Make More Money Writing with Twitter

Social media is something that nearly everyone is using. It’s not just for teenagers, for techies, and spammers. I firmly believe it can be useful to anyone. It has certainly been useful to me as a freelance writer. Sure, some social marketing tools can be time wasters but there are definitely benefits of using social media to get writing gigs.

Sure, there are a few 'paid to tweet' services that pay a fee for a tweet but that's not the kind of Twitter money I'm talking about.

I was using Twitter before it became main stream. Actually, the first time I saw it was on Sharon Hurley Hall’s blog in either 2007 or early 2008, I think. Sharon had posted a Twitter widget in the sidebar and I saw the conversation that was happening and clicked on it out of curiosity. It was a smart move because I learned how to unleash the power of Twitter early on and have definitely benefited from that knowledge now that it has become so popular.

I think Twitter has an amazing capacity to help writers. Here are a few of the ways it has helped me:

• Earlier this year I ghostwrote a big 250-page e-book on using Twitter.

• The other day I listed my writing topics for the day in a tweet and someone searching for ‘writers’ on Twitter DM’d me and offered me a gig. That new client has already paid for their first month of ghostblogging services.

• Due to my experience in social media, I have declared myself to be a social media consultant. I now help clients use social media tools to their advantage, which has been lucrative.

• I have included social bookmarking services as part of my service with some writing quotes and this has helped me secure several gigs.

• Several months ago, a writer friend that initially “met” me on Twitter forwarded me a client she could no longer look after. This client now orders about $250 worth of writing each month.

• Twitter brings traffic to my various niche websites through links I post on my accounts. I think I have four active Twitter accounts of my own and have login access to about a dozen client Twitter accounts. Some of my own links bring clicks that bring me contextual advertising revenue and some also help me earn affiliate marketing income. Some clients pay me to ghosttweet for them regularly.

• Twitter has helped me with writing skills. It has taught me to be more succinct (Although you’d never know by how often I go off on a tangent and write a 900-word blog post). Because I only have 140-characters to express a message, I often go back and find ways to make the message click-worthy and make it fit (without using gawd awful text-slang). 140-characters does force you to omit needless words (I think Strunk & White would approve of Twitter). I know I’d listen to that valuable advice more often if everything I worked on had a feature that physically stopped me from rambling on. :)

Twitter is fun, too. Twitter has helped me when I’ve asked technical questions, asked for advice on finding a Japanese steakhouse, helped me find other writers to connect with, given me great writing blogs to read, given me inspiration and ideas, and social media tools have also shown me the true colours of a few people I’ve added to my writing team (be careful what you tweet…someone is always reading!). Plus, as a bonus, on more than one occasion I’ve gotten a huge belly laugh when it has been sorely needed.

As a writer, your Twitter account is just one of many free social media tools that can help you expand your horizons, get writing gigs, and make the (sometimes) lonely job of writing less lonely. How do you use social media to your advantage?


Pssst...
Follow me: @DanaPrince

The Basics of Using Elance for Writing Work

I joined Elance last year. I wouldn't call myself an Elance guru by any stretch of the imagination but I did want to share the bit of knowledge I have learned in the last little while. I don't work there constantly but have earned about $4400 in the past year there doing the occasional writing gig. (I do know a writing company that is approaching 7 figures of earnings on Elance since the year 2000, though, and that's what inspired me to join.)

Elance has brought me a few regular clients and I typically log in and bid on work when I have (or foresee upcoming) gaps in my schedule. I get a fair amount of traffic to The Writer's Blog asking questions related to: elance jobs, elance reputation, elance escrow, etc. So, I thought I'd share some basic information on how the system works for me.

Elance Memberships

The first bid I placed, I was lucky enough to win and it was a single article for $50 so I took $30 out of the payment ($19.95 membership fee and about $10 to get the ATM card, which is optional) and used it to upgrade from a free to a small business membership and sign up for the Elance debit MasterCard for convenience sake. Since then I've paid for a that membership each month (except for 2 months when I was too busy to bid).

I subscribe to the Writing and Translation category at a membership of $19.95 a month, which gives me 40 "connects" per month. Connects cannot be carried over and expire at the end of each billing cycle.

