Freelance writers often have trouble organizing their workload. Most of us are right-brain thinkers who can’t deal with annoying things like directions, plans or – egad! – math.

So when I saw this post by Jessie Haynes over on All Freelance Writing, I just had to share it.

Even small, simple projects require at least some outlining and proofreading…it will only take a few more minutes and you’ll be sending a more professional piece of work in, rather than something sloppy. Yes, as professionals, we can “get away” with rushing some things or taking a few short cuts, but if we held ourselves accountable, would we? I think that when someone pays you to perform the core competencies of your business for them, you should provide your best work possible. After all, you should be asking for fair compensation for your work, so how about doing the work you’re being paid for!

Jesse includes a few free templates to help you map each writing job from beginning to end. Research, outline, and a checklist for ideas. Go grab them!

In Ali Hale’s The Bloggers’ Guide to Effective Writing, she stresses the importance of all articles having a beginning, middle and end. It seems straightforward and obvious, but many freelance writers struggle to put their ideas in order with a strong opening, an informative middle and a coherent end. If you have ever stared at one of your articles, lost as to why it just doesn’t seem to be gelling the way you need it to, check out Hale’s book.

Today is one of the two weekly casual days for the home worker. Topless Wednesday and No Pants Friday are the freelancer’s equivalent of denim Fridays. So yes, I’m wearing a pair of jeans… and pearls.

Here’s what caught my attention today:

All the talk on the web today seems to be The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Here’s how you can learn some security tips from her, and from Kelly Diels, who wrote this post. I love the way Kelly writes – her voice really comes through!

Actually, let’s be honest: I LOVE WORDPRESS. My blog is my boyfriend. I adore it. I spend all my time with it. Because of all the fabulous people who love me up in the comments, my blog sates my unabashed lust for attention – which, in turn, has started saving me from terrible IRL relationship decisions.

(Wordpress is saving the world from needy girlfriends. Someone call the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.)

Are women less productive than men? Or does it just mean something different to us?

I’d like to see productivity come out of the factory-office mindset and into the modern world. I’d like to see us stop thinking about how many widgets we’ve cranked today, or how many emails we’ve processed, or how many business cards we’ve collected. I’d like to see us addressing the bigger picture, asking questions like:

• Why doesn’t my happiness seem to matter?
• Why do I keep over-committing myself?
• How many big goals can I realistically and sanely accomplish this year?

I moved on Monday, and have had limited internet since then.That kinda sucks when you’re a freelance writer who works from home. My cable company is giving me the runaround on my new address, which is going to cost them hugely when they finally get around to selling me something. So for now I’m piggybacking off a neighbor, which means my bandwidth is sooo very limited.

But thanks to the wonders of the BlackBerry, I’ve been able to stay on top of things with my Google Reader.

Here are some articles I put stars next to, knowing they’d be helpful:

10 most common writing mistakes – we all make ‘em, let’s try to avoid them, at least in the rewrite.

Nobody’s reading my blog – you’ve got to get over this hit to your self-esteem, especially if you are a new blogger.

Flash is dead – and it’s about bloody time!

Demand Studios is now hiring in the UK and Canada

If you want to be a freelancer, you need to know about business – essential link!

Alright, I have 7 articles I need to pump out today. So the coffee maker is percolating, my brain is buzzing, and I’ll leave you to your day. Good luck and happy writing!

Most of us bloggers use them. Those oh-so-brilliant, algorithmic ads (you can see them on this page, at the bottom of this post) that are supposed to know what your readers are thinking. If you are an advertiser, they are a great way to get the word out about your product. You bid for placement, your ads get popped into searches and on websites, someone clicks to learn more about your product, you pay for the click, and maybe you score a sale from it. Whee!

This morning I opened an email from my hosting provider (1and1) telling me that they, too are getting in on the act as a Google authorized reseller. Hmmm… So here’s what they offer (screen capture):

I plan to check this out, only because it would make billing easier for me. I’ve been with 1and1 for more than five years, and it would be great if I could have all my services come in together, instead of having separate bills for hosting and for advertising.

If you are interested, click here. Their hosting and tech support is great. I’ve always gotten prompt service from the guys on the phone.

While following the lessons in Staff Blogging Course, which I talked about here, I took a moment to trawl through the Technorati list of Top 100 blogs. It had been a while since I visited Technorati, knowing that much of the blogging world had moved on to other means of ranking and promotion.

There were some familiar names there at the top, like Huffington Post (who are notorious for NOT paying their writers, so don’t even think about it), Gawker, LifeHacker etc, but there were a lot of gossip, lifestyle and celebrity blogs I had never heard of before, many belonging to a company called WeblogsInc, others to AOL under the headings of Lifestyle or Money & Finance etc.

I opened a few of these sites for further perusal, and lo and behold… nothing. No content. Each so-called blog bore a “Coming Soon” or “We’re working on it” message in place of written content, and the pages featured plenty of feeds with ads, more ads, some video news, ads, newsfeeds, and did I mention the ads?

Oh, and guess who owns Weblogs Inc? That’s right! AOL!

