Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON) - it's a complete training in making money online

Want to make money online? You can, with Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON) training. Join me, and develop your own home-based business, writing and making money on the Web.

Today's writing tip: Make Money Writing Success -- Challenge Yourself

Although it's very easy to make money writing online, for best results you need to challenge yourself. This is because you're working alone, you don't have anyone to push you. The more you write the more you earn, so get into the habit of challenging yourself.

Let's look at this simple method for doing this.

1. Set One Writing Goal

I like to challenge myself by creating goals, and achieving them. Tip: every goal you achieve gives you an instant boost of confidence.

Start by setting a simple goal. Perhaps you want to get more clients to buy your articles. So create that as a goal.

Write it down: "I will get five more clients this week".

2. Create a Plan to Achieve That Goal

The more simple you make your plan, the more likely it is that you will achieve it. Your plan can include various items, and you need to chunk that plan down into a list of daily tasks.

For example, your plan could include items like: bidding on writing jobs on the outsourcing sites, advertising, and staying in touch with clients by sending out regular mailings.

3. Create a List of Daily Tasks You Know You Can Achieve

From the list of items which will help you to achieve your goal, create a list of daily tasks. I like to keep all my tasks short, so that each takes no longer than half an hour. I find I'm more productive this way. There's no time to dither on a task when you know you have just 30 minutes to complete it.

How it works: if one of your items included advertising for example, then one of your tasks could be to create a couple of ads which you will post on one of the free classifieds sites. (The posting of the ads deserves its own task.)

4. Put on Blinkers: Be Single-Minded and Complete Your Tasks

Make a commitment to yourself to a complete every task on your daily task list, every day.

Making a commitment is freeing -- you know what you'll do, and you do it.

Tip: your commitments must mean something. Make a list of benefits to you in completing your daily task list. The benefits could include: being your own boss, tripling your income this year, and going on that European vacation you've planned.

You can make money writing, and your success is in your hands. Just reach out and grab it.

Image: Blackadder -- his best quote "I have a cunning plan..."

Today's Writing Tip: Write ebooks, make (great) money

Creating an ebook and selling it is EASY… there are very few steps, and once you’ve done it once, you’ll get faster each time you do it. I’ve written so many ebooks on so many topics that I no longer think about the process; it’s automatic.

However, one thing never changes, and that’s the fun and excitement of creation. I started my writing career writing romance novels, and enjoy writing long projects so much that I get depressed when a book’s complete.

via fabfreelancewriting.com

Want to make great money online? Create your own ebook empire.

I love writing and selling ebooks, and I've been doing it for years -- here are some of the writing info products I've created.

Read my article (follow the link above) to find out how you can write ebooks fast, and start building your own ebook empire.

Discover how to make money online in your spare time with Angela Booth's Sell Your Writing Online NOW training Not only will you discover how to write and sell ebooks, you'll get complete training in how the Web works, so you can take advantage of the unlimited opportunities.

For free weekly writing tips sent to your Inbox, subscribe to Angela's Fab Freelance Writing Ezine and receive "Write And Sell Your Writing: The Power-Write Report" immediately.

Today's writing tip: make money blogging

Make a list of your skills. Even if you’re a college student, you have skills. If you’re a retiree, you have a lifetime of skills.

Also, list subjects you know well enough to write about.

Although blogs can be about anything at all, the companies which hire you operate in a particular industry. The more you know about the area in which a company operates, the greater the chance they will hire you to blog for them.

Chances are your most marketable skills stem from your working life.

via dollars2blog.com

Looking for ways to make money writing? One of the easiest ways is via blogging. The above article outlines a process you could follow.

Article Marketing for Writers: Make Money and Get Known -- in Your Spare Time

Want to make money writing in your spare time? Consider article marketing. When it's done well, you can easily transition from being a part-time writer to full time, making much more than you could at most day jobs. Let's look at how you can do that.

1. Content Marketing Is Big on the Web: Study Web Content First

Firstly, realize that article marketing (also known as content marketing) has hit the big time, because of search engines like Google. Content drives massive traffic to Web sites, which means that, especially in the current economic climate, more and more businesses are using this promotional strategy.

