2009 February

Feb

Finding photographs to use can be difficult for web writers so we are going to take a look at putting images in our ebooks and articles today. Some ebook topics will need more images than others. When I wrote the ebook about creating interest in a winter landscape, it made sense to use some photographs that would illustrate the specific design ideas I discussed.

Some common photography and stock websites offer free or inexpensive photo options for writers. This is great news for bloggers, elearners, webmasters and the like. Once you have a convenient and reliable source, you can find great images in no time. Images are such a vital part of web articles that is nice to finally find the right sites. I’ll list a couple here but please be sure to check with the individual users regarding the rights of their photos.

Best Sites For Free Photographs

Flickr Creative Commons – Beautiful photography contributed by many different users.
Stock Xchang - Users can load photographs with no restrictions, limited restrictions or high restrictions so be sure to look at each picture carefully.
Wikimedia Commons – According to the website, Wikimedia Commons is “a media file repository making available public domain and freely-licensed educational media content (images, sound and video clips) to all”.

Unique Sources for Niche Topic Photographs

Sometimes your topic may be one that makes it difficult for you to find a specific photograph. Are you wondering “Where will I get a picture for this article?” or threatening to rip your hair out if you can’t find that perfect shot? Consider looking at a less obvious option for your pictures and go directly to the source. There are so many forums with hobbyists enjoying various topics so it shouldn’t be too hard to find one dedicated to your ebook’s topic.

For example, I often write about gardening topics. Sometimes photography stock sites won’t have the specific cultivars and named hybrids I mention in my articles. However, a popular gardening community website, Dave’s Garden, allows users to upload their garden photographs directly into plant profile galleries. Many of the pictures, though taken by amateurs, are very beautiful shots and work perfectly for the article I’m working on.

By approaching these users directly, and asking for their permission to place their photos in my articles, I am getting a specific photo I need. Plus I am able to get a photo that isn’t being used by other websites on a regular basis!

Take the Photo Yourself

Of course, the other option is to take the picture yourself. In fact, I almost always take my camera with me now because you never know when a photo op will present itself. Part of the benefit of having your article series brainstormed ahead of time, and an ebook table of contents created, is that you know in advance what type of pictures you’ll need.

If I know that I am working on edible landscaping articles, I can take some vegetable garden pictures even if they don’t work for the article I’m on immediately. In another month, or two, when I’m to that point in my writing, that perfect image is sitting right in my computer just waiting for me to use it.

Feb

Make a Table of Contents to Plan Your Ebook Writing

By AngEngland | Ebooks

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As a freelance writer eager to maximize your online earning potential, you want to learn how to write as efficiently as possible. That means not only learning to write your articles in series to save research and writing time, but also carefully planning those articles series in advance.

So instead of putting your ebook Table of Contents after you’ve finished writing your book, you will put together your Table of Contents at the beginning of the process. Why should writers plan the Table of Contents first?

Avoid Writer’s Block Through Pre-Planned Writing

Have you ever sat down at the computer and wasted an hour trying to decide what to write? What if you already knew exactly what the next ten articles to write should be? The next twenty?

When I begin writing and I know what I need to be working on, it’s a lot easier to set concrete goals. “Today I need to finish Week 12 in my Pregnancy Week-by-Week Series” is a lot better than “Hmm….I wonder what I should work on today”.

Stay Motivated With Clear Goal Achievement

When writers do not make concrete goals for themselves it becomes too difficult to tell whether those goals are being met or not. On the hand, when you can look back and say “Wow, I am halfway through this book!” that is very motivating as a writer.

Write Ahead to Pre-Sell Your Ebook

If you are writing a weekly column and plan to sell an ebook created from a compilation of these periodic articles, you want to be able to get your book out there as soon as possible. By writing all the articles and book content ahead of time, you can slowly release each individual weekly piece, while already having the book ready to go. This allows you to capitalize on the readers already coming to view your articles.

For example, I am writing a series of story stretcher articles to help parents use children’s literature to teach their preschool children. I can write 20 of these articles now, this month, and then use them as my weekly column pieces for the next four months. Each week, my new article will be published, with a note at the bottom that tells readers “This article is part of the Use Children’s Books to Teach Your Preschooler ebook available at TypeAMom ebook store.” and include a link where your readers can choose to purchase the entire book you’ve created.

Look over the brainstorm you created when you learned about writing an article series and choose one topic to write about first. Brainstorm a bit further until you’ve jotted down a rough draft Table of Contents. Remember, this book isn’t set in stone and so is completely flexible as you begin to actually write the content, but this will give you a plan. And having a plan is half the battle!

