I'm sure my sister and I will be checking out all of your sites to see what ideas we can steal – I mean borrow – in terms of formatting.

As far as how far back to go with credits – wrong question. What do you have that will show you know how to write? That you can handle what's needed? Pick the best to show off and make a list of others.

And just to prove the point, I have a copy editor I use but she doesn't have a website (believe me, I've tried.) Just today I referred her and my client came back and said "I can't find her on the web."

Another thing — a website helps you sort out what it is you're offering. As you're creating those pages, you have to think deeper into what it is you do. That's never a bad thing.

Quick question: How far back do you go with listing credits or posting clips? Is it just the past year, past five years? Ten?

Damaria, congratulations! Yours is an inspiration. I'd love it if you'd write a blog post for us on your publishing experiences. You up for it?

I tend to think your way a bit, Devon. I kept it separate because I wanted the designs to match up and my website was going through an overhaul. However, I just never linked them. Maybe I will, but I want to keep it here for some reason. I know traffic-wise it's a bad idea, but I'm probably less concerned with that than I should be. 🙂

I don't have samples on my site, but I do have information about what types of writing I do. The website shows a broader spectrum of work than the pitch.

Also, I keep my blog and my website separate. I know it's "conventional wisdom" that they should be all on the site, but I don't like to have all my eggs in one basket. If the site goes down for whatever reason, the blog still runs and has the information, and vice versa.

For me, that's worked much better.

I enjoy having blog(s), but I don't think it's the right choice for everyone.

The big "don't' for me in blogs is "don't ever say on the blog you don't have time to blog". As a reader, that's a slap in the face — a writer telling me that I'm not worth the time. If I'm not worth the time, why should I spend hard-earned money on the writer's book?

It's one thing for someone to say, "I'm swamped with deadlines, I'm taking an X week break — see you then" or deciding to stop a blog for whatever reason — but you can do that without insulting people who've invested their time and energy in you.