When I tell people that I get paid to write for blogs, they’re usually interested to know about how that works, exactly. Writers who’ve been around the block a few times have likely seen this information before, but for those new to the field, I thought I’d share the different ways you can get paid to blog.

Image: sxc.hu

• Ad Revenue

If you decide to run your own blog, this is typically the way you’ll get paid, unless you have an investor. You can use affiliate ads (where you get paid a percentage of every sale from clicks through to their site), Pay-Per-Click ads (where you get paid every time someone clicks on the a link), and basic ad space sales (where you get paid by selling an ad spot on your blog for a set amount of time - usually a month). Some clients who hire you to write for them may also want to pay you based on ad revenue - usually a percentage (60/40 is usually the split).

At first, you aren’t going to get money from these ads…unless maybe you’re a celebrity and your blog is super popular right away. Working for someone who pays you based on ad revenue isn’t something I recommend. It isn’t really fair to the writer, because the client could decide to reduce the number of ads or report revenue falsely to pay you less money. In general, it’s not a good route to go.

• Traffic

Many clients wanting blogs and professional blogging networks pay ou traffic instead, which is easier for you as a writer to control. You’re paid based on a CPM - which basically means that you’re paid a certain set amount for every 1,000 visits to your website. CPM number usually range from $1 to $10 - it depends on the client and the subject matter. Clients like to pay bloggers this way because it encourages good writing, more posts, and at least little attempts at promotion. Is it fair? That depends on the CPM you’re offered. Before you sign up for something like this, ask to see the site’s history of traffic so far.

• Pay Per Post

In my opinion, the best type of payment plan offered to bloggers is the flat fee, where you get paid per post. Sometimes the client also offers you a flat fee per month, and you need to commit to a certain number of posts at minimum. With flat fees, there are often rules, such as word counts you have to hit for each post or the use of pictures.

To be honest, the most common payment plans you’ll find for bloggers (after the jackasses who want you to blog for free) is a combination of pay per post and CPM or ad revenue. I think that’s fair - you’re ensured you’ll be paid for your work even if no one reads it, kind of like a kill fee. At the same time, you’ll be rewarded for working hard to write great posts and promote the blog. More traffic = more money, and that’s quite an inspiration!

Please, though, be careful to understand your commitment before you sign a contract. A lump sum per month might seem like a lot until you break it down by hour and the ad revenue they “anticipate” many end up being pennies - literally - at the end of the month. Do your homework before taking any blogging job!

Do you blog for a client? What do you think is a fair payment method?

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I’m not going to lie - I’ve been known to curse like a sailor from time to time. I work part-time at a day care, so I’m pretty good at watching my mouth when I need to do so, but when I’m just around friends…well, we all curse.

Image: sxc.hu

What about your personal blog…or even a professional blog or work for a client? Should you pepper your posts with curse words or does that make you look bad?

Personally, I think sometimes, you can get away with it.

• Does your subject cater to an audience that doesn’t mind cursing? For example, the video game audience of one of my blogs really doesn’t mind cursing.
• Do you only use cursing minimally, without the words distracting your readers from the actual content?
• Do you avoid strong curse words that offend most people?
• Do you avoid using curse words if children probably visit the blog?
• Have you made sure that your client is OK with the cursing (if someone else is paying you for the work)?

If you answered yes to all of the above questions, I think a curse word or two here and there can be effective for some blogs. It isn’t just blogs, either. Sometimes a few curse words in article work, ebooks, etc. can also work well, depending on the subject matter. Keep in mind, though, that there will always be some people who aren’t on board with the use of curse words. If they make up the bulk of your readership, you probably shouldn’t use curse words at all.

Do you use curse words in your writing?

Not all freelance writers are bloggers, but I’m willing to bet that a fair number of you guys and gals know your way around WordPress (or another platform). Blogs are all about driving traffic, and one of the best ways to drive that traffic is to run a contest on your blog.

Image: sxc.hu

Unfortunately, though, many bloggers who try to run contests get a total of three entries - and one of the is from Mom. Contests can really fizzle, and that’s not good for you if you shelled out money for a prize. It’s even worse if you found someone to sponsor the contest for you and they saw no traffic or publicity for their donation. It’s all about ROI, people.

So how do you ensure that you have a great contest?

• Pick a great prize. I don’t want an envelope of coupons or an old ebook, in most cases (yes, there are exceptions). Give your readers something they can really use or a gift card from Amazon or Visa.
• Don’t make your contest overly complicated. Give them a single task that involves leaving a comment after visiting a sponsor’s site or subscribing to you.
• Broadcast your giveaway on blogs that specialize in contest postings.
• Don’t hide the contest within another post - make it really clear that your post is about winning something.
• Offer extra entries for people who comment on other blog posts, subscribe to your twitter, post about your giveaway on their blog, etc.
• Make the contest open to people world-wide if possible.
• Follow up the contest post with a really great post that is relevant to your target audience. You want the top post on your site to be fresh and interesting so people consider becoming a daily reader, not just leaving after entering your contest.
• Give a clear end date to the contest. You’d be amazed at how many people don’t do this!

Contest sometimes still flop after you follow of of these tips. That’s just the nature of the blogging world - readers aren’t always easy to, well, read. I don’t recommend a contest to kick-start your blog. Instead, build up readership in other ways, and use a contest to add to that readership. That way, hopefully your regular readers will jump in to enter the contest, giving you a boost without any work.

