Ready for another blogging linkfest? Here’s a long list of posts I’ve bookmarked and shared in the last couple of months, along with a short excerpt from each:

Writing Business

• 5 Rarely Remembered Rules for Building Your Freelance Brand - Good brands command respect and establish a reputation. They establish your presence in the marketplace.
• Top 3 Symptoms Your Business Blog Reeks - Any size company can have a case of blogitis If you are phoning in your business blog, hang up on that practice.
• Features of the Freelance Economy - Government policy makers are devising all sorts of programs that will put people back to work.
• Building New Income Streams When Client Work is Slow - We’ve already looked at why freelance job boards aren’t the best places to find gigs and how you can make it easier for clients to find you through your writer platform. But what can you do in between client projects?
• How to Build a Writer Platform and Make Jobs Come to You - Our last post looked at reasons freelance writers should stop spending too much time trolling job boards looking for new gigs.
• 7 Signs That It’s Time to Simplify Your Freelancing Business - If your freelancing life has become too much for you, it may be time to simplify your life and your freelancing business as well. Do you think this is you?
• Back to basics: A 10-step freelance story workflow guide - Writers use various methods to stay on top of queries, stories in progress, rewrites, collections and the like.

Writing Skills

• 7 Cs of Effective Web Writing–a Checklist for Freelance Writers - A relatively small percentage of these freelancers really understand their job and responsibilities. If truth be told, it may seem that anybody can write.
• Should You Do Ghostwriting? - Exactly what is ghostwriting? And, what are some of the advantages and disadvantages of doing this type of writing? Is it ethical? Are such jobs available?
• If English Isn’t Your First Language – An Open Letter To Writers - I only speak and read one language, and that’s American English. It’s my native language. I grew up with it. While I have a smattering of Spanish and a few words of French, I’m a typical American, with only one language.
• One Tool that Really Sharpens Your Writer’s – or Blogger’s – Voice - A writer’s voice – a blogger’s voice. All aspiring writers search for it. All authors define it, explain it, and scare the hell out of those who have yet to discover it. Over and over again. And we never get tired of talking about it.
• The 5 Steps To Actually Starting A Freelance Writing Career - If you want to be a freelance writer you’ve simply got to write. There’s just no getting around it. And you’ve got to write regularly.
• Finding a Mentor–A Freelancer’s Simple Success Secret - A mentor is a more experienced freelancer or other professional who you can turn to for guidance and who can answer your questions about freelancing.
• 5 ways to protect your work online - Anyone who shares their work online knows there’s a risk they’re taking… Despite those risks, there is something to be said for having an instant audience online.
• When Words Are Not Enough - Since I use words for a living I love the fact that they can be so powerful. But, my profession is also why it’s all too easy for me to get too caught up in the power of words–too easy for me to forget that words are sometimes not enough.

Marketing and Promotion

• 5 Ways to Build a Better Website - Your business website positions you as an authoritative and skilled freelancer in your field. It captures leads into an automated email service or customer relations management software.
• Freelance Marketing – Market Research and Planning - If you’re considering a change to grow your business, you should start there and narrow down your specialty area.
• Building Your Web Presence for Authors: Don’t Let Google Do Your Talking - I pulled out my iPhone and googled the business name and the city. What showed up as the site description? “Joomla! – the dynamic portal engine and content management system.” Wow. Whoever made their website didn’t bother to change that default description.

Getting Paid to Write/Getting Writing Gigs

• 8 Must Haves Before You Apply For A Freelance Writing Job - There are eight things you need to get in order before you can be sure you’re looking good and likely to land the freelance writing job you want.
• 8 Steps For Landing That Freelance Writing Job - For the better writing jobs there are tons of applicants which means your goal is really to get an email response.
• Numbers Are Our Friend–Writers and the Wild World of Metrics - The idea of numbers should not scare you. Numbers can be a writer’s best friend.
• How Long Does It Take PayPal to Transfer to Your Bank Account? - Setting up PayPal for your work at home jobs is smart. It’s an almost universal way to get paid online because most people already use it.
• Full-Time Income in Part-Time Hours? Sure Thing! - I was definitely intrigued by Gretchen Roberts’ new ebook, Full-time Income in Part-time Hours. Gretchen, a food and wine writer, has been freelancing since May, 2003.
• Search & Networking Tips For Finding Freelance Writing Jobs - As more and more people in the world become Internet savvy, the world of online freelancing gets more and more competitive. This can make it harder to find good paying gigs