This means that if you're serious about article marketing, you need to educate yourself, and study Web content. Writing Web articles is very different from writing for print.

Unfortunately, currently the bulk of Web articles aren't well written. This leads some writers to think that they can turn out junk, and make money, because at the moment, they can.

However, realize that your name, and building your name as an article writer is a priority, because the bigger your name, the more you can charge. So don't write junk. The Web is more or less forever, and junk articles won't build your name in a good way.

Write well: taking both the search engines, and readers, into account as you write.

2. Develop Your Article Writing Skills: Practice Develops Skill

All writing is a skill. Here's the good thing about article writing: everything is trackable on the Web. Therefore, you'll soon see which of your articles receive the most views, and this helps you to write better articles.

Don't begrudge the time it takes you to learn and build your skills, because even as a new writer, you can earn -- your "practice" articles can nevertheless make money for you. As your skills increase, so do the fees you can charge.

3. Promote Your Writing Services With Article Marketing, Realizing that Volume Counts

The people who buy your writing know (unless they're as new to the Web as you may be), that volume counts. This is the reason they're adding content to their sites.

You also need to be aware of this, so use article marketing to build your own site's visibility in the search engines. Add content to your site, and promote your services using articles too.

There's never been a better time to be a writer. You can easily make a great deal of money in your spare time, and in the process, develop a profitable full time writing career, using article marketing.

"Go From Zero To Making $250 Per Hour For Web Writing - Kick Off Your Web Writing Career In 24 Hours!"

There's great money in Web writing. Some Web writers are making $20,000 a month by blogging for a stable of sites. Others are writing articles or ebooks.

Want to jump on this opportunity? No matter what your level of writing skill, you can make great money writing for the Web too.

Get a full year of weekly assignments; become a Web writing pro with Sell Your Writing Online NOW.

Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON) training price increase

Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON) has been a huge success since it was launched a year ago. Subscribers have gone from newbie writers to accomplished pros in a very short time.

Check out what subscribers have said.

One of the benefits of the SYWON training has always been the coaching that goes with it, and I love working with subscribers one-on-one. There's no way I'll cut down on the coaching, because it's essential. Subscribers need to know that they can ask a question -- any question -- and can get expert personal help and the guidance applicable to THEIR situation, quickly.

Personal coaching differentiates SYWON from other courses. Even those costing $97 and $147 a month don't offer anywhere near the amount of personal guidance that SYWON does.

In addition, SYWON subscribers earn while they learn. By the time they've completed their first month, they're earning many times the monthly subscription fee of $37.

So a price increase should be a no-brainer...

In these tough times however, I'm extremely reluctant to raise SYWON's subscription price.

That said, the alternatives are either to stop offering SYWON at all -- to close down the training. Or to offer it in a radically different format, as a workbook/ DVD and training, for $2,995, complete.

 Neither option appeals to me. I love offering Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON), because I know it's helped writers to create successful careers, so I don't want to close it down. And the high-priced option puts it out of the range of many writers who need it.

So from June 1, Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON) training will increase to $47 a month for new subscribers.

If you're a subscriber already, please have no fear -- your subscription stays the same for the entire time you're subscribed. And of course, if you subscribe before June 1, your subscription is permanently pegged at $37.

Do you get value for money at $47 a month? Yes you do.

Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON) works, as subscribers testify. Courses which charge you $147 and more a month don't offer anywhere near the training and personal guidance you get with Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON). You're just one among a forum of subscribers; the personal attention you get is zero.

With Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON), you're earning while you learn, and you get everything you need to help you to a hugely successful career.

To current subscribers, and graduates, thank you for making Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON) a joy -- I love offering this training. To future subscribers, welcome -- you'll have lots of fun, and you'll make money. I know you too will consider the training (in the words of one subscriber): "The best thing I've ever done".

Kick off Your Web Writing Career FAST

Here's what a subscriber, who's a new writer, said about Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON): "I'm loving it! I just made my first-ever sale of my writing – ten articles a week, for three months. I'm so excited..."