So, how did these blogs, completely lacking in any original content whatsoever, get into the Technorati Top 100? Love it or hate it (I hate it) The Huffington post is a legitimate website with plenty of original daily content running alongside its numerous money making ads. But these blogs? Nothing. Just “Coming Soon”.

Blogs that don’t even exist as yet are in the Top 100, reminding me why I haven’t bothered with Technorati in over two years.

That said, I did find a few interesting leads (further down the list) to apply to as a staff blogger, as instructed in the Staff Blogging Course. I’ll keep you posted!

In the meantime, why not try the course for yourself?

Do you have a podcast you produce yourself? Have you always wanted one, but didn’t know where to begin?

Not every podcast on the web has professional aspirations. Some people are just podcasting as a hobby. But more and more we’re seeing semi-professional and professional podcasts being produced for business, activism, entertainment and more.

I’ve been podcasting for a year now (well, a year next week) at Brass Balls Radio. I haven’t got the first clue how to put together a professional sounding show, but my co-host and producer Mike Williams does. Week after week we churn out seamlessly edited content with a real voice announcer doing our intros and outros, music that has been legally licensed, and great guests. I’m merely a figurehead – I bring the personality as if Brass Balls were my own personal dinner party. Mike does all the heavy lifting in the background, making sure we don’t sound like a couple of four year olds with two tins cans on a string.

We have just shifted from the amateur stream to the professional one by contacting a marketing company to help us gain advertising. With a half million listeners every week, we felt it was time to make that shift. Our potential is huge, and grows from week to week.

Mike Williams is now consulting to aspiring podcasters. For those of you with big ideas and a drive for perfection that have no idea how to get started, Mike will put you on the right path.

A 90 minute session with Mike will give you:

• All the software required to cleanly record and edit a podcast
• A walk through on using the software
• A professionally voiced and recorded intro/outro to your show
• The coding required to automatically submit your show to iTunes whenever you update
• Mike’s personal email address in case you get stuck
• Optional hosting and site design

So what do you need to get started?

• A headset with mic.
• A free skype account
• It helps to already have a website. If not, Mike can offer optional hosting and set up.

If you are ready to produce your own professional sounding podcast, you can contact Mike at

mike AT brassballsradio DOT com

A 90 minute skype session with Mike is $110. Good luck, everyone. I hope you find as much success with your podcast as we have with ours. And for you political junkies, check out our May 18 anniversary show at Brass Balls Radio. It’s going to be our best ever.

February was a dead slow month for writing jobs, but March is shaping up to be a whopper. I was just presented with a rush job from a regular client, plus I have two book reviews due in the next two weeks – one is due Friday. My synopsis is done on my book pitch, but I have the sample chapter to complete by next Tuesday.

Alas, this is the wild and woolly world of freelance writing. It’s feast or famine. I survive it by having little trickles of income that I don’t have to scramble for. For example, I write blog posts for Examiner.com about Republican politics, and I get paid per click. I have subscribers and regular advertisers on my personal site. I write the occasional pay-per-click piece for Today.com (they’re still hiring bloggers!) which provides a little income stream.

And yeah, I dog sit. Shutup. Money is money! You gotta do what you gotta do when there’s a dearth of work! See how glamorous the life of a writer is?

Oh my God. If I had a nickel for every time I got asked that, I could say “Hell yeah, I have eleventy billion dollars just from people asking me about being a freelancer!”

As with any job, much of it depends on the person in question. Also, what is your niche? If you are a freelance style writer, you are going to have lots of competition. Competition lowers prices. If, on the other hand, you are a freelance assassin, your pricing can be unlimited. Also, if you only want to work 10 hours per week, your income will be very different from a full-time freelancer.

I present to you two articles, one pro, one con.

The con:

I had the unhappy job of informing [students] career options for journalism graduates today aren’t anything they”re likely to see on TV. With newspapers and magazines laying off staff by the thousands and people getting more of their news online, the industry is changing completely.

That doesn’t mean there are no opportunities, I explained. There will always be some newspaper and magazine jobs. But there will be even more opportunities elsewhere, at Web-based publishers, trade magazines, community papers, etc. Heck, even Rory Gilmore ended up writing for a Website.

The key, I suggested, is to learn the basics, keep up with the latest tech skills, get experience interning and be flexible. In hard times like these when you’re just starting out and jobs are scarce, where you work isn’t as important as the opportunities you have to put your education into practice.

Ugh, journalism school. What a racket. By the time you learn something in j-school, it’s easily three years out of date. Stay tuned to next year’s courses in using MySpace. The best way to learn anything is to jump in and do it (excepting neurosurgery – just sayin’). J-school isn’t going to move you to the front of the line. You’ll do better with some gumption and a copy of the AP Style Guide.

The pro:

I started Home with the Kids in September 2003. I had decided to expand on the whole work at home concept because medical transcription is really not suited to everyone. It took me a while to realize that I could be earning money from the things I had been talking about for free. I eventually took my medical transcription stuff off the free host, updated it, and added it to Home with the Kids.