Client Relations

• Insulate Yourself From Bad Freelance Clients - Here are three simple ways you can better insulate yourself from bad writing clients.
• 8 Tips About How To Respond When A Potential Writing Client Calls - You are sitting at your desk writing away and the phone rings and it’s someone who needs a writer. They’ve found out about your writing through your website or have one of your business cards or something. These calls are potentially pure gold.
• 10 Ways to Win Back a Former Client - Assuming you’ve done your work well, your former clients already know and trust you. They no longer need to be convinced that you’re a good freelancer. Unfortunately, clients don’t always come back to us with more projects.

Blogging

• 5 Popular WordPress Plugins You Need to Ditch Now! - We all want to speed up our blogs and one of the easiest ways to do that is by removing WordPress Plugins that impact load speed, and provide little value for our readers.
• Is Impartiality in Media or Blogging Even Possible? - Every time I read a post bemoaning the idea that copywriters and bloggers deserve to be compensated for their time because journalism should be impartial, I wonder whether people truly believe that the major media does not primarily benefit the wealthy who control it.
• How Do QR Codes Work and What Do You Need? - Before we put the cart before the horse, we should know what we need to make these square soundbites work.

Inspiration

• Why Success Should Not be Measured in Money - Some complain about those whose English is not perfect and many bloggers delete their comments and do not publish their posts.
• Ready to Give Up? 50 Things You SHOULD Give Up… Starting Today.  – 2. Give up comparing yourself to others. – The only person you are competing against is yourself. 3. Give up dwelling on the past or worrying too much about the future. – Right now is the only moment guaranteed to you.
• Why Can’t a Freelancer Be a Millionaire? - There’s a big difference between earning six figures and hitting that seventh figure, but is it enough of a difference to keep freelancers out?
• 3 Things Freelance Writing Has Allowed Me To Do - Being a freelance writer can be a considerably varied career. If you’re a banker, you work in finance. If you’re an IT executive, you work in IT. If you’re a doctor, you work in medicine. If you’re a freelance writer, however, you get to sample numerous different careers
• So You Think You Can ePublish?- Self-publishing is EXPLODING and there are more opportunities than ever before.

Featured

To end the round-up, I’d like to draw your attention to two more posts, one which I’ve written (Why I’m Betting on Kindle for Self Publishing) and one where I was featured (She loves to write: An interview with Sharon Hurley Hall.)

Happy reading! (Image:  jjpacres)

Want to put bread on the table? Market your writing services efficiently with these productivity tips.

It’s that time again – another of my monthly posts for the Word Chef blog carnival. This month we’re talking about productivity, something that the writers on this blog have written about many, many times. Originally, I was going to write about writing productivity, but been there, done that, so I’ve included a list of some of our best posts on productivity at the end. So, to the issue of the day: marketing and promoting your writing business.

My Marketing Mantra

We already know some of the tasks we need to do (check out my Promotion is Free series for a heads-up) but what about making the time to do it? I know from my own experience that in the past at busy times I made less time for marketing and at quiet times I marketed like crazy because I had more time on my hands. That’s bass-ackwards, if you’ll pardon the expression. When you’re busy you need to market so you are never quiet. When you are quiet, it’s already too late.

So what do you do? The answer is really simple: make the time. When something is really important to you, you usually make the time to do it. The health of your writing business should be important to you, so make the time to keep it healthy by injecting regular doses of new business. In other words, market and promote.

Set aside a chunk of time each week, either a big block once a week or a shorter time daily that’s dedicated to marketing your services. Then market and promote.

