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General Freelance Writing Tips - Freelance Online Work

Add Your Blog to Blog Burst

July 23rd 2008 17:06
Blog Burst Logo
Blog Burst Logo

BLOG BURST
Anyone that has a blog should consider registering it with the Blog Burst site. It is free to list as many blogs as you would like. Your blog has to be setup for full RSS feeds, not just a summary of each post you make to your blog.


I have my Bike Diva site, which is a Wordpress.com blog, registered with the Blog Burst site. I have been getting a good amount of traffic to Bike Diva coming through my link with Blog Burst.

MEDIA EXPOSURE FOR YOUR BLOG
BlogBurst places blogs on nearly 100 top-tier news and media sites including Reuters, USA Today, Gannett, McGraw-Hill, Fox News and more.

I just checked my Bike Diva stats on the Blog Burst site earlier today. Here are a few of my Bike Diva posts that have been picked up in the last few weeks by other sites:

Reuters - Bike Diva Future
Chicago Sun Times - Bike Diva Biking Articles

Computer Shopper - Go Pro Digital Cameras
Livestrong - Century Ride Tips for New Cyclists

If you have a blog, list at Blog Burst, and see an increase in traffic to your site. It's also cool to brag to your friends that Reuters, and other popular online sites, have picked up your news feed!

Take care,
Lynn AKA the Bike Diva
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My Personal Blog

April 24th 2008 17:01
freelance writer lynn smythe
Freelance Writer Lynn Smythe

My Writing Website
I used to have my own domain name setup for my personal webpage. I could never really figure out the ftp file uploading and always struggled to keep the site updated. I decided to setup a free site on Blogger to keep track of all my writing projects.

The site is located at: Freelance Writer Lynn Smythe.

RSS Feeds
I write for quite a few online sites, so I placed RSS feeds of the 5 latest articles for most of the sites on the main page. I still need to setup a page with my resume of print publication articles.

More Links
I don't think I'm going to keep a resume of all my online publications on the site. They currently number in the hundreds - information overload. Guess I should add links for each site I've had articles published on: Suite101, Associated Content and Helium are the main ones.

Your Site
Do you have a personal website setup to keep track of all your online and print publications? Please share the link to your site and I'll check it out when I get a chance.

Take care,
Lynn
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Social Networking & Bookmarking Sites

April 15th 2008 15:24
Squidoo Logo
Squidoo Logo

Every time I write a new article, I list it with certain social networking and bookmarking sites. Most of these sites require that you set up a free account in order to access their services. I see quite a few page views to my articles coming in from Digg and Technorati.

If you can get an article listed on Stumble Upon, you should see a HUGE increase in page views. However, Stumble Upon limits the number of links it will accept from a certain website before it blocks you from adding anymore links from that site. So, instead of trying to link every article I write on Suite101 to Stumble Upon I just link my main page.

I've also had great success listing my latest articles on the various message board forums I belong to such as Absolute Write and Accentuate Writers. These are two freelancing websites that contain tons of useful information in addition to the message boards.

My Social Networking and Bookmarking Sites

All About Steak
www.allaboutsteak.com
I just registered with this site and started bookmarking all my food related articles to this site. Don't let the name scare you, you can also add vegetarian and other non-steak recipes to the site.

Ask
www.ask.com

Blog Upp
www.blogupp.com
If you have one or more blogs, you should use this service. Register your blog with Blogupp in exchange for placing a widget on your site. Great way to drive more traffic to your site for FREE!

Classmates
www.classmates.com
Great way to find old high school and college classmates. However, the free account is a bit limited. To enjoy all the benefits this site has to offer, you would have to sign up for one of their subscription accounts. I haven't done this yet, trying to decide if it would be worth the $$ or not.

Digg
www.digg.com

Facebook
www.facebook.com
I like this site much better than MySpace. I link all my articles to my Facebook page. I get quite a few page views coming from my links on Facebook. Lots of bells and whistles that can be added to customize your personal Facebook page.

Google
www.google.com
Google should eventually find your article. But why not get an early jump on driving traffic to your articles by visiting Google and adding a link to your articles as soon as they are published.

Linked In
www.linkedin.com
Great site for adding general contact information, staying in touch with business contacts and even high school and college classmates. I list the main sites I write for as current jobs. I found quite a few of my college classmates and business associates on LinkedIn.

MyBlogLog
www.mybloglog.com
Part of the Yahoo family. Register with My Blog Log and find out who is visiting your blogs.

