Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Whenever I first began blogging, I really did not know how much work would be involved. The more I blogged the more involved I became. Soon I was setting up multiple blogs and buying domain names. Next, I found myself paying for hosting.
A network unfolded before my eyes which I titled The Midnight Writer's Network. Now it's a full blown blogging/freelance writing and advertising business that requires a lot of upkeep and management. I'm thankful for my husband and his help with this huge project.
The blog network is not my only area of involvement. I write for The Examiner and I write for several content sites. This occupies a lot of my time and it presents a struggle juggling between the network and writing content for quicker pay so I can meet my financial obligations. It's downright tough at times! I know some of my friends can relate. Read Katy's post at Trapped in the Office.
Katy is one of my inspirations and I really admire her fortitude. Writing to pay the rent and utilities at ten or twelve or even fifteen dollars an article is not easy. Add research on top of writing those content articles and it is a serious undertaking.
What you thought would take fifteen minutes to write turns into an hour of research on top of it! Granted, that is still ten or twelve or fifteen dollars an hour, but who wants to write for that kind of money when it takes so much effort and mind power?
Katy is also one of the reasons that I want to build a successful blogging network and a freelance network. I want to see a co-operation of struggling freelance writers help each other write successfully into much larger paychecks for a lot less effort.
Why?
Many writers have talent that is not exercised in its true sense because these same writers are so busy trying to pay the rent. It has to end. There has to be options. I believe that freelance writers who network can build that dream together.
If it does not exist, then build it and they will come. I'm a fan of the movie Field of Dreams. (and Kevin Costner). I'm so grateful for that movie because it is a true inspiration.
Let's travel together to that Field of Dreams and make the world a better place for freelance writers.
The Midnight Writer
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
It sounds like we're getting ready to eat dinner, doesn't it?
That's almost true. I want to talk about prioritizing the servings on your freelance plate of work in your to do lists. How does that relate to eating dinner? If you prioritize and plan effectively, your freelance work will provide the maximum return in finances for your efforts.
And that means, you'll have larger portions to serve on your dinner plate! One of the places that people tend to cut corners when they are starting out in business as freelancers or independent marketers is in the "food allotment" column of their budget ledgers. With proper planning and follow through, income will increase and this column allowance will grow because there will be ample finances to cover the other expenses that keep you in business.
So go ahead! Plan a dinner out with that someone special! Pick up the tab with your smart planner funds and enjoy the delicious taste of wise freelancedom!
After your enjoyable dinner, come back for part one of Freelance Portions 101.
The Midnight Writer
Thursday, August 13, 2009
It's been two days since I posted last and that article was about Monetizing your Blog. I'll be writing part two very soon at which time I intend to provide more depth on Adsense and Ebay and Amazon - a few companies that provide the opportunity for you to make a little extra money with your blog. There are others so keep coming back for more details on my new regular feature on Blog Day Planner.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Do you have a hard time getting motivated while working at home?
I am exploring this syndrome and looking for solutions to this problem.
Share your ideas with me right here and let's have fun while getting motivated!
I am thinking about some of the things that motivate me into action so I'll share them with you here. What gets you springing into action?
- Turn on the music to an upbeat or rocking or inspirational station and sing while I write. Stop every fifteen minutes to stretch and dance to the music.
- Find an article or topic to write about that really excites me.
- Plan special events for the evening or morning or night and set a goal for work to complete looking forward to the reward of that time out for fun. You have to schedule some fun and excitement into your day if you are a freelance writer who sits at a computer for hours.
- Find a beautiful place to write like at a state park that has wi-fi or a lake or some local coffee shop with a great view out the window. Watching the people come and go helps me write because I'm interacting from being present and not sitting in isolation in a closed off room alone. This really helps with writer blues. Take time out to talk to folks while you're sitting there.
- Take a pleasure walk every couple hours in your scheduled day to break the monotony of your work schedule. A break and exercise will help you think more clearly and you'll be more productive in the long run.
- Find nice pictures to place around you while you work of things that make you happy.
- Make goal sheets for the day or the week and hang them in a place where you can see your progress. Be sure to provide a check box for all tasks completed. This will give you that sense of accomplishment that most people get in a controlled office environment.
- Chocolate moves me and makes me move.
- Coffee helps me think and opens the creative side of my brain.
- My husband smiling at me now and then. I love to share my finished work with him and he is willing to sit and listen while I read my blog posts to him. Find someone willing to listen to your work then take a little time to socialize.
