Whether you are looking to hire a freelance blogger or are a content provider looking for clients, there is one certainty: the topic of rates will arise.

Freelance writers spend considerable time honing their writing skills so they can command the best freelance blogging rates. From taking college-level English classes to participating in online writing seminars, it seems there isn’t enough time in the day to sharpen our literary acumen. However, the same amount of time and sweat rarely is devoted to devising freelance blogging rates. In fact, many freelance writers undercharge for freelance blogging services.

Freelance bloggers need to learn the factors that form the structure for freelance blogger rates. First, let’s take a look at the two primary ways freelance bloggers charge clients for their time and services.

Fixed Versus Hourly Rates

Freelance bloggers use two methods for charging clients for work delivered. Fixed rate projects charge clients a flat fee, regardless of the time and resources spent to complete a project. Hourly rate projects charge clients for work performed each hour of a project. Both freelance blogging rates carry advantages and disadvantages.

Fixed Rate

Talk to any experienced freelance blogger and you find that fixed rate projects do a much better job of motivating writers. The faster a blogger completes a post, the more money he or she earns per hour. Fixed freelance blogging rates work best for fixed word posts, such as blogs that require 500 words per post. On the other hand, fixed rate jobs can come back to bite bloggers, as unexpected problems arise that delay the completion of a blog post.

Hourly Rate

Third-party platforms that connect clients and freelancers provide time keeping software that makes it easy and accurate to bill clients for writing services rendered. Not every freelancer bills clients for hourly work delivered via third party platforms. Hence, questions arise on projects that freelancers submit hourly rate bills that don’t include the use of a timekeeping device. Hourly rate charges work best for lengthy writing projects, such as eBooks and white papers.

Some freelancers charge a combined rate for more elaborate projects. For example, a client wants a freelancer to review a series of blog posts and then transform the posts into an eBook. The freelancer hired for the project can charge a flat rate to review the blog posts and an hourly rate to create the new eBook content.

Factors that Influence Freelance Blogging Rates

The first thing for writers to establish credible freelance blogging rates involves performing research into what other writers charge for similar projects. Third party platforms typically list each freelancer’s projects, including the details of the project, as well as what the freelancer charged the client. After researching industry rate standards, freelancers must consider several other factors for establishing freelance blogger rates.

Education

Clients typically want to hire freelance bloggers that have received some sort of formal education. The education requirements range from a Bachelor’s degree in virtually any discipline to a PhD in English Literature. Clients also review writer skill sets by referencing tests administered by third party platforms. The better that you perform on the tests, the more you can charge per hour and project.

Experience

Clients feel much more at ease working with freelance bloggers that have a track record of writing blog posts that attract visitors to websites. Experience for freelance bloggers comes in the form of an expansive writing portfolio and client feedback, whether the feedback comes from a third party platform or client testimonials presented on a writer’s website.

Type of Genre

The type of genre matters for charging freelance blogging rates. Search engine optimized blog posts written to attract more website visitors is worth more than a sci-fi short story written for entertainment purposes only. Freelance bloggers can charge more per hour and project by writing posts that double as website landing pages and creating white papers that help customers solve problems.

When Time is of the Essence

Whenever a freelancer sees a job post that contains the word “Rush” or the phrase “Need within 24 hours,” the time has come to bump up freelance blogger rates. Reasonable clients that have rush jobs understand that they must pay a premium for the commodity called time. Just make your rate hike reasonable. Otherwise, clients have other freelancer options that fit within their budgets.

Freelance bloggers run a business, which means they must account for expenses when coming up with freelance blogging rates.

Here is a short list of some of the expenses incurred by freelance bloggers:

• Utility Bills
• Internet Access
• Computer Hardware
• Freelance Writer Software Packages
• Telephone Bills
• Office Furniture
• Computer Accessories (Camera, Headphone, etc.)
• Printing Equipment

All of the expenses play a factor in what you charge clients. You also must consider client added costs, such as reviewing an Amazon product or purchasing a book that you have to read to write a review.

The post Freelance Blogging Rates appeared first on Blogger Freelance.

