When I decided to become a freelance blogger, I was looking for the opportunity to take my passion for writing and turn it into a business. I knew that I would have to work hard to find opportunities, but it turned out that there are lots of opportunities for writers out there. Because of this, I learned quickly that being a freelance blogger meant deciding what I wanted to write, how much I wanted to make and who I was going to work with on projects.

When you’re looking to hire bloggers and work with a freelance blogger, it’s important to know just how much influence we have on what we decide to write — at least for freelancers who give a damn.

Writing is a talent, but it’s also a profession, which means that freelance blogging is a skill that businesses need (more than ever!). It helps people online find out more about their business, services or products.

Keeping my experience in mind, here are seven reasons someone might choose to become a freelance blogger:

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
As a freelance blogger, it is up to me to decide who I want to work with and when. I have complete control over the clients I write for, and that’s especially important when it comes to producing unique content. When it comes to writing, it’s all about enjoying the words you’re putting on the page/screen. If you can’t do that, how can you be good at your job? Freelance blogging is an opportunity to be selective with projects so that you’re always able to put in 100% effort.

Let Your Creativity Shine
Whether you’re blogging as a side hustle, or as your full-time job, having the opportunity to write for different clients and take on varied projects is a chance to stay “fresh” creatively. Having the opportunity to research and write about all different kinds of topics is creatively satisfying, and definitely beats going into the office and doing the same old same old, every single day. When you hire bloggers, you are gaining access to fresh ideas and perspectives.

At Home or On The Road
What’s the best part about being a freelance blogger? I can be anywhere and everywhere, thanks to my phone and laptop. Whether I’m in a cafe, at home or in a hotel, I am always able to do my work and stay online. That accessibility allows me to be productive whenever I am feeling inspired, instead of having to wait to get to my desk to start writing ideas down; I can put pen to paper (digitally speaking) right away. Freelance bloggers are able to do their work just about anywhere, and mobility is key to productivity.

Great Expectations
When it comes to working with clients, I am the main point of contact as a freelance blogger. This means that I’m getting expectations, deliverables and nuances (like style and tone of voice) directly from you, the client. Things aren’t being handed down through another channel or person, so I don’t have to play a game of telephone to figure out what my client wants. I have direct access to them, and they have direct access to me.

Providing Expertise
I personally get excited whenever a freelance blogging opportunity comes around on a topic that I’m particularly passionate about. Freelance bloggers are researchers at heart, and we love finding new information to talk about with our clients. Whenever I’m able to provide my expertise to a client, they’re getting information that is unique and tailored exactly to their needs. My job isn’t to repeat what’s already said on other sites, it’s to create content that gets noticed for being unique on its own.

Reputation In Check
Whenever you’re self-employed, the work you do tends to be a direct reflection on you personally – and freelance blogging is no different! Whenever I am blogging, whether my name is attached or not, my reputation as a writer is on the line. Not only with clients but with myself. This is especially important when new projects come along, and I can point to my work on the internet that will impress them. Not only is it an opportunity to develop new business, but it’s also important that I am always happy with the work I’m creating.

Developing Your SEO Skills
One of the most important, and valuable, skills that a freelance blogger can have is an in-depth knowledge of search engine optimization (SEO) principles and best practices. It’s important that the work we do, as bloggers, isn’t just pretty to read – it also has to be searchable. In an age where digital marketing is becoming more and more important, this is especially valuable for clients. Having SEO knowledge is going to help your work become even better.

The Three Keys to Being an Effective Freelance Blogger
The best freelance bloggers all have three things in common: they’re the ones who understand the value of their work, know what they’re talking about (or are willing to put the time in to do research and found out more) and are able to manage client expectations/correspondences in a way that is fair and fast. The best freelance bloggers don’t take their skills for granted. They will always have their client in mind.

