Writing SEO-Are You Doing it Right?

Making money online is easy.

Let’s dispatch with this myth right now.  Making money online is not easy, but it is achievable with a little motivation, some discipline and know-how.  The good news is that once you have the basics down, it does become easier.  What am I talking about, you ask?  Online content creation, of course.  Writing for sites that pay you for your 400 masterpiece is really pretty easy if you know a few of the ins and outs.  The most important thing to know when it comes to writing for online outlets, aside from being able to tell the legit sites from the ones that are trying to scam you, is how to generate traffic.  All online sites make money from advertising.  Your content is what brings visitors to their sites.  If Internet surfers can’t find your content by using search engines, odds are your article’s performance isn’t going to be all that great and your income will suffer as well. 

Here are a few tips to get you started:

1)      Only write for sites that offer to pay you for your work and not the other way around.  Authors get paid to write, period.

2)     Balance your upfront income with revenue share, or residual income, so that you create a passive income over time.

3)     Don’t give up.  If your article gets rejected on site, simply submit it to another.  Don’t waste your efforts.  Your article will find its spot somewhere.

Okay, now that you’ve signed up for some sites and have started generating content, you will need to know how to write for the Internet.  Online writing is different than other types of writing.  This is because you need to be able to write in a manner that gets you noticed.  Let’s look at this from another perspective.  Let’s say you wanted to look up the latest information on the healthcare reform bill.  You open your browser and type in healthcare reform into the search engine.  It returns a bunch (millions!) of pages that have either healthcare, reform or both in the metatag or title.  You scan over a few and then pick a couple to click on.  More often than not, people will choose a couple of pages from the first page of listings.  Some, but not many venture to page 2, but rarely go past that.  To generate traffic to your articles, you have to figure out how to get on the front page.  But how?  The answer lies in SEO or search engine optimization.  You have to write your article in a way that allows the search engine to pick up keywords and rank you based on your relevancy to the search.  But simply stuffing your article with keywords isn’t going to be all that effective either.  Let’s take a quick look at some common SEO myths and how to avoid them in your writing.

Debunking the Myths
SEO Myth One:

Wrting SEO articles is hard.

Some people believe that the process of making your content searchable is difficult. It’s simply not true.  Learning how to write SEO is not like having to learn a new language.  It’s simply learning to write for a different audience.  The main idea behind writing a good article that can be found in a search engine is to write clear and concise articles that actually mention words that the average person will use to find the information you are writing about.  For instance, this article is about writing SEO articles.  People looking to get more information about writing SEO articles will more than likely use SEO, writing, online writing and a few other search terms in order to find it.  I’ve managed to use all of those terms in this article, several times, without using them unnecessarily.  As a matter of fact, hopefully you are finding this article easy to read and informational.  That counts, too.

The key to writing good SEO is to incorporate searchable terms into your article naturally.

SEO Myth Two

SEO writing only applies to certain types of articles.
Some online content writers actually think that SEO should only apply to certain types of articles.  I guess that would be true if you were writing and publishing stuff you didn’t want others to read, but then what would be the point?  The idea is to get as many readers to your articles as possible and the only way to do this is to be found through search engines, making search engine optimization applicable to all online content you write, no matter how big or small or what venue you are writing for. 

SEO Myth Three

You have to hire a professional to get a good SEO article.

Okay, I’m not even going to waste your time with this one.  Please refer to tip number one in this article:  Authors get paid to write, not the other way around.  There is no need for you to take a big chunk of your online income and throw it at some professional online writer in order to make your content just as searchable as his.  As a matter of fact, don’t even think about paying for a course to teach you how to do it.  SEO writing actually comes quite naturally to a lot of people.  If you feel like you need help, sign up on a writer’s forum, like accentuatewritersforum.com and ask for help.  You will get tons of free advice and tips on what works and what doesn’t from people who are actually out there doing the same things as you are but keep in mind that SEO writing comes quite naturally as long as you keep searchability in mind as you write. 

SEO Myth Four

SEO articles are boring.