It’s no secret (at least to fellow bloggers) that running a successful freelance blogger business can be hard work. Luckily, there are a multitude of blogging tools out there to help streamline the process, increase your productivity and prevent you from becoming overwhelmed. Here are some of my favorite tools to make blogging life a little easier.

Google Docs

Google Docs is a great editing and collaboration tool, offering pretty much the same functionality as Microsoft Office, but with the added bonus of being absolutely FREE. The ability to work collaboratively with others on projects and documents is great, especially if your blog has multiple authors, and the fact that work is stored on a secure cloud server means it can easily be accessed from anywhere by simply sharing the web link.

But aside from being a great editing and writing tool, one of the best things about Google Docs is the additional functionality through helpful add ons (such as thesaurus, language translator and Mindmeister – an application for mapping out content ideas), which are available all over the web.

Evernote

Evernote is fantastic for content curation and for your own ideas. It’s a great online tool for organization, making it simple to store ideas, notes, photographs, webpage content, plans and draft blog articles – all in one place

It allows you to be flexible in the way that you organize your notes, content and information – allowing you to name your different ‘notes’ anything you like, and use tags to categorize your content for easy searching.

Another reason Evernote is a useful blogging tool is the fact that it can be used across multiple platforms and is great at syncing between different devices. So, if you’re out and about – and make a couple of quick notes on your iPhone – you can then access them on your desktop later when you come to crafting them into your next blog post, even if you use a Windows PC.

More great blogging tools include…

Tweetdeck

Controversial as this statement may seem, crafting high-quality, killer blog posts is only one facet of successful blogging. Promoting your posts and additional content to your targeted audience via social media is paramount for any new blog to gain traction and start to grow an online following.

Tweetdeck is perfect for managing your social media presence. It offers the function of scheduling your tweets and posts, meaning that you could share and promote your blog posts multiple times a day if you choose to. It’s easy for tweets to be lost in a busy Twitter feed, so by promoting your blog posts via Twitter, say, 3 times per day – this gives you a much better chance of having your content seen and then read by your followers.

Tweetdeck is also a great tool for organizing your own Twitter feed, curating the content you follow into lists that you can then browse singularly – without having to trawl through your entire feed to find the content that is important to you. You can also use Tweetdeck to follow specific hashtags, which is great if you are looking to engage more personally with your followers and prospective readers of your blog, or if you’re taking part in a Twitter chat.

Podio

Podio is an online tool for project management and communication. It has been described as somewhere between an online social network for businesses and a project management platform, like Asana.

One of the biggest benefits of using Podio as a task or project management tool is the fact that it is extremely flexible. When used as a blogging tool it is great for keeping track of projects and also to keep yourself and other users (if your blog has multiple authors) of due dates for posts and content creation.

The ‘social’ aspect of Podio is great for collaboration, allowing users to share files and information freely through the activity stream (kind of like Facebook’s news feed, but private). This allows for easy communication between collaborators, who are able to ask and answer questions and share ideas. And one more thing – it’s FREE!

SEMRush

It’s no secret to anyone who is familiar with writing for the web that keywords matter – a LOT! The primary way people will find your content online is by searching Google for keywords and phrases, so it’s drastically important to make sure you show up as high as possible in the search engine rankings.

It’s also no secret that there is a lot of competition out there. This is where SEMRush can give you an advantage, as it shows you the keywords that your website ranks for, and the monthly amount of searches for those keywords. This information is highly useful if you’re looking into improving the optimization of your blog content, or if you want to know which keywords you should be focusing on when crafting your next blog post.

The post My Favorite 2015 Blogging Tools appeared first on Blogger Freelance.

So, you’ve taken the big plunge into the world of freelance blogging as a web content strategist. You no longer have the security of working for a large company. The freedom to write about whatever you like gives you an uncanny sense of professional pride. Although working as a freelance blogger has its numerous benefits, several pitfalls await first-time freelance bloggers who don’t understand how to build a thriving freelance writing business. If you’re about to take the big plunge into freelance blogging, you should follow blog tips for first-time freelance bloggers that ensure your nascent career turns into a longstanding professional endeavor.