MySpace
www.myspace.com
Add a blog or bulletin about your latest article to your MySpace page. Now that I have a Facebook account, I rarely use MySpace anymore.

Squidoo
www.squidoo.com
Create a lens on Squidoo to keep track of all your latest articles. You can add a RSS feed for each online site you write for to your Squidoo lens.

Stumble Upon
www.stumbleupon.com
Limits the number of links you can add from each site.

Technorati
www.technorati.com
In addition to being able to add bookmarks to each of your articles, Technorati also allows you to claim and track each of your blogs on their site.

Yahoo
www.yahoo.com

Yardbarker
www.yardbarker.com
I link all my sports and fitness related articles to this site. I am an avid road biker and have started to write articles on road biking and road biking events.

Zoom Info
www.zoominfo.com
I honestly don't remember why I signed up for this site. I forgot I even had an account with them until I received an email from them the other day. I signed up for a free account with them back in late 2006. This was before I started writing for online content providers. Guess I need to update my profile on this site or just delete the account.

Other Networking Sites
There are tons of other social networking and bookmarking sites available. I don't have any experience working with these other sites. But thought I'd list a few of them in case you want to research them yourself.

Blinklist
www.blinklist.com

Delicious
http://del.icio.us

Furl
www.furl.net

Hub Pages
www.hubpages.com
This site is a bit like Squidoo.

Newsvine
www.newsvine.com

Reddit
http://reddit.com

Spurl
www.spurl.net

What Sites Do You Use?
Are there any other social networking and bookmarking sites that you use that aren't on this list? Add a comment to the end of this post and let us know what sites you like to use.

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Writing.com

April 4th 2008 17:08
Writing.Com is the online community for writers and readers of all interests and skill levels. Whether you're an enthusiastic, creative writer looking for the perfect place to store and display your writing online or a casual reader searching for a good story, Writing.Com is the website for you!

With 608,473 members and 1,309,677 literary items created since inception, this community is bursting with activities, inspiration and creativity.

Free memberships are available to everyone. Each membership includes an online writing portfolio, numerous writing tools, email services and the chance to meet and bond with fresh creative minds, just like you! No other website services the Writing world better than we do.

Visit the Writing.com website to learn more, or to sign up for your own account.
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Sold My First Reprint

March 29th 2008 16:45
Artisan Cheese
I sold my first re-print of an article I had previously published online. The Editor of The Heart of New England online magazine saw my Vermont Artisan Cheese article on the Associated Content website. She emailed me on March 8th requesting permission to reprint it on the magazines website.

It's kind of funny, it's one of the lowest page view articles I have ever written for Associated Content. But I guess the editor thought it was the perfect fit for The Heart of New England Magazine.

I received $15 for the reprinted article - way more than I've made in page views over on Associated Content.

Here is a copy of the email I received from the editor:

"Hi Lynn,
I'm publisher & editor of The Heart of New England online magazine. I would like to publish your article about Vermont Cheeses. I pay $15 per article. Please let me know if this is okay. Thank you!

Marcia Passos Duffy
The Heart of New England online magazine
www.TheHeartofNewEngland.com"

Invoice for Payment
She asked that I send the article to her in word format as an email attachment and to send her a seperate invoice to be paid. I use Paypal so I sent an invoice through Paypal to the editor for $15. I received payment the very next day.

On March 14th I received another email from the editor with the link to my article reprint: Vermont's Artisan Cheeses.

Now if I could only figure out how to sell reprints off ALL my articles, I might be able to go on that trip to Hawaii!!!

Free Reprint
A million years ago, my first few articles were published just so I could start collecting a few clippings to show to other editors. I had a few articles published in the Essential Herbal Magazine. No payment, but I did receive a free copy of the magazine.

About a week prior to selling the chesse article reprint, I was contacted by the Editor of The Essential Herbal Magazine. Here is a copy of her email to me:

"Hi Lynn,

I'm in the process of putting together the first five years of The Essential Herbal into 2 volumes. One will encompass Spring/Summer, the other Fall/Winter. The first three years are almost completely sold out, and there was a lot of great stuff in there. So I'm writing to ask if you will give me permission to reprint the articles that you submitted to the magazine. Proper credit of course - and you may want to change the credits to reflect your lynn smythe creations site.

Please let me know at your earliest convenience.
Thanks!

Tina
www.essentialherbal.com"

I gave her permission to reprint the articles asap. I updated my contact information, so you never know, I could be receiving more reprint requests in the future.