Feb

Create an Article Series to Save Time When Writing

By AngEngland | How Tos

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One thing I often hear from beginning freelance writers, or mothers trying to write in their “spare” time, is that it takes them a long time to finish one article. By writing a content web, or series of articles, a writer will be able to maximize their writing efforts and get more done in less time.

Brainstorming Article Ideas for Non-Fiction Writing

Sit down and think about the topic you want to cover. Start brainstorming or mind-mapping out different categories and subcategories related to this topic. For example, in my Plants & Bulbs department at Suite101 I wanted to talk about plants for a yellow themed garden. But that one concept became several articles by narrowing each articles focus.

An idea to write about yellow flower gardens became Perennial Plants for a Yellow Garden; Yellow Flowering Annual Plants; Climbing and Trailing Plants for Yellow Themed Gardens, etc. All told I wrote nearly a dozen yellow garden themed articles and still have more possibilities jotted down in my notebook from my original brainstorming session.

Consolidating Research to Save Time

One of the best benefits of writing articles in a series is the ability to spend less time per article by consolidating your research. I’m often asked how I can find time for all the writing that I do with three young children and living in the country with all that entails. The answer is that I write smart.

Take the example of the yellow garden articles above. That particular article series I researched during a long car ride to the city and back. I brought stacks of books and magazines with me in the car and took notes on my steno pad during what would have been a “wasted” four hour car ride.

That one block of research time resulted in several plant ideas for the several articles I had brainstormed earlier. Instead of ignoring all the yellow flowers and only outlining Ground Covers for a Yellow Themed Garden, I wrote down specific plant ideas for any of the yellow flower articles as I came across them in my reading. As a result, I ended up with a dozen articles ready to go!

Instead of spending one or two hours researching a single article, I took four to five hours and researched all 12 articles. That meant my per-article research time had significantly decreased!

By creating content webs of information on your site you will find that not only do you attract the attention of search engines because of the naturally good SEO, but you will be able to produce more articles in a shorter amount of time without sacrificing quality in any way.

Feb

Why Write an Ebook? What are the Benefits of Ebook Creation?

By AngEngland | Ebooks

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There are five reasons why a freelance writer, web content creator, or blogger will benefit from creating one or more ebooks.

Personal Branding and Becoming an Expert in Your Field

Many of us have something to share with others. We are writing on a particular subject on a fairly regular basis. But what makes us unique from other bloggers or content writers?

Publishing an ebook on a particular topic can give you a sense of credibility in that topic. Now you’re not just someone who writes about the cakes they’ve been baking for church functions – now you are a baker! Publishing an ebook about “Baking Cakes for Social Functions” has elevated your status in the eyes of your readers.

Reuse Your Research and Writing Material

I don’t know about you, but personally I cannot stand to do something and then ten minutes later have to do it again. Or the very next day. For example, making my bed drives me crazy and seems rather a waste of energy to me.

So with my freelance writing, I like to reuse as much of my material as possible. If I do a lot of reading and research about baking cakes because I promised to make a cake for the church banquet, then why not see what else I can do with that research? Instead of just baking that one cake, and being done with it, I will look for others ways to use the material.

One of the best ways to repurpose a body of research material is to create an ebook!

Create an Additional Source of Income

Offering an ebook gives you the potential for a sale every day. We all know how important multiple sources of income are as freelance writers. There are very few of us who have such a large, well-paying gig, that we will be able to make a decent income from just one area of revenue. So ebook sales are a great way to create more income opportunities.

Create Continual Income Possibilities – Work Once With Long Term Potential

Once your book is written, it is written. Instead of being like most freelance writing opportunities where you must continually pitch, query, write, and submit in order to keep money coming in, ebooks work differently. You work hard, write great content, go through the drudgery of editing and revisions and finally produce your ebook. But once it is done, it is done and will continue to have the potential of earning for you without additional writing on your part.

Ebooks Give You the Chance to Connect With Your Readers

We all have something unique and special to share. Your “Baking Cakes for Parties” ebook could be very helpful to many people who, like me, find cooking a challenge sometimes. By gathering all the best tidbits of your wit and wisdom into one easy-to-find place, you will be connecting with your readers on a new level. For many of us, that desire for connection is the very thing that drives us to write in the first place.

Feb

How to Select a Successful Ebook Topic

By AngEngland | Ebooks

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Choosing Ebook Content That Others Will Want to Buy

So you’ve decided you’re ready to repurpose your content and make an ebook. Congratulations! Ebooks can be great tools for creating an additional stream of income, on work you’ve already done.