This is simply not true.  Articles that have been correctly constructed in an SEO format will be informative, engaging and searchable.  However, articles that have been artificially stuffed with keywords will not only be ignored by search engines, but will give you a headache as you try to navigate through it.  The ideal keyword density (or the number of times a search word should appear in any article) is 2%-4%.  Any less than that and your article will struggle to be found.  Any more than that and your readers will start to think you have mental issues.  The basic formula for figuring out your keyword density is pretty simple as well.  Your keywords should appear no more than 2-4  times per 100 words and only where it makes sense. 

So, now you are armed with a little more know-how that should make creating SEO articles easy and fun.  Not only will you be able to write engaging and thought provoking copy, but you’ll reap the benefits of the extra attention your articles will get.

How I Turned Online Writing into a Good Second Income and How You Can, Too

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted and though I could make a million excuses (the kids, the writing, the job, whatever) the truth is that I’ve been a little embarassed to post since I fell off the FullBar wagon.  That’s right, guys. I’ve failed.  But it was nothing to do with FullBar.  It was simply my lack of willpower that caused my disappointing demise.  But never fear, avid readers!  I will climb back into the driver’s seat soon (as soon as this weekend, I hope!) and start down that path once again, FullBars in hand.

With all that being said, it’s time to get back to my real focus…writing.  I have published a short (so far) series on Associated Content (http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/451899/sandra_parker.html) that outlines how and why you should consider freelance writing as a great way to create a second income or even replace a full time income.  I hope that you find some helpful tips here.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to leave it in a comment.  I promise that it won’t take me two weeks to answer!  Enjoy and happy writing!

Becoming an online content writer wasn’t what I had in mind when I started searching the Internet for ways to make money from home. I had heard about working from home through a series being showcased on Good Morning America, where a self made business woman introduced ideas and legitimate companies where people could find work from home. I was intrigued as I had been looking for a supplemental income for several weeks when I ran across the series. I wanted to be able to supplement my income without sacrificing what little time I had with my family. I was working a good paying full time job, but when the economy tanked and we were asked to take a pay cut, I was left wondering how I was going to pay for everything. I was grateful to learn that no one was being laid off, however, taking a pay cut wasn’t exactly the best news I’d received, either. I needed a way to make extra money and not sacrifice what precious little time I had to spend with my family.
I looked through the various job offerings listed and found a multitude of customer service companies where I could take calls at home. I had call center experience and knew that I would be in a shoe in, but they were offering $8 and hour and I would have to separate myself from the family. I would still be at home, yet I wouldn’t get to reap the benefits. Plus, I wasn’t sure about how I felt working on the clock and committing to certain hours since my children’s after-school activities were plentiful and varied. I always tried to instill in my children that if you couldn’t commit, don’t make the commitment. I found various other opportunities, but the one that caught my eye was Associated Content. I could write 400 word articles for money on a variety of topics, plus, if other people read my content, I could make revenue sharing bonuses. I didn’t really understand about revenue share at the time, but hey…a bonus is a bonus.
I signed up in February 2009 and began my online writing career. I wrote and received anywhere from $2 to $3 per article I published. Revenue sharing bonuses were slim and pretty much irrelevant since they were only paid once per month. The upfront fees I was paid for the various articles I wrote were paid within a few days and the more I wrote, the more I got paid. I went from $3 per week to $50 per week pretty quickly, though I want to stress that I wrote A LOT during this time.

FullBar and Other Updates

Oh my gosh!  How time flies.  I feel like I am so far behind that I might never catch up. I can’t believe it’s been a whole week since I posted my last update on my FullBar experiment, although, to be honest, I’ve not been very good this week.  The good news is that I have’t gained anything, but the bad news is that there’s been no loss thanks to those pesky Girl Scouts.  Thin Mints ought to be considered a controlled substance by the FDA and banned in most countries!

