by Lior Levin

Every blogger, at some point in their writing career, gets a little stumped when it comes to finding something great to write about. In the beginning, ideas are flowing like crazy. But at some point, between wanting to be completely original and yet wanting to drive tons of traffic to the blog, many bloggers find themselves slowly but steadily running out of steam.

This is where content planning comes in. I admit that planning out every post for the next year seems incredibly difficult, but content planning doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to come up with all of the content at once. Instead, simply try to incorporate different types of posts. The ideas will come naturally when you start there.

Here is a list of 8 types of posts that will bring a nice mix of content to your blog and get ideas flowing again.

News Posts

Too many bloggers fail to embrace the significance of the news. While the news, by its very nature, is not evergreen, covering news from time to time is going to bring fresh, and predictable, traffic to the blog. Most bloggers forsake traditional reporting, leaving all of the opportunity to mainstream media. Take advantage of the fact that people are searching for articles related to current events – and also realize that these articles get retweeted and shared on social media sites rather frequently as well.

Event Posts

This is another type of post that’s fairly easy to write if you’re finding yourself nearing blogger’s block, or if you’re tired of writing the same things all the time. Blogging about events actually has more than one benefit. If the event requires ticket sales, it’s possible that you could generate affiliate income by directing your readers to purchase tickets, if an affiliate option is available. Events also bring both “before” and “after” traffic by people searching for information about it. Lastly, like the news, events are rarely covered by the mass majority of bloggers out there, so you will give yourself the advantage of offering something unique to your readership.

Pick of the Week Posts (Content Curation)

Whether it is a great photo, tweet, blog post, or comment left by a reader, singling out a group of favorite things will ensure that you have something to talk about. My personal favorite is re-capping the comments that have been left on a blog by readers. Remind people that your blog is a place to be social and to speak up. Highlighting photos weekly – perhaps ones that are especially bizarre, timely, or moving – also gives your blog some texture. These types of posts take very little time to write since they primarily involve content curation.

How to Posts

It is widely accepted notion by pro bloggers that how to posts are a critical type of post to add to your content plan. How to posts have the potential to do two things: (1) generate consistent traffic, and (2) increase blog authority. They are likely to be referenced in other user-generated content articles (blogs, Squidoo lenses, Hubpages, etc.), which both drives traffic and increases incoming links. And how to posts may be bookmarked both publicly and privately, creating repeat, loyal readership.

Focusing too much on how to posts could lead to blogger’s block, though, if you’re more focused on simply incorporating this type of post than you are on actually communicating something important. When considering what to write, think of the last time you needed to figure out how to do something. What was it? Write the process down and publish it on your blog. Instant content!

Controversial Posts

It’s probably fair to say that you don’t agree with everything that you read. If you are a regular blogger and blog reader, it might even be fair to say that daily, you find something you totally disagree with. Write about it – and link to the source. Don’t just spout your personal opinion about something which the reader has no frame of reference. Specifically talk about the fact that you read something that you don’t agree with. Include why, link to it, and for some flavor, pull a quote or two from the original source and put that into your post. See if you don’t inspire some heated discussion from your readers.

Introduction To/Subject Overview Posts

While it may seem boring, writing a post that introduces and/or explains a topic is easy and incredibly beneficial for increasing traffic and blog authority. From time to time, write a post that is simply an overview of a particular topic. Include links, images, pull quotes, and whatever else you can curate to give readers a very substantial and quality overview. More than likely, this type of post will not be a hot topic in social media circles, but if your blog already has great authority and page rank, you will find yourself generating a lot of traffic by people who are searching for information on that topic. You’ll also earn yourself links from writers who feel your post is the most reliable source of information on that topic.

Research Results Posts

When you’re finding yourself at a loss for something to write, turn to your favorite press release distributor, such as PR Newswire, PRWeb, or something similar. They are excellent places to come up with great ideas – especially those based on recent research. On your blog, publish your opinion – or ask your readers for their opinions – on research results that would be of interest to them.