52 weeks of Angela Booth's amazing SYWON training gives you a COMPLETE training in Web writing. It's the key to a successful writing career, with unlimited opportunities, and a great write-from-home income.

Article Magic: profit from Web articles

In next week's issue of Fab Freelance Ezine we discuss "Article Magic."

Here's an excerpt from the Editorial:

Hi fellow writer – welcome to this week's issue, in which we discuss "article magic", otherwise known as "article marketing".

I've always thought of article marketing as magic, because nothing else is as powerful in building your writing career and business. When you become an expert article marketer, not only can you use these skills to get writing clients, you can also use the skills on your clients' behalf, increasing their sales and income.

What's article marketing?

"Article marketing" means using articles as advertising – as promotional tools. This is the primary way in which I, and many other Web writers and marketers, use articles. We use articles to get results.

In 2009, I'm still getting enquiries and making sales from articles I wrote way back in 2000. This is an amazing return on investment. For half an hour or so of time, I build my business (and clients' businesses) an article at a time.

Read the rest in Tuesday's issue: join the thousands of other freelance writers who get free writing tips every week to help them to build their writing income.

Make money writing from home: ditch your day job forever

If you can write, you can make money writing from home. The Web has made it possible for ANY writer, no matter how new or inexperienced, to turn writing into a fabulous career. If you're stuck in a soul-destroying, or just boring job, writing is your way out.

Fab Freelance Ezine helps you - subscribe and receive the free report: "Freelance Writing for Beginners: Great Opportunities to Make Money Today". It's 21 pages packed with information to help you to develop a six-figure writing career.

Writing Work for Beginners: Two Web Article Secrets

Are you a beginning writer? Here's great news: if you can write simple articles, you can make money with your writing. However, there are secrets you must know; so here are two of them.

1. Offer Articles in Batches: You'll Make More Money

Content sells on the Web. The more content a site has, the more traffic it gets, and the more sales it makes. When you know this, you get an understanding of how you can help your buyers: they want content, so give it to them by offering your articles in batches of ten, 20 or 50.

When you offer your articles in batches, the site gets a good deal, and you get an inflow of cash.

Not sure how much to charge? You're a beginner, so start low: a testimonial from a buyer is worth much more than cash when you're starting out, because testimonials get business for you.

2. Approach Websites Directly: Solve a Problem, Make Money

When you're a beginning writer, you look for "writing jobs." Professional writers know that they need to be proactive, and realize that they can get as many jobs as they need whenever they want to, because they offer solutions to problems which plague businesses and publications.

So how do you solve problems?

You'll get better at this as your experience of writing and the Web grows.

But let's look at a simple example of how even the newest beginning writer can do this. Let's say you see that your local vet has a Web site. It's a simple, brochure-style site, with several pages of basic information. You know that with such a tiny site, the vet will be almost invisible on the search engines, so the site doesn't work to attract new clients.

You can help the vet to become more visible, and get new clients. Just send the vet a brief email (or phone the surgery) and ask whether he or she would like some articles to attract more traffic, and more clients, by adding more content to the Web site.

The vet will say YES or NO. If the response is negative, that's fine, just offer the articles to someone else. (Every business has competition.)

The above two secrets work: treat them as the treasure they are, and prosper.

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When "free" is more than you can afford

I'm sure you've heard of cancer clusters. In writing there's another kind of cluster, the "free" cluster. It's equally bad for your health.

This week I've had around a dozen email messages about free information: a real "free" cluster.

All the messages start off something like this:

Dear Angela

Thank you so much for all the free information you provide. I've been reading your sites and subscribe to Fab Freelance Writing Ezine.

I've been working on ___________ (a long description of what the writer's been doing: blogging, Web writing, copywriting etc) for ______(a long time) and I've made _________ (no money at all or a truly trivial amount).

Why are other people making so much money, and I can't make any (or so little)? What am I doing wrong?

Confused Reader

Julia usually replies to these messages as kindly as possible, offering some suggestions.