Methods of Marketing

There are all kinds of ways to do this.

Taking part in a blog carnival like the one I’m in today is one way because lots of new people will see what you write. Making connections with new people can extend your reach. It puts your name out there without too much effort on your part. Write a post, tweet about it, comment on a few other posts. Time required – maybe 1 hour which adds up to about 12 minutes a week per post.

Showcase your expertise on high traffic sites such as LinkedIn Answers, Quora and more – see what’s being asked in your niche and respond. I have to admit that I don’t use this as much as I might, but when I do, it pays off. Someone saw one of my answers on Quora and approached me about a writing job. Although it didn’t work out in the end, it showed that I was visible. You only have to spend a few minutes a day doing this, especially if you are selective about what you respond to. Pick the questions that you are already an expert in and you won’t have to think too hard. Rinse and repeat for other social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. Time required: no more than 30 minutes a time, and you could get away with 15.

Tweak and optimize your professional website. This can be a timesink – don’t ask me how I know {groan} but it’s well worth doing. Make sure that it shows your skills and abilities to best advantage and makes it easy for people to contact you. One of my new clients was browsing around my site and found a testimonial for some site content I’d written for a cake decorator. On the strength of that she got in touch and asked me to rewrite hers. Testimonials sell your services without too much work and I’ve got a video explaining how I use a simple questionnaire to get a good testimonial. It’s also useful to update your site with new stuff you have done. Time required: 30 minutes every couple of weeks or 15 minutes a week (it should be more, but that’s about what I do.)

Guest blog. I’m a big fan of guest blogging for promotion (as well as having fun with writing). Not only is it an easy way to showcase your ability to write about a wide range of topics – or to showcase your expertise in your niche, take your pick – but if you’re smart you can also market yourself subtly. It’s all in the way you respond to comments. I write a lot about writing and blogging (as well as a whole lot of other things), so when I respond to comments I include something that shows I know what I’m talking about. I might refer to the length of my writing career or a relevant experience I had. I’m providing value to the commenter and the blog host, but other people who read my comments will also get a taste of what I can do. Time required: 1-2 hours depending on writing time and number of comments. That means about 12 minutes a week per post.

So what does that add up to? If you’re only doing each of these once each week, you would spend just under an hour a week on marketing. And you could do more and get even more benefit, because isn’t it worth it to spend a couple of hours of your time each week on marketing your services?

Productivity Tips

And just in case you’re having trouble making the time because you are too busy writing, here’s a list of some of our previous tips on writing productivity:

• Are You A Productive Writer?
• Are You Writing In The Most Efficient Way Possible?
• Be More Productive with Office Time
• Stop Multitasking from Killing Your Productivity
• Personal Productivity: An Interim Report
• Declutter To Improve Writing Productivity

What do you find most effective in marketing your business services? (Image:  chotda)

Today, I’m happy to be reviewing SEO Marketing by Brian Belfitt of BlogEngage. This free ebook (which you get when you sign up for BlogEngage)  has just 27 pages and covers:

1. Introduction to starting your very own blog
2. Hosting and set up
3. Selecting the right theme
4. Setting up your wordpress blog
5. SEO, Marketing and Promotion
6. Making money online with your blog

The ebook is a compilation of the best articles from Brian’s SEO Marketing blog and gives some useful tips.

What I Disagreed With

There was only one thing I disagreed with in the book – Brian’s advice at the start that  you should buy domain name and hosting from the same provider. In fact, I do the opposite and for almost all my domains, have them from separate providers. That means that if I ever fall out with one, I’ve still got the option of getting my site up quickly. (And I do that because I’ve been burned in the past.)

Next, Brian moves onto themes and he lists some of my favorite providers there. He discusses the importance of researching your posts and keeping them consistent and relevant for your readers. He also includes the importance of keeping your blog maintained – not only by checking and removing out-dated links, but updating tags if relevant.

Best Feature

One of the things I like best about Brian’s book is his blog marketing plan – what you need to do to market your blog. However, you might find you need more info to implement it if you are new to blogging.