Infographic Posts

This is possibly the easiest way to eliminate blogger’s block. Infographics are created to be written about and shared. The nice thing about this type of post is that you don’t need to be the one to create the infographic. Instead, just share it. Grab the code, insert it into your blog post, and publish. If you want, you could add a paragraph or two summing up your opinion on the infographic, or you could write an overview for it. You could also include a poll from PollDaddy.com on the subject, giving your readers a way to interact with the content. If the infographic is good, you’re likely to get a lot of social media shares and links.

The DailyInfographic.com is a great source for infographics. The more timely your infographic, the more likely it will be that you will see a surge in traffic and shares from it.

Those 8 types of posts alone could keep you busy for awhile. What other types of posts inspire ideas for you?

This guest post is written by Lior Levin, a marketing consultant for a company that offers psd to xhtml conversion.

Photo credit: Michael Davie

I’m so pleased to welcome Anne Wayman as a guest poster on Get Paid to Write Online, since I’ve been following her writing blog for years. Today she shares her views on must-haves for a successful freelance writing business.

Don't panic about your freelance writing business - show some moxie instead.

Ask a dozen people, or do a search on the ‘net, about what you need to start a freelance writing business and you’re likely to end up with a list as long as someone’s proverbial arm.

Online you’ll be told about something called the entrepreneur’s personality. This type of article almost always offers test purporting to tell you if you have such a mind or not. Everyone who can fill out their email form correctly passes and qualifies for a course on starting a business that costs – well, there’s that arm again, along with a leg.

You’ll also find lists ranging from 10 to 50 things you must have in place before you dare to step out on your own. Ten might make sense, 50 is a stopper as far as I’m concerned.

Friends and family will have another set of suggestions about what you need that is often comes in the form of “What! Are you crazy?” or some variant.

While some of this information can be helpful, particularly if you take it in small bites, it can also be so overwhelming it will make you think starting your business is impossible – it’s not. There’s a huge difference between what you really need to start a freelance writing career and what’s nice to have.

Three Must-Haves for a Freelance Writing Career

Here are the three things you absolutely must have to start a freelance writing business:

Some writing talent. You don’t have to be Pulitzer Prize material or in line for a columnist job at, oh say, The Atlantic. You do need the ability to recognize and write complete sentences, do some basic research and recognize that ideas are everywhere. Chances are if you love to read and you grew up in an English speaking country you write well enough.

A computer and an internet connection and somewhere to use it. You can set it up on a desk in your bedroom or, dare I mention, the kitchen table featured in so many get-rich-quick schemes, or on your lap in your living room. I have at one friend who runs the majority of her writing business from various coffee shops around town with her laptop.

A bit of Moxie.  Moxie is an old fashioned word meaning, among other things, including. “1. The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage. 2. … initiative… ”

The Most Important Quality for Writers

Of the three I, suspect moxie is the both the most important and perhaps the most difficult to come by. It’s not the skills that are difficult, although there is certainly some of that required. It’s that “ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage” that can be hard to come by, as well as the “initiative.”

Make no mistake about it, starting a writing business or any other for that matter, requires “imitative” and I can guarantee that you will meet difficulties that a bit of bravery will help you solve.

I know from my email that many who say they want to be freelance writers lack the moxie to do what it takes; I’m not sure why.

Some, of course, are just looking for an easier, softer way.

But many suffer from one or both of two fears – rejection and/or not getting it right.

When you have moxie you may have those feelings, but you don’t let them stop you.

That means that although you’re totally panicked at the idea of submitting a query, you do it anyway. Maybe you set a goal of getting it out in the next five days. Even when the fear becomes so strong you can barely type it out, you do it anyway, and you get it in the mail, E or snail.

Or maybe you want to start corporate writing. You determine to contact one local company a day by email for two weeks. As you compose the email you find you’re making typos because of the fear that someone will laugh at you or that that no one will respond. You send the emails anyway and you do it again the next week, making the emails better each week.

And when you get a response from a query or an email you sent regarding corporate writing you open it right away. And you read it until you’re sure you understand what it says.

If it’s a rejection, and in the beginning it usually is, you take a deep breath, and pin it to the wall in celebration because you’ve begun to actually take the steps that will lead you to a successful freelance writing career.