When you don't know what you're doing, you get unexpected results

These readers are all caught in the same trap. They believe they can make a great income from their writing without learning anything at all.

There's lots of information available online. Some of it's great, some is mediocre, and much of it is plain wrong.

When you don't know what you're doing, you don't know what information to put into practice, and when you do take action, the chances are great that you omit to do something that's essential, or that you do something wrong.

You can waste a lot of time this way. In fact, you can waste an entire career.

Yes, I do provide lots of free information. Unfortunately "free" may be much more than you can afford, if you try to build a career on it.

When you pay for information, you not only get the information, you get help from me when you get stuck -- and you will get stuck at various times. I sell lots information for writers, and it all comes with coaching and help when you need it.

What you pay for that help is much less than it's worth.

Tip: get REAL information

There's a huge temptation, because there's so much that's free online, to believe that you can build an entire career on "free" information. Unfortunately, you can waste a lot of time this way, and it's time you'll never get back.

I provide a mass of free information for you, and I love doing it. I also provide a lot of information for which you pay. The "free stuff" makes much more sense when you have a grounding in the material first, and that grounding is in the paid material.

So do realize that free may be much more than you can afford if you want and need to make money from your writing.

Make Money Writing and Build a Great Career

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Build your skills, get motivated - it's never been easier to build a great writing career.

Whether you're a brand new writer, or are an established pro, Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is packed with writing tips you can use.

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Freelance Editing: Find Unadvertised Jobs

Do you have editing skills? If so, consider a freelance editing career: editors are in high demand, and if you promote yourself effectively you will get hired both by writers and by publishing companies.

As publishing companies cut back on staff, I've noticed that more freelance editing jobs are being advertised on the outsourcing sites.

This can be an opportunity for you. If companies are advertising on the outsourcing sites, it means that they're desperate. Usually they'd hire people they know, so all you have to do to get unadvertised editing jobs is to become someone that they know.

Try this process.

1. What Specialties Do You Have?

Firstly consider your specialties. Publishing houses need specialists when they hire editors. If you've been writing articles for parenting magazines for example, you can consider yourself a specialist in parenting topics. Therefore, approach publishing houses which publish parenting books. Parenting  is an extremely wide field, with many opportunities.

2. Make Contacts Via Social Networking

A freelance editor friend told me that she got her last three editing jobs via  Twitter.

The social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook have become hugely popular in the past few months. They're being used as serious tools by companies.

Big tip: before you start using these sites, do ensure that you have a Web  site of your own which describes the work that you do. If possible add testimonials; testimonials are vital because they offer social proof of your skills.

3. Approach Writers Directly

Every professional writer knows that one of the benefits of working with large publishing houses is that you get to work with great editors. An experienced editor can turn a rough-diamond manuscript into a sparking gem.

Many writers hire freelance editors to help them to get their books ready for publication, because nowadays, a book has to be as near ready for publication as possible even before it's sent to an agent or a publisher.

You can make contact with writers easily: approach them through their Web sites. Ensure that any writers you contact have been published by a traditional publisher; professional writers understand the value of good editors.

3. Get Testimonials -- They're Vital

We've already said that you need testimonials, but it bears repeating, because if you don't have testimonials, you'll find it very hard to get work.

Here's how to get testimonials: complete some jobs on the outsourcing sites, solely with the aim of getting testimonials for your work. It's well worth the effort.

Follow Angela Booth on Twitter

Make Money Writing and Build a Great Career

Get free weekly writing tips...

Want to make money with your writing? Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is your free weekly resource.

Build your skills, get motivated - it's never been easier to build a great writing career.

Whether you're a brand new writer, or are an established pro, Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is packed with writing tips you can use.

Here's what a new writer said: "I've always wanted to sell my writing - you showed me how. I made three sales on one day, just from my blog."

You and Fab Freelance Writing Ezine are a powerful combination. Subscribe today... it's free.

Freelance writing: 3 tips to help you to spread your wings

Are you making as much money as you should be making with your freelance writing skills?

You can make more money than you believe possible, even in the current economic climate.

