Yelp, a San Francisco-based review website, has opened up their website, allowing businesses to respond to reviewers for the first time. This could be a good thing – but could also lead to a lot of “he said she said” nonsense, according to critics.
Last year, Yelp began allowing business owners the ability to privately message users, but now they can publicly post their reactions. Yelp co-founder Jeremy Stoppelman say that they hope the site an still be inviting to users, encouraging open and true reviews.
“We are very cognizant about making sure that Yelp remains a place for users to talk …read more

(www.thegoldenpencil.com)
When a potential client comes to your website (if you don’t have a website see You’re a Writer – You Need a Website!) nothing is more reassuring than a few testimonials, provided they are genuine. Ideally they will be accompanied by a picture of the person endorsing your writing. I’ll admit I haven’t gotten pictures, but my websites do have a few testimonials and I know they help would-be customers make up their mind to contact me.
The way I get the testimonial is two-fold:

First, I simply ask. I usually do this toward the end of the a project, often …read more

A couple of days ago I wondered why some employers of writers, editors, etc. seem to believe they need the writers in their offices in order to get the work done. I’ve been thinking about this and a couple of things have occurred to me.
There may indeed be situations where the writer needs to be on site, although I have trouble figuring out what those might be. The most obvious is a writing team, like a newspaper or a magazine. There is a synergy that can happen that makes for a better product. Although I’ve seen that happen with groups …read more

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you probably realize I believe every single freelance writer, editor, professional blogger, translator, tech writer, etc., should have their very own website, with their own domain name. It’s easy to do, and I’ve even written an article that will give you the overview you need to get started.
Now, along comes Eric over at Common Sense PR, suggesting that a website should also be a good source for journalists or other media. My first thought was something like, “oh, writers don’t need to worry about that.” And it’s true, his post …read more

One of the things I truly love about freelance writing is my ability to go shopping at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, or maybe just after lunch on Thursday. If you haven’t guessed, I truly dislike traffic and hoards of folks in stores.
The news this morning is full of parking lot counts and interviews with harried shoppers who started at 4 in the morning! Four in the morning to get a widget on the cheap? Not my style. Not even for a real bargain on a book – not me.
But, it is the day after Thanksgiving and along with …read more

Freelance Switch has a good post called: The Power of the Pre-Write: 5 Things to Do Before You Create Your Freelance Business Website. While I don’t much like the term, pre-write, the planning the article suggests makes sense, and the tips can be used to tune up your website as well as getting ready to create one.
My favorite sentence is “Make sure to inject keywords—but not to overdo it” under Get Noticed. Since you’re selling yourself as a writer, writing clearly is probably the most important thing you can do. Forcing keywords into any block of text may get you …read more

As many of you know, I firmly believe every single writer ought to have their very own website. It’s a perfect way to promote yourself and the kind of work you do. It’s cheap these days and, even without and coding skills, possible to do yourself. It’s also fairly cheap to hire someone to do it for you.
That said, you’ve got to focus on your potential clients as your putting your site together. Sure, you’re talking about you… but the potential client has a problem they are trying to solve. You want your site to demonstrate that you can …read more

Many of you know that I’m taking a class with Mark Silver, of Heart of Business. A major part of this class is defining or redefining our business. It’s been fascinating. Here I thought I knew what I was doing. Instead, I’ve gained a whole new understanding of my clients and what I offer them.
Like me, Mark is a great believer in the web for promoting small, entrepreneurial businesses. The class has just finished drafting 8 webpages and I thought I’d show you mine… www.writingwithvision.com/silver/index.htm.
Note that the free offers don’t exist yet, and the articles I’ll post initially are all …read more