If, as occasionally happens, it’s an acceptance, you celebrate and then get on with the writing so you can do it all over again.

What do you find you need for your freelance writing business?

Anne Wayman is a ghostwriter and writing coach. You can find her at AboutFreelanceWriting and other websites including PowerfullyRecovered! and WhenGrandmotherSpeaks. Her professional site is AnneWayman.com.

Photo credit: Simon_K

As easy as writing sales copy might seem – let’s face it, it’s what we do every day and we are supposed to know how to get it right (within reason) – I recently got reminded that things are not always that easy for us, the craftsmen of words.

Up until early last year I hadn’t written a single word for a hotel. Sure, I had some knowledge about hotel sales copy but it came mostly from studying hotel websites while booking our holidays and playing smart alec, thinking I could write it better.

Real life likes to play tricks on us and my writing skills and confidence were put to the test when I landed a job as an SEO and main writer for a large chain of serviced apartments in the UK.

There are certain things I learned about the industry that helped me overcome the initial bump on the road. Today I want to share them with you.

No warm ups. Period!

I have a tendency to use warm ups in my posts. I am sure you noticed that in this article as well. In many cases, warm ups work like a charm. However, when it comes to holiday makers, your readers have hardly any time at all to go through your copy and might not even get past the warm up.

Insight – write for people who:

- Have a very limited time to do their research.
- Expect to see nothing more than a list of things that are included in their booking.
- Need to remember your copy and offer past the research stage to come back and buy.

Friendly Tone is a Way to Go

Nothing works worse when you are trying to sell a hotel than a dry, professional tone. The tone of your copy has to reflect the cushy atmosphere of the holiday accommodation that you are selling. A friendly tone is the way to go in this case. However, the difficulty is that most people look for nothing more than a list of things they get with their booking plus some location info and a price.

Keywords Do Not Always Work The Way You’d Expect Them To

Writing a copy for a hotel is a constant battle between satisfying both research and sales stages of the process. On one end, your copy needs to inspire your readers while they still check out many different hotels so that they remember yours and will come back to make a booking. On the other hand, you want them to book straight away and must write copy to inspire them to do that too.

The best way to achieve success with both is by using the right keywords. However, these work in a quite specific way in the hotel industry.

Insight – hotel keywords characteristics:

- Holiday makers usually use plural keywords during their research.
- Short tail keywords are mainly used for research and have a low conversion rate.
- You will get better conversion rates on long tail, low traffic keywords.

It was a steep learning curve, but I made it through and I am now enjoying  great success at work. I hope these tips will help you do the same.

Pawel Grabowski works as an SEO Specialist and web content writer for a leading serviced apartments provider in the UK. He is also the author of “The Smart Business Guide to Winning New Work“, the best beginners’ guide to selling and brining new clients in. Connect with Pawel on Google+.

Image: Bernard Gagnon via Wikimedia Commons

By Lori Widmer

It’s tough when you’re first building your writing career to make the right choices. The easy choices aren’t necessarily the best choices, but when you’re fresh at it, how do you know?

When I first started freelancing, I chased the money – meaning I never turned down a client no matter how bad the fit was. The result: lousy working conditions, terrible pay, and referrals from cheap clients that led to even more cheap clients. I was stuck in a rut.

No more. Thanks to lessons learned the hard way, and lessons taught by other freelancers, I can now spot a lousy deal in milliseconds. I’ve now adopted three rules by which I judge all clients and offers.

Rule #1: Don’t pay for access to clients. That includes bidding sites, sites that require a fee in exchange for “access” to projects, and clients asking for “processing fees” or any other remuneration in exchange for a job. The idea behind freelancing is to be paid for your work, not the other way around. Worse, these sites often offer “premium” projects the likes of which can be found on Craig’s List – $4 an article? Really?

Rule #2: Don’t bid. Refer to rule #1. Let me qualify this because we do have to provide bids to clients frequently – don’t bid against writers in any open forum. That cheapens both the writer and the fee. Also, don’t bid on any project without contacting the client directly or knowing anything about the project. Instead, set your own rates. Do negotiate with clients so that you come to mutually agreeable terms, but don’t attempt to barter on a job board. You’re a professional. Professionals don’t beg.