Clients are always looking for new ways to get their business noticed, and freelance bloggers are an invaluable resource to help put their services into words. It’s an opportunity to create timely, optimized and well-written content that really effects people and helps them make a decision about the services they’re looking for online. Whenever I am writing a blog, I always think to myself: “is this going to change someone’s mind about this product/service/business?” That way, the work I’m doing is always convincing.

Have you been looking for a freelance blogger for your business? As I’ve outlined here, the best bloggers are the ones who care about their work, know what they’re talking about and understand the value of their role. Writing is an ability that can be easy to attempt, but hard to perfect. Make sure that you’re always working with the best for your online writing needs!

The post Freelance Blogger – Why You Need to Hire Bloggers (or become one!) appeared first on Blogger Freelance.

We’ve put a few gift ideas for a freelance blogger together in this article, complete with pricing information and links to make your shopping job as simple as possible. Many of these ideas and tools come highly recommended from prolific freelance bloggers.

HD Webcam
Recommended Product: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920

Many freelance bloggers use some element of video in their posts or as part of the social media content promoting their blog. Many opt to create a Youtube channel as an additional audience building tool, blog traffic generator, and as a way to add more depth to their content.

Video is actually an extremely useful tool when trying to rank on a search engine results page – and high-quality video is the gold standard. This Logitech HD Pro Webcam comes recommended from freelancer extraordinaire Melyssa Griffin of The Nectar Collective.

Microphone
Recommended Product: Yeti USB Microphone

Another area most bloggers are starting to explore to build their audience and generate traffic is podcasting. Having a great microphone ensures that sound quality is high and listeners won’t be put off by weird background noises that a lesser microphone would likely catch. It’s not easy to edit sound after the fact, so get it right the first time with this Amazon bestseller. Great sound quality also helps with video production, so use it with the aforementioned webcam for best results!

Note Taking Device
Recommended Product: Aqua Notes

No more great ideas down the drain!” Is the slogan/inspiration behind Aqua Notes, one of the quirkiest gift ideas for a freelance blogger on this list. Essentially, the paper is waterproof and the writing tool is just a simple graphite pencil. If you know someone who gets their best ideas at the most typically inconvenient times, this gift is sure to go over well.

Wall Organizer
Recommended Product: Chalkboard Wall Decals

Between their own projects and commissioned client work, freelance bloggers often have a LOT of different posts and deadlines to keep track of. Having some kind of wall organizer, where it’s easy to write out tasks separated by days of the week, is one of the most useful gift ideas for a freelance blogger. Don’t miss deadlines – organize, instead!

A Great Book
Recommended Product: Born to Blog

There are too many excellent books to choose just one to recommend as a gift idea for a freelance blogger, but Born to Blog by Mark Schaefer is a book that bridges the gap between personal and business blogging. There really is a practical application for almost anyone reading this excellent blogging resource.

Image and Photo Editing Software
Recommended Product: Adobe Creative Cloud Membership

Any good blogger knows that images are one of the most important parts of a successful blog. An Adobe Creative Cloud membership includes access to the latest versions of both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom. Adobe Photoshop makes it possible to make simple or complex edits on images, which is especially useful when creating social media content and other blog images. Adobe Lightroom is a tool used by many photographers and bloggers to edit their images with different filters and presets. Together, these tools are must haves for a freelance blogger.

Camera
Recommended Product: Sony Alpha a6000

If you’re in a really generous mood, the Sony Alpha a6000 is an excellent camera for a blogger who’s a beginner in terms of photography. This DSLR has some of the best features in it’s category, at the best price – it’s no wonder that it’s a bestseller. As the blogger you’re gifting to becomes more proficient in photography, they’ll be able to unlock additional functionality in this camera without outgrowing it.

Photography Backdrops
Recommended Product: Table Top Photography Studio

If you have great image editing software and a powerhorse camera, the only thing you may be missing are some cool photography backdrops. There are plenty of cool vinyl patterns to choose from across the internet, but a basic tool to add to your freelance blogger giftee’s repertoire is this table top photography studio, which gives a clean white backdrop for photo shoots involving small objects, like when photographing photos to go with product reviews.

