Freelance Writing for Stay-at-Home Moms or Dads

Stay-at-home Moms and Dads make excellent freelance writers.

Do you love to write? Have you ever thought about being a freelance writer, but have let your busy life as a stay-at-home Mom or Dad get in the way of writing? You just may want to give your passion for writing a closer look.

 

Freelance writers earn extra cash at home

There are certainly many different ways to earn some extra money from home. Freelance writing has become a popular choice for those who enjoy writing and want to get better at it. Your goal may be to write a best-selling piece of fiction or write blog articles for the many different businesses who have outsourced all their web content writing. Either way, you should get started now and explore the many opportunities out there waiting.

 

Skills of a freelance writer

Many people hesitate to start a freelance writing career because they don't have a degree in journalism or some other writing field. As a Mom or Dad, you probably already possess the skills of persistence, time management,dedication and patience. All you need to do is to take these skills and apply them to your writing and you'll be one step closer to becoming a successful freelance writer.

Tools of a freelance writer

If you were to start a traditional home based business, more than likely you would be required to purchase training materials and inventory. To launch your career as a freelance writer, here's all you need:

• Computer

• Word Processor

• Internet connection

If you are like most people, you already have all the necessary tools to get started.

6 Blog Writing Mistakes That Can Sink Your Blog

Blog writing mistakes can affect search engine placement

It seems that everyone is talking about blogging. Businesses have turned to them as a highly effective marketing tool. A quality business blog can help you increase traffic to your website, establish your business, and allow you to speak directly to your customers. Successful blogging takes a lot of time, patience and commitment. Let's look at 6 common blog writing mistakes that can sink your blog.

Many blog writers assume everyone will read their posts

In this age of text messaging and social media, no one seems to communicate in complete sentences anymore. As a result, people have become scanners. They don't actually read an entire blog post, they scan for words or images to get an idea of what a particular article is about. Bolding key concepts of your post draws the readers attention to them. Eye-catching headings and subheadings makes it easier for your readers to understand the main ideas of your post.

Freelance Writing Just Got Better

Co-written by Ken Bradford & Dr. Deborah Bauers

It has been both a privilege and an adventure in co-writing "Writing Better Web Content" with my good friend and colleague, Dr. Deborah Bauers. This book consists of 14 chapters intended to help all writers at all levels to be better storytellers and learn how to better promote their work.

What makes this book different or better?

There are certainly enough books out there to tell us how to write better content, but most of the books I've read don't go into much detail about applying the lessons being taught to the actual everyday experiences and challenges of freelance writers.

Freelance Writers Must Deliver Unique Content

Unique content delivers unique value to the reader

Many content writers seem to get confused about writing quality and unique content. You can
certainly write a quality blog post and still have it rank poorly in the search. The reason could be that the post, even though unique in nature, didn’t actually provide any unique value to the user.

Let’s look at some characteristics that indicate blog and web content isn’t unique unless it delivers unique value to the reader.

The First Key To Successful Blog and Web Content Is Quality

 

Google’s quality guidelines indicates quality content must be unique, valuable, and engaging. These guidelines also ask the question – “Would I do this if search engines didn’t exist?” Quality content provides real answers to people’s questions. It’s content that people can easily digest and appreciate because it entertains them or tells them how to do something. Quality content is content that gets quoted, linked to, and shared.

SEO Blog Writing Tips [Infographic]

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Freelance Writers Creating Evergreen Content

Evergreen content is not timeless, just sustainable.

When you think of “evergreen”, more than likely the pine tree in your back yard or at the park comes to mind.  Evergreen content in your blog or website, like the tree,  stays fresh and alive for long periods.

Many companies have built their businesses using evergreen content marketing techniques. Let’s look at how to create evergreen content that stays relevant to your audience.


Companies like eHow, Wikipedia, IMDB, and About.com have managed to build very large audiences on content that others have created years ago.  These companies manage to keep the information evergreen because editors keep the information current.

It is important to understand that evergreen content is not necessarily timeless; it is content that can be sustained to remain fresh and current.

Improving Your Blog Writing Image On Google Plus

Customizing Google Plus to share blog articles

You may be one who feels that improving your blog and web content image on Google Plus isn’t that important.  Google Plus is now the second most popular social network and many businesses are starting to realize that fact.

Would you believe that images can help you become more successful in social media marketing? Why? When you share blog or website content and don’t include an attractive, attention-grabbing image, you are just sharing yet another plain-text status update.

People are in a hurry and oftentimes are drawn to a blog post or web page by the photo or graphic first, and then they may decide to actually read the article.

There is one simple way of improving your blog and web content image on Google Plus.
Sharing blog and other web content on your Google Plus page is really not that difficult. All you have to do is insert a share link or button somewhere at the top or bottom of your post, sign in to your Google Plus account and wham! – It’s shared. But wait a minute; the post now looks something like this:

It's shared but it sure is plain!