Rule #3: Don’t weed through ads. I can’t remember the last time I scored a client gig through an advertised job. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I even looked at the ads. There may be true jewels among the rubble of job listings sites, but each one you find is also being found by thousands of your peers. Instead, choose your own clients and contact them directly offering your services. This does two things – it allows you to reach clients who truly value your skills, and it allows you to control your own earnings. Job listings usually state a rate, and it’s usually not up to what you should be earning.

By following these three rules, you can shed the low-paying gigs and lift yourself and your career out of an ever-deepening rut. It requires a little more work from you, but once you’re earning to your potential, you’ll be glad you put the effort into it.

What rules have you established for yourself and your business?

Lori Widmer is a veteran writer and editor who holds fast to her own rules. Her specialties include business and trade writing, and she teaches marketing and business development skills to freelance writers. Her e-book, The Worthy Writer’s Guide to Building a Better Business, is now available.  She blogs daily at Words on the Page.

Photo credit: Bruno Boutot

I enjoyed this guest post from Victoria Virgo, which shows how she has started the writing year right by booting out procrastination.

The first thing is admitting you have a problem. OK, here goes. Hi my name is Victoria and I am a procrastinator. I will find any excuse not to get things done but this year I am trying to figure out how to achieve my goals while suffering from this unfortunate affliction. The good news is that I have now learned a little secret that is helping to keep me on the straight and narrow and towards the righteous path of achievement and success.

It is the beginning of a brand new year and just like scores of other people all over the world I have prepared a well crafted list of things that I hope to achieve over the next 12 months. The majority of New Year’s Resolutions lists normally comprise of something to do with weight loss, perhaps getting a new job or even finding true love. Actually, to be honest with you I have left that last one off my list for this year and am instead opting for a cosy water bottle to keep me warm on a cold night. Well frankly there’s no room left in my bed what with the pile of self help books and self improvement magazines that have now taken up permanent residence on the left side of to the bed.

Anyhoo back to the point of this post – I am sure that by now you can be in no doubt that I am a procrastinator and will take any opportunity to go off at a tangent. Focus, Victoria, focus.

The Secret To Achieving Your Goals

The little secret that I have discovered is actually not that much of a secret. Everyone knows what it is but we seem to conveniently forget it every time we look failure in the eye. The secret to success comes down to proper planning and execution, plain and simple. If you are serious about hitting your targets you should ask yourself the following questions:

• What is My Goal?
• What Do I Need To Do To Achieve This Goal?
• When Do I want To Achieve This By?

As you can imagine, these questions will send someone like me off to procrastination heaven. I have therefore given myself permission to rest my chin in the palms of my hands and look out into the middle distance as I ponder the what’s and wherefores of these three valid points. Actually I allow myself about 5 minutes then snap back to reality and write out a step by step response to each question.

The Goal Setting Process in Action

Here is how I have used this simple process to achieve one of the goals on my New Year’s Resolutions list.

What is My Goal?

To write an article and get it published as a guest blogger.

What Do I Need To Do To Achieve This Goal?

Make a list of blogs that accept guest posts. Find out about the site owner and the type of articles that they are looking for. Create a suitable article and submit it for publication. I will write a fresh new article and submit it to a blog owner at least once a week.

When Do I Want To Achieve This By?

Within 3 months.

The Results

I happily got to work and lookey here, this is my first guest post. Hurrah! By getting organised and breaking my goal into bite size tasks, I was able to tame the procrastinator within and get the job done.

This process can be applied to almost any goal that you set for yourself. Once you know what you want you can then work out the steps you need to take in order to succeed. I hope this approach works for you too. Good luck fellow procrastinators.

(Image: By Jorge Barrios (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

Victoria Virgo is a freelance writer from London, England. You can visit her personal blog My Daily Cuppa to discover how she is dealing with procrastination. She also owns Two Pretty Things where she writes reviews on whatever takes her fancy. 