Anywho, back to the FullBar thing.  I eat a minimum of two FullBars a day and take Alli before each of my three main meals and folks, let me tell you, if I can get my mind right, I think this combo may just do the trick.  The FullBar is doing everything the great weight loss doctor said it would (except for taste great..)  I eat one and I’m not hungry anymore…for at least 3 hours.  As a matter of fact, I literally have to remind myself to eat in thirty minutes after consuming one.  The Alli is doing its part to keep the fat I do consume from becoming fat I carry (the proof is in the commode!), which is great as long as I don’t eat too much of it.  My only problem is that I’m a slave to my devious mind.  When it says SALT I oblige and find salt.  When it says SWEET, I rush to the nearest vending machine for sweet.  If I could get someone to balance and rotate my brain, I would be in great shape. 

It’s kind of like when I quit smoking.  The nicotine lozenge, which by the way is a WONDERFUL invention that I would highly recommend to anyone who is thinking about quitting smoking (I quit 4 years ago and have never looked back).  I need the FullBar to turn off the physical cravings so that I can deal with the mental whining of my deprived, and sometimes depraved, mind.  If I can figure out how to put my brain in timeout every time it throws a SALT or SWEET temper tantrum I’d be in business.  It was easy enough to modifiy my everyday habits to avoid my smoking triggers, but I do have to eat everyday in order to survive.  I wonder how well a heroin addict would do in recovery if he was forced to shoot it everyday, three times a day in order to live?

Any suggestions?

Blog Results!

Hey…I just Googled my blog.  I’m really not into looking myself up on the Internet, but I noticed that I was getting a bunch of hits today.  I just realized that I’ve finally been indexed and I can find my blog on page one when I look up Sandra’s Journey.  How cool is that? 

Of course, I haven’t quite made front page news when it comes to the FullBar diet thing, or for any writing tips, suggestions, or even for my Super Bowl blurb.  But it is cool to be able to find myself in the seach results none the less.  Thanks so much, guys, for checking out this blog.  Stick around.  You never know what might come next!

FullBar Diet Update

So here I am after one full week of following the FullBar diet, for those of you that are taking this jouney with me.  I am currently down to 234.2 lbs, and I am NOT starving to death.  As a matter of fact, I eat pretty well.  Let me give you a run down of what my typical day’s menu looks like:

Breakfast: 1 FullBar (in cocoa chip as I am not a big fan of the peanut butter crunch ones)

                     1 slim fast shake

Lunch :      1 FullBar

                     1 Bacon Ranch Salad from McDonalds (hold the ranch and add Light Italian) .

This substitution has nothing to do with dietary restrictions or even calories, but simply personal preference (I hate ranch dressing!)

Snack:     Grapes or a Banana

Dinner: 1 Homemade beef taco, including sour cream and cheddar cheese

                 1 Baked Potato

Yeah, I know.  The combo is kind of odd, but it fills me up and I like it.

Dessert; 1 cup Sugar Free Jello Mousse in Dark Chocolate (Yum!)

I average about 1500-1700 calories a day and have managed to lose 4 lbs this week, so YAY!  I have decided that I want to try Alli along with the diet, just to keep some additional fat calories at bay.  I have read the extensive warnings about the side effects and hope that by eating less fat, I can avoid most of the unpleasant ones.

I have spent a lot of time reasearching my caloric needs now and what I will be taking in to manage my ideal weight (150 lbs).  I can actually each as many as 2100 calories a day and still lose weight since I need 3100 a day to maintain my current weight, so I’ve given myself a little leeway next week if I feel an overpowering need to cheat.  I have also started keeping a food journal and jotting down everything I eat with a running tally of calorie consumption.  Calorieking.com has become my new best friend…especially the mobile version.

If any of you guys out there are taking this journey with me, I would love to hear about what you’re doing and what is working/not working for you.  Feel free to leave comments and let me know how its going and invite your friends!

FullBar Update

Ok, this is going to just be a quick update.

I have been using FullBar, inconjunction with Slim Fast and keeping my calorie intake somewhere between 1500 and 1700 calories.  I started this journey at 238 lbs. and my weigh in this morning says 235.2.  Mostly water, I know, but still motivating.  Looks like there might be some truth to this FullBar thing after all.