In Business Blog Writing Does The Length Of The Blog Post Really Matter?

Is the length of a blog article related to its quality?

Freelance blog writing is not as simple as posting to Facebook or other social media.  Successful
business blogging takes planning and the time and patience to deliver quality content to your target audience.  There is a lot of discussion on the right length of a good blog post, but in business blog writing, does the length of the blog post really matter?

Examples Of Blog Elements In Business Blog Writing

 

Let’s look at five elements of a quality blog article and hypothetically assign a word count to each element:

• Title/Heading:  8 words

• Introduction:  80 words

• Conclusion:  75 words

• Call to Action: 70 words

In this example, your article is already 233 words in length and you haven’t written the body of the article yet.  Let’s assume that the body of your article will contain three paragraphs of 75 words each; that would make your entire article 458 words, plus the by-line. This might be sufficient for non-technical articles, but the important thing is – is it long enough to get the job done?

Blog Writers Building Quality Linking Profiles To Improve Visibility

Freelance blog writers must build quality linking profiles.

Successful blog writers understand that certain SEO techniques must be built into each blog article. It is also important to understand that links from other websites or blogs can be the most effective way to improve rankings in search engines.  Since not all backlinks are equal, we will focus on blog writers building quality linking profiles to improve visibility.

There is a certain amount of disagreement on what constitutes high quality linking profiles, but most would probably agree that quality backlinks would be links that meet some or all of the following criteria.

• Link Relevance:  As search engines crawl your website or blog, they use keywords and phrases to try and understand what you do.  Building linking profiles based on a relevant page or specific content will build credibility and will affect where sites rank in search results. 

Blog Writing With On Page SEO In Mind

Freelance blog writers must know SEO basics

The ever changing search engine algorithms make quality blog writing a necessity. As you write your blog article and during your editing process, you should always keep blog writing with on page SEO in mind.  Let’s review some important elements of blog writing with on page SEO in mind.

Your Blog Title Can Be The Most Important SEO Factor

 

SEO experts advise that the title of your blog article should be no more than 70 characters in length. There seems to be no evidence that longer titles will interfere with search results, but 70 characters is the maximum that will be visible in the search. Keep in mind that the title is probably all people will see when you share your blog article in social networks.
Your blog title must tell a potential reader what information will be found in the article and should be interesting enough to encourage someone to click through to your article.

Do You Have 36,845 Followers On Google Plus – That’s OK I Don’t Either!

Freelance blog writers must use Google+ wisely.

Have you ever done a Google search and found an article with a nice profile photo followed by the words “in 36,845 Google+ circles“?

I am relatively new to Google+ and have done a lot of research about how to use this social media platform correctly. The problem I’m having is that after reading 10 different articles on the subject, I have seven different ways to effectively use Google Plus.

If you are also new to Google Plus or just aren’t sure you are using it to your best advantage, I will share some advice that seems to make the most sense.

Google Plus Begins With A Thoroughly Completed Profile

 

The are many elements to your Google+ profile, so we will take a look at some of these elements separately:

• Profile Photo: This should be a 250 pix x 250 pix professional photo. It should not be a photo of your dog in a Halloween costume or the 45 lb. flounder you caught off the coast at St. Augustine. 

Blog Writers Need A Google Word Processor

If only Google could invent a word processor for freelance blog writers.

Most blog writers seem to be in a dilemma about just what type of blog content people and search
engines like and trust. Since Google appears to be making all the rules in online content marketing, it’s about time  the company designs its own specialized word processor. They certainly have the money and blog writers need a Google word processor.

With the new word processor every blog writer could immediately determine just what quality web content is and how to design it to rank best in search results. Here are some ways that a Google word processor could benefit everyone.

Does Your Word Processor Have A “Title Checker”?

 

If you have made it this far, the title of this article was a success. That’s exactly what blog post titles are supposed to do – get the reader past the first paragraph. Some say that a title should be no more than 70 characters. Others say the title should be 12 words or more. Who’s right? The correct answer is – it really doesn’t matter. The title must be relevant to the article, be eye-catching, and cause the reader to at least scan your article.

If Walt Disney Had Been A Blog Writer

Walt Disney would have been a genius blog writer.

Unfortunately, Walt Disney died in 1966, some 28 years before blogs became more than bulletin
boards and discussion forums. Mr. Disney was a genius and there is no doubt that he would have turned the world of blog writing upside down. Through his work he brought the world joy, happiness and a universal means of communication for all people.

Even though Mr. Disney is no longer with us, his life and his experiences can help every blog writer become better at writing and communicating.

Walt Disney Believed In His Goals

 

If Mr. Disney had been a blog writer, here’s how he would have approached blogging:

“When we consider a project, we really study it–not just the surface idea, but everything about it. And when we go into that new project, we believe in it all the way. We have confidence in our ability to do it right. And we work hard to do the best possible job.”