However, you need to be aware that writing for others is generally NOT the way to go if you want a six figure income and more. You need to realize that as a writer, you can use your writing skills on your own behalf.

Here are three tips which will help you.

1. Discover affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the money-making tricks we teach you in Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON).

Once you get into the swing of affiliate marketing, promoting affiliate products on your sites and blogs, your income will soar... passively. You can make money from articles you wrote months (and years) ago, while you sit on a beach, or deal with family issues.

Affiliate marketing is EASY, but you need to understand exactly how it works, and how to get the most from the promotional material you write. Once you know how it works, you could lose everything you possess, be dumped in a foreign country, and as long as you had access to an Internet connection, you could still make money.

2. Create your own ebooks to sell

Information sells online. If you're not writing and selling your own ebooks, you're missing out on pots of gold.

3. WRITE!

I get tired of saying this, because I say it many times a day to many writers: WRITE!

When writers approach me with "problems", somewhere along the line I'll ask them what they wrote today. The answer is enlightening, for them. Why? Because they haven't written a word today, nor yesterday, nor the day before.

Much as I love writers, sometimes I want to give them a good shake and remind them that writers write. The clue is in the word: "writer."

When you're a writer, you write: in the morning, in the afternoon, after the kids have gone to bed... You don't browse the Web, you don't watch TV, you don't moan -- when you do all these things rather than write, you're wasting good writing time.

Writing is a habit. Once you've developed your writing habit, you're a WRITER. Write every day. Write when you have an hour, and write when you have one minute. Never stop writing. As Samuel Johnson said: "A man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly to it." (Women too... :-))

Spread your wings as a writer. You're privileged to have writing talent: never take it for granted, and don't waste the immense opportunities you have.

Subscribe to Angela Booth's fabulous free weekly ezine for freelance writers: get a free report just for subscribing. Even if you're a new writer, you can freelance your way to a fantastic writing career.

Join the thousands of freelance writers who are making great money freelance writing, using Fab Freelance Writing Ezine as their guide.

Writing Opportunities: How to Find Them Online

Can you make money writing online? Yes, you most definitely can. But here's the catch: unless you're already known as a writer, you'll write your fingers to the bone for peanuts.

I feel for new writers who are so dispirited by the online environment that they believe they need to spend their lives writing $5 articles. Not so. You're just looking for writing opportunities in the wrong places.

Keep in mind: you're NEW. No one knows you, and they certainly don't trust you. Why should they? But you can get over this natural reluctance people have to hire a "writer" without credentials -- and more importantly, you MUST.

Here's how.

1. Home Town Hero: Search for LOCAL Businesses Online

Here's where you'll find trust: locally. Get online and make a list of 100 local (town, city and state) businesses. Don't worry too much about the businesses themselves. You just want that list.

2. Pack It up: Create a Media Package

Next you need to create a media package, which tells people who you are.

Write a bio of yourself and your writing skills. Keep it under 200 words. Choose two articles you've written (or write new ones) to display your talents. Make these articles good work, but don't agonize over them.

Format your bio and articles and save them as one PDF file. Be sure to add your contact details, including your phone number. (Do a Google search for free PDF creators; there are many of them.)

Once you've written your press releases (item #4), you'll add these to your media package.

3. Tap, Tap, Tap: Wear out Your Fingertips by Calling 100 Local Companies

All done? Great. Now start calling your 100 companies. Just call them one after another. Chat. Be friendly. Tell the company marketing managers you're looking for freelance writing work.

Ask them for an email address to which you can send your media package.

Big, big tip: please follow up after sending your package.

Once you've called your 100 companies you should have enough writing jobs to keep you going for months.

4. Write Two Press Releases and Post Them Online

Finally, write two press releases and post them online. Add them to your PDF media package too.

So there you go: you're well on the way to a great freelance writing career. There are more writing opportunities than a million writers could handle, so find them!

Subscribe to Angela Booth's fabulous free weekly ezine for freelance writers: get a free report just for subscribing. Even if you're a new writer, you can freelance your way to a fantastic writing career.

Join the thousands of freelance writers who are making great money freelance writing, using Fab Freelance Writing Ezine as their guide.