My income ranges from $1000-5000 per month. The AdSense income is the biggest part, but some months I’ve done very well with other programs, breaking $2000 in a month in affiliate referrals. While Google AdSense is a major earner for me, I’m trying to dump it so that I have more control. I also do a little bit of ad selling, mostly featured links in the Direct Sales Opportunities directory on my site. It hasn’t been the focus for me that many say it ought to be. That’s just not one of my specialties.

What we’re seeing here is not a writer, but more of an internet marketer. That’s a niche. It’s all freelancing, whether you’re a writer, a marketer or an assassin – but each area is going to have its own potential for earnings.

So what about me? I write. I write political news and opinion for a variety of sites, because that’s my specialty. In addition, I do copy writing for marketing materials, which pays better than political writing. Beyond that, all of my websites have some form of advertising on them, from AdSense to affiliate items to text links for a flat fee. I have found ways to monetize my websites, and each provides me with a little income.

I also have subscribers to one of my sites. Though the content on the site is free, I have benefactors who appreciate my work and pay me just to keep doing what I do. I love them for the opportunity they afford me.

For those of you who want to know more about monetizing of websites, try this post over at Marelisa’s.

So what’s the answer? Is there money to be made in freelancing? Yes. And no. As with everything in life, it all depends on YOU.

For the blogger who provides great content but has little SEO skill (or interest), making money through blogging can be tough. Oftentimes, even if you build a large readership, you’re not going to get people clicking all over the place on ads and offers. Sometimes you’ll make a bit in donations (I survived most of 2008 on the kindness of my readers), but that’s usually only in very dire circumstances.

However, some large blogging communities will pay per page-view. That means your content and your readership count as money in the bank. Today.com for example gives you $2 for every 1,000 page views. No, it’s not a huge amount, but hey – if you’re already blogging for free now, it’s better than nothing!

How do you make money?

Traffic. If you are already an established pleasure blogger (one who blogs for fun, not profit), you drag your readership from your current location to your new one. Say you get 500 readers a day at yoursite.com. You write a post at a place like Today.com, then link back to it from yoursite.com.

Check out my latest article on purple widgets over at mynewdigs.today.com!

Your loyal readers click over, read your article, and you’re on your way. If your readers leave comments and get a good discussion going, then you make the Today.com front page, which gets you even more readers. It won’t take long for those hits to add up.

It’s a form of validation for all the hard work you put into your blog. A little “thank you” of sorts, for providing so many people with a daily helping of something they want and enjoy.

But I want to be a millionaire!

Jolly for you. Buy a lottery ticket. The rest of us will continue to provide quality content for public consumption. And in the end, we will be rewarded.

There are zillions of ads and whatnot on the web telling you about getting rich with affiliate programs. You can’t. Not rich-rich, anyway. What you can do though is buy yourself a little time and push the wolf a little further from your door.

Those ads that say “I made a million dollars doing nothing except affiliate marketing, and you can too!” are pretty much horsepoo. But I’m willing to bet you dollars to donuts that while the guy didn’t make a million dollars, he probably made a few thousand.

Just take it all with a grain of salt.

He probably made those thousands over the course of several weeks. Maybe a couple of months. So the million dollar thing? Lies. But the reality of a few grand? Well… why not? That cash can really come in handy.

Avoid a lot of yellow.

If you see a landing page with every other line highlighted in yellow, move on to the next one. Yellow seems to be the universal code for lying scammer. If you are the affiliate of a lying scammer, you are a lying scammer, too. That won’t help you sleep at night, and you will go to hell.

Is The Rich Jerk really that rich?

Yes, by now he is. He has been selling his system for long enough that he has made a mint on it. People want information, and he sells them information. Even I tried him out. Am I rich? Hells no. But did it work at all? Yes. Here’s the part I found most useful: The e-book.

The Rich Jerk e-book is full of information on making affiliate marketing work, even if you don’t go in for all his other gewgaws. The book is ten bucks, gewgaws cost extra. Get the book, and learn affiliate marketing.

So, how do I use affiliate marketing?

Didn’t I just tell you to buy that book? It’s dirt cheap, and it would really save me having to type everything out here…

Fine. Here’s a few things you need to get started.

• A domain name and hosting. You would need this for any type of venture, from freelancing to affiliate marketing to live streaming porn content. I use 1 & 1 (there’s a link to the right of this post) because they aren’t expensive, they never fail, and their customer service are all well-spoken, polite blond boys from Germany.
• An account with Clickbank and/or Commission Junction. These are the top affiliate marketing sites. Clickbank is easiest to use, and they both have great products. Get one for each. Then choose what you want to market.
• Use your copywriting skills to up-sell the products you are offering. Think of it as a writing exercise. Play around – what works best and delivers results? You will be honing your craft as you go along. A win-win.
• Use every trick in the book to promote your site. Backlinks, SEO, pay per click ads via Google, social media – whatever it takes. Get people to your site, and get them clicking your links and making purchases.

Affiliate marketing doesn’t make too many millionaires, but that extra few thousand bucks in your bank account will sure come in handy when the mortgage is due. And in this economy, who doesn’t need that?