A connect allows you to bid on a job. One connect is required for jobs under $500.00 and 4 connects are required for jobs above that amount. In terms of the fees, there is also a small % of each job taken off the top, depending on the amount. There are higher membership levels as well as memberships where you can bid in multiple job categories (such as: design and multimedia, sales and marketing, admin support, web and programming, etc) and if you use all your connects, you can buy additional blocks of them.

Bidding - Sealed vs. Open

You can browse available jobs in any category. Elance bids can be placed privately or publicly. A person looking to get services places a bid request in the appropriate category and they can invite specific people only, invite anyone, or do a combination of inviting providers as well as listing the project publicly.

Buyers can indicate sealed bidding or open bidding and when you bid on a job, you'll want to note whether or not the bidding is sealed so you can decide how much information to reveal in your bid. Some bidders are transparent even with open bidding but some utilise a private message board to retain their competitive edge. If a project is listed with sealed bidding, anyone looking at the job can see the average bid amount, the highest bid, and the lowest bid, as well as see the number of bids that have been placed so far.

Pre-Bid Questions

In order to ask questions, you need to bid or do a pre-bid, which costs you a connect. If you have a free membership you only have 3 connects per month so you need to bid wisely unless you're willing to upgrade your membership.

Placing a Bid on Elance

When you place a bid, you can list in text what your bid and proposal is and then a monetary amount. You can bid by flat fee or by hourly rate depending on how the client sets things up. You can also list a delivery schedule as well as attach documents to the bid. The client indicates whether or not they want to use escrow services and if you're bidding on a project you can also tick the escrow box.

What is Elance Escrow?

Elance escrow services holds the project fee. Once the escrow account is funded the money sits there until: a) the client releases it to you or b) you both agree that the money gets released back to the client. I prefer escrow projects to avoid non-paying clients or chasing payment after a project is done and don't start a job until the account is funded (with the exception of very regular and reliable customers). I had one scenario where a client disappeared after the project was done so Elance contacted them to find out if there was a dispute and when they did not reply, the funds were finally released to me.

Winning an Elance Bid

If you win a bid, you'll get a 'congratulations' notice and then you have an opportunity to review the final terms and either negotiate or accept the terms. If you've chosen an escrow option, the client will get a notice to fund the account after you've accepted the terms and you'll again receive a notification when the account is funded.

The Workroom

For each job there is a workroom where all documents are held, all conversations are kept, and information about the project is listed. It's advisable to do all communication through this board in case you ever need to have Elance get involved in resolving a dispute. (They'll only pay attention to what's on their system and won't take emails or verbal agreements into account)

Getting Paid from Elance

Elance offers several payment options including: PayPal, check, Elance debit MasterCard. I regularly use the Elance MasterCard debit card as it's faster than being paid on PayPal and in Canada we don't have PayPal debit cards. When money is released to you, you simply tick off the option you'd like to use to withdraw your money. Elance generally releases money the next business day, depending on what time you submit your withdrawal request and pays by mass payment option so there are no PayPal service charges taken off the top.

Tips:

Here are some tips and other information related to bidding and working on Elance. I know a lot of writers who use this system a lot more than I do so today's blog post isn't intended to be a full and complete guide to working on Elance but hopefully there's enough information here to get you started. Do feel free to ask me questions and I'll try to help you.

-Use your profile to your advantage. You'll get a username.elance.com URL that links to your profile and you can use this to your advantage on and off the system. You can even download a badge to place on your website that links directly to your profile. Once you've made some money on Elance and have some positive feedback, it can be another illustration to clients you're trying to woo that you do have experience and expertise.

-Take a look at some of the top providers to see how they set up their profile and get some inspiration from that. I lurked on Elance for a while before I took the plunge and started bidding.

-I can't stress enough the importance of checking out buyers before you bid. I always look at a buyer's history before I bid to see what type of fees they typically pay and what type of feedback they typically give. The feedback system on Elance is essential to your success because it will help you when you bid on a project you want. Look at what buyers provide as feedback to others and what those other providers have said about that buyer. It's easy to click through a profile and view historical information and use it to your advantage in terms of knowing how much to bid and knowing whether the buyer is worth working with.

-If you really want to win a bid, you can 'pay' extra connects to be highlighted ahead of other bids. (I've never used this option so don't know how useful it is.)