Beverage Warmer
Recommended Product: Electric Beverage Warmer

Ending this list of gift ideas for a freelance blogger on a slightly silly note, we can’t think of a single person who wouldn’t benefit from this electric beverage warmer. It keeps coffee and tea warm as long as you need it to – perfect for early morning or late night blogging sessions.

As a freelance blogger, wouldn’t you love some of these gift ideas!?

The post Gift Ideas for a Freelance Blogger appeared first on Blogger Freelance.

Writer needed? Many small businesses do not have the time, nor the resources, to build and maintain a strong online presence or a solid online content strategy.

It is well-known that having an online presence is crucial to business success, and engaging directly with consumers and potential customers.

Having a blog is beneficial for small businesses, allowing them to build loyalty among their current customers, gain feedback, and attract new leads (therefore increasing sales) whilst also helping with the search-engine ranking of the company website.

Suffice to say – blogging for small businesses is pretty important! It is an effective way of communicating with your target audience, and provides a cost-effective way of building and maintaining an online presence, without the need of hiring costly web designers or having to learn HTML.

With all of this in mind it is worthwhile investing in a professional writer, needed to make your content stand out from the crowd and get your message heard. Here are just some of the ways that blogging can benefit your small business:

Communicate Your Brand Proposition

Your blog is your way of reaching out to your potential customers, and the content you publish will shape and enhance the ways in which your audience connects with your brand and company. You can use your blogs’ content to drive engagement, as well as increase the likelihood of new customers discovering your business, through publishing high-quality, shareable content.

A good writer is needed for you to be able to pull this off effectively, as blogging also creates a level of trust between your organization and your target consumers. People are more likely to ‘trust’ content that is written on a blog, by an individual – rather than corporate-style sales material that is purely promotional and offers no real benefit to the person reading it.

In this respect, blogs enable small businesses to establish a clear, authentic voice and communicate their message in a meaningful way online in a way that many larger corporations do not.

Boost Your Websites SEO Ranking

The first thing that a potential customer will do when they are looking for a specific product or service is search for it via Google, or another search engine. Therefore, you want your business website to rank as highly as possible in search results! Having a blog attached to your company website is a highly effective way of climbing the search engine ladder.

A good blog writer will be able to identify the appropriate key words for your business to target, and then create content around those key words to improve your search-engine ranking. This goes beyond the simple offerings and services of your business – and can include peripheral keywords that your target consumers will be searching for.

This type of targeted marketing based on the demographics and interests of your consumers is highly effective, and much less costly than other traditional forms of marketing and print or media advertising.

Enable You to Build a Mailing List of Potential Customers

If your blog contains useful information that your target consumers are searching the web for (which it will – provided your blog writer performs the appropriate keyword research as stated in the point above), then ultimately the people who land on your site are warm leads who might benefit from your products or services.

By offering a free, downloadable piece of content on your blog (such as an Ebook or pdf that addresses certain pain points within your target consumer) – you have the opportunity to capture the email addresses of your target audience.

This can be used to build a database for future direct marketing campaigns, as you will steadily build a catalogue of customers who have already expressed an interest in the types of services or products your business is offering – and are therefore more likely to buy from you.

This type of lead generation is extremely valuable for small businesses – and what’s more, it’s easy to manage. Using a free service like Mailchimp to build your email list, you can plan future marketing campaigns strategically, and also send out company newsletters to promote engagement with your customers.

In Conclusion

If you’re serious about boosting the online credibility of your small business, and growing your customer base – then regular blogging should be central to your content marketing strategy. There is a writer needed!

It is critical that the content you produce keeps consumers coming back for more – as is striking the right balance between genuinely useful and engaging articles with more promotional content.

If you plan your strategy carefully and understand the importance of hiring a writer needed for executing that strategy, then your small business can most certainly gain a competitive advantage, even against some of the bigger, key-players within your industry.