Create a Blogging Calendar

Although the term “freelance” conjures up freewheeling and dealing, seasoned freelance bloggers understand that they need to create and adhere to a regular blogging regimen. Most experienced freelance writers develop monthly blog post schedules that include the date of each scheduled post, along with a topic to discuss. A monthly blogging schedule not only keeps first-time time freelance bloggers organized, it also ensures readers that they can expect regularly uploaded fresh content.

Revisiting Topics is Okay

Many first-time freelancers who are web content strategists have the silly notion that once they address a topic, they can never go back and revisit the topic in subsequent posts. However, think about the number of new readers of your blog since the last time you discussed a popular topic. First-time bloggers should consider revisiting popular topics every three months or so to update trends and educate new readers about a topic that has staying power.

The Proof Is in the Quality

First-time bloggers make many mistakes, some of which irrevocably cause them to lose readers. The most glaring mistake of all involves uploading content that includes misspellings, poor grammar, and amateur sentence construction. Nothing screams shoddy more than blog posts that the publisher obviously didn’t proofread and edit. First-time freelance bloggers must pay special attention to presenting meticulously proofread work that minimizes conventional English errors.

Promote Your Blog

“Write it and they will come” does not work in the world of freelance blogging. First-time bloggers must actively promote their blogs online, from posting messages to forums that cover similar topics to creating interest via social media websites. Just because your write like Hemmingway and provide helpful tips on how to make reader lives better does not mean people miraculously find you online. You need to promote your blog by thinking like a  web content strategist.

SEO Gets Your Freelance Blogger Career Noticed

Search engine optimization (SEO) makes the difference between your freelance blog landing on the first search engine results page and languishing on page 34. First-time bloggers often neglect to create fresh, relevant content that search engines such as Google reward. You can write the most compelling blog posts and count the number of visitors on one hand, unless you develop SEO practices that the three major search engines reward with high rankings. That’s where a web content strategist comes in.

Guest Bloggers Ensure Fresh Content

Too many first-time freelance bloggers approach their blogs as if they oversee a vast treasure. They refuse to allow anyone to add insight into topics and they dismiss other perspectives. Since networking opens doors to your freelance blog, a good way to expand your network involves recruiting guest bloggers to produce fresh, relevant content for your blog. The flip side of recruiting guest bloggers is that your guest bloggers may reciprocate the offer to contribute to your blog by offering you a platform to post on their blogs.

Stay Within Your Area of Expertise

The most effective way for a first-time freelance blogger to grow his or her audience is to establish a reputation for being an authority for a particular subject matter. This means blog about what you know and allow commentors to fill in the blanks of what you don’t know. Nothing destroys the credibility of a freelance blogger faster than spouting off about a topic that you have little or no knowledge. Stick with what you know and build the level of trust that makes you an expert in your chosen profession.

Build a Portfolio

The age-old question of what came first, the chicken or the egg, has relevance for first-time freelance bloggers. In this case, first-time bloggers must learn how to gain credibility in a crowded field of other first-time bloggers. You need to build a writing portfolio that demonstrates your writing acumen and knowledge of your specialty. The best way to build a portfolio is to join one of the third-part freelance writing sites that match clients and freelance writers. After spending time building your portfolio, you have the capability to show your readers that you have the chops to produce a compelling blog.

Solve Reader Problems

How do you get readers to keep coming back to your blog for more? The answer lies in helping your readers solve problems. Whether you write a plumbing blog or upload cycling related content, you have the perfect platform for helping readers solve difficult problems. Plumbers can help readers address a wide variety of plumbing issues and cycling enthusiasts flock to cycling blogs that provide helpful tips on bike maintenance. Far too many first-time freelance bloggers write content based more on opinion than fact. Readers want facts, preferably facts than enhance their lives.

First-time bloggers make many mistakes that eventually lead to the end of their blogging careers. You can avoid most of the mistakes by taking a methodical approach to building your readership. Most first-time bloggers take years to develop a loyal following online and they reach readership milestones by following a few time-tested tips that are low on theatrics and high on writing fundamentals. Blogging can become a lucrative career, as long as you avoid the many pitfalls that await first-time freelance bloggers.

The post So You Want to Be a Freelance Blogger and Web Content Strategist? appeared first on Blogger Freelance.