-Read project details carefully and check buyers out carefully. I once ignored the lack of escrow and vagueness on a project in an overzealous attempt to book up my schedule and that was the first problem project I had. The buyer was new to Elance and had zero feedback and was difficult so I ended up with a 'neutral' feedback score of 3.2 out of 5 which took my 100% approval rating down for six months and it's now permanently in my history. I'm now much more careful about bidding.

-Remember when bidding, especially on a low paying gig, that you are paying a % of the project fee and paying for a membership. While it may pay off in the long run to do a few lower paying gigs to get experience under your belt and a few 100% positive feedback scores, ensure you're still making money.

-I don't leave feedback for a buyer until after they've left feedback for me. That way if you do get a bad review, you'll have a chance to defend yourself and leave something on the buyer's page that indicates to future bidders that a buyer may be a problem buyer. I've never left anything unprofessional on someone's profile as I believe that would be a reflection of my own professionalism but I have responded tactfully to my one neutral review in a way that would be a red flag to other writers bidding on her projects in the future.

All in all I do recommend Elance as a writing income stream. You can get paid quickly and you can find profitable work (despite quite a few really low $1/500 word article jobs). Once you've built up a good reputation you can also get unsolicited job offers.

Other Elance Posts:

Elance Lessons - Bidding Selectively
A Writer's First Experience with Elance

(PS: If you're interested in joining Elance, kindly join with this Elance referral link. Once you earn your first $1000.00 on writing jobs, they'll pay me a referral bonus.)

How to Write for the Web Series - SEO Article Writing Tips

If you want to wow your writing clients with your work on SEO articles, give them more than they bargained for.


SEO articles are written primarily to increase the client's ability to be found as a listed result when their target audience searches for a word in Google. While these articles are written mainly for this purpose, they can convert visitors to buyers as well.

When my writing clients send me a request with specific words to optimize their SEO content with, I do my best to deliver above their expectations.

Here are some of the things I do:

Search for those Keywords

The best way to help your writing clients rank for the keywords that they want to rank for is to look those words up in Google and see what the competition for top placement is like. You can tell by the keyword search about how many other sites rank for that word and see what those sites offer as well as what their shortcomings might be. This can help you write content that gets better results both from search engines and from the perspective of that piece of content converting surfers into customers.

Look for Additional SEO Keywords

When search engines read SEO articles, they look at many words on that page. Even if your client has only given you a primary word, consider the fact that there are other related words that will help the search engines be absolutely certain how to index that page in their results. Search engines look for relevancy and density.

A good example is the word "Apple". Add words like "computer, technology, Mac" and the search engines know what that article is about. Add words like "pie, orchard, seeds, fruit" and that's a whole different ballgame. Most of the time, your subject matter isn't going to have a scenario as unique as the Apple one but but using the right keywords can also help play to the customer's potential audience as well as narrow things down. Someone looking to buy something searches differently than someone looking to get information about something and you can add to your copy to bring your customer the right sort of visitor.

Want some help figuring out related keywords to add? I have a few tricks up my sleeve. One tool you can use is: http://kwmap.net. You can also use Alexa.

Long tail keywords work really well, too. If your customer is selling computer parts and asks you to optimize his content for "used computer parts", adding the location or brand names to your text will help him target his own locale and shoppers looking for particular brand names.

Keyword Placement

Search engines don't just browse the text randomly. They are known for looking at specific attributes as well. This can include:

• the title,
• the meta tags,
  
• the alt image tags,
  
• the beginning few sentences,
  
• the subheadings,
  
• the last paragraph,
  
• and the links on the page.
  

If you have control over uploading the content to your customer's site, keep these things in mind when formatting the content. If not, it's a good idea to help them by providing this detail when you hand in an article. It's a great idea to add meta tag information and optimize subheadings as well as a primary title. If you're not asked for a meta description, make sure your first paragraph can double as one for search engine listing summaries. When you write that first paragraph, consider the fact that you want to grab the interest from the reader who might be surfing in the search engines and comparing meta descriptions on the first page. (This is another reason why that keyword research and competitive analysis will help you do a better job.)