Your ebook topic will make or break your chances at successfully selling your ebook. If your topic is too broad, you won’t be able to cover it well in such a limited scope. Conversely, if your topic is too narrow, you might be quickly found by the one person who wants to find out about how to knit a purple ladybug tissue box cover, but you won’t have very good sales since your audience will be extremely small.

When creating an ebook, think about a topic you are knowledgeable in. What do you find that your friends ask you about? When you’re sending out an email more than two or three paragraphs in length, what is the topic? Children? Photography? That fantastic chocolate cake you bake for church events? A series of devotionals, journaling prompts or kids crafts?

The topic for your ebook should be something you are familiar enough with that you can cover it in-depth and produce at least 20 pages or more of good, solid content for your readers. Creating an Article Series instead of individual, unrelated articles or blog posts, can help you organize your thoughts and create enough content for an entire book.

How-to’s and niche informational ebooks seem to do the best for non-fiction writers. Once you’ve chosen your ebook topic, your articles, blog posts or web pages will be easy to write because you’ll now have clear focus and direction for your pieces.

Selecting a Successful Ebook Topic Checklist

Is this topic something you will be able to cover in adequate detail? Ebook readers do not want fluff they already know, but want to get more specific details and hard-to-find information.
Is this an ebook topic that has a potential market? If it is interesting to you and interesting to some of your friends, the chances are good that there will be others looking for the information as well.
Is your topic focused without being too narrow in scope? Too broad a topic will make it difficult to attract an audience. Too narrow a topic and your potential sales will be small.

Probably the most important criteria for selecting a topic to write an ebook about is your level of interest and passion. If a writer is excited about a particular subject, willing to research the material and take the time to carefully craft, revise, edit and compile the writing then chances are good the ebook will come to fruition successfully.

See successful ebooks I’ve created and notice how the topics are specific and provide detailed information.

Feb

Best SEO Tweets – Learn Effective Web Writing in 140 Characters or Less

By AngEngland | Twitter, Web Content

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After serving as a panelist at a recent Site-Warming twitter party for TypeAMom.net I realized that there really were some informational nuggets of SEO and web writing information in those tiny tweets. Here are some of the best that were tweeted out this evening.

Favorite SEO Tips for Beginners from the #typeamom Site Warming Party

SEO tip choose a narrow focus for keyword optimization

Keep your articles narrow in focus to help search engines find you, and readers get what they are looking for!

SEO for newbies – use a strong title and subtitle, subheadings, organic keywords.

Titles: TRANSPARENT IS KEY. Not “afternoon stories for reading later” but “using children’s literature for preschool education”

SEO for beginners shared on twitter

Subheadings: Break up your article for easy web reading. What it the focus of those two or three paragraphs? Summary=subheading

Keywords: Use them in your article NATURALLY. “Preschoolers will enjoy Baby Bear” not “They’ll love the book”

Think of those three things (Titles/Subheadings/Keywords) as the ABC’s of ALL web writing – even personal blogs

Additional SEO resources for beginning web writers and bloggers

Do you have an SEO tip or trick to share? Ah, but the real question is – can you share SEO in 140 characters or less?

Feb

Writing for Associated Content Pros and Cons

By AngEngland | Sites That Pay

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I could subtitle this post “Why I Appreciated Writing There and Why I’ll Probably Never Write There Again”.

I started writing with associated content a few years ago. I was a brand new stay-at-home mom cruising around for something better to do with my computer than chat rooms and Mai Jong (Have you ever noticed how addicting that game is!?). When I found Associated Content I thought, “Oh, I can write articles” and off I went.

Let me say this – I didn’t know anything about being a serious freelance writer. I would never choose to write for Associated Content today, but I’m glad I did at that time.

The Benefits of Writing for Associated Content – What I Got From the Freelancing Experience

I wrote about 40 articles for Associated Content and made about $400 total in upfront pay. It’s not great, but it’s not horrible. I also continue to make about $15-$25 each month through the new pay model which pays on page views.

The forums are very active, and many of the writers are extremely helpful. I made contacts at Associated Content that have been fabulous – both personally and professionally. I learned how to format my articles to be successful on the world-wide web, in addition to just being informative articles. I discovered that not only do I have a lot to say, but there are people who actually want to read it!

The Downsides of Writing for Associated Content

Now that I am an experienced freelance writer, and have written so much web content for both public sites, and private contract, I will not contribute new material to Associated Content at a high rate. In order to get an upfront payment with Associated Content you must give them exclusive rights to the work! And the pay you get is usually not very much – sometimes only $3 or $4.