His checklist of factors to look for in deciding where to market and promote your blog (by interacting and commenting on other blogs) is useful, as is the section on how you can use forums for promotion. There’s also a section on seeking advertisers and affiliate marketing, with links to some key ad networks.

The Verdict

Overall, I think this book gives a good snapshot of where to start and since it’s free, it’s hard to complain about the lack of detail in some areas. If you want an overview of the things you need to think about then you can read this book in a few minutes and have a pretty good idea. But if you want more in-depth information, you will have to check out the articles on Brian’s site and elsewhere.

Well, I finally did it! Making a video has been on my list of things to do for a very long time, but I’ve always procrastinated – something I never do with the written word. Somehow sticking my face up there always seemed a bit scary. During the year, I’ve been inspired by people like Kim Castleberry, Ileane Smith and Ivin Vijoen, who regularly do video posts – and I had decided that I had to make my first video before the end of the year. Finally, yesterday, I did it, prompted by a deadline from a member of the mastermind group I recently joined.

I spent a lot of time trying to do it with my phone, because I knew I’d be able to upload it easily. But then I gave up and used my webcam. To edit, I used Windows Movie Maker (after a recommendation from someone I trust). It’s not a full featured video edit suite, but it works for a novice like me. And what’s good about it is that you can upload straight to YouTube, Facebook or Flickr.

So here’s the first video.

The only thing I like about it is that I speak clearly, but the rest is a lesson in how not to do it, which I’m sharing with you in case you’re thinking of doing your first one. I’ve added some captions to illustrate the mistakes I made, but here they are in a nutshell:

1. I didn’t look at the camera. That’s because, in true writer style, I had written out a script and I kept having to refer to it. So I’m looking down and across.

2. I didn’t smile, so I didn’t really look like myself. I usually smile a lot and in this video I look like something terrible is about to happen to me – I was nervous!

Another friend pointed out that I could have branded the background (though how many people have a business poster in their home office?) Still, point taken, and I have a couple of ideas for how to address that issue in the future. Since I can’t let things lie, I did another video for my mastermind group. Here it is:

This time I didn’t use a script (I knew what I wanted to say after a couple of readthroughs), kept it very simple and smiled a bit. There’s still room for improvement (like figuring out how to fade out the video instead of cutting it off abruptly), but I’m pleased to have got that milestone behind me.

I would welcome your comments, tips, links to good tutorials on video – anything that will help me improve, because I’d like to do more videos on this blog and elsewhere, in the future. If you want to be alerted of any new videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Aim for success in 2011 and start your marketing efforts today

First of all, I hope you’ve all had a very Merry Christmas.  However you celebrated the season, I hope that you’ve had a fantastic break and are feeling fresh and revitalized (and not too full of chocolates and alcohol!).

In my post from October, titled ‘It’s Time To Give Something Back To The Freelance Writing Community‘, one of the regular commenters here at Get Paid To Write Online, Christina Crowe, asked:

What are the best ways to market a freelance writing business?

A simple and straightforward question, this is arguably the most popular question I get asked.

Everyone wants to know how they should be marketing and promoting a freelance writing businesses, as simply put, the more marketing you do of any product or business, the more successful you’re likely to be.

The problem that many find with marketing their freelance writing business is not that there’s a distinct lack of opportunities for marketing and promotion, but that they don’t know which routes to take.

Do you place an advert in a business telephone directory telling everyone you’re a freelance writer?

How about taking out an advert on the front page of your local newspaper, promoting your article writing services?

Pay for a few links to your blog on high traffic websites, perhaps?

Maybe a stint with Google’s Adwords?

Understandably, it can be confusing trying to market your freelance business and many writers tend to put their marketing efforts on the back burner, thinking they’ll give them another shot in a few weeks time.

If you’re ready to start 2011 with a bang and want to give your marketing efforts a kick start, have a read through the following five points – they should all help you market your freelance writing business in a simple and effective way.

1.  Start thinking you’re a freelance writing business

The very first thing you have to do is stop thinking that you’re just a jobbing writer, someone who’s going from project to project, without any real direction.