Now, for the most part, it’s been pretty easy, but I will have to say that there have been moments of weakness and hunger.  I even gave in on Tuesday and ate a candy bar, but so far, it doesn’t seem to have derailed my efforts.  I’m simply taking it one day at a time and every day gets a little easier.

I wonder what would happen if I added a little Alli to my plan?  Hmmmmm.

FullBar Diet- Week Two

Ok. So, from the looks of the search results on my blog last week, it seems like quite a few people are interested in my Fullbar experiment. So, without further ado, let’s see my progress. Just so that everyone knows, I was terrible last week. I started out on Monday with my brand new shiny box of Fullbars in my hand and an ever softening resolution to lose weight in the other. Monday was great. I ate a Fullbar before breakfast, and then was satisfied enough that I completely forgot to eat breakfast at all. This is a big no-no since Fullbar isn’t packed with the vitamins, minerals, or any other good stuff your body needs in order to fuel the machine, so I ate lunch at lunch and then another Fullbar in the afternoon to stave off the impending trip to the vending machine. So far so good. And then I went home. I was STARVING and faced with the torture of having to prepare dinner for the family. Needless to say, I ate more than I should, but I was able to rationalize that it was less than I would have eaten if I hadn’t been trying to diet. Tuesday went about the same way, with the exception of the addition of pizza for dinner. Pizza is like kryptonite for me. I can’t say no and I certainly can’t not eat five pieces or more. I am a complete and utter hog when it comes to pizza and I can’t help myself. Mental note to self: no pizza until after significant weight loss has occurred. The rest of the week was a disaster. I didn’t eat the Fullbars, I ate fast food almost all week and even indulged in a Krispy Kreme affair on Sunday. Needless to say, the scale didn’t have much to say this morning other than “Get off me. You know you didn’t lose any weight…and by the way, if it makes you feel better, you actually gained 6 lbs.” Ok, so 6 pounds is a bit of an exaggeration, but the weight gain thing really did happen. All of this on top of the fact that my husband actually mentioned, twice by the way, that I was not in the shape I wanted to be in. That hurt, but instead of focusing on hurt feelings, which he didn’t intend, I turned the feedback into what it was…motivation. I am restarting this little experiment, though instead of 234, I’m starting at 238. I hope to be at 199 (breaking the 200 lbs. glass ceiling) by April 15th. That’s 39 lbs in 9 weeks. Pretty aggressive, I know, but I think it’s doable. So here I am, on Monday, armed with a box of Fullbars, cocoa chip this time instead of peanut butter something or other, and a box of Slim Fast. The plan is to eat the Fullbar along with the shake for breakfast and the shake for lunch, reducing calories and stretching the time out between meals. I will probably have a big fat garden salad for dinner. My caloric aim is 1500, which is a full 500 less than I need to maintain my ideal weight of 150 lbs. Maybe this will kickstart my weight loss. Since I got so much traffic on the first article, I’m thinking about bumping up my once a week posts to two or three. What do you all think? Do you want to see more? Leave me a comment and let me know.

The Art of the Query

The Art of the Query

DISCLAIMER:  I’m not an agent, publisher, or any other literary professional.  The post below is a conglomeration of tips/tricks/ and how to’s that I’ve found on many agents’ blogs on how to properly craft a query and how to pitch a manuscript.  I hope that you find the information useful.  Please visit the agent blogs listed to the left of this post for more information about the art of the query.

Everyone knows that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, but did you know that the way to a publishing contract is through the query?  That’s right.  No matter whom your intended audience is: publisher, editor, agent, or even your dear Aunt Mary, you have to find a way to open the door.  After reading some of my favorite agent blogs, I think I might have inkling about just how important this one page calling card might actually be.

First of all, let me take a minute to put things in perspective for you.  You are at a happening networking office party where several hundred of your closest colleagues (read: competitors) all happen to be hanging out as well.  You make a lap, mentally noting where all the heavy hitters are hanging out and begin to formulate your plan of attack.  After grabbing a flute of champagne for luck, you push off for your first target, where you politely introduce yourself, make a little mindless small talk and hand over your business card, where it is promptly slid into the oblivion of a suit jacket that is destined for the dry cleaners immediately following the party.  Your business card is doomed to never see the light again, and you quickly discover that you are seriously lacking in the “making a big splash” department.