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Team in Training

March 28th 2008 18:49
tnt logo
Team in Training Logo

Cocoa Beach Century Ride
As some of you might remember, last year my husband Rob and I raised money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through their Team in Training program. The event we trained for was the 109 mile El Tour de Tucson, which took place on November 17th, 2007. We were the mentors for the Palm Beach County cycle team. It was a phenomenal experience, both the ride, and working towards raising money for such a worthy cause.

This year, Rob is going to be the coach, and I will be the mentor for the group training for the 2008 Intracoastal Waterway Century Ride. This 100 mile road bike ride takes place on October 26th in Cocoa Beach, FL. We are looking for people to participate as a member of the Palm Beach County TNT cycle team.

This is a great way to get the support and structure you need to get in shape, meet new cycling friends and achieve something many people haven't - riding 100 miles on a bicycle in one day! The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is a charity that does much to further research towards cures, and ease the burden of those battling leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease, lymphoma and myeloma along with improving the quality of life of patients and their families.

In exchange for the support and training, you commit to raising a certain amount of money. The participation minimum for this ride is $2100. This might seem like a large amount, but you'd be very surprised at how quickly and easily this amount of money can be raised. Last year Rob and I raised over $6,500!

ALL CYCLISTS WELCOME
Last year's team had everyone from very athletic road bikers, to recreational cyclists, to diehard couch potatoes, to a 63/73 year old couple riding their tandem bicycle. EVERYONE is welcome, no matter what prior road biking experience you may have. The Palm Beach County cycle team will have a coach, and a mentor to help you out with your training and fundraising goals. Each training ride also includes a SAG vehicle, filled with snacks and goodies, that sweeps the ride route should anyone have a mechanical problem or any health issues.

INFORMATION MEETINGS
Information meetings will be starting in Palm Beach County over the next few weeks. Rob and I will be attending most of these meetings, and will spend a few minutes at each meeting talking about our experience with the Team in Training program.

BOYNTON BEACH - Monday, April 14 - 6 pm - West Boynton Beach Library

JUPITER - Monday, April 14 - 6 pm - Jupiter Community Center

WEST BOCA RATON - Wednesday, April 16- 6 pm - Fleet Feet Sports Boca

EAST BOCA RATON - Monday, April 21- 6 pm - East Boca Community Center

ROYAL PALM BEACH - Tuesday, April 22- 6 pm - Royal Palm Beach Library

WEST PALM BEACH - Thursday, April 24- 6 pm - South Florida Water Mgmt District

PALM BEACH GARDENS - Saturday, April 26- 9 am - NIKE Women, The Gardens Mall

WEST PALM BEACH - Saturday, May 3- 9:30 am - The National Croquet Center. This is also the Fall Season Kickoff for all TNT events including the Accenture Chicago Triathlon, The Nation’s Triathlon, The Bank of America Chicago Marathon, Nike’s Women’s Marathon and the 20th Annual Intracoastal Waterway Century Road Bike Ride.

If you are interested in joining the TNT program, know someone who might be, or would like more information, please drop me a note.

Lynn Smythe
Team in Training Cycle Mentor
Thebikediva@yahoo.com
www.bikediva.net

For more information about Team In Training and the Palm Beach Area Chapter, visit their website at www.teamintraining.org/pb or give them a call at 561-775

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Failed About.com Prep School

March 18th 2008 15:54
Well, now I have loads of time to go back to writing for all my blogs. I have been in prep school since February 29th to possibly become a Guide on About.com. My final review was yesterday and here is the email I received from my prep mentor:

My "Dear Jane" Letter

"Lynn,

After a difficult decision-making process, we've decided that,
unfortunately, we're not going to be able to offer you the position of Guide to Herb Gardens at this time. While you created a lot of good content and clearly have an excellent grasp of the topic, we've decided to go with another candidate whose greater breadth and depth of coverage gave us a better idea of how they'd perform as a Guide. Thank you for taking the time to go through Prep and for your patience during this long process and we wish you the best of luck in your future work.

Sincerely,

About.com Prep Instructor"

Insane Training
Prep school was really freaking INTENSE! I barely cleaned or cooked during the entire prep training, much to the horror of my husband and kids. And I created loads and loads of content during training. Guess I should try selling it somewhere, or starting my own Herb Garden site. But I don't have the energy right now to deal with it. Maybe the magic publishing/editing gods will come visit me and offer buckets of cash for all the herb garden stuff I've written in the past 18 days!?!