You have likely heard about the concept called “Content Marketing” and considered hiring a freelance blogger to help your campaign. Unlike most other online marketing strategies, content marketing has enduring staying power. The three major search engines reward webmasters who continuously upload fresh, relevant content that provides actionable advice helping readers solve problems. Okay, so you understand the importance of content marketing.

Do you have the ability to write the blog posts yourself?

The goal of any content marketing campaign is to attract potential customers to your small business website and then convert the new readers into lifelong patrons of your products and services. However, that is easier said than done, as most small business operators can’t spot a punctuation error if it came in the form of 16-point bold font. Most small business operators can barely write an invoice, much less compelling posts that form the cornerstone of their content marketing programs.

You need to recruit a freelance blogger to get your message across to potential customers. Here’s how a freelance blogger can attract customers to your website.

Talented Freelance Bloggers Know SEO

New customers don’t stumble upon your small business website. They type in keywords that help them find local businesses online. The best freelance bloggers not only know what keywords new customers use to find you online, they also know how many times to sprinkle the keywords within the blog content. SEO also involves technical skills such as back linking to reputable sites and uploading fresh content that search engines reward for providing useful information. Hire a freelance blogger wand watch your website traffic steadily grow.

A Freelance Blogger Knows How to Solve Problems

How do you attract customers and more important, how do you convert the customers to comprise your growing number of loyal patrons? You recruit a freelance blogger who knows how to solve customer problems. From an auto mechanic blog that teach basic car maintenance to florist posts that help your website visitors sustain robust flower beds, your small business blog attracts customers because they need solutions to difficult problems. Professional freelance bloggers have the skills to define problems clearly and then provide step-by-step instructions on how to solve the problems. Solving customer problems builds the level of trust that turns website visitors into devoted followers of your small business.

Attention Grabbing Headlines Require a Professional’s Touch

Yes, content sells, but headlines grab reader attention. You can’t expect to attract more customers if most of your website visitors disregard your content because it appears bland. The best freelance bloggers write captivating headlines that prompt website visitors to delve deeper into the content. If you remember one content marketing statistic, it should be this: Five times as many people read headlines than the number of people who dive into blog post content. Compelling blog post headlines also improve search engine results.

Freelance Bloggers Write with Clarity

Nothing turns off visitors to your small business more than muddled content. Disjointed organization and awkward sentences that do not clearly define the benefits of doing business with you causes potential customers to seek other small business owners that know how to convey their messages clearly. A freelance blogger uses simple language that engages readers, instead of writing overblown sentences that confuse, instead of educate potential customers.

A Good Freelance Blogger Knows How to Tell a Story

As Roger C. Clark notably said, “Humans do not understand logic. They understand stories.” The best freelance bloggers know how to spin a yarn that entertains readers. Dry, bland copy turns off readers who have other choices for finding the small business that best matches their shopping needs. Stories evoke emotion, which is the ultimate goal of any copy that you present online. You attract customers because they have forged an emotional attachment to your small business story. Professional freelance bloggers understand how to craft provocative emotional stories that create the unbreakable bond between customers and small business operators.

Professional Freelance Bloggers Leverage Social Media

A growing number of social media pages appear on Google’ search engine result pages. Customers find you on Facebook and Twitter, before they visit your organic small business website to learn more about your product and services. Freelance bloggers are much more than content driven professionals that educate potential customers. The best freelance bloggers adeptly work social media websites to promote client products and services. A freelance blogger that doesn’t have social media savvy doesn’t do your small business much good.

What Good are Customers that Don’t Buy?

Potential customers might flock to your website to read your freelance blogger witty posts, but what does it matter if potential customers don’t make purchases. A freelance blogger not only attracts potential customers, he or she successfully converts potential customers from online bystanders to regular patrons of your small business. A freelance blogger understands how to leverage demo videos, case studies, and white papers to convert website visitors into repeat customers.

Reputation Draws Customers to Your Website

So, you made the plunge and hired a freelance blogger to attract customers to your website. Are you going to allow the freelance blogger to post content under his or her name? The temptation is to publish ghostwritten content under your byline, but the temptation can cost you customers. Popular freelance bloggers have developed loyal followings that go to whatever websites the bloggers make contributions. If you want more customers to visit your website, make sure to promote your freelance blogger by using the blogger’s name in the byline.