- Making a budget that includes plans for a special trip or event and keep track of the earnings that are helping me reach that goal.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
If you didn't already know it, I'm a professional blogger that writes reviews for clients and companies who pay me to review their clients. This is the new technological form of advertising. There is an amount of controversy that follows this new ad copy writing to promote services, products, people, books, professions and events. Until there is an ethical taboo in the blogging world, I will continue writing for clients. You know, I have to earn my coffee and chocolate some how!
Here's the skinny on my assignments for today.
This is April 4th in the wee hours of the morning, and I am polishing some assignments that I wrote for a few of my companies who provide me with advertising and review clients. In the near future, I'll be writing some feature reviews on these companies so I can share my experiences and knowledge about them with you.
I write for Pay Per Post more often than any other company who hires professional bloggers on a freelance level. Tonight I wrote four sponsored posts about various services and products. I prefer to find sponsors whose content will blend with my blog. Just because some of my blogs are a mixed bag, like a smorgasbord of topics, does not mean that I want to write about a topic that is never mentioned within the natural flow of the blog. This blog is about blogging, freelance writing, planning, time management, business management, aspects of blogging, and fitness and music. Writing about Chinese food would not necessarily fit in, unless it is mentioned in the natural flow of conversation like I just presented to you.
My plans this morning involve polishing those four posts by making sure the links work, images are placed in the post and the word count is accurate. I need to run a spell check and I'll be finished.
What's next in my plans? Take a bath and get some sleep. It's about balancing work, personal life, health, relationships and rest. Freelance writing takes discipline to be able to manage all these areas properly.
Have a great weekend.
The Midnight Writer
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
My day doesn't always begin at the stroke of 7 or 8 in the morning. Some days I don't lay my head down until 3 or 4 in the morning, because I am writing in an attempt to catch up to myself. This winter, my partner and I started so many projects. Currently, we have only one computer so sharing it makes it tough to stay in the flow of the workload. That situation will soon be remedied.
began a campaign for re-election in 2012?
For my mulitple blogs, I maintain several email accounts but I have two main ones. The one that I access most is themidnightwriter1@gmail.com. I know I log into this one about twelve times daily. It receives tons of mail daily. My other main email account is set up as a catch all for all the domain emails linked to our (Photo Gent and I) website for affiliate marketing.
While scanning emails, I prioritize those which need immediate attention and make a mental note about messages that can be tended later. I handle the immediate business and move on to the yahoo. Since this email is set up as a catch all it has the most volume. We have this account set up as our yahoo messenger themidnightwriter1, with the email address being themidnightwriter1@yahoo.com.
Next, I log into Twitter to announce my presence. Here I communicate with people who are on other sites to which I belong and to some people who write for the same freelance writing company. I'll tell you more about that a little later.
Facebook is up next. This social site has become a daily event for me as well that will become increasingly popular since I started in a special project for the President of the United States, Barack Obama.
I usually keep this window active at half hour intervals, then check back periodically throughout the day. I'll post my links to it after I confirm the url then put it here on Blog Day Planner.
Next, I scan my blogs to make notes about urgent work that hopefully can be finished in one day, usually not though. I always look at the President's blog first to see how many posts have been made. If they are low, I plan to write one or two good ones for that day. Editing is very important here as well.
The next set of business takes me to Entrecard, where I approve all my advertisers unless they are questionable. My husband Photo Gent usually drops for me since I don't have a lot of time. If I do find time, it is a sheer pleasure for me. We have six blogs listed at Entrecard with plans to add more.
Moving on in work phases, I check my blogging companies to see if I have any work. If I do, I will take time to reserve the posts and file them in Word. I always write a quick draft in the blog where it will be posted, which I edit later in the day or evening. This way I don't tie up the control panel.
Now I go to Quality Gal to check my dashboard to see if I have invoices to request, rejected articles that need editing and to begin writing my selected or assigned articles. This consumes about four hours of my day and will be constant now that I have been assigned a blog here. I would love to write a post about Quality Gal. Draw that one on my round tuit!
Time to begin work. My focus is simple today. Go through the routine outlined above and get as much work done as possible. Then regroup, come back to Blog Day Planner to update and brainstorm for the next phase of the day as well as the to set the plans for the week.
See ya later.
The Midnight Writer
The Making of a Walking
Sunday, November 30, 2008
As noted in my focus sheet for November, I/you need to increase blog performance. This is an intentional act, not a passive one as I have learned in November. I allowed other events to hinder this blog’s progress. Now that is not a failure, rather it is a learning point.
How did you do in this intention for November?Did you meet your daily or weekly blog posting goals?
