There’s a Little Blogger Inside All of Us
While I may not be the worlds biggest blogging cheerleader, I know I’m one of the biggest in Indiana.
A few years ago, I attempted a local effort to teach people to blog. With the auto industry jobs leaving my surrounding tri-county area, I felt a calling to help the newly unemployed learn how to make a living via the Internet.
What I found was a wall of resistance. So many people have a strong fear of writing because they’re afraid of putting a comma in the wrong place or using the wrong variation of there, their or they’re - Isn’t that sad?
It’s my personal belief that everyone has a story that someone else wants to hear or read.
A person can take whatever lacks in their writing ability and create a character entirely around it.
If E.E. Cummings can become one of the worlds most recognized and celebrated poets without the use of periods and entirely in lower case, anyone can take writing faux pas and churn out success.
The secret is the passion.
In all my years working online, I have found it easy to overlook writing errors when the passion for the topic shines.
It’s that fear of writing that brings me to my personal challenge to all of you. Did you know there’s a rather large list of blogs that accept guest posts? Many of those blogs are a page rank 5 or higher which can in turn be a tremendous benefit to your own online efforts.
Are you brave enough to submit a guest post to one or more of those listed? If not, what exactly is stopping you?
Relinquishing Your Network Blogs: It’s Not Easy
When I stepped down from network blogging to take on my full time gig, it was a very difficult decision. My blogs were so personal and I put my heart and soul into them. I knew someone else would take them over and I thought I would be prepared for watching them grow with someone else at the helm.
It’s not as easy as I thought.
In the case of my network blogs I do know the bloggers and I even know they’d let me guest blog on occasion. Still, it’s not easy watching someone else take over your favorite blog. I think my replacements are doing a wonderful job but I often think about how i would do things compared to how someone else is doing it
I’m going through something similar at the blog I own Freelance Writing Jobs. FWJ is the number one online community for freelance writers. I started it over three years ago and now it receives thousands of visitors every day. The advertising revenue is enough that I hired someone to run the joint in my absence. Plus I will be hiring someone else for a twice weekly blogging gig and even have a third blogger trading his work for the free advertising.
My traffic is through the roof.
It’s not easy for me to watch though. Even though I contribute, there’s someone else moderating and interacting with the community. There’s someone else’s name being equated with FWJ. I’m not a control freak, but it does feel like watching someone else raise my kids.
Someone once asked me what happens to network blogs when you step down. The answer is that someone else takes something that was so personal to you, and makes it their own. It’s not an easy thing to see.
How Network Bloggers Can Benefit from Conferences
Did you know there are many conferences you can attend to network and learn? SOBcon, BlogWorld Expo, BlogHer and SXSW are just a few. There are conferences popping up every month, it seems, to connect the Web 2.0 generation. This is a very good thing.
Here are a few ways you can benefit from attending conferences:
- Network - Spend time talking and sharing ideas with other like-minded people. I came back from last year’s conference with a pocket full of business cards as well as an army of new friends. These friends and I have traded guest blog posts, interviews, and ideas.
- Learn - There are classes for all levels of bloggers. Learn everything from adding fun and creative elements to your blog to social networking to traffic building to monetization.
- Discover - At BWE last year I learned about some great tools to help me take my blogging to a new level. I discovered Twitter, Windows Live Writer, Red Lasso and BlogTalkRadio.
One network blogger told me she wanted to go to SXSW but felt it was for “hardcore” bloggers and not for bloggers for hire. Conferences are especially great for freelance bloggers because you learn the tips and techniques needed to succeed: How to bring in traffic, how to build community, business and blogging - these are all areas beneficial to network bloggers.
Granted they’re expensive, but they’re also a tax write off. See if there are any blogging or social networking coferences in your area. Attending locally means you’ll only have to pay the cost of admission. The reason I enjoy conferences such as these is because I get to talk blogging and social networking with people who get it.
I’ll be attending and speaking at BlogWorld Expo this year. How about you?