Consolation Prize
Oh well. I actually "met" the girl they choose to be the guide over on the Absolute Write forums. So I don't feel too bad. She is a herb nut like me and a terrific writer. She tried for another guide topic about a year ago, went through prep but wasn't offered the position at her last review. So I guess that means I shouldn't give up my dream of one day becoming a guide on About.com. But Herb Gardens, geeez, that was the PERFECT topic for me.

Pennies from Heaven
Well, now it's back to writing for pennies for all my online sites. About.com guarantees new guides a minimum of $725 per month for the first two years. Dang, I sure could have used that money!

Enough crabbing for now, time to go make a pot of coffee and drown myself in it!

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Absolute Write

March 13th 2008 18:03
Absolute Write
Absolute Write Logo


Have You Heard of Absolute Write?

I just joined the forum over on Absolute Write a few days ago. I had been looking for information on the About.com prep process for guides-in-training. I found a link on the Suite101 forums to the Absolute Write About.com thread. So I ran right over and signed up. The About.com thread on Absolute Write is over 90 pages so far!!! It contains TONS of information on writer's that have gone through or are going through the prep school to possibly become a guide for About.com.

But Absolute Write is a terrific resource of information on a wide variety of subjects. Fiction writing, freelance writing, self publishing, blogging, etc... So far I'm only using the forum but Absolute Write is a complete online writing community. It would take me weeks, months to go through all the information covered on the site.

Besides the forums, other major topics include: classes, market listing, store, editorial services and writer's directory.

Here's a blurb from the Absolute Write website:

"Welcome, writers! If you're interested in freelance writing, screenwriting, playwriting, writing novels, nonfiction, comic book writing, greeting cards, poetry, songwriting, or-- well, you get the idea-- you're in the right place. Thanks for visiting the one-stop web home for professional and beginning writers."

Absolute Write should be bookmarked by any serious writer.


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Google Loves Me, They Love Me Not

March 7th 2008 15:17
You might have noticed, my three Orble blogs haven't had any Google AdSense ads on them since February 28th. That is the day I recieved a generic email stating that they had disabled my adsense account. Couldn't really figure out why, they didn't give me any details. And I have 4 blogs setup up with adsense - one of which is on Blogspot which is owned by Google!

That very same day that I was booted out of adsense I started the prep training to possibly become a guide on About.com (see my previous post). So I didn't even have the time to try and figure out how/why I got booted out of the program.

Then today, out of the blue, I got another email from Google saying they have reinstated my adsense account. No explanation. So I have no clue. I don't know why my blogs were booted out of adsense and I don't know why they were reinstated. I'M TOTALLY CLUELESS!!!

So I just went back in to my 3 Orble blogs and placed ads back on them. Thanks to Orble's nifty editing tools, that only took about 3 seconds for each blog. Adding the adds back to my blogspot blog will have to wait for another day. I have to get code for individual add blocks and place html blocks in various sections of the blog - blah-blah-blah. Not difficult to do, just don't have the time to deal with it right now.

So my ad revenue from February is stll there. But they deleted the revenue which I made from September, 2007 through January, 2008. So it will still be awhile before I reach the $100 payout. And by then, who knows, maybe I'll get booted back out of the program.

I've never clicked on an ad in any of my blogs. I've never told anyone to click on an ad on my blogs. And Google won't give me details of why they booted me out of the program and then placed me back in it.

WEIRD!?!?!?!?!

Anyone else out there have problems with Google Adsense? I'd be curious to hear about it.

Take care,
Lynn
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About.com Guide Training

March 4th 2008 15:16
about.com logo
About.com Logo
Hello guys and gals!

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. But I'm right smack dab in the middle of Guide Prep Training to possibly become a Guide on About.com!

I've applied to a total of 5 guide topics since September, 2007. I always got the "thanks for applying" message. Then 3-4 weeks later I'd get the generic email saying they already filled the position.

This is the first time I made it into prep training for one of the topic's I've applied to. It's a really intense, 17 day program. About.com says there could be up to 5 other GI's (Guide's In Training) in the prep program at the same time. At the end of the prep program they decide to hire one writer and make them the official About.com Guide for that topic.

I'm currently in the Herb Gardens prep training. Other topics I had applied to were all food related:
American Food
Local Foods
Culinary Arts
Herb & Spices

So at the end of the training, if I'm not picked for the position, I'll have TONS of time to get back to writing for my other sites!

Take care,
Lynn
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List Your Blog at Blog Universe

February 26th 2008 17:53

Blog Universe is a free directory submission site. You can add a free link to your blog as long as you put a reciprocal link to Blog Universe on your site. Once you have added the link to your site, go back to the Blog Universe site to fill out their submission form. They will ping your site to verify that the link code is present.