What are your plans for this month?
Post your feedback right here, on Blog Day Planner, and please remember to include a link back to one of your blogs or articles or one of your websites.
And please give Blog Day Planner a link back from your blog. The most frequent comments with links back to my site will receive a feature spot in the sidebar of this blog for an entire month. This contest will feature ten winners.
What should I do this month?
Reset the intention to increase blog performance.
What does that mean exactly, when I say “increase blog performance”?
Saturday, October 11, 2008
I have discovered a handy tool to write on my blogs while offline. The program is called Live Writer. It imports the style of weblogs selected so posts can be viewed offline as they will appear on the actual blog when it is live online. Once published, there is a choice to save a draft copy of new posts into Live Writer or to just publish and delete. Usually, it is a good idea to keep a month long archive of your posts in all the blogs being published by Live Writer. This practice allows for monthly monitoring, cross referencing among blogs and editing.
If you have tried it yet, I strongly recommend it for active writers who travel that may find themselves without a wi-fi hot spot or other internet connection. Enjoy and keep on blogging.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Each time I use the internet to work on blogging or freelance writing or internet marketing, I am "getting in the groove" of using this new focus tool, the Blog Day Planner.
- List 20 blog url's on google to have cache updated.
- Test these 20 url's to view cache status in the follow up to this post.
- Enter five blog url's on a second search engine, such as "yahoo."
Special note from google:
When entering url on google's enter url page, a paragraph explaining the process appears as quoted below on their website:
"Please note: Only the top-level page from a host is necessary; you do not need to submit each individual page. Our crawler, Googlebot, will be able to find the rest. Google updates its index on a regular basis, so updated or outdated link submissions are not necessary. Dead links will 'fade out' of our index on our next crawl when we update our entire index. "
2. Change the url listing for The Midnight Writer blog on all blogs and websites, as well as pay to blog companies like Social Spark, Smorty, and Pay Per Post. Yesterday I purchased the domain name, so the url has changed. Blogspot will forward visitors to the previous http://themidnightwriter1.blogspot.com/ to the new domain name http://www.themidnightwriter.org/
3. Add the blog domain start page for themidnightwriter.org to all blogs.
4. Be sure all blogs have reciprocal links to one another.
5. Write five blog posts today.
6. Create a "getting in the groove" button or banner.
That is quite an assignment, so I may not complete much else today. The main goal is to update links, increase search engine rankings, write and get freelance writing assignments!
Staying true to my slogan: Keep It Simple!
Written by The Midnight Writer
Saturday, October 4, 2008
How does a freelance writer or blogger organize their time?
With so many tasks required in the freelance writing /blogging business, it is imperative to make those lists. The next step in that goal setting focus is to prioritize that list. Decide what is most important to build a foundation for a successful business.
Freelance writing and blogging is a Business.
It is imperative to treat it in a professional manner.
There are many aspects to building an online presence, which is also your unique identity in the vast freelance sea. "I call it creating a persona." My personal "persona" is The Midnight Writer.
On today's list, I chose updating the website which is the "calling card"
that all prospective clients will see when you advertise for freelance work.
1. Update and fine tune the cover page to The Midnight Writer's (your persona) website.
2. Edit the index page to The Midnight Writer's website. Add a link to my blogs.
3. Change the url's on all blogs to point to the new cover page.
4. Create a profile and a portfolio page on website.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Day Two for my Blog Day Planner begins with the sight of Starbucks and the pleasant aroma of fresh brewed coffee. After two hours work, I added a scrumptous pastry on the side to go with a coffee refill. MMMmmm....Delicious.
Staying true to the intention of the Blog Day Planner, I have reviewed yesterday's work list. Thoroughly enjoying this project, I am contemplating what needs a follow up and what projects to attempt for today.
Keep a follow up memo section or create it as a list. Each day should contain such list to ensure that each assignment or project gets the proper follow through. If records are kept it will be easier to make assessments for next phases of all projects or work assignments.
- Review yesterday's list.
- Check freelance and blogging emails for updates or job offers.
- Make business phone calls relevant to internet work.
- Study Scriptlance, which is a new freelance job opportunity site that I joined just a few days ago. Scriptlance also has an affiliate marketing program which I also joined. My affiliate url is in the text codes highlighted above.
- Load the Scriptlance banner into three more blog sites as a sidebar widget.
- Apply for two job offers through Scriptlance.
- Edit the first blog post at Blog Day Planner.
- Edit my profile to fine tune it for a portfolio and resume. Include experience, writing style, references and examples of my work in the profile.
