This post is specifically about choosing a topic for your own website, but some of the points will apply if you are doing freelance writing for others at this point. So even if you’re not an independent online writer, keep on reading.

So you’ve decided that you want to work for yourself, and rake in some of those big Google ad bucks. Well, the first step is deciding what you want your new and wonderful website to be about. It may seem like an easy choice, but you should take some thought before getting in too deeply. (more…)

Few people would turn up their noses at a job where they can work from home. It’s one of those things just about anyone would love. And rather unscrupulous people have always taken advantage of that. So how do you know when an online writing job is a potential scam?

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Now, I don’t mean you should trim your text to the bare minimum. But when writing for an online audience, you have to take a short attention span into account. That’s not to put down our loyal readership out there, but it is a fact that with thousands (millions?) of web pages out there on any given topic, a person has a tendency to want immediate results. So you need to get the point and provide the essential information of your topic quickly. Too much flowery prose will have a person clicking off to the next page in a heartbeat. (more…)

According to Brandon at Shane & Peter you are doing the world a wonderful service by working from home. It’s very environmentally-friendly of you, so congrats. One of their recent posts titled, “Save the World, Work from Home” provides a whole host of specific details and statistics on how working from home helps the planet, mostly from reduced transportation fuel usage.  So if you’re thinking about taking the plunge and doing some tele-commuting, this just might be enough to convince. Don’t do it for yourself, do it for the Earth.

One of the quirks about writing for the web instead of print, is the way you have to choose your wording. The most important aspect of your writing work is to make sure your articles are found and read (whether you work for yourself, or are writing for others). And so you need to always keep your thoughts on search engines when you write. Your work isn’t going to do anyone any good if no one can find it. Even when writing for a well-known content network. The trick is to optimize for good keywords. (more…)

I haven’t been posting too much over the past couple of weeks, which creates the perfect example of what I’m talking about. When you’re at work, it’s a business environment and the interruptions are minimal and usually business related anyway. Not so when you work at home. Anything can happen and you have to be ready to roll with the punches, so to speak.

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I’m just looking at the calendar and realized how long its been since I applied for a couple really great online gigs. Sigh. If nothing else, my likely rejection has given me motivation for this post. Don’t get discouraged by a lack of response to your writing applications. (more…)

I used to browse through Sunoasis periodically and they do still offer a good collection of job postings, some freelance, some online as well as some jobs that are in-house writing positions.  I thought I’d share the site, but it’s not the best place for job-hunting. The site has poor navigation and many of the jobs are picked from other job boards (like Craigslist). Even so, there can be gems amongst it all and worth a bit of time when you are looking for gigs. (more…)

BlogExplosion is (was?) a great idea in traffic generating for blogs. You surfed other people’s blogs, and earned credits which led to your own blog being seen by other surfers. Great idea, but it seems to have died an online death. I recently joined, and after waiting a week to see if my blog was approved to join the rotation, I have not heard anything back. (more…)

If you have decided to create your own website as a way to publish your online writing, I’m sure you might be a bit interested in how to make that site earn you some money. Well, there are a few tried-and-true methods to make your site into an income earning project. This is just a basic list. Watch for details on each method in weeks to come.

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