Writing for Money: Avoid Writing Scams

Have you been the victim of a writing scam?

Don't feel bad. You often need to be burned once or twice before you become wary, so look on it as the price of experience.

Sometimes I hesitate about writing more about writing scams, because it gives new writers the wrong idea. Please realize that most of your potential clients are honest: they have projects they want completed and they want them completed with the least amount of hassle.

They'll pay you well and will treat you well. A small number of clients however are not legitimate. They're cheats and scam artists and they infest the writing world as they do the rest of life.

Here are five tips to help you to protect yourself:

1. Google is your friend

Google everyone. It's simple to do, takes just moments, and if the person or company doesn't exist on Google be extremely wary.

2. You need writing credits and feedback

(Writing credits are published writing for which you've been paid.)

Credits and feedback ensure your potential buyers that YOU'RE not scammer: they assure your buyers of your credibility.

Therefore, make getting those credits a priority, and understand that buyers will be wary before you get them. Don't worry if you're receiving little or no pay for your first few writing jobs: until you have credits, you're an unknown quantity, and your buyers are taking a risk.

Here's why credits and feedback are important: scammers target NEW writers, they don't bother with experienced pros, because they know they'd get short shrift.

3. Ask questions

Scammers hate questions.

Asking questions is a good habit to get into -- whenever you find a writing job you may be interested in, ask questions even if the brief seems very clear to you. The response -- both in its tone and in its content, as well as the speed of the response -- will tell you what this company will be like to work with.

4. You live and die by your writing contract

People give you money and you give them writing. A simple transaction, yes? Nine times out of 10 it will be. The tenth time you'll bless your contract.

Always use a contract, and attach your rewritten version of the brief (project description) to the contract. I always advise my writing students to rewrite the brief. You rewrite the brief so that you understand it completely, and so that your client knows that you understand it. You're both on the same page, so to speak.

5. Get a retainer or deposit Always get a retainer.

This is a deposit on the work you're going to do. Normally the retainer will be 50%.

Should new writers asked for a retainer? Yes you should. Getting a deposit allows you to sort the sheep from the goats. Talk is always cheap, but when someone puts their money where their mouth is you know that you've got a genuine buyer and not a scammer.

Subscribe to Angela Booth's fabulous free weekly ezine for freelance writers: get a free report just for subscribing. Even if you're a new writer, you can freelance your way to a fantastic writing career.

Join the thousands of freelance writers who are making great money freelance writing, using Fab Freelance Writing Ezine as their guide.

Write to Sell: Develop Your Writing Career

Want to become a high-selling writer? The secret is to take a long-term view. Your writing career can stretch over decades, so what counts is the processes you put in place to continually write more and sell more.

Here are four essential tips.

1. Commercial Writing Is Writing for a Paying Audience

As a commercial writer -- someone who makes money from writing -- you can never afford to forget your audience. Before you start any piece of writing, think about your ideal reader. Form a picture of this reader in your mind. What does he or she want to know? What will keep them reading?

2. Start Small: Build Your Confidence and Credits

Many years ago a magazine paid me for writing a short snippet. This tiny paragraph was my first published piece of writing. I was around 14 years old and it gave me a taste for writing for money which I've never lost.

Start small. Many newspapers and magazines publish very short snippets of less than 200 words. Although these snippets won't make you rich, they'll give you something which is worth a lot more than money: writing credits and confidence.

3. Power Marketing: You've Got to Have the Numbers

Few writers start out as great marketers. However if you want a lucrative  writing career you need to develop marketing skill. Even more than skill however, you need to realize an essential truth and it's this: numbers count in marketing. One advertisement has little effect. However one advertisement repeated 365 days a year has a huge effect.

So whatever marketing you decide to do, realize that ONE of any form of marketing is not enough. You need to do lots of marketing, and ideally you need to market every day.

4. Deadlines Mean Dollars: Every Deadline Is Vital

Take deadlines seriously. Your aim should be never to miss a deadline, unless you're dead. Editors and other buyers of writing will forgive you a great deal if you keep your deadlines. If you get a reputation for being a reliable writer you'll get more work than you can handle.