Whenever you’re promoting a business, with a flyer campaign or otherwise, it always pays to articulate carefully what you can offer your potential customers. Writing is no different, but this is one niche where your flyer needs to be particularly carefully tailored.

Any promotional flyer should communicate that the purpose of your business is to do something for your customers that they cannot or do not want to do for themselves, and consequently will pay you to do instead. Whether it’s a cleaning service or specialist financial advice, you are offering the client something that makes their life easier in some way. Perhaps you’re providing expertise, perhaps you’re simply saving them time. Either way, a well-written flyer will clearly answer the reader’s implicit question: what can you do for me?

The purpose of your flyer

Writing for a living can encompass a broad range of jobs. You might focus on writing internet content, for example, in order to drive traffic to your website or others. You might write marketing copy, or magazine articles, or fiction… the list is almost endless, and in practice your day-to-day work may encompass a number of these. No matter how versatile your skills, though, your flyer is unlikely to succeed if its remit is this broad. Flyers are an excellent way to reach a specific readership – whether the subscribers of a particular publication or households in a given zip code. The trick is to tailor your message to that demographic to ensure the time and money you invest in your flyer campaign results in maximum pay-off.

Pick your speciality

This means that you should create a flyer that targets a specific niche. Perhaps you want to advertise your services for creating websites for individuals, groups or businesses. A flyer with a very general ‘Pen for hire’ advertisement isn’t going to resonate with your readers. You will have to send out thousands of flyers to gain a handful of clients. But if your flyer is designed with a specific audience in mind, you have a far better chance of attracting new customers.

With this in mind, your flyer should demonstrate that you are capable of delivering a service that your reader needs. Look at the problem from the customer’s point of view: what is the problem that they have that you can solve? Is it a lack of time, or expertise? Your flyer needs to show them that you can deliver something worth paying for.

Testimonials and writing samples will be useful, but don’t go overboard: people don’t want to plough through reams of dense text. Your flyer should point people in the right direction, not tell them absolutely everything they need to know. Contact details and a link to your own website achieve that better than a crammed page of words.

Flyer presentation

Any business flyer should be well-presented, but in this case the effort you put into it is absolutely critical. It’s one thing if a dry cleaning or gardening service hasn’t mastered punctuation and grammar, since it’s hardly going to affect the quality of the job they do – and even then, minor mistakes can be quite off-putting. Readers start to wonder whether you will show a similar level of carelessness in other areas of your work. When you are offering a writing service and the writing on the advert itself is flawed, you might as well have burned the flyer as paid to have it distributed. This has to be your very best writing: beautifully honed, convincing, and immaculate.

One problem of presentation is that flyers will often incorporate images for greater visual effect – something that can be distracting if done badly, but that can add a great deal to their impact. In the case of writing professionals, this is harder – appropriate images are not immediately obvious. It’s best not to use a picture on your flyer just for the sake of it – it needs to be something relevant, not just pretty. Instead, you may like to use different typefaces, layouts, pull-out quotes, text boxes, bullets and so on to break the text up and make it more attractive and readable.

Where to send your flyer

You will need to target your flyer’s audience carefully, but with a little research you can make a strong impact and a high ROI. You might distribute them to local businesses, or in specific publications. Similarly there are courses at which displaying your flyers could be very beneficial, as well as libraries and other locations.

This article was supplied by Printed.com, suppliers of unbeatable quality digital flyer printing, and a shortlisted company for this year’s industry leading Print Week Environmental Company of the Year 2011 award.

Image: jennafa

I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to welcome Cathy Miller as a guest writer on Get Paid to Write Online. Her Simply Stated Business blog is one of my must-reads and you’re in for a treat as Cathy describes her writing journey.

There’s a freshness about a clean sheet of paper. It’s like newly fallen snow, silently waiting for the season’s first snow angel. For someone who spent most of her life creating snow angels on paper, the online world was a new universe. My name is Cathy Miller and I am an old business writer.

The Journey Online

The year 2008 signaled the winter of my discontent. After 30+ years in Corporate America, I packed up my pen and paper and headed online. Up to that point, I was free of all social media platforms.