Your query works in much the same manner as your small talk/business card strategy, only you don’t get the benefit of getting to show your face to the target.  Your query is your face, your charming personality, your project, and your business card all rolled up into one neat package, which is also doomed to the deepest, darkest recesses of the slush pile unless you brush up your make a big splash skills.

Creating a good query letter must have certain elements in order to be taken seriously.  While all agents/publishers/editors have certain standards when it comes to submissions, there are many commonalities that you should take into consideration when crafting your query:

1.      Length-expressed as a total number of words. 

2.      Genre

3.      SHORT synopsis of what the book is about

4.      Publishing credits (if there are any)

Now, with all that being said, simply listing the above statistics of your project will not land you a “Can I see more…” response.  You need to find some way to get on a personal level with each person you query.  This means doing your homework, folks.  What you are looking for is a way to compel your target to WANT to take another look at your project. 

In order for your query to be successful, you need to identify your targets.  This means that you make a short list of agents, publishers or editors that are in tune with your project.  You should never send a query for a crime thriller novel to an agent that only represents chick lit or children’s books.  It’s a sure fire way to get an instant rejection, or even worse, ignored completely. 

After you have identified a list of potential targets, begin to whittle it away to a short list; say 5-7 targets, by finding out as much about each target as possible.  What you are looking for is a way to link your project to that person directly.  The rule of thumb here is, if you can’t find it, it doesn’t exist.  Drop that name from your list of targets and move to the next one. 

The final step is to craft an intelligent, compelling one-page letter that identifies who you are and what your project is about (including the four key elements above) in a way that grabs each target in a personal way.  That means that you need to write a separate and completely unique letter for each target.  Make sure that you incorporate all of the submission guidelines that each target has set forth into your query, exactly as they are written.  Your attention to detail in this step will demonstrate to your target the level of effort and attention to detail you have put forth in your manuscript and gives you a level of credibility.

Lastly, understand that no matter what you do, you are going to receive rejections and some of your queries will be ignored.  Successful querying is 1 part formula, 1 part effort, and 1 part luck.  To increase the odds that your query will be looked upon favorably, try not to submit during periods of absence by your target, meaning that you should not submit your query during an announced vacation or seminar weekend.  While it may sound too good to be true, be wary of submitting during “open submissions week” as there are likely to be many submissions being reviewed in that period, making it tougher to cut the mustard, so to speak.  If you find that you have received rejections from all of your targets, or the submission response timeframe has expired, start over, creating a new list, preparing your letters, and submitting.  This is a process and practice makes perfect.

Online Content Sites-Helpful or Harmful to the Creative Writer

I started my writing career like many other freelancers do, by writing online content.  The essence of writing for online venues is much different from any sort of creative writing I have ever attempted and yet I believe there is a great deal that can be learned from writing online content.  Many mainstream media outlets condemn online content as simply fodder that gums up online avenues by simply regurgitating legitimate news, and while I am not qualified to speak for or against the value of online content sites or whether or the content is merely extraneous and superficial or a valuable news outlet, I can attest to the benefits I have personally gained by writing for them.

First and foremost, writing online content requires discipline.  I began my online writing endeavor as a way to make extra money without having to spend any more time away from home than I already do.  I don’t know of many households that wouldn’t enjoy the infusion of extra cash, especially when it can be earned on your time, at your pace.  Most online content sites focus on article quantity.  They make money by the ad revenue generated by the traffic they pull in with large quantities of keyword rich articles.  In order to make any appreciable cash, you must be able to write in quantity.  This requires a certain level of commitment on the part of the writer. It takes discipline to be able to work completely unsupervised; with no production goals other than those you set yourself.  For me, my commitment to my online writing has carried over into my creative writing projects, allowing me to exert the kind of discipline that is required to actually finish what I’ve started.