Enjoy your writing. Your writing career can be highly lucrative if you keep these important tips in mind.

Recession-proof your freelance writing career

"Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process" gives you all the tools you need for a thriving writing career, no matter what the economic climate.

Three weeks after completing the class one student wrote:

"Thanks Angela, for all your help and advice in class. I'm quitting my job next week. I printed out my letter of resignation tonight after landing a contract writing job that will pay me more for three months part-time work than I earned in from my day job in the whole of 2007! You were right – the great gigs are out there, and now I've got the skills to land them. Your class opened my eyes. Bless you…"

"Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process" shows you how to thrive as a freelance writer. Would you like to write five times more than you're writing now, and sell to higher-paying markets? Take the class.

Easy Writing: How to Be Lazy and Make Money Writing

Want to be a lazy writer and make great money writing anyway? You can, when you get out of your own way. Most writers could sell much more than they do, if they got over obsessing over each word, and put energy into selling their words.

Here's how to be lazy, and still make money writing.

1. Make Writing the First Thing You Do Every Day

Writing is a whole-brain activity. Write first, before you do anything else. Try it. You'll be amazed that when you do, you'll write more during the day too.

However, if you write later in the day, when the day's activities have already scattered your energy, you won't write as much. You'll also find writing more challenging.

Writing first each day is perfect for lazy writers, who just want to get the writing DONE, and go play golf, or spend the day beside the pool.

2. Create: Write Junk, It Will Get Better when You Revise

Writers who write little obsess over their words.

If you accept that creation is messy, you'll write more. Remember that the mind state you need for creativity is very different from the mind state you need for editing. If you keep switching between these mind states, you'll get frustrated.

Therefore, when you're creating, just create. Accept half sentences, misspellings, and notes to yourself in the middle of your writing. I bracket my notes myself [this is a note to myself about something or other] and just keep writing.

3. Timed Writing Frees You, and Increases Your Income

Here's a tip for those times you're under deadline. Use timed writing. Timed writing is just what it sounds like.

Let's say you have a deadline for ten articles by noon tomorrow. Give yourself 15 minutes to research, and then another 15 minutes for writing. When you put a time limit on an activity, you're focused, and you write more. Try it.

4. Write It, Sell It: Let Buyers Come to You

A lazy writer doesn't bother hunting for writing jobs. He lets his buyers come to him. He advertises his services. He uses tools like Web sites and blogs to promote his name.

Try writing the easy way. You can be a lazy writer, and still make money writing.

Subscribe to Angela Booth's fabulous free weekly ezine for freelance writers: get a free report just for subscribing. Even if you're a new writer, you can freelance your way to a fantastic writing career.

Join the thousands of freelance writers who are making great money freelance writing, using Fab Freelance Writing Ezine as their guide.

Write to Beat the Recession: Discover How in Next Week's Ezine

In next week's ezine, we discuss using your writing skills to beat the recession. Here's an excerpt from the Editorial:

Let's get one thing out of the way: the "recession". Is there a recession?

Yes, and no. If you've just lost your day job, then yes, you know all about the recession. However, for most people, the only signs of a recession are that you get some bargains when you go shopping, and depending on which country you live in, some prices are going up.

A recession is a great time to be a writer

As a writer, no matter what the current economic situation, you've got the skills to make a great income: there's always a need for expert communicators.

Let's look at a couple of ways you can write to beat the recession: create great deals using time structuring, and barter your writing services.

Look for this issue next Tuesday. Subscribe now.

Make Money Writing and Build a Great Career

Get free weekly writing tips...

Want to make money with your writing? Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is your free weekly resource.

Build your skills, get motivated - it's never been easier to build a great writing career.

Whether you're a brand new writer, or are an established pro, Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is packed with writing tips you can use.

Here's what a new writer said: "I've always wanted to sell my writing - you showed me how. I made three sales on one day, just from my blog."

You and Fab Freelance Writing Ezine are a powerful combination. Subscribe today... it's free.