How Tos

May

Sometimes as a professional web writer you reach the point of being totally and completely maxed out. That’s where I am. I’ve been working through a series of great information about blogging successfully and it’s made me realize that I do not want to write for other websites forever. I love writing here on my own website! There is something very exciting about putting the words out there on my own behalf for a change. Granted, the money isn’t all that great yet, but it’s getting there as I begin to implement some tips for success, and really just continue to share my heart with you guys.

And speaking of heart, I have another project on my heart. A huge one. Something I am passionate about big-time. But in order to make room for that, especially now as I enter my first year of homeschooling, I am going to have to let something else go. And man, you have no idea how tough that is for me to say. I am the queen of juggling! The type-a mom who has it all together, can never say no, is eager to help you out and ready to work for you.

Change Your Rates – Increase if Necessary

I’ve informed my private contract clients that my rates have increased – I am now charging $.15 per word for web content and no less. Most of them are staying with me and, in fact, I got two requests for articles just yesterday. For the rest of them, we parted on good terms at least, and I am happy to turn that focus elsewhere. I also let one of my web-writing positions go and decreased my efforts at a couple of the others. Future, here I come!

Make a List to Help You Eliminate Tasks

So how did I decide where to continue to focus? With so many options available, so many sites ready to take my words and pay me for them, how did I choose where to set my sights? I made a list. It sounds stupid, but it’s true. I made a list of every website I was currently writing for and every website I wanted to be writing for. Next to each name I put the number of words per month required. This was an easier measurement for me since I post/article size varies site by site. Then next to that I put down what I had been averaging in terms of pay. Then I prayed about the list. Then I put stars next to the sites I thought had the most potential. Then I put stars next to the sites I felt the most passionate about.

Then I slept on it. I think that’s important. Give yourself a chance to hear the answer you are praying for. In the morning I showed the list to my husband. One of the sites doesn’t pay high per post, but I feel so passionately about it, find the requirements exceptionally easy to meet, and it has potential so I kept it. The next day (Yes, the next day!) I made $30 in affiliate sales from a single post, in a single day. Sometimes when you have the passion for something that is enough. But sometimes it isn’t, and so the balancing act begins.

You have to make the decision for yourself. Find what you are passionate about and what you being compensated for, and focus your efforts there. Sometimes the two aren’t exactly the same so you devote energy into something you care about. And sometimes, unexpectedly, those efforts pay off in ways you never expected.

Now I am interested to hear - How do YOU decide what to focus your time and energy on? What steps do you take to trim your list a bit? How do you balance it all?

Mar

How to Brainstorm Article Ideas

By AngEngland | How Tos

3 Comments

One of my favorite ways to help me think of new article ideas is through brainstorming. As a freelance writer it is important to always have something to write about! But how do you think of new ideas? For me, especially when I need to create a large body of content around a specific topic, brainstorming is highly effective.

I like to brainstorm on paper. Usually large sheets of paper where I can write and scribble and scrawl down myriads of writing ideas quickly. And visually. However – for today’s post I’ll go through the process online just so you can see it. Here’s how I brainstorm article ideas for web content production.

Start With Your Main Writing Topic and then Be Specific

This is especially helpful if you are writing a lot of articles over a long period of time about a specific topic. For example, I am the Plants & Bulbs Feature Writer at Suite101.com. So every week I need to be able to write an article related to plants or bulbs somehow.

So I’ll start with my main topic first and then begin to make it more and more specific until the individual ideas are single articles or “content webs” (article series). Plants > Plants for Certain Landscape Situations > Plants for Winter Garden Interest > Evergreens > Variegated Evergreens/Conifer Plants/ Colored Evergreen Foliage/Broad Leaf Evergreen Shrubs/ Evergreen Perennial Plants

See how the thought process broke everything down smaller and smaller? What types of plants do you need for winter interest? Evergreen plants! But even “Evergreen Plants” would be a broad topic. An entire book, in fact. So you could easily break that down even further into “Evergreen Shrubs” and “Evergreen Perennials”. Now you can see that through brainstorming “Winter Interest in the Garden” became enough articles for an entire month or two! Plus, when I decided to turn the idea into an ebook later, I could easily do so because I had already mapped out the entire article series.

Write Down Everything First – Edit Your Article Ideas Later

The absolute worst thing you can do while brainstorm article ideas is to limit yourself in any way. Don’t write down “Winter Landscaping” and then think, “Oh, that’s a dumb idea to write about in April when everyone is planning spring and summer gardens!”. Write it down! Your goal for this brainstorming session is to write down enough article ideas to keep you going for MONTHS. I’m serious!

When I began working as the Plants and Bulbs Feature Writer in October of 2006 I brainstormed several article series ideas on a large sheet of my son’s construction paper. Last month I copied the last of the ideas down into a notebook paper and threw the large construction paper away, but I still jotted down about a dozen more ideas I haven’t used yet. In over two years. There is absolutely no reason why you cannot brainstorm a year’s worth of article ideas in about an hour of free association brainstorming. If you are having trouble coming up with ideas – leave a comment and let me know what you are wanting to write about! Maybe I can help you brainstorm an article or two or ten.

Feb

Create an Article Series to Save Time When Writing

By AngEngland | How Tos

9 Comments

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.