The post Writer Needed: Why a Blog Can Give Your Small Business an Edge 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.

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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.

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By now, you should be fully aware of the importance content marketing and the role a freelance blogger can play in attracting new customers to your small business. In fact, you should breath, sleep, and eat content marketing for breakfast. Content marketing drives visitors to your website, where they learn more about your products and services. Blogs that help readers solve difficult problems or enlighten them on new products or services build the level of trust that prompt potential customers to slap down their credit cards to make purchases inside of your store.

The question is not whether you should run a strong content marketing plan, but whether you want to write the content or hire someone else to create the backbone of your content marketing program. It won’t take long for you to decide, after you read the following nine reasons to hire freelance bloggers.

Time Keeps Flowing Like a River

Small owners master many trades and typically those trades keep them very busy throughout each working day. They don’t have the time to write and upload content that attracts visitors to their small business website. By hiring a freelance writer, you ensure that your focus remains on the nuts and bolts of running your business. A freelancer sends you the files that contain the blog post content and then you quickly upload it to your website. 

Quality Assurance

Most small business owners do not have the chops to produce captivating content that sells. They might be able to relate an engaging story verbally, but when it comes to putting the story on paper, the story falls apart faster than a Lindsay Lohan rehab sessions. When you hire freelance bloggers, you hire professionals who have made writing their area of expertise. They know how to craft sentences that employ proper grammar and correct structure. 

Send Out an SOS for Bad SEO

You can study search engine optimization (SEO) all you want, but hiring a professional blogger helps you conform to rapidly changing search engine ranking parameters. Professional bloggers know how many keywrods to place within your website content, as well as where exactly to place the keywords. They develop proven SEO strategies that get your small business ranked on Google’s first search engine page, preferably above the fold.

Convert Traffic into Sales

The best freelance writers not only know how to attract visitors to your small business website, they also are experts at converting visitors into lifelong patrons of your business. When you hire a freelance blogger, you hire a professional who avoids the hard sell in lieu of creating compelling content that establishes your credibility with website visitors. Freelance bloggers write powerful copy and create highly effective links. 

You Own a Long-Term Asset

The quality of a freelance writer’s work gives you an asset that you can leverage 10, 15, 20 years down the road. When you hire freelance bloggers, you can receive evergreen content, that is, content that retains its value over the course of time. The content can describe the history of your small business or address timeless issues that customers face daily. 

Hire a Freelance Blogger for Improved Productivity

Even if Ernest Hemingway runs through your veins, chances are he doesn’t run very fast. Freelance bloggers have honed their skills to the point that they can literally sit down and create a cogent piece of content within a short period. They rarely experience writer’s block and make the type of mistakes that force them to start over. Freelance writers enhance your small business productivity, which should be the primary goal of every small business owner. 

Money Is Not an Obstacle

Many small business owners frown at hiring freelance writers because of cost. However, most freelance writers charge reasonable rates that don’t require you to earn a Masters in Finance to balance your small business budget. Moreover, you shouldn’t look at employing freelance writers as a cost issue. You should view freelance writers in terms of return on investment. In other words, the increase in revenue generated by content that sells more than offsets the cost of recruiting a freelance blogger. 

Adherence to a Regular Blog Publishing Schedule

The best freelance writers produce high quality content before deadlines. This means you can arrange a monthly blog post schedule and expect a freelance writer to deliver the content before the due date. Your website visitors expect you to adhere to a regular content schedule and freelance bloggers make sure that you get it done. When you hire freelance bloggers, you receive fresh content weekly, which Google also rewards by ranking your small business website high in its search engine. 

Last, But Not Least

Recruiting a freelance blogger to create the content for your blog posts gives you plenty of flexibility. Instead of hiring a full-time blogger, you recruit professional freelancers whenever you need content. You can accomplish this by simply Googling “freelance bloggers,” advertising your freelance position online or by using a third-party freelance website that match writers and employers, such as Elance.

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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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