The Cuckleburr Times » Yuwanda Black

Ebook-Newsletter Writers – How to Get an Expert to Agree to an Interview

Yuwanda Black — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:23:03 +0000

Following are three areas you should cover when approaching a subject you want to interview for your publication.

1. Who You Are: Unless you 100% know for sure that your subject knows who you are, introduce yourself.

If you want to interview this person, nine times out of ten it’s because they’re pretty successful – which means that they’re busy. So, a request for an interview from “Jim” means nothing to them.

Introduce yourself in a professional manner, which leads me the second area you want to cover, your profession:

2. What You Do: Mention your website, blog, newsletter, etc. in your initial correspondence. Provide a brief bio with links to further information so the interviewee gets a thorough overview of who you are and what you do.

This will allow them to make an informed decision based on sound information. Remember, it’s innately self-serving to link yourself to those who are successful and/or who are a good reflection on you. So, make it easy for your target to say yes.

Your website should be professional. Your correspondence should be professional. Your blog should be professional. These are all reflections of you – and ultimately of the person you want to interview. Make it a good one.

3. Why You Want to Interview Them: Tell the prospect why you want to interview them. Tell them from a what’s in it for them view, not a what’s in it for you.

Eg, “As you provide job for freelancers and my site is about the business of freelancing, I’d like my subscribers to hear your take on the subject.”Many interviewees, especially if they have a website, are promoting something.

Whether it be their services, their ebooks, speaking engagements, etc. So, they’re only too glad to do an interview to get their name in front of more prospects – especially if it’s worded in the right way.

ACTUAL “REQUEST FOR INTERVIEW” LETTER (feel free to use as a template)

Following is a letter I wrote to a Clark Covington of Internet Research Associates, whom I interviewed for the second issue of my newsletter, How to Start a Successful Freelance Career. It covers all three areas mentioned above.

Dear Mr. Covington:

I read about your organization in