Catch Me on BlogTalkRadio Tomorrow
Many of you have been asking questions either here or via email regarding BlogTalkRadio. If you’d like to learn more about what it is I do at BTR and how it works, do listen in to BTR Insider tomorrow, July 10th at 4:00 pm EST.
Various hosts will be calling in to give their tips for putting on a great show. If you’re looking to take your blog to the next level will radio, you’ll want to listen in.
Also if you can’t make the live broadcast, you can catch the stream or download on demand immediately after.
Here’s the link again for BTR Insider.
Do You Have A Dream Paid Blog Topic?
If you could choose a paid dream blog topic, which blog topic would that be?
I’m lucky; I’m paid to blog about most of my favorite topics already. However, I also wouldn’t mind blogging about single parenting, because it’s something I think about every day. I don’t however, have the time to start a single mama blog on my own. I’d have to find a paid single mama blogging gig.
I actually applied for a single mama blog gig not too long ago; but the potential client didn’t think I was single enough. He said I wouldn’t work because I wasn’t divorced single, just single. I said, but I was never married, how could I be divorced? I’m still a single mama. He said, being a divorced single parent is different, because it’s legal, women relate to that better than never married singles.
HUH? I swear, some people.
Anyways… no big, because I can’t help people like this anyhow. Still, single parenting would be my dream topic of choice in a paid gig.
What about you? What do you wish you were paid to blog about?
Holding Value as a Writer
First I want to say hello to all the NBT readers and a big thanks to Deb and Jennifer for inviting me participate.
Over the last several months, I’ve missed being in touch with my entrepreneurial and work at home side.
Recently I was approached with an issue that, to be honest, I wasn’t sure about. So often, I don’t trust my gut instinct because, well, I have been known to be wrong. And later, I find I often wish I had trusted my instinct.
A writer that I’ve grown to admire and have watched increase in value over the last couple of years wrote to me for advice. The advice was on what to charge for freelance writing. When the details were sent to me, I couldn’t help but notice the offer included some requirements that I would personally not feel comfortable with.
The offer was not only for lengthy articles written rich in specified keywords but they were requiring the articles be submitted to an ezine article warehouse.
Something about that doesn’t settle so well with me.
Forgive me if I’m wrong and by all means, if I am, please feel free to tell me so. But it seems to me if a person values their writing and wants to keep the value of their freelancing high - they shouldn’t allow their name and content to be victimized as duplicate content around the web.
I liken this to a celebrity or sports figure keeping the value of their signature high by not pandering it at every stop. Sometimes you just have to say no.
If you aspire to become a well paid writer, you must realize that you are the prize. You can name your terms, your price and conditions under which you will write.
I’ve written articles that are quick, easy and do not have my name associated with them for $10 - however, when I’m putting my name on the line, the terms become far more defined. I’ve learned that by taking pride in my name and my expertise in some areas - I can easily quote a price of $40 - $100 per article and get it.
My Morning (Procrastination) Ritual
Do you have a morning ritual? Do you have a list of things to do before you begin working? I do. At first it was fifteen minutes, now it takes about an hour. I enjoy my morning ritual as it’s the perfect companion to my morning cup of coffee, but still, an hour. I wake up at 6:00 simply because I like to enjoy my coffee ritual in peace before the house wakes up.
After I stoke up the laptop I:
- Check the various email accounts and respond accordingly - or sort those I don’t respond to into the appropriate folders for later.
- Check blogs and comments, respond where necessary.
- Visit forums - Two private forums in particular -one my brothers, sisters and mom use to keep in touch, and one my friends use to keep in touch. I also like the private forum at Perfomancing Hive.
- Read the news
- Check in at Twitter.
What’s your morning procrastination coffee ritual?
When Do You Stop Being Polite?
I only have one rule on my blogs, be nice. With Freelance Writing Jobs, which receives thousands of visitors on a daily basis, I’m forever asking people, well one or two people in particular, to please mind their manners. My biggest dilemma is when a client asks me to post a job and after I do, certain people start ganging up on the client to complain about his rates, his terms, and I’m sure if they could see it, the color of his shoes. The problem with this is it keeps people from coming back to us with their jobs and it makes most of my community uncomfortable. I’ve explained this time and again, but there are still people who refuse to get it.