As unpleasant as it may be, online article writing allows me to practice the basics of writing: proper sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, active voice, flow and many other technical aspects of writing that I might otherwise not get around to.  It’s kind of like going back to English class and diagramming sentences: identifying the noun, the verb, and determine whether or not my participle is dangling or not (which is so not cool).

Research, research, research.  Research is the un-fun part of any writing project, and yet without it, the project loses any credibility with the reader whatsoever.  Online writing allows me to brush up my research skills in that I am not a subject matter expert in most of the subjects in which I write.  Credibility is the key to holding a reader’s attention, whether fiction or non-fiction.  Being able to perform good research quickly, accurately and thoroughly lends credibility to the author.

 The added benefit is being able to build your writing sample portfolio quickly.  Whether your aim is to land a professional writing gig as a copywriter, copy editor, journalist, etc or you are trying to break into the ranks of a New York Bestseller, having a portfolio of writing is a must.  You can tell someone how great a writer you are, but showing them carries a greater impact.  In this business, you have to prove yourself and there is no better way to do this than to provide an array of well reserched, properly written samples.

While writing online content isn’t for everyone, think about this for just a moment.  All artists both great and small practice and perfect their craft every day.  Writers are no different.  In order to be an effective writer, you have to be able to communicate to your audience.  At no other time in history has a larger audience been available at the touch of the “publish” key than right now.  The Internet provides a great outlet for writers to practice and perfect their craft and earn a nice income to boot.  Aspiring writers, take a moment and take a closer look at some online writing sites such as Associated Content, Helium, Textbroker, Demand Studios, and many others to see what they can do for you.

When is Enough Enough?

A good friend of mine, who will remain nameless at least for this post (you know who you are), has the opportunity to pitch her book to a literary agent, no strings attached.   She has been working on this little nugget for as long as I have known her, which in reality has only been about a year, but plenty long enough to know that not only is she extremely talented, but also well connected.  She has tirelessly written, edited, rewritten, edited, rewritten and then edited and rewritten some more in an attempt to make her manuscript as perfect as it can possibly be, which is sound advice to anyone out there attempting to write much more than a simple grocery list I might add.  But the point I am trying to get to here is: when do you know that all the editing and rewriting enough?

This aspiring author is actually contemplating skipping the open submission with the agent because she’s afraid that her manuscript is simply not yet ready.  I’m wondering whether the real issue lies in the fact that she’s just afraid to let it go.   I’m not saying that she’s a fraidy cat or anything because believe me, this woman is fierce!  But the fear of rejection is a powerful thing.

As I read over the forum posts of encouragement I began to wonder, when the time came, if I, too would be able to let my book go and be judged.   It’s kind of like watching the auditions of American Idol.  You know, the contestants that get in front of the judges and make complete fools of themselves on television.  You cringe as the judges begin to snigger and roll their eyes, sealing the fate of yet one more hopeful who truly had no idea they had no talent.  Heck, I even have trouble letting people who are going to tell me my book is great read it, let alone a complete stranger who’s opinion, by the way, carries much more weight than my mother’s or my brother’s (sorry guys!).

I guess it’s kind of like my husband’s theory on the lottery.  Odds are, if you buy a ticket you will most likely be simply dropping a few bucks into someone’s college education fund.   As a matter of fact, your odds of winning the jackpot are more astronomical than getting squashed by an airplane making an emergency landing in your backyard.  And yet, if you don’t play, your odds of winning have been reduced to zero.  Zilch.  Nada.

I hope that when the time comes that I’ll be able to push aside my fear of rejection and stand proudly behind my work with my newly purchased lottery ticket in my hand and dare to hope.  Yet, I can’t help but know that there is that little tiny voice somewhere deep down that will continue to tell me that as long as my work is still “in process” that I’m not a failure.  No one can reject me if I don’t submit my work.   It’s that tiny voice that will keep me editing and rewriting until the cows come home. 

To my friend:  here is your opportunity, your lucky lottery ticket.  Submit the story that you have so lovingly attended and let it be judged.  This is what you have been working for.