by Amanda on August 26, 2010
Here’s a question for everyone today. With the freelance writing rates declining fairly rapidly I want to ask you today, would you take less pay if you were guaranteed work. As a freelancer I have to admit that bidding on jobs can be quite tiresome and with so many people not even awarding their jobs at the end of the bidding time, bids are being wasted especially on sites such as Elance. I’m glad that I don’t rely on Elance to provide me with work as I also work for another freelance company too. The pay is less than what I would charge on Elance but the work is guaranteed and I can take as much or a little as I like.
This company has a number of writers and when we log in to the admin system there is a large list of articles available. What you do is choose the article you want to write. The great thing is, that you can’t take another article until you have posted the one you have previously chosen. You have 48 hours to submit your chosen article too. What I love about this compared to other freelance companies that I have worked with is the fact that ever article is listed seperately so you never get bored doing keyword articles.
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by Amanda on August 13, 2010
I have an account with freelancer.com (formerly Get A Freelancer) and I have to say it makes me laugh when I read the email notifications that arrive in my inbox every day. These emails are to notify me of new freelance writing jobs and they probably arrive every 10 minutes. Yes, there really is a lot of work available on this website but you would have to be desperate to even bid on any of them.
Here’s an example of a job that was posted today at 10am.
Description
Hi,
I need people who I can send articles to and they can send it back to me within two hours. If you cannot do this, please do not bid on this project. Accordingly, I ask that along with your bid you send a PM stating what hours are you free to do this article. If I accept your bid, I will send you an article around those times and if you accept you MUST send me a PM telling me so that I do not give the article to someone. Depending onyour turnaround time, I might send more than one article to you per day. In your bid please write “I’m ready” to show that you read this project. Bids without this will not be accepted.The pay is .002 X words count. If the article is 400 words, the pay rate will be $0.80 USD Please send your times according to the Pacific Standard Time (PTS) Each rewrite must not be more than 10 words less than the original article. At least one word outof every three words must be different. This article must also make sense grammatically.
by Amanda on March 8, 2010
A question that I often get asked is, “what is ghostwriting?” You really would be surprised at the amount of people who actually think that I spend my days writing about ghosts.
According to the dictionary, a ghost writer is:
–noun
a person who writes one or numerous speeches, books, articles, etc., for another person who is named as or presumed to be the author.
Most people assume that ghost writers only write novels and biographies for celebrities but this is not the case. The ghostwriting industry has really developed and this is partly due to the internet. Ghost writers today do a lot more than write novels although I must admit; this is still where the big money is to be made.
There are often times when ghostwriting and freelance writing overlap. This is especially true when it comes to writing for the internet. In fact most of the freelance writing jobs that are advertised are in fact ghostwriting jobs. Your clients want you to write articles, website content, sales pages, ebooks or more and they want you to hand over the copyright for this on receipt of payment. You are not getting any credit for this work and therefore it really should be classified as ghostwriting.
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by Amanda on February 1, 2010
Freelance writing income can often be compared to a rollercoaster ride. One month your income is up and the next it is down. It’s a rollercoaster ride and one that more and more freelance writers want to get off.
Have you ever noticed what you do when your freelance writing income goes down? What you do when your client list decreases? What you do when you have no freelance writing jobs?
The answer to this is easy. You start marketing. You look for freelance writing jobs, you promote your services and you network with others. When work is short you start looking for it. What happens then is that all your hard work pays off and the next month your income is up.
Up and down, month after month, this is the rollercoaster ride for many freelancers. If you want to change this and stay on the up you need to pay attention. Have you ever noticed what happens when your freelance writing income is on the up? What do you do when you have plenty of clients and plenty of work?
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by Amanda on January 26, 2010
If you want to be a successful freelance writer there are three things that you need to be doing on a regular basis. These are:
- Promoting
- Networking
- Job Hunting
Promoting
Promoting yourself as a freelance writer is vital to your success. There are a number of ways that you can do this. You can use article marketing, post new articles to your blog or website or write guest posts for other blog owners. Promotion is all about getting your name out there and having your freelance writing talents recognized.
Did you know that most potential clients will Google your name to find out more about you? What does you name show up? Have you ever actually Googled yourself to see what the results display? You might be surprised at what you find.
Networking
Networking is all about staying in the loop and talking with other freelance writers. Networking is a great way to meet potential clients too. There are a number of ways that you can network and these include using websites such as Facebook and Twitter, following and commenting on other freelance writing blogs and participating in forums. Networking is also a great way to meet other freelance writers and discuss issues or problems you might be having. Networking also gets your name out there and to be a successful freelance writer people need to know your name.
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by Amanda on January 17, 2010
by Amanda on November 5, 2009
Last week I received an email from Neil Asher in which he included a link to a free Elance E-book. This free e-book has been written for people who want to outsource but it is also a good read for freelance writers who use Elance as a means of getting freelance writing jobs. This e-book explains how buyers can use Elance which you probably won’t find interesting but it also goes on to explain how buyers should screen freelancers, what they should look for and how they should evaluate bids. This is great for freelance writers as it will give you an insight into the mind of the buyer and what they are really looking for.
As you probably know I am a big advocate of Elance and I have been using this website to obtain freelance writing jobs since 2004. I still use Elance and probably complete at least one writing assignment per month. This free Elance e-book is great for all new freelance writers who are confused about finding jobs on Elance and it will explain what you need to include in both your portfolio and your bids.
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by Amanda on September 15, 2009
European Freelance Writing Jobs
It’s Tuesday and again I have a good listing of European freelance writing jobs today. I have to admit that I am always delighted when I have more than three jobs to post. It is slightly harder to actually locate freelance writing jobs that are located in Europe but so far it seems to be going well. I know that with freelance online writing jobs you can be located anywhere, but the main purpose of this category is to try and find freelance writing or editing jobs that pay in European currencies. Please don’t forget if you have any comments or suggestions in relation to this section of my blog please don’t hesistate to let me know. I am always open to feedback, good or bad. All you have to do is leave your comments below the post.
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by Amanda on May 13, 2009
You may remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I would be reviewing GetAFreelancer to see what type of service and projects they offered freelance writers.
Well I’ve reviewed the website over a period of one week and now I am ready to give you my honest opinion on whether or not you should look for freelance writing jobs there.
First off let me just say that registering wth GetAFreelancer is free so this is a bonus but probably about the only one as you will see.
Get A Freelancer Reviewed:
Day 1: Sunday 26th April 2009
- Placed bid for weight loss article project – budget $20 to $50
Project to create a 500 word piece using information supplied by client.
Bid placed $20
Other bids – 1 at time of placement
Received PMB from client stating:
as part of the project you will have to do a keyword reaserch (this is the reason for the high payout)
can you with the right keywords get this article to the google top 10?
Project awarded 2 hours after initial bid for the amount of $30 instead of $20 and escrow was funded immediately. Project was completed Monday morning and payment was received within 20 minutes. [click to continue…]