From the Blog Universe website:
"BlogUniverse is a project to gather all bloggers at one place and to categorize them so as it will be easy to search required blogs of various niche's easily.

Kindly support Us by submitting Blogs that you find interesting and good to read . All the bloggers will get get a quality linkback from us and that too for free."

Small Site
Right now there are only around 150 blogs listed in the directory. But a basic listing is free, and who doesn't want more traffic for their blog? They have a regular listing (no reciprocal linkback required) available for $3 and a featured link submission available for $6. Not a lot of money, but as there aren't very many blogs currently using this site, I don't see any benefit of paying for a featured link.

There also aren't a lot of categories currently available to submit your site to. Maybe once the site has been around awhile longer they will be adding additional categories.

A free link is a good link so check out Blog Universe and submit your blog to their directory.
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New Age Books for Freelance Writers

February 24th 2008 02:13
candle magic
Candle Magic
I started my freelance writer career writing for a variety of print publications. Over the years I've had a number of articles published in various Llewellyn Worldwide books. My articles have appeared in Llewellyn's yearly Herbal Almanac, Magical Almanac, Witches' Datebook and Witches' Calendar.

Writing for the New Age market can be quite profitable. If you are interested in writing in this genre, here are a few books you may find to be helpful. I have a number of them in my personal library which I refer to from time-to-time.

Are you interested in writing for Llewellyn Worldwide? Visit Llewellyn's website to view their complete writer's guidelines.

Reach for the moon with Llewellyn Reach for the moon with Llewellyn Reach for the moon with Llewellyn Reach for the moon with Llewellyn Reach for the moon with Llewellyn Reach for the moon with Llewellyn
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Work for Smorty

February 21st 2008 01:26
Do you Smorty?
Smorty acts as a go between to connect advertisers with bloggers. The bloggers receive offers to advertise on blogs

This is an interesting opprotunity for bloggers that you may want to check out. Bloggers can choose which opportunities to accept and get paid for blogging. The bloggers write a review of the advertisers product and post the review to their blog.

Get Paid to Blog
The minimum Smorty post payment is $6. Bloggers who have higher ranking blogs will be offered higher payments. If you have a really popular, high page ranked site you can make as much as $100 per post according to Smorty. Bloggers are paid through Paypal once their post has been approved by the advertiser. Smorty pays the bloggers weekly.

Bloggers are not simply placing an advertisement on their blog. You pick out which blog advertising opportunities you are interested in. Then you write your personal opinion on the product or services being offered by the advertiser. You have up to 24 hours from the time you claim a blogging opportunity to write the review, add it to your blog, then submit the details about the blog post to Smorty. Each post should be between 150-400 words.

Smorty Approval
I filled out an online application on 2/17/08 to have my Freelance Online Work blog accepted into the Smorty program. On 2/20/08 I received an email saying that my blog had been approved. You can submit more than one blog for approval into the Smorty program. Smorty lets you register up to 10 blogs with their site. Once I see how I like the program with my Freelance Online Work blog, I may decide to add my other blogs for approval.

Blog Advertising - Get Paid to Blog
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Suite101 Goes International

February 17th 2008 14:56
suite101 logo
Suite101 Logo
I've been writing for Suite101 since October, 2007. Suite101 is located in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada. Suite101 is an English language online content provider which is a fantastic opportunity for freelance writers. See my post dated 1/22/08 for details on my experience writing for Suite101.

On Valentine's Day Suite101 made the following announcement:

Suite101.de Launches Feb 14! We love Germany!

germany suite101 logo
Suite101.de Logo


Today marks an inaugural moment in Suite history – the soft (beta) launch of our first international site, bringing 2000 articles to German readers across the pond in Deutschland. We’d like to congratulate our Editor-in-Chief in Berlin, Dirk Westphal, who has been working tirelessly toward this day since the fall, and his 140 personally-selected writers who have been writing articles at a dizzying pace behind the scenes. Our own superb tech team has also been at this for a year, so kudos to them as well. Today the curtain rises and the public will be able to visit the site and surf to their heart’s content.

A week from today, on February 21, we will have the official (hard) launch of the site and will begin taking writer applications and addressing the media. Our President, Peter Berger, and our Communications Director, Marci Hotsenpiller, will be on hand for press conferences and local meetings with journalists in Berlin, Munich, and points in between. To check out our sister site visit www.suite101.de and see what all the fuss is about!
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