- Write a post on 1TinSoldier. Edit the sidebar ads and include a link to Blog Day Planner in my link section.
- Write a post about Scriptlance on one blog. Include affiliate text links.
- Write a debut article for new blogs on some other blogs. Be sure to introduce Dear Diary, Daily Blog Life, Midnight Velocity, Midnight Revelry, Lost At Sea.
- Add text links for other personal blogs and websites and for my affiliate programs into one article on five blogs today.
- Create two articles using top keywords with hyperlinks to my affiliate programs.
- Create one new blog today.
- Write an article on Dear Diary.
- Create a list of names and ideas for ten niche blogs. This should be repeated once a month.
- Develop an outline for two niche blogs.
- Update my website, change the profile, and add writing links and samples.
- Create a static page for Blog Day Planner with the introduction appearing at the beginning.
If you're not too tired from last night's Flashdance, then consider a walk in the scenic outdoors and enjoy the fall leaves turning. The crisp night air might inspire some Harvest stories.
See you tomorrow for a follow up on today's work. Meanwhile, happy blogging and freelance writing.
Follow Up
In checking my emails, I found a message from Freelance Writers Info in response to an application that I filed just three days ago on September 27th. The company sent me a file titled "Writers Pack" zipped neatly as an attachment. Unfortunately for me, I don 't have compatible software loaded on my computer to open and read the file.
The good news is that posting my portfolio on some Freelance Writng job sites is receiving a fast response. I am interested in studying the trend to see what can be learned that might help other freelance writers and bloggers.
From what I can gather, I am considered to be a hired writer for this company. The message reads, "Many thanks for your kind enquiry and welcome to the Delegate2 group of writers."
Follow List:
- Download software to read multiple word files.
Monday, September 29, 2008
The path to becoming a professional blogger or freelance writer is paved with paper remnants of many lists, ideas and thoughts. This brainstorming frenzy ends up in the trash can as accumulated scraps of paper that is soon forgotten. All the effort that produced those original ideas is forgotten along with the scrap pile.
Out of necessity, I searched for a better way to organize all this material. The scrap heap is not the place for most good brainstorming ideas. These are treasures and need to be treated as such. The idea of a Blog Day Planner emerged.
With a list like the sample below, it became a daily struggle just to know where to begin.
- Write ten blog posts on ten different blogs.
- Load affiliate codes for Amazon in all ten blogs.
- Edit five blog posts on http://themidnightwriter.squarespace.com/
- Spellcheck today's blog entries.
- Advertise on two blog promotion sites.
- Change the template on my freelance journal.
- Create domain names for my five new blogs, find a provider, buy the names and set the domain router.
- Warm up the computer then go for that coffee.
- Call website host to renew subscription.
- List ten topics with variety to write about in blogs.
- Research for today's topics.
- Check email for freelance and blogging job offers.
Tasks, assignments, lots to remember.
How do you keep it all together as a freelance writer and blogger?
She's A Maniac!!! say my friends.
Take a moment to focus.
Watch the video to see how some people handle their workload.
Keep a Blog Day Planner to Help Stay Focused.
In the planning stages, I realized that I needed to keep all the information from lists, thoughts, ideas, projects, appointments, finances in one place online.
Keep in mind that your day planner blog can be set to private.
Everything will be at your fingertips online where most freelance writing and blogging takes place.
Voila!
Simplicity!
Turn on the computer.
Brew the coffee.
Open Blog Day Planner.
Review notes from yesterday and formualte the plan for today.
Keep it online and interactive as a reference blog to help focus advertising and marketing.
Use it as a tool for other writers and bloggers.
Brainstorming complete.
Now it's time to act.
I created the blog after several months of thought.
After a good night's sleep, get some exercise and stretch that body. Take in some morning fresh air to clear the cobwebs from your brain. Next, brew your favorite coffee, pull up a comfy chair, turn on the computer and read your Blog Day Planner.
Go over the list of ideas, tasks and assignments, phone calls to make, topics to cover, and all things necessary for today's blogging or freelance writing. As a freelance writer, the day is your own. Remember that focus and organization will keep you motivated to perform your work on a professional level. More will be accomplished to allow time for the other roles in your life.
The sun is shining outside as the afternoon wanes, and it is real tempting to want to turn off the computer and put away those old "dusty" research books that you pulled out of Grandpa's den for that special project. Resist the temptation! Finish the day's work so you will enjoy the rewards awaiting a job well done.
Now put away those slippers and grab those dancing shoes.
Flashdancing is on for tonight!
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