Freelance Writing Blog

Planning Ahead

Posted on by lwidmer

I pretty much knew when I went on vacation last week that my monthly income would be adversely affected. I did the math – I’ll be just under $2K off my monthly target. Our goal as freelancers is to grow the business and – this to me is the important part – keep enough work…

Back to the Wall

Posted on by lwidmer

I’m back – miss me? Great week with the family members. We did a lot of day trips, one overnight trip, and plenty of restaurants, all filled with laughter, stories, and new memories. I knew myself enough to plan some “me” time alone in front of the computer. But the weirdest thing happened – I…

Taxed

Posted on by lwidmer

Between lovely company and taxes, it’s been a full vacation. I managed all the tax returns by yesterday, including payments for this year. Fortunately, January through the end of March were fantastic months earnings-wise. The money was there to pay everything with a little left over. Even with company here, I took my time through…

Things I Can’t Stand (Part Two)

Posted on by lwidmer

A late post, but blame it on April 15th filing deadlines….. Still on vacation, though it’s feeling more like I’ll need a rest afterward! More things I can’t stand. Feel free to add your own: Estimated taxes. I don’t mind paying them, but the entire estimated tax system is based on one thing – your…

Hitting the High Note

Posted on by lwidmer

Yesterday was about low prices. Today, the opposite – the best you’ve ever had. What’s the top price you’ve ever received? How does that figure out per-hour? Was the job harder? I had one job that paid a phenomenal rate – $12K. It was a collaboration with a company whose big-name client was paying for…

How Low Will You Go?

Posted on by lwidmer

Still on vacation, so just leaving vapor trails…. We talk endlessly about asserting our worth, realizing our skills are valuable, marketing to clients who value those skills, etc. That begs the question: What are you worth? Maybe a better question is this: How cheaply will you work? What conditions have to be present in order…

Discussion: Favorite Client Attributes

Posted on by lwidmer

Still on vaca and enjoying the company – We do a lot of lamenting about client issues, so I want to turn this on its ear a bit. Consider your perfect client – they’re out there – what would that client have that will keep you loyal? I’ll start. My favorite clients (I have the…

Things I Can’t Stand (Part One)

Posted on by lwidmer

I’m off today and all of next week, but I’ll leave you this week with something fun to ponder, discuss, or disagree with. I can’t stand: The use of “Google” or “texting” as verbs. People who use “Google” as a verb, as in “I Googled him” sound like they’re choking on walnuts, for one thing….

Thursday Musings and Madness

Posted on by lwidmer

I think I’ve accomplished more this week than any week in my career. I have tomorrow and all next week off, so I’ve had to herd the cats. So far, I’ve managed a pile of client captions, two interviews for an upcoming article, four more interviews for a newsletter, four more newsletter articles from those…

Disturbing Trend of the Day

Posted on by lwidmer

Normally when I get crap in my email I just delete it. However, this particular email disturbed me on a few levels. Let me explain: The offer:They want to sponsor my weblog. This weblog. They want me to earn money, money, money through their sponsorship. What’s in it for me:Money and higher traffic to this…

Devon Ellington

Yes, I've gotten several of those. My response has always been; A) you've obviously never even read my blog and what you want me to post is irrelevant to the subject and B) You can't afford me.

Buh-bye!

This, in addition to your point about the total lack of ethics involved.

Devon Ellington

Further to that, my personal blog is just that — personal. It gives readers a view into whatever's going well and/or sucking at the moment. I don't even allow ads on the blog — why would I let someone else's badly written material on it?

Writing a business blog for someone else is totally different. When I write the content, it's aimed to show off the business and excite potential customers about said business. When I visit a business-oriented blog, that's the content I expect — not irrelevant content mill crap.

Lori

Precisely that, Devon. What concerns me is the way these companies attempt to sway writers by suggesting this is perfectly acceptable. It's not. If you're writing a blog slanted toward making you money, chances are I'm already not interested, so go for it. But don't cross the line – don't mask a business interest under the guise of a personal relationship with your readers.

I know of a few writers' blogs that are bastardizing content. I removed them from my subscription list ages ago. It just feels cheap. Mind you, if this were a blog that was selling something to the reader – such as writing coaching, computers, or insurance – sure. Sell away. But I see no correlation between these marketing companies and any content relevant enough to the reader of that blog. Do it yourself or your audience will abandon you.

Nomad

The only advertising I ever do is sometimes-no rarely- I have a tie in with Amazon on a book review or a film. I have full control over what is selected. Of course, especially with films, I quite often dislike the film so it is hardly much of a sell-out.

But back to your post, look around. It seems like everybody's opinion is being bought and sold nowadays. You know I read that in China, the government pays average citizens to write comments on blogs and forums to support the party line. They are call "50 centers" because that how much they are paid per comment.
Keeping the reader is beyond any price as far as I am concerned. There are too many sell-outs in this world.

Sandra Rose Hughes

Thanks for posting this. I am new to the blogging world, and some of the blogs I have stumbled upon seem to have bought into this sort of thing. It seems like their articles have nothing to do with the description of their blog, and nothing really to do with anything except for selling some company's product. It's kind of strange, and I wonder why they even have readers anymore.