Small business owners wear many hats in the operation of their enterprises. Savvy small business owners know which of the hats to pass onto more accomplished professionals. Not every small business owner has what it takes to create winning content marketing campaigns. Pass on the freelance blogger hat to a professional that has the skills and knowledge to attract customers to your website.

The post HOW A FREELANCE BLOGGER CAN ATTRACT CUSTOMERS TO YOUR WEBSITE appeared first on Blogger Freelance.

During an era of outsourcing, it should come as no surprise that a growing number of companies save money by outsourcing the writing of content, from the posts that highlight the company blog to brochures that tout the latest company product innovations. As with any outsourced position, hiring freelance bloggers saves companies money on full-time salaries, benefits, and in-house supplies. Freelancers respond to online or in house recruitment advertisements and companies review the portfolios of eligible candidates to determine which writer or group of writers make the best fit for an upcoming writing project.

Freelance writing can be a lucrative career, but it takes hard work and a few lucky breaks to become entrenched in the upper echelon of freelance writer candidates. Many freelance writers start by supplementing their full-time writing incomes freelancing outside of their employers. After a few years, business grows into a full-time business that requires a 100 percent commitment from the freelancer. Although working for yourself appears liberating (and it is), there are some things about freelance blogging that escape most writers. It is not until freelance bloggers get into the trenches that they learn the 8 things to know about being a freelance blogger.

Dealing With Clients Can Be a Pain

You don’t have exasperated editors running into your office screaming, “I have an urgent deadline.” You don’t have sweat laden editors hanging over your last typewritten word wondering, “When you plan to finish the piece.” Working as a blogger gives you a sense of freedom from having to deal with office politics and overbearing editors. However, you still must deal with clients, even if the interactions are mostly done via cyberspace. In fact, the lack of face-to-face interaction with clients can cause communication problems. Good clients clearly explain project parameters and then allow you to run with the writing project. Difficult clients change project guidelines on the fly and request almost impossible to adhere to deadlines. You may work from home, but clients lurk over your every word.

Overhead That You Must Cover

One thing nice about working for a company is that the company pays for the printer, desktop computer, laptop, printing paper, and other office expenses. You simply sit down and knock out the latest blog posts. Being a freelancer requires you to dig into your pocket for every office related expense that you took for granted at your former corporate employer. You must pay for the printer ink, office furniture, and high-speed Internet access. Don’t fret, since most of the money that you spend blogging from home qualifies for a tax deduction. You can typically deduct office supplies and utility costs associated with running a freelance blogging business from home.

You Organize Your Time

Freelance bloggers don’t follow an editor mandated writing schedule. They submit proposals for jobs and once hired, organize projects in accordance to deadlines. Although organizing your own schedule appeals to self-starters that prefer to work for themselves, some freelance bloggers have a difficult time organizing the myriad projects on their ‘To Do” lists. The result can be missed deadlines and hence, unhappy clients that make it known you’re not dependable enough to hire. Time management skills sit near the top of mandatory professional skills required by freelance bloggers.

Portfolio, Not Job History Matters

One of the dinosaur phrases you can expect not to hear as a freelance blogger is “Please forward me your resume.” Freelance bloggers rarely work on the same project for more than six months, which means professional resumes don’t matter for securing new clients. What matters is your freelance blogging portfolio. You upload your best work to a third-party freelance writing service such as Elance or oDesk and allow prospective employers sift through your work to determine if you have what it takes to write for them. A growing number of freelance bloggers start websites that include a section for their freelancer portfolios.

Every Day Is Not Casual Friday

For some reason, many novice freelance bloggers believe they can simply roll out of bed and start writing in their pajamas. Although starting your blogging day may only require a brief yawn and a nod to the coffee machine, many clients contact their freelance bloggers throughout the day via Skype and other interactive communication platforms to check on the progress of a project or clarify project guidelines. A good rule of thumb for freelance bloggers is dress like you plan to work at the office.