There is also a lack of editorial oversight, and an inability to edit content once it’s posted – both of which I personally dislike.

How Associated Content Pays Freelance Writers

Associated Content will publish your article one of two ways. If you sign away all exclusive rights they will offer you a small, upfront payment. OR you can publish the article as “non-exclusive” and you’ll get the page view payment only.

All articles published on Associated Content will be paid according to page views. Starting out, you receive $1.50 for every 1,000 page views. That’s only about one-third or one-half what I currently make at Suite101, and one-tenth what I make at Examiner.com!

If a writer had some research they wanted to reuse and put out in another forum, and wanted the exposure of the bio and information on Associated Content, they might find it a viable option. I appreciated the quick response in getting my articles up and paid. And, as I said before, it was a great way to learn the ropes of web content writing.

Ultimately though, for me, I stopped contributing to Associated Content on a more regular basis because I picked up other markets and other, higher paying jobs.

Visit Associated Content for more information about getting started.

Visit my Associated Content Profile and see some of the articles I’ve published there!

Feb

Can You Make Money Writing For Examiner.com?

By AngEngland | Sites That Pay

106 Comments

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about where freelance writers can work online to actually make money. I’ve been writing for Examiner.com for about a month now and am already very pleased with what I see.

Writing for Examiner.com is fairly easy. You select a topic you feel passionate or informed about and that will make it even easier to create a solid body of content. Individual posts do not have to be very long so I can take one 600 word article I would have published somewhere like Suite101 and turn it into two or three posts for Examiner.

While they do ask you to publish 3 or 4 posts per week, I am able to write all my posts for the week in a single day, save them as drafts, and then it is easy to go and set them to publish every other day. The hardest part for me has been finding photos to go with my articles! *laughing*

What does Examiner.com pay?

OK – that sounds good, Angela. But what does Examiner pay? The exact rate varies according to what they bring in from advertising. They pay strictly based on page views, however, the exact rate isn’t known upfront. I will say, the amount of pay per page view hugely trumps what I am making at Suite101.com right now and after only 1 1/2 months writing there I have already earned my first payout at the $25 minimum.

What Rights Does Examiner.com Keep?

None! That’s the other thing that I love about Examiner.com. I can repost my material to my blog if I ever decide to leave, send a feature article to a print magazine, or compile the pieces into an ebook.

How do I Join Examiner.com?

Visit this Examiner referral page and apply for a topic in your local area that sounds interesting to you! If you decide to give it a try, please use this referral link when you join.

See my Alternative Medicine Examiner Column.

P.S. For my Suite101 Friends – I am averaging about $10 for every 1,000 page views, or slightly higher.

Updates!! I’ve just posted a new blog post – Re-examining Examiner to discuss the changes, my findings and feelings after a year, and how I feel about writing with Examiner still.

Feb

How Can I Make My Garden Look Good in the Winter?

By AngEngland | Ebooks, Garden Design

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There are several ways for gardeners to increase the appearance of their garden during the long winter months. By wisely choosing plants with year-round interest, even amateur garden designers can create amazing landscapes through the cold, bleak months of winter.

One of the first article series I published on Suite101 was about Using Plants for Winter Interest. In this article gardeners learned the six main ways that plants can be used to create interest in the garden throughout the usually colorless winter.

Creating interest in the winter garden can be done through the use of:

winter-blooming flowers
evergreen shrubs and plants
interesting plant silhouettes
unique bark texture or color
ornamental seeds or cones

For specific plant suggestions in each of the six categories, I have put together an ebook with over 30 pages of tips for making your winter landscape a thing of beauty with perennials, shrubs and trees every gardener should consider.

Using Plants for Winter Interest: Creating a Year-Round Garden is only $3.99 and will give gardeners several lists of plants to try in their landscapes. From variegated evergreen shrubs, to plants that flower during the coldest winter months, this book is pack with ways to increase your garden’s curb appeal.

Feb

New Dairy Goats in our Oklahoma Backyard

By AngEngland | Dairy Goats

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Update March 3, 2009 – All the male kids have been reserved and one or two female kids. If we have more than two female kids we would have one available. Contact us to place your name on the waiting list.

Yesterday we added two LaMancha milk goats to our backyard menagerie. The great thing about living in Southeast Oklahoma is that nobody cares. *laughing*

Here is the most experienced doe, an experienced kidder and the heaviest producer. We’ve named her Cream.