One regular to my community likes to challenge me every day. On Just about everything I say or post she comments on with veiled cattiness and lots of winks ands smiles to tell me that despite her obvious baiting, she’s really a team player and ever so amusing. It’s obvious however she’s just being…well common decently prevents me from posting what she’s really being.
Some of the regulars are losing their patience and telling her what i can’t because I’m trying to keep it positive - to be respectful and stop picking apart everything I say. She’s still going on though. She throws in everything from free speech to a difference of opinion. Meanwhile I’m getting more and more stressed out at trying to keep the peace on my own blog.
So tell me, when do you stop being polite. When do you take off the kid gloves and tell someone to shut the eff up and if she can’t be respectful would she please take it elsewhere? Do bloggers always have to be nice?
Batch Processing Blogs - Week One of My Experiment
Near the end of June I noted that I was considering batch processing my blogs. On July 3rd, I put this plan into action.
In case you’re unclear about what I mean by batch processing, what I’m doing is posting at one blog until I’ve posted enough for a week, and then I move on to the next blog. I used to post on a daily basis; i.e. post a few posts at each blog, each day.
So far it’s been interesting. There are some pros and cons.
Pros:
- Posting on just one topic at a time is keeping me focused. I don’t have to make brain leaps from babies to architecture to organizing.
- Posting one topic at a time is faster for me. Not sure why, but it seems like I’m getting more done, in a shorter amount of time.
- I posted at my two least favorite blogs first, and I haven’t had to think about them at all for the remaining days of the week. Yay.
- Although I’m working six days a week, I’m working faster, so I’m working less than half a day each day. This has been much nicer than working ALL day 3 days a week.
Cons:
Um, timing sucks. If you’ve always batch processed your blogs, from day one, there’s no issue. However, if you decide to start batch processing, you’re immediately behind by a week. This week I’ve had huge lapses in posting. It might make more sense to show you my schedule. I have 10 blogs and I broke it down like this:
- Blogs 1 & 2 - Fri
- Blog 3 - Sat
- Blog 4 - Sun
- Blog 5 - Mon
- Blog 6 - Tues
- Blogs 7 & 8 - Wed
- Blogs 9 & 10 - Whenever I want; and or have time (these are personal blogs)
Since some of my blogs have weekly quotas, I can’t just avoid them because it’s not their day yet. Also, I took a full two days off at the start of the month (needed a break), so I started off a little behind. Lastly, I forgot to work in things like email and networking.
Overall: It’s the 8th and I’m not totally on schedule yet. I’m guessing (hoping) that by this weekend, I’ll be caught up, and ahead enough everywhere, so that I’ll be following the schedule. Overall I think I like this batch processing deal. I didn’t think I would, because I thought I might get bored sticking to one topic per day, but it’s not bad, and for me faster. Once I get the timing down, I think it’ll be a perfect set-up.
Would you get bored posting on just one topic per day?
NBT Weekend Link Love - July 5th -6th 2008
There are some great posts of interest to bloggers this weekend. I hope you find these useful. Some are tips, some are news and all caught my attention.
This weekend’s link love:
- Gawker Media cuts payrates for bloggers again. Blog Herald
- What’s the Etiquette Regarding Submitting My Own Blog Posts to Social Networking and Media Sites at Blogging Basics 101
- 5 Easy Topics to Write About Today at Business and Blogging.
- Freelance Bloggers and the Need for Name Recognition at Freelance Folder
- The Accidental Freelance Blogger at Freelance Switch
- Ad Revenue Share is Not a Paid Blogging Job at Get Paid to Write Online.
- What Makes a ProBlogger at Performancing.
- A Blogging Proclamation: Quality Content Wins at Performancing
- 5 Smart Things to Do When You’re Going to Abandon Your Blogs for a Time at Rogue Ink.
- The Basics of HTML for Blogs at the Writers Technology Companion