Whenever possible, I also break up the keyword phrases as well as use them in the text. I split them with punctuation (especially if they're awkward) and I also reverse the words at times as well.

Clients may have a list of guidelines they want you to follow when you write web content for them. But you can increase your value-add by giving them more than they bargained for.

Do you have any tips for providing value when doing SEO articles for your clients?

Don't Hunt for Writing Work ---- Let it Hunt for You Instead

Do you spend hours endlessly looking for writing jobs? I'll let you in on a little secret....

Most people who want to hire a writer don't post the job on a job board. Most of them do what you do when they want to find something online. They Google for it.

So, doesn't it make sense to optimise yourself for Google so that people who want to hire a specialist that does what YOU do will land on your website? Read my post on Get Paid to Write Online to find out how I use this to my advantage. Instead of trying to find writing work, I typically work to help it find me: Passive Writing Gig Hunting

How to Write for the Web Series - Figuring Out What Your Client Wants

Every once in a while someone new asks me how to write for the web. I often share advice and decided that maybe it was time to write a series for this blog that helped those just delving into the world of writing for the web. Because this blog has been about my own journey as a freelance writer, posts typically illustrate where I am in my writing career at the moment I write the post. I thought a series that went back to basics might help me fulfill the needs of some of the people that land on my site querying for beginning writer's help.

Today, I want to help those who want to write for a new client but don't know quite how to approach an assignment that they receive. It's fantastic when you're a beginner and start getting writing work. But it can be a bit frazzling to get an assignment and not know how to proceed. Not all web content buyers communicate precisely what they want so it's up to you as a professional writer to be a consultant of sorts and to help guide them and uncover their needs.

Different website owners have different desires for their content. Before you start a project, you need to figure out what your client wants. Never just assume. How do you find out? If there aren't any/enough specifications given to you in a project brief, ask. It'll save you time and frustration.

Better to ask than to do a rewrite, I say!

Ask Questions:

-Who's your target audience?

-Where will the article go?

-What's your desired call to action for people reading this article.

Target Audience

Knowing who the client's target audience is can help you write to a specific demographic. If your client says s/he wants the article to appeal to people wanting to lose weight, that gives you a good starting point.

You can imagine who you're writing to and write in a way that they can relate to. Articles and sales copy, in particular, should be written to appeal to the audience otherwise they're useless. If you can write for your client's prospects, they have more chances of success. Their success will lead to future orders and word of mouth referrals. If they haven't yet determined their target audience, you can help them figure that out so that they have a greater chance of success.

Writing Location

Knowing where the article will go can put things into context and make the task ahead crystal clear. If your client tells you where the article will reside, you can familiarise yourself with that site so that the article you write fits well. Part of ghostwriting includes being able to take on a particular writing voice for a client and using their website as a research tool can help you to do that well.

If your client is using your articles for article marketing, this helps you write with the site's editorial guidelines in mind. If your client wants you to write for their existing blog, knowing that fact can help you follow the format and style they use on their blog and if they want you to write for a fresh new blog, knowing this can help you determine other questions to ask.

Call to Action

-Some web content writing jobs are articles written for the purposes of being search engine spider food.

-Some are written to describe products and / or services a client wants to sell.

-Some point to a client's website and others sit on a client's site.

Articles are often written and posted in order to pre-sell someone on something or to spark comments and conversations. Ask your client what they desire as the outcome for people that read the articles and you'll have a greater understanding of what to write and how to help them reach their desired objective.

In my writing business, I actually use a client questionnaire fairly often. I've made up a nice-looking document with my business card on it that I personalise to a client or prospect. Some customers come to me with their wish list in hand, which makes things easy, but when a new client touches base and doesn't quickly articulate their needs --- my questionnaire helps.

Some of the topics are already covered here in today's post but if you're interested, check it out at my business blog: Questions a Freelance Writer Should Ask A Prospective Client. I wrote that post to tell my clients why I want information from them. By telling them how it would help me to a better job for them, most are more than happy to provide information.

The more you know about your client, the better you can take care of their needs and produce content for them that will do the trick, get you repeat business and referrals, and help you do your job quickly (time is money!) and easily.

I plan to tackle several "how to write for the web" basics in the coming weeks. If there's a specific area you'd like me to cover, feel free to comment and let me know how I can help you.