• Twitter was something gossipy girls did
• And Facebook sounded like a student’s fate during finals

I started my own business writing company. Fortunately, there is still plenty for an old business writer to do. But, I have never been one for labels. Give me one and I’ll probably write all over it. I knew if I wanted to compete in  this new world, I’d better find out about this online stuff.

Comedy Central

My first peek at online jobs had me looking for the hidden camera. Surely, this was some kind of joke.

• Ads for $5 per post
• Blogs devoted to Loosing Weight
• Rants about spam

To be fair, I never liked the taste of spam either, but why was everyone getting so worked up over it? Suddenly, the print world was looking pretty good.

Back to School

Believe it when they tell you, you are never too old to learn. Eventually, I found my way to the sunny side of online. Talented professionals, like Sharon Hurley Hall, showed me you can Get Paid to Write Onlineand still afford to eat. Your only limits are what you make them. There were lessons to learn – blogging and ghosting and WordPress – oh my. For all of its newness, the online world offered much of what I loved about the old world.

• The power of the written word
• Helping others express their dreams
• The rewards of communication

How could I not fall in love with a place where keeping it simple scores?

Lessons Learned

A Different Style

My last corporate boss told me that one thing she liked about my writing was its short sentences. I think I just blew that theory. Is it any wonder that my style took to online writing? Okay, don’t go running to my early blog posts. It did take me a while to adapt. A combination of my writing style and baby boomer eyes was a natural for the online world.

• Bulleted lists
• Bold headings
• Short sentences

Love it!

Calling All Writers

There is a tremendous need for good writers – emphasis on good. Think about it. The opportunities for writing online are endless.

• Web pages, press releases
• Professional bios
• Articles for online magazines
• Ghostwriting and blogging
• eBooks, newsletters
• Sales pages, ad copy, and much more

Why shouldn’t an old business writer join the fun?

Online and Loving It

You can make a good living online. You can also mix print and online writing and survive – no, thrive. In the end, it’s all about communication, and it doesn’t matter if you are new to the business or a 30+ year veteran. Emily Dickinson (someone even older than me) put it this way –

We turn not older with years, but newer every day.

Go online and enjoy the journey.

Cathy Miller is a freelance business writer with over 30 years of professional writing experience from small businesses to Fortune 500 customers. Cathy started her own business in 2008, providing all forms of online and print business writing. Cathy has a business writing blog at Simply stated business, a health care blog at Simply stated health care and her personal blog, millercathy: A Baby Boomer’s Second Life.   

When you work online, the temptation is to only promote there, but a business leaflet can help you market your services both online and offline. Here’s more advice from Kes of Printed.com.

How to Write a Compelling Business Leaflet

A well-crafted business leaflet is a powerful marketing tool. Bad business leaflets are worth less than nothing and turn people away. How can you get it right?

If you have a company or service to promote then you may well have thought about putting together a leaflet to show people what you can offer. The problem is that whilst you will have seen plenty of such leaflets around before, you will also know that a lot of them are badly produced and do not achieve their intended aims. Although some of the faults might be obvious, it’s still difficult to create a really effective leaflet. If yours is going to rise above the rest, you can’t afford to take chances.

Learn from others’ mistakes

One of the first steps in the process of designing a really killer leaflet is to check out the competition. You will have seen leaflets all over the place, including the ones that probably come through your front door on a daily basis. Some of these leaflets will be terrible, some reasonable, but few are ever outstanding. To start with, collect a range of leaflets from different companies and try to get a sense of what makes them good or bad.

It should go without saying that immaculate spelling, punctuation and grammar are mandatory. Such mistakes make you look unprofessional and can often be enough to send your leaflet straight into the bin. Beyond that, take a look at the text and layout. Is all the necessary information there? Is there too much – do the leaflets look crowded or busy? What about the use of colour and images – do they help or hinder the message?

Less is more

There’s a real art to crafting good leaflets, because it’s such a limited medium. That can be one of the pitfalls, too: the temptation can be to cram two sides of A4 or A5 with every piece of information you can. In reality, it’s far better to be spare. Your leaflets need to be readable – easy both on the eye and on the mind. The language should be clear and straightforward, and any pictures or styling should add to this rather than distract from the leaflets’ text. At the same time, leaflets that are dull or lack clarity will end up in the recycling. Check through the pile of leaflets you collected and try to gauge whether this was a factor in your assessment of them. People see so many leaflets that a badly laid-out one probably won’t get read at all.

