03 Mar 10 Three Benefits of Writing a List Post

Giving a one-post brief pause to our Blog with a Friendly Face series I will talk about a list post here. A list post is a post that contains information arranged vertically using bullet points both numbered and unnumbered. Ask anyone and he will tell you that the writing list post is one of the best things you can do for the overall health of your blog.

Why List post?

1. List post is scannable: People find it easy to scan through the list post. And ability to scan (or read) a post quickly is one of the major goal of your visitors. There are so many things on the Internet putting demand on their time that they do not afford to go through a heavy post, and that is where a list post steps is.
2. It works as a great source for reference: An all-encompassing list post is often bookmarked by the reader for future reference. Readers often come back to the bookmarked list post to see the information they seek. This way a list post will build a possibility of repeat-visit in your blog.
It adds up to your resource list: If you have succeeded in creating a timeless list post then you can add the URL of that list post in the resource box so that new users can benefit from that. A good list will provide depth to your resource box, which in itself is a big reason why someone will come to your blog.

These are three core benefit of a list post. How else do you think a list post helps a blog? Tell everyone reading this blog, why you think a list post is necessary. I know everyone can come up with different exciting ideas. Waiting to hear from all of you.

Tags: Add Url, blog, Bullet Points, Face Series, Great Source, health, Many Things, People, Reason, Resource List

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26 Feb 10 Freelance Writing: How Many clients You Should Keep?

A better title would have been: “Freelance writing: how many clients you should keep at one time?”, but I didn’t want to make the title run for miles.

Whatever! The answer is all the same, which is: as many as you can handle. Do not chew more than you can digest. It will give you an upset stomach.

What’s the benchmark?

There is no external benchmark; the benchmark is the quality of work you produce. The moment your quality starts deteriorating you should put a stop sign outside your home office. You would not like to risk producing second-rate content, articles, or whatever it is that you write for your clients.

Then…

How many should I keep?

I cannot say for sure how many you should keep, but I can tell you about how many I keep and how you can decide how many you should keep. Generally, I keep 2-3 fulltime clients—depending upon the volume of work given— and work 1-2 one-off projects that do not have too tight deadline.

How you can decide how many?

How much you want: Say what you may, but you are doing freelance writing to pay your bills, be it your fulltime venture or part-time juggle. Therefore, you need to keep in mind your monetary target for a month.

How many hours can you devote: You also need to find out how many hours in week you can put aside for your freelance writing job.

How many articles can you produce in an hour: I understand this sound like absurd, but bear with me because I know people who can produce two articles of 500 words in one hour. Initially, you will not be able to write more than 40-50% of an article in an hour, but soon you will improve.

Do the math

Use the number you got from the above and calculate to find how many articles you need to write in a month to meet your monthly monetary target. The number you will thus get is the amount of work you need per month. If one client can fulfill this requirement then you do not need a second client—which is unlikely.

So, how many clients do you need at a time to fulfill your goal? Post the number you get after doing the math. I am eagerly waiting to hear from you.

Tags: Benchmark, Content Articles, Find Articles, Freelance Job, Freelance Writing, Math, Part Time, Rate Content, Stop Sign, Target, Tight Deadline, Upset Stomach, Writing Articles, Writing Job

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10 Feb 10 Freelance writing – Have You Read Your Job Description?

If you thought by choosing freelance writing as a career you will just write, write, and do nothing else then let me prick the balloon. Your client wants many more things from you. Do not get scared, you will not be asked to do any fancy stuff like coding, scripting, PPC campaigns, and all.

Then what other works a client will demand?

Basically, you will be asked to do stuffs related to writing only. And in my career, primarily I have been asked to do following types of work (other than writing):

Many clients have asked me to do like keyword research, for writing purpose only. This actually is not all that bad. It helped me conceptualize the article or press release while researching.
At times, clients also asked me to submit articles to various social bookmarking sites. I helped my clients with 2-3 submissions, at max. I do not think I would have agreed to submit an article to 100 or so social bookmarking sites. It would have been waste of time for me, but for 3-4, I never said no.
Clients may also ask for content suggestions, and about other things he can do to meet his goal. This in fact is an opportunity in disguise to cross sell other services that you offer. If you are writing only articles for your client then you may suggest him to use press release to get some link juice, or may be forum posting and all.
I have also given some marketing and SEO suggestions to my clients. Depending upon your background (I have my background in marketing), you can either say yes or politely say no.

Word of caution

Do not say no to your clients’ request, at least not directly, if you can help him. And also do not ask for money for every suggestion that you offer—I know people who do so—because it looks cheap. For that work you may get paid, but it will reflect badly on your professionalism. You may lose the client.

If the work is going to take hours of your work then say this to client, and if it is going to take hardly 10-15 minutes then do not bother. It also depends upon your relationship with your client.

Tags: 15 Minutes, Background, Balloon, Campaigns, Caution, Content Suggestions, Disguise, Freelance Job, Job Description, Marketing, Press Release, Professionalism, SEO, Social Bookmarking Sites, Submissions, Suggestion, Waste Of Time, Writing As A Career, Writing Career, Writing Job

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03 Mar 10 Three Benefits of Writing a List Post

Why List post?

26 Feb 10 Freelance Writing: How Many clients You Should Keep?

How you can decide how many?

Do the math

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