If you think and believe this, it’s going to make your clients wonder just how serious you are about writing and they’re going to think twice about hiring you – no one wants to be working with someone who’s supposed to be offering a professional service but who’s acting as though they’re providing a favour to a friend.

Businesses like to operate with businesses – it’s a simple fact.  They’re a business who can be trusted and so they’d prefer to spend their money with another trusted business, knowing that they’ll get back a product that’s of the quality they deserve for their money.

If you can get over to potential clients that your not just one of the many new writers out there who is looking for work but are in fact an established freelance writing business, it’s not only going to put you in a more professional frame of mind, but you’re going to find you receive more interest from high paying clients.

2.  Have a professional website

Once you’ve got it into your head that you’re now operating a freelance writing business and you aren’t just a writer who works on the occasional freelance project, you need to have a professional website to showcase your talents.

You don’t have to get a company in to design a website especially for your business, you just need to have a separate website or blog that you can use solely for business.

The simple reason behind this is that perception is everything and impressions count for such a lot in business.

For example, if a potential client came across your website, would you prefer if the website was one that combined your personal and professional lives, displaying your freelance writing rates alongside your holiday photographs or one that did nothing but showcase your business side, from your resume through to your previous clients?

3.  Get yourself known in the community

You could be the best freelance writer out there, but if no one knows you’re available, how are they supposed to hire you when they need a freelance writer?

Getting yourself known in the freelance writing community isn’t difficult and you don’t have to spend hours upon hours every day contacting everyone directly – you’ve just got to start commenting on blogs, posting in forums and contributing or helping people out in groups, such as those on LinkedIn.

Your contributions to the blogs, forums and groups don’t have to be amazing or lengthy, either – as long as you’re saying something useful and relevant, you’ll soon find your feet in the community and you’ll be surprised at just how fast you grow in confidence and how quickly you become known within the community.

4.   Start networking

I love networking.  I love meeting new people and I love learning about them.

It’s because of this adoration for meeting new people and learning new things that I’ve got a particular fondness for one of the most importance aspects of marketing – networking.

When you mention the word networking, a lot of people shy away from the idea, believing that they have to sign up to in-person networking events where they go along every month and chat to other likeminded individuals, a process which they think is of no benefit to them.

The truth is that you really don’t need to be networking in this sense and I’ll be honest here, I haven’t been to an offline networking session in a long time.  I know from colleagues that they’re a great way to meet new people, including potential clients, but I’ve always found them to be a little too corporate for my liking.  Or at least the ones I attended were.

I find the best form of networking for me is to simply get in touch with other writers.  Follow them on Twitter, read their blogs, e-mail them directly – I’ve met some fantastic people by simply dropping them an e-mail to say hey, introducing myself and striking up a conversation.

It doesn’t matter how you do it, whether you go to a weekly offline networking group or you start talking to some of your fellow writers online, but just make sure you’re meeting new people regularly – the people you meet might not be able to offer you any work directly, but there’s a very good chance they’ll pass on your details next time they know someone who’s looking for a freelance writer.

5.  Give something away for free

Everyone, without exception, loves things that are free.

Those complimentary mints in the cafe always taste better because they’re free; your hair always looks better if your hairdresser gives you a free styling because the boss is away and those two bars of chocolate you get on Buy-One-Get-One-Free tastes that much better because you’ve only paid for one of them.

When you have something that’s free, you tend to keep going back for more, whether it’s still free or not.

You’ll head back to that cafe because although you remembered it for the complimentary mints, you realise you had a great meal there; you pay extra for a better styling next time you go to get your hair cut as it made you feel better about yourself last time and you buy that chocolate again and head back to the same shop as you enjoyed how the chocolate tasted.

Transfer this to a freelance writing business and if you’re to offer something on your website for free, whether it’s an ebook, a white paper or a template of some form, you’ll find that once people get word of your free offerings, they’ll tell their friends and colleagues, who’ll then tell their friends and colleague, who’ll then tell…

Word of mouth marketing – it’s the oldest but one of the best forms of advertising you can utilize.