Fix a problem

Beyond these basic principles, your leaflet needs to answer a question. Leaflets that describe what a company does or some wonderful new product have missed the point. Customers won’t be impressed enough to buy something just on the basis of it being amazing: it has to be something they actually need.

In many ways, leaflets aren’t about your company at all. Primarily they are about the customer. They have to engage with the reader’s needs, and present a solution to a problem that the customer has. Writing about a fantastic new carpet cleaner might make a sale, but you stand a far better chance if you tap into an existing concern. Replacing old carpets is expensive and time-consuming, but what if your product can breathe a new lease of life into them and avoid the trouble of a refit? People will be much more likely to look twice.

And finally…

Don’t forget to include clear contact details at the end of your leaflet. To finish, it helps to leave your reader with a strong prompt, reminding them of why they would want to call or visit your website and encouraging them to do so. ‘To rid your cat of fleas, visit…’ ‘To receive a 25 per cent discount, call before the end of the month…’ Otherwise, your leaflets simply present potential customers with some tantalising information but leave them waiting for a resolution.

This article was supplied by Printed.com, the new home of The Digital Print Partnership, a supplier of quality digital print and an accredited member of the Direct Marketing Association. (Image: KaCey97007)

Sites that go up in smoke represent opportunities for new writers.

As incredible as it seems, copywriters are more in demand in today’s economy than ever before. In our digital age the need for fresh copy resurges every time a search engine changes its algorithm and valuable web rankings are lost. While this is a headache for the webmasters with the pages that suddenly go up in smoke, it can be a boon to recent college graduates looking to enter the world of copywriting.

College graduates in this position are both at an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage is they possess a wealth of education that can be brought to bear in working for their clients. The disadvantage is the graduate might have a firm grasp of how to produce academic writing but might not be as skilled in the art of writing commercial or web copy. Writing for online marketing isn’t the same as a PhD dissertation, and fresh graduates may have to make quite a few stylistic adjustments.

How to Write Copy

Writing copy requires the ability to reach out to the potential customer, and that means it must be engaging and interesting. Since much copywriting work is now found online, new copywriters need to understand exactly what works and what doesn’t. For example, writing copy for a small business owner’s web page will not require the same skill sets as writing for someone’s blog. In most cases, the static page requirements will be more professional in nature, while the blog may be relative informal but require a nuanced grasp of voice in order to reach the most readers.

The first thing a new copywriter needs to do is learn to identify the right voice for each job. This can prove difficult since the voices some copywriters are most skilled at using are ones they aren’t always comfortable revealing. In other words, some copywriters can use coarse, crude language and gain a wide audience, but these same copywriters wouldn’t want friends and family to read this voice.

Find Your Voice

Thankfully, most people have a conversational voice they can use both publicly and privately. This informal voice works best on blogs and on websites with an informal and contemporary feel. When this voice is achieved, new copywriters should consider establishing their own blogs to showcase their ability through regular writing. In this way, these blogs work as portfolios for potential clients.

Next, copywriters should offer services at reduced rates in order to start building up a larger online presence and add work for clients to their portfolios.

Writing Opportunities for Graduates

Writing copy offers a world of opportunities for new college graduates. The more clever and intriguing the copy is, the more likely it is that attention and business will begin to present themselves. Copywriters who win professional recognition will find their experience becomes quite well-regarded.

Armed with an approachable style and portfolios to showcase skills, new copywriters can approach potential clients with appealing offers. As with any other new venture, the first few approaches might not bear fruit immediately, but the key is perseverance. It might take a dozen “no’s” to reach the first “yes,” but when that time comes it feels absolutely incredible.

Elaine Hirsch is kind of a jack-of-all-interests, from education and history to medicine and videogames. This makes it difficult to choose just one life path, so she is currently working as a writer for various education-related sites and writing about all these things instead. (Image: mason bryant)

Writers – How To Overcome Anxiety, Boost Your Energy And Improve Your Concentration Skills

As a writer or creative artist, your most important asset is your health.