(www.thegoldenpencil.com)

If you’ve got a blog you may want to consider these basics about making money with it. This video is a good place to start.

Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing - a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision - for those who want to get a book written.

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Oh my goodness, Google is celebrating its 10 year birthday!

What has this got to do with freelance writing? I don’t know. What’ I am sure of though is that google has become an integral part of my writing life and the rest of my life. I use it to:

• check my spelling
• research facts for my ghostwriting
• find appropriate quotes for my ghostwriting and my own writing
• find a restaurant for my master mind group
• locate stores
• locate bookstores
• find my way and give others directions with google maps

There’s more, but you get the idea.

What tickles me though, is there time line - after all, I was there. Not at google, but in 1995 I was one of match.com’s first 20 or 30 employees and my job was writing for them. That gig was followed by several silicon valley writing gigs. It was an exciting time. The ‘net and all it might bring was in the air. I had recognized the web as a publishing medium and learned html before there were html editors. (I quickly moved to editors because I kept reversing brackets!)

You can imagine I’m having fun wandering through google’s time line, seeing what I remember and what I missed.

How about you? Do you have some early ‘net stories to tell?

Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing - a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision - for those who want to get a book written.

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(www.thegoldenpencil.com)

One of the finalists in Michael Stelzner’s Top 10 Blogs For Writers is The Book Deal. Subtitled “An Inside View Of Publishing,” it’s written by Alan Rinzler who bills himself as a Consulting Editor. The list of authors he’s worked with is impressive to say the least and each clickable link on his Authors page gives some insight in how the book came to be and came to be well known.

Rinzler’s blog does indeed give an inside view of the arcane world of trade publishing, plus some darn good information for writers. Take today’s post: Ask the Editor: The power of the opening sentence - 6 tips

Can you resist? I couldn’t and I no writer should resist in my not very humble opinion on the subject. I particularly like Tip 6, “Don’t always avoid the cliché.” He uses it was a dark and stormy night as an example and says pretty much what I’ve always thought - in certain circumstances it works, and works well. He has more to say about that partial sentence. I won’t spoil it for you. Go read.

Come back and share your favorite tip of his, or of yours.

Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing - a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision - for those who want to get a book written.

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Eldon Sartel over at Wordpreneur got my attention with this headline: Freelance Writing Isn’t the Only Way to Make Money Writing

Although I’m not sure I agree that freelancing always means working for clients, I take his point as he publishes an article by Lindsay Buroker called Forget Freelance Writing Jobs, Build Financial Independence Writing for Yourself. That sounds like residual income to me, and sure enough it is.

So I chased down the article’s author and found a blog called Writing For Your Wealth! First of all, why didn’t I think of that? Sigh.

This is one I’m subscribing to and I’m going back and try to catch up from the beginning. At first glance it seems to be just what I want - more ways to earn income by writing just for me.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing - a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision - for those who want to get a book written.

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(www.thegoldenpencil.com)

Joe Wikert does it again, this time by pointing to a new blog called Self Publishing Today. The author is Ray Robinson who is with Dog Ear Publishing, a company that offers a variety of self-publishing services.

The blog looks good. For example, on August 25, Robinson posted Self Publishing Hits - The Lace Reader, Brunonia Barry and Lorna Page. He tells the story of self-published fiction that went mainstream with a 2 million dollar advance. But he does more than just report that fact. If you read the whole entry you’ll find all sorts of marketing hints.

On August 19th, Robinson took a post of Wikert’s, and reworked it (with credit) into Ten Things Editors and Agents Hate - applied to Self Publishing. It provides valuable insights every author even considering self-publishing should memorize.

I’m subscribing to this blog and suspect you should too.

Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing - a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision - for those who want to get a book written.

Image from http://www.sxc.hu

(www.thegoldenpencil.com)

If someone asked you to write on the phrase take a break, what would your first thought be? Your second? I’m betting you would have first thought of time-off, either a little or a lot, and if you had a second thought it just might have been about something getting broken, but that’s a reach for me.

Kelly, our channel editor, though out that challenge with no limitations at all. You can find the results at Leadership Turn in a post called “Taking a break” across the channel.

You’ll find all sorts of takes on the phrase I never would have thought of. Take a break and do some blog reading.

Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing - a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision - for those who want to get a book written.

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(www.thegoldenpencil.com)
As near as I can tell my first blog entry was on May 3, way back in 2005 titled: I’m not sure I…

This may have been done before I became part of b5media. All the apostrophe’s are missing and I’m betting they got lost when this entry and others were moved to a more permanent home. (Yes, I went in and fixed all I could find… I probably missed some.)

The value of this blog entry to you? I think it demonstrates that we ought to be willing to try new things. I remember how confusing I found blogging then, yet I plunged in… well, I dipped my toe. That original mini-network only required a couple of posts a week or so.

I’m truly glad I didn’t let my confusion get in my way. Blogging is fun even though I still don’t understand it all. I’ve met nifty people and expect to meet more.

Faced with trying something new in writing? I say go for it.

Write well and often,

Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing - a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision - for those who want to get a book written.

Image from http://www.sxc.hu