How you market your freelance writing business is really up to you.  These five steps, however, should make the process a lot easier than you might have first thought.

Just a word of warning – don’t carry out any marketing efforts if you aren’t entirely sure what you’re doing.  I’m a massive fan of Google, but I’ve worked with far too many clients who’ve been using Adwords and seeing next to no return on the money because they just don’t know how to use it properly.

Image:  Rude Cactus

Gotten a great testimonial? Hope you’re taking advantage of all it can do for you!

The other day, Sharon Hurley Hall was elated when she had a rave review from a happy client. Don’t glowing testimonials just make your day? Mine, too. One day this week I had a particularly difficult assignment and when I sent it off, I was waiting for it to come back with red pen all over it. But it didn’t. The client said, “This is great. Thanks so much for all your hard work!” If you’ve had great testimonials, don’t sit on them or smile and then file them away. Share them with the world. Seriously. Toot your own horn. It’ll help you immensely.  Here’s how:

-Add it to a testimonials page on your website. This page will show prospective customers how past customers have felt about your work. More content on your website equals more potential traffic, too. Every time you update your site, search engines could come visit to see what you’ve added and then send you increasingly relevant traffic. If you look at Sharon’s testimonial linked above, you’ll see another reason why clients find her and offer work to her.  Her testimonials help her with her online marketing. marketing. How? That testimonial is on its own page on her writing site with a keyword optimized permalink structure, relevant category,  and tags that relate to the type of writing and to testimonials. This strategy ups the chances that someone looking for those specific services will find Sharon and find out that not only does she offer resume writing services but also that people LOVE her work. I have a testimonials page on my website today but think I’ll take a cue from Sharon and re-create individual pages on my blogs for those reviews as well.

-Send the kudos out to the social sphere. Mention it on Twitter, Plurk, Facebook… wherever you hang out online. A prospective customer may read it and contact you for a quote. (Hint: This works well when you use the Twitter widget on your blog, too. Clients can see those testimonials in your sidebar when they browse your website to see if they’d like to approach you for a quote.)

-Add some short but rave reviews to your bidding template. Do you use a template when you apply to writing gigs? If so, a few blurbs about what existing and past customers have said about your quality of work could help tip the scales in your favour.

Here are some Do’s and Don’ts to consider when posting testimonials:

-Don’t post the client’s name unless they give you permission to do so.

-Do consider linking back to the client’s site or the source of work you’ve done, if the client is agreeable and you aren’t going to be breaching any ghostwriting / confidentiality agreements, of course. Then, you can show prospects what all the buzz is about.

-Don’t be afraid to ask . If a client seems happy, ask them if you can have a testimonial. Offer to link to their site, if they like. Links are coveted online and offering a link could make your client jump at the chance to write a recommendation or… to sign off on a recommendation you’ve written for them about you. (A client of mine didn’t have time to write one but responded when I told him I was offering links on my testimonials page and he gave me the green light to write the testimonial for him and to tell the world how much he valued me. )

-Do consider joining and using LinkedIn. This site is great for creating a professional profile and networking. There’s a feature on the site where you can get and give recommendations and those are updated in your time line so those recommendations are viewable by others (after you approve their going live).  If people recommend you on LinkedIn, you may want to add those recommendations to your own site or blog as well. Don’t be afraid to recommend great clients on LinkedIn  and perhaps they’ll return the favour.

The next time you get a pat on the back, I hope you’ll use it to your advantage!

What's on your daily freelance checklist?

Being a freelance writer isn’t always about being a free spirit. Some structure can be required, especially if you have clients to answer to and want to live off your writing.  A daily checklist is a good way to keep your business running well. Some days that checklist can help you prioritise and decide what to do with a busy day and other days a quick look can give you peace of mind as you take a well-earned a day off. Here are some of my checklist items:

Regular Projects

I have quite a few ongoing gigs. Some require a bit of work most days and some work in a way that allows me to work in batches. On a daily basis I need to look at my to-do list to determine where I’m at with these. Checkmarks and asterisks help me manage everything.