Have you ever had days when no matter how hard you try, the words don’t flow and everything you write seems wooden and false?

In today’s post I would like to offer you three simple healthy habits you can use to overcome writer’s block and improve your concentration skills, especially on days when your energy is low and you struggle to concentrate and complete your assignments.

Given the hectic pace of life, it can be difficult to always be creative and inspired. When you write you want your words to be remembered, honored and hopefully inspire your reader.

So what can you do to ensure your words always achieve the results you require? Is there a secret formula you can tap into that allows you to always be creative and inspired?

I don’t believe there is a golden formula but I do believe it is possible to adopt certain habits which help you to become a healthier, more focused writer.

1. Healthy Writer’s Habit #1- Hydrate Your Body – Drink More Water

No one can run on empty. Just like a car requires a regular service and petrol to run, so does your body. Constantly burning the candle at both ends to meet deadlines leaves you feeling empty, demoralized and tired.

Water has the ability to hydrate and nourish your brain. Your brain consists of 85% water therefore drinking water helps to naturally lift your energy. Aim to drink at least 5 glasses of water a day. A good tip is to have a bottle of water on your desk and take regular sips throughout the day; this simple habit instantly improves your concentration skills and boosts your energy levels so you feel more alert and focused.

Healthy Writer’s Habit#2 – Breathe

If your mind is full of clutter and you find it difficult to focus and write, a few rounds of yogic breathing exercises instantly leaves your mind feeling calm and clear. On a basic level, breathing allows you to draw in oxygen into your body and eliminates toxins and bacteria which prevent your body functioning correctly. The slower and deeper you breathe, the more you allow oxygen to enter and flow through your body. This expands your lung capacity and makes you feel brighter and more alert.

Here is a simple breathing practice you can try when you feel your energy levels slipping.

1. Sit comfortably, gently cradle your belly with your hands and allow your fingertips to lightly touch each other.

2. Close your eyes and spend a few moments to tune into your everyday breath. Don’t try to control your breath just be aware of how you are breathing.

3. Slowly take a full steady breath in though your nose for a count of four and breathe out for a count of four. Continue to breathe in and out through your nose and as you do so notice your belly and hands rise and fall with each breath.

4. Repeat this pattern of breathing 5-10 rounds. As you do so, notice your thoughts slow down as your body lets go of tension.

5. Slowly open your eyes and be aware of how much calmer and quieter you feel.

2. Healthy Writer’s Habit#3 – Relax Your Eyes

This is my favorite tip to reduce anxiety and calm your mind. As a writer, you spend a lot of time staring at a computer screen; this can lead to eye strain and in some cases headaches. To reduce eye strain and improve concentrations try this simple eye exercise.

Palming Exercise

1. Flap and loosely shake your hands for 30 seconds. Keep your shoulders lowered and jaw soft.

2. Next rub your palms vigorously together until your palms generate heat as they warm up.

3. Rest your elbows on the table. Close your eyes and cover your hands over your eyes with your fingertips pointing up towards your hairline and heels of your palm touching your cheeks.

4. Hold your hands in this position for about 30 seconds. Remember to breathe deeply as you rest in this position.

5. Slowly release your hands from face and rest your hands on your lap. Sit still for a few more moments and be aware of your calm and clear you now feel.

On days when you feel overwhelmed and anxious make sure you keep your body and brain hydrated, practice a few rounds of breathing exercises and rest your eyes by practicing the palming exercise.

Together these simple yogic practices help to revitalize and reenergize your system so you can continue to focus on your work with minimal effort and stress.

If you want to learn more simple yoga practices to calm stressful situations and feel relaxed check out my other posts at The Next Goal.

If you enjoyed this article feel free to share the love and link back to it from your own blog. Take care and thank you.

Mother, blogger, yoga teacher and author Ntathu Allen strives to encourage others to weave moments of calm and rest into their busy life so you have the energy to have more fun time with your family and be positive and productive at work. (Image: Bindaas Madhavi)