Anyway, thanks for the post, and for taking a stand.

Lori

Nomad, you're right. You lose the reader, and you're now the sound of one hand clapping.

Sandra, they're easy to spot, aren't they? One particular blog on writing posted about mortgage rates. Huh? I'm sorry – a quick buck is nothing if you've lost your reader. We're writers. Our goal is to appeal to our audience, not appeal to the advertisers.

Glad you both posted. 🙂

Paula

Lori, I think most of your regular readers like the community feel you've cultivated here. Why would you want a sudden onslaught of one-shot visitors who aren't interested in writing? Besides, once they get here, they'd probably wonder, "What's all this writing stuff about? I wanted to know more about this hot non-European, non-Caribbean place called Bhutan!"

Katharine Swan

Interesting timing. I have received several offers of link building in the last two days, all targeted to my horse blog, but coming in to ALL of my email addresses. Clearly they harvested them somewhere, but I wonder where? And I wonder if it's related at all to the offer you just got.

Anyway, my traffic to my work blog has dropped dramatically since I had to change the URL, so just in case anyone was wondering what happened to me, be sure you go to http://blog.katharineswan.com to follow my blog from the new address. I know I haven't been blogging as much lately, by the way, but I'll be updating more often from here on out.

Lori

Ah! There you are, Katharine! I wondered where you'd gone. 🙂 I've made the change. Thanks for updating your link.

Paula, thanks for the laugh! 🙂

Susan Johnston

That's bizarro and I'm pretty sure it's illegal, too. I didn't get this particular offer, but I did get an offer to pay me to promote some jewelry giveaway. If I referred at least 200 people, they'd give me a hundred bucks.

For me, the issue is not just the shady ethics but the fact that this would dilute the brand I've created. My blog is all about writing and freelancing, so my readers would know something's up if I suddenly started talking up Bhutan or some handblown glass necklace.

Don't these scammers realize that authenticity is more powerful than paid links?

Wendy

I haven't received any offers like that. Apparently, I'm more popular with the Nigerians though. That Mrs. Smith, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer and lost her husband in some terrible tragic accident, sure needs my help in getting her money transferred from some bank somewhere. She's contacted me several times lately. Poor thing.

As far as the advertising bit goes, it doesn't bother me too much if someone has a few ads placed on their site. (like adsense) If you have too many, then I get annoyed though.

It's when the ads dictate what you say about certain products or services that I don't care for. I want the low down on an item; don't tell me all the great things and brush the rest under the rug. If I suspect that's what you're doing, then I can't trust you.

Irreverent Freelancer

I think I got the same offer. They all go straight to my trash bin. My blog is to showcase MY writing, MY personality, and MY views … no on else's. That's not to say I'm totally against guest posts; such arrangements are acceptable to me when the content is relevant and approved by me. I'll never make a lot of money from blogging because I'll never sell out. That's just fine by me.

Cassie Tuttle

I've never received an offer like this one, Lori; though like Wendy, I do have plenty of dear friends all over the world who want me to handle their millions of dollars.

Good for you for standing on your principles! I feel that participating in schemes such as this one is ethically dishonest and exploitative on a number of levels.

Lori

Susan, I think they're more about quick cash. I don't know in what twisted mind it seems logical that someone selling out their blog readers would be a great opportunity for everyone, but I can't make the connection.

Wendy, when you're on a first-name basis with Mrs. Smith there, I'm calling for backup. 🙂 And you've nailed it – readers can't trust someone who would promote something or some article they've never tried. It's lying. I agree on AdSense – it's harmless. It leaves readers the option to click. No one's lying to them or forcing them to read the ads.

Kathy, I make my money blogging for companies. This is – dare I say it? – a labor of love. LOL I can't say that with a straight face thanks to the scumbags who offer to let us work on their "labor of love" for free.

Cassie, I agree. There are two things going on – unethical and dishonest behavior – when writers (or anyone) accept these offers. I'd rather my blog stand unattended a few days than put up crap that's not only irrelevant, but insulting to those who read here. (Glad to see you here, by the way! I have a special affinity toward Pittsburghers.)

Jenn Mattern

"Call me a prude, but I don't think promoting the exploitation of writers is something I'm willing to do in order to make strangers rich."

Amen to that Lori!

As for blogs with an intention of making money…. All of mine are, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

That money allows me to invest more time, energy and, well, money into improving it, bringing in new writers and offering more and better free resources for writers who would otherwise have to pay to have them custom-made themselves.

And I don't find blogging for money to be any less ethical or more offensive than any professional blogging with the intention of it helping their career or visibility. Doing so with even the possibility of it leading to paying work isn't any different in my eyes.

Either way, you're in it for something. One person's motives aren't better than another's as long as they're ethical in how they deliver the material (as in not selling out and pimping those content mills and other services exploiting writers knowingly — frankly I think sites like that are the worst thing to happen to this niche).

Audience first. Money second. But money doesn't have to be ignored in the process. Just my $.02.