Well, that’s only a recommendation. If you want to be unethical, I suppose that’s up to you. I have to admit, when the money is low, we change our views on what we will or won’t do. But before I start to wax philosophical, I’ll get to the point. There are a handful of oft-seen freelance writing jobs that may be legitimate ways to earn money, but are a bit sketchy in an ethical sense. Here are two types of freelance writing gigs that may stretch your ethical attitudes. … Keep reading »

This is a good rule no matter what business you’re in, but a crucial one if you are a freelance writer. It may not be as easy to put into practice as you might think. The literal meaning is simply that you shouldn’t rely on only one client or job as an online freelance writer, because you just never know when the work could stop. The Internet can be horribly capricious. If you already have another job besides freelance writing, then it’s not quite as big a deal. If your career is anything like mine, you’re juggling your income from several different sources. And that’s how it should be (more or less). … Keep reading »

Ok, I said I would provide more details about how to get hired at About.com, and here they are. Read my earlier post for details on what a Guide position at About.com entails in the first place. If you think that writing for About.com is what you’re after, be prepared to give it alot of work. … Keep reading »

About.com is the holy grail of online writing gigs, at least from my own experience. I was the Guide there for their topic of Pagan/Wiccan religion for several years. Getting a Guide position there will basically guarantee your ability to become a full-time freelancer. Ok, there are never any guarantees in life, but this is still the network to strive for. Today’s post will be about the basics of a gig with About.com, with further posts coming with more on how to actually get yourself hired. Yes, they are important enough to warrant several posts. … Keep reading »

Many online writers today use a blog format for their own sites (like this site does), and it’s a great way to present your material. But given the journal-style of a blog, people tend to assume frequent updates more than they might with another style of website. So, how often you should post a new blog on your website in order to maximize visits and popularity? … Keep reading »

As I mentioned a few posts ago (Basics of Freelance Bidding Sites), I have joined Elance and thought it was time to post what I’ve noticed about the service. They are changing their fees and bidding structure next month, so things may be different in the near future but I’m pretty sure some of the issues I’ve had will still be issues. … Keep reading »

Just a quick tip today: open up a PayPal account. No, this isn’t something that is going to make or break your burgeoning freelance career, but it can make things easier. Since you are working in an online arena, people are going to expect to do all the transactions online. And that includes payment. So, go sign up for an account. … Keep reading »

Until recently, I’ve spend most of my job-hunting time looking at various job boards and hoping for the best. I’ve now thought about giving the bidding-type sites a try. There are many of them, but using the larger ones will offer you more job choices. … Keep reading »

Craigslist is becoming THE place to look online for just about anything. It’s more than just a job board, as you can find things for sale, apartments for rent, personals and way more. It’s a classified ad type site, covering everything you can imagine, including freelance writing jobs.

Now, Craigslist is actually a number of sites, each for a major city or region. It’s not just one site that you can browse through. There are about 20 major US cities, and 8 major Canadian cites, with a total of more than 450 location-specific sites. That can make it awkward for searching, as you basically have to check each city. … Keep reading »

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. … Keep reading »