Rejection Every Day, Multiple Times Per Day

Freelance bloggers that work for companies and large organizations never have to worry about rejection. Sure, editors may throw shoddy work back in their faces, but once they latch onto a company, the rejection letters stop flowing in from prospective employers. Freelance bloggers must deal with rejection multiple times per day. For every 10 jobs that you submit a bid, nine come back without even the common courtesy of a response. The 10th response typically thanks you for your time, but rejects your proposal as inadequate or your credentials as inferior to the credentials of other candidates. Freelance bloggers must not only have a thick skin when it comes to feedback, they must also grow immune to job proposal rejections.

The Well Dries Up

You’re humming along as a freelance blogger, handling more work that you know what to do with in your pursuit of living the dream of an independent contractor. While the good times constantly remind you that you made the right choice working on your own as a freelance blogger, never forget that you can expect to experience several lean times during your blogging career. At best, freelance blogging is an erratic career with severe up and down workloads. You may furiously work to complete projects during one 60-hour work week, only to stare at a blank computer screen throughout most of the next work week. Working for a company ensures that you have a steady workflow and even if the workflow dries up, you still get paid.

“What Do You Do for a Living?”

Get used to this now: Most people have no idea what freelance blogging means. When you tell people that you freelance for a living, most of the responses go like “That’s a great way to supplement your income, but really, what do you do for a living?” Very few people view writing as a credible career. Very few people know how to write and even fewer people understand that because of the online marketing explosion, freelance bloggers have never been more in demand. The next time you might have to fudge a bit when it come to describing your career. Instead of saying you’re a freelance blogger and risk the ridicule of other professionals, simply explain that you run your own business.

This brings us to the last thing to know about being a freelance blogger. You are more than someone who provides creative content for clients. You’re someone who also must know how to run a business.

The post 8 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT BEING A FREELANCE BLOGGER appeared first on Blogger Freelance.

The best blog services deliver much more than talented wordsmiths. Yes, knowing how to structure sentence that grammatically make sense goes a long way towards establishing credibility for your small business. Don’t forget the importance of correct spelling. Misspelled words demonstrate to website visitors that you don’t place much importance on quality. Although professional writing skills should be at the top of your blog service criteria list, you also should consider 6 other things the best blog services deliver.

Hire Freelance Bloggers Who Know SEO

You may think pandas and penguins only have relevance inside of a zoo, but Google has made both an integral part of the search engine giant’s search engine optimization (SEO) algorithm. Blog service writers not only craft words as the best artists craft paintings, the writers also know which keywrods to integrate strategically within the content. You can employ the Michelangelo of words and get someone who paints a beautiful story, but only a few people read it. SEO involves writing content that website visitors find useful, as well as links that send readers to highly rated websites. Properly tagged damages and SEO friendly title description play a role in developing a successful SEO strategy.

Feedback that Reverberates Throughout Cyber Space

The best blog services do much more than upload content to your small business website. When you hire freelance bloggers, you want the bloggers to manage the content. This includes responding to comments left by website visitors who read the blog. Website visitor comments offer suggestions that enhance the content or ask questions that require immediate answers. In either case, readers expect comments left on a small business web page to receive some type of response shortly after submission. Failing to respond to comments indicates your small business does not care about customer feedback.

Writer Diversity Makes a Huge Difference

A freelance blogger who specializes in ghostwriting blogs may not be the best choice for writing content for your small business website products and services pages. The skill set for helping customers solve problems and describing the nuances of a product are very different. Writing blogs involves formal writing skills, while product descriptions require a creative flair that prompts website visitors to take action. The best blog services have a stable of diversified writers that cover all of your small business website needs.

Taking Care of Business

The best blog services deliver professionals writer services that include a strong business relationship. You develop a strong business relationship with blog services that provide timely content. A professional freelance writer adapts to project parameter changes, such as request for revisions and additional content. Taking care of business also means that blog services send out professionally crafted invoices and present detailed descriptions of each contract. Remember that you run a business and so does the blog service.