One Off Projects

Projects come in on a regular basis that are one-offs. Some clients have extra projects and I have a nice trickle of new clients that approach me through my business site. I keep a running list of my to-do items and checking this list daily to see where I’m at helps me not have too many late nighters or moments of panic when I realise I’ve forgotten a project.  A daily look at my list keeps me on track to meet deadlines and earning goals.

Billing

We all want to get paid to write. Right? I like to keep close track of billing. Does anyone owe me money? Do I owe anyone money? I use a colour coding system on my project spreadsheet that helps me see what’s what with my invoicing. I check it regularly so I know what’s coming, what’s due, and what might be overdue and require a follow up to keep my family fed and keep the power and (the blessed) internet on.

Marketing & Networking

Marketing on a regular basis keeps the work flowing in and helps me not have to go banging on doors too often. I don’t market every day but I keep marketing on my to-do list so that I can keep that steady trickle of inquiries coming in.  If I see queries start slowing down then I know to move marketing up on the priority list.

Marketing and networking can go hand in hand. Visiting some blogs and social media sites for a few minutes on a regular basis helps me network almost effortlessly. This keeps my name in the minds of customers and peers and can shine a light on me to potential customers, too. I looked on Twitter this morning and saw I hadn’t updated since last week so I’ll make sure I do some microblogging this week. I’ll probably tie it into some of my passive income efforts and marketing for my business blog as well.

Passive Income

I have about a dozen or so blogs. Some are updated regularly and some haven’t been updated in months. In a perfect world, I’d update each of them each week and check that off my list. I’m not doing that right now as work is keeping me busy but I do keep the topic of passive income on my checklist. What are my earnings at? What do my blog traffic stats look like? Can I use that statistical information to help me earn more?  Paying attention to these things helps me keep money trickling in from some of my passive revenue sources, such as: Clickbank, Amazon, Google Adsense, Kontera, etc.

Some writers add extra items to their list, such as time for creative writing projects, time for print publication queries, and other things that are important to them. A list can change, depending on my priorities. It can help me prioritise, check things off as they’re done, and  help me feel in control and accomplished at the end of the day.  The best way for me to get my bearings when feeling overwhelmed is to clean my desk and look at my list. What’s on your freelance business checklist?

(photo: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/iprole)

If you’re working as a freelance writer, then you should be promoting yourself. You might wonder whether you have the time and money to undertake promotional activity, and whether there’s any point. I can tell you, from my own experience, that there IS a point. Promoting yourself will help you to attract new clients for your writing, to consolidate relationships with existing clients and to form links with a writing and blogging community. It’s all about getting the word out about who you are and what you stand for.

There are a number of issues to consider when promoting yourself. For example, do you want to promote your name or brand yourself so that your business can continue in the future? Although in the past I have always said that writers’ names are their brand, recently I’ve been persuaded that there’s a lot of value in having a brand for your writing business that’s independent of your name. I won’t go into details here, but this post by James Chartrand makes the point.

Have you actually decided what aspect of your services you want to promote? As a writer, I could promote myself for:

• writing ebooks
• writing search engine optimized web content
• handling an article marketing campaign
• writing researched articles on a variety of topics
• writing travel pieces
• writing academic papers

This is just a sample, but you get the idea. In promoting myself, I need to decide whether to promote myself as an all round writer or to focus different types of promotion on different areas.

Once you know what services you are promoting and how you will brand yourself, it’s time to decide on the most effective method. You can promote yourself in a number of places and in a variety of ways. Rather than list them all here, I’ll be starting a new series on this blog next week, looking at some of the free ways that you can promote yourself. I’ll tell you which ones I’ve used effectively, and which ones have not worked for me – and why.

In general, self promotion has worked well for me. I have not spent any money on promoting myself, but my promotional efforts have helped clients to find me, as well as writers looking to offload some of their extra work. I’m pretty happy with the results so far. I’m sure you will be too.