Comment Luv

You may have noticed that we have a new comment system. We have installed Comment Luv on the blog. What this means for you, is that everytime you leave a comment you will have the choice to include posting from your blog. It also means that you can sign your comments with your Facebook or Twitter log on.

Make your voice heard!

Freelance is a State of Mind

We tend to think of a freelancer as someone who is working for themselves, when really, the term can be applied to a variety of situations. You can be a freelancer if *…

…You have a business or clients on the side.

…You have multiple jobs (more than 2) that you cobble together in order to make a career.

…You are going after multiple career paths that do not automatically get a slash. (Like a speaker/author).

When you consider all of the definitions of a freelancer a whole new world opens up. Freelancing is an independant mentality. It is about not being beholden to one boss or one company.

A mentality that will benefit more and more people in both this collapsing job market, and into the future where a much smaller market will ensure that we all have to keep our skills razor sharp, (and our resumes up to date).

This blog will now be covering tips for all kinds of freelancers, with tips for getting and navigating all kinds of work.

Enjoy the posts.

Self promotion for freelancers: Your sites landing page.

A lot of freelancers spend a fair amount of time writing the body of their site, but they do not always think about the landing page.

It’s just a brief welcome and a place for links right? Wrong! It’s a first impression. It is a chance for potential clients to get a feel for who you are and what you can do.

A shoddy landing page can signal poor work quality to a client. Some, more discriminating ones may even nix you from a list of candidates based on this page.

Here are some tips on how to improve your landing page:

1. Treat it as a place to make a basic first pitch.
2. Use your text to provide compelling links. Your “resume” side bar may not be too enticing. Providing a second link to it during a brief description of your experience may encourage a client to go deeper. This is a more natural style of link.
3. Unless you work in this field, don’t make us watch through a flash intro, or other load heavy welcomes.

Best of luck marketing yourself.

Free samples and Unreasonable Demands

In these tough times it is no shock that more and more editors (and site managers) want to try out a writer before they make a commitment. They have to think about return on investment just like we do.

That’s why after querying for a mobile tech site, I wasn’t shocked to be asked for a test week. Sheepish, but enticed by the prospect of good pay I gave it a shot.

Two days into the test I get an email. Apparently they wanted the test (unpaid) to be 3 posts a day. That is 15 free articles. When I explained that this was simply an unreasonable amount of samples the trial week was terminated. It got me thinking. 15 posts a week is more than some blogs post in a whole week.

Maybe, they simply keep “auditioning” writers as a steady means of content. This begs two questions:

1. How do you know sample requests are from scammers?
2. Where is the line on samples in a time when everyone is hard up for work?

Weigh in and let me know what you think!

(Image Credit)

Tips for Cutting Down Query Time

When you freelance a lot of your professional time is used in search of work. That can be an issue if you have projects on deck. You can’t ignore the future to satisfy the present. So today we are going to look at ways to a down the query time by creating a skeleton later.

A skeleton query allows you to save time and energy by re-using certain elements. We begin with the standard elements of a business letter.

* Greeting
* Closing
* Your name & contact info

Next, lets take some elements common to queries

* A section about your education and experience.
* A section with links to your CV and portfolio

You can create all of these ahead of time and simply fill in the blanks with information about your experience with similar projects and if applicable your rates.

Happy querying!

(Image Credit)