Aware of the Latest Trends

Some blog services recruit a large number of writers to cover virtually every type of writing niche. From fashion to automotive parts, the best blog services offer highly informed writers who thoroughly understand their specializations. If you run a florist business, you probably don’t want a sporting goods blogger to write content for your website. You want to hire a freelance blogger who understands the latest trends in the florist industry. Writers who stay ahead of the trends curve keep your small business website on the cutting edge of content.

Bundling Services to Save Money

If you plan to hire freelance bloggers for the long term, you should consider a blog service that bundle two or more jobs into a discounted rate plan. The blog service benefits from increased business and your small business benefits from lower blogging costs. For example, consider a blog service bundles the ghostwriting of a small business e-book with the one-month fee for regularly scheduled blog posts.

The best blog services hire freelance bloggers to produce informative content that gets your small business website ranked high in the three major search engines. While blog services vet the credentials of prospective bloggers, it is still your responsibility to make the sure that any blog service under consideration has earned a strong reputation for recruiting the best writing talent available. You can do this by reading online reviews and researching the credentials of writers that blog services hire.

The post 6 THINGS THE BEST BLOG SERVICES DELIVER appeared first on Blogger Freelance.

You have created your small business website and expect to benefit from the timeless axiom, “If you build it, they will come.” Unfortunately, the slight derivation of the axiom that served Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella well in the classic movie Field of Dreams does not apply to small business owners who want to attract new customers by creating websites. In fact, many small business owners fall flat on their faces because they neglect the most important facet of creating websites.

Content.

Small business owners must constantly create compelling content that attracts both potential and loyal customers to their websites. They must assume the role of freelance blogger to ensure their websites rank high in the three primary search engines. Here are some freelance blogger tips to help small business owners who want a blog, but are too embarrassed to admit that they don’t really get it.

Help Website Visitors Solve Problems

You don’t have to write like Hemmingway or Faulkner to attract visitors to your website blog posts. What you need to do is help your website visitors solve problems. Ask any successful freelance blogger what makes their blogs tick. You’ll find that most successful freelance bloggers write problem solving content. For example, a landscaper publishes content that provides advice on how to prevent weed growth. Problem solving content helps small business owners build the level of credibility that creates customer trust.

Word Count Means Nothing

Too many small business owners believe they have to write the next War and Peace to produce successful blog posts. What they upload is are lengthy and boring content pieces that cause website visitors to set bounce rate records. Small business owners should take a page out of the best freelance blogger books by publishing concise blog posts that don’t belabor the main points. Website visitors typically skim content quickly and successful freelance bloggers present short content pieces that emphasize one or two points. On the flipside, there has been a recent movement towards longer content pieces. The bottom line is that there is no one-size-fits-all strategy when it comes to content.

Dot Your I’s and Cross Your T’s

The successful freelance blogger ensures his or her content is free of spelling and grammar errors. Visitors to your website expect your content to follow basic grammar rules and contain correctly spelled words. Poorly crafted content replete with spelling and grammatical errors indicates that you don’t place importance on quality. After you finish with the rough draft of a blog post, do what the best freelance bloggers do and walk away from the post for a few hours, before coming back to read it with a pair of fresh eyes. Moreover, spell and grammar check your freelance blogger content.

Recruit Guest Bloggers

A successful freelance blogger is smart enough to know that the idea well dries up from time to time. To compensate from writer’s block and other blogging maladies, recruit guest bloggers to publish content on your website. The benefits of publishing other blogger content include a stream of new visitors to your website and expertise about topics that may not be your strong suit. Ask your guest freelance bloggers to reciprocate by allowing you to publish content on their blogs.

No freelance blogger guide for dummies is complete without mention of perhaps the most important blogging tip of all: Always write for your audience. Although SEO plays an important role in establishing your website’s search engine rank, you can integrate the right keywords and still see little or no traffic to your small business website. Write for your target audience and reap the rewards of, “If you build it, they will come.”

The post FREELANCE BLOGGER GUIDE FOR DUMMIES appeared first on Blogger Freelance.

Writing and uploading regularly schedule blog posts comprises an integral part of your content marketing program. However, you may not have the time or possess the skills required to create content that attracts potential customers to your small business website. You have to search for a freelance writer to fill the content void. Small business owners must know the difference between a problogger and the average Joe who creates content that doesn’t sell. If you are in the market for a freelance writer, you need to know the characteristics of a problogger.

Probloggers Know SEO

Search engine optimization represents the cornerstone of online marketing. Any freelance writer that you consider for writing your small business blog posts must understand which keywords to use that get your post ranked high in Google’s search engine. The problogger must know about keyword density, as well as know how to forge relationships with other probloggers to develop links. Any problogger that you recruit must be on top of every Google Panda and Penguin SEO update.

Writes in a Unique Voice

Probloggers differentiate their skill sets from the regular Joes by writing with unique voices. Some of the distinct voices that a problogger can use to create interest in your small business website include authoritative, conversational, humorous, and empathetic. Readers of your blog return to your small business website because they identify your blog posts with a unique voice.

A Problogger Knows How to Perform Research

Every one of your small business website blog posts should require some research. Any problogger that you hire understands where to search for relevant information that bolsters the points made in your blog posts. A problogger makes it habit to search for facts, verify the facts, and document the facts. Above all, a problogger knows how to research facts and present the information in a manner that compels your readers to take action.

Probloggers are Reliable

You can’t afford to hire a freelance writer who invokes the timeless excuse of “My dog ate the homework.” Professional bloggers earn their stellar reputations by providing high quality content that adheres to structured publishing schedules. A problogger doesn’t submit work a day after deadlines or forget to submit a post that you need for a special promotion. Probloggers possess the discipline necessary to provide you with consistently produced content.

Follows Grammar Rules

Writing in a unique voice doesn’t mean your problogger has to obliterate every grammar rule. In fact, professional bloggers check for grammar and spelling errors, before they submit content for your review. Nothing screams amateur more than a blog post replete with spelling and grammar errors.

The characteristics of a problogger include both soft and hard skills. One of the hard skills that have grown in importance over the past few years involves learning basic computer programming. The problogger that you hire to write your small business blog posts should know the basics of HTML and CSS to enhance the quality of your website.

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Congratulations! Your small business has found an online presence and you are experiencing some website traffic, albeit at the rate that water trickles out of faucet during the dead of winter. The “Build it and they will come” philosophy for your website does not appear to pay the same dividends that it did for Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams. Sure, the layout and design of your small business website is eye catching, but you lack the most important ingredient in the stew called your small business website.

Content…

Content drives small business website content. However, this does not mean that you should create the content for your website. In fact, you have several reasons to buy website content to attract new customers to your small business.

The Sands of Time

Small business owners need 48-hour workdays. Multitasking takes on a completely new meaning for a small business owner who maintain the books, recruit employees, order products, and devise promotional campaigns. When you buy website content from a writing professional, you open more space on your daily planner for operating your small business.

Writing Isn’t as Easy as It Looks

That writing thing seems easy, but once you sit down to pound out a blog, writing morphs into a mind numbing exercise of futility. Small business owners who buy website content from professionals eliminate the headache of trying to come up with new content for blogs. Moreover, hiring writing professionals to create content for your small business websites ensures you don’t make those pesky spelling and grammar mistakes that ruin content.

Buy Website Content to Establish Authority

It may seem counterintuitive, but when you buy website content, you do a much better job of establishing authority in your field of expertise. Professional writers understand the importance of writing in the active voice, which presents your website content with authority. They know how to craft content to make you look like the Dr. Phil of your small business niche

If You Don’t Build it, They Won’t Come

In a twist to Ray Kinsella’s timeless axiom, creating website content requires a strict adherence to a consistent publication schedule. Visitors to your small visitor website expect blogs to appear on your website every Tuesday and Friday, or whatever publication schedule that you establish. When you buy website content, you have no excuse for missing a publication date because you were too busy filling a staffing void.

The Most Important Reason to Website Content for Your Blog

Professional writers know how to write website content. They create catchy headlines that prompt website visitors to read further down the page. When you buy website content, you ensure your readers engage with your small business brand. Professional writers know how to create compelling calls to action that convert website visitors into regular customers of your small business.

To buy website content, small business owners can find affordable high quality writers on third-party freelance writer websites or perform online searches for the perfect website content match. When you buy website content, you enhance your small business brand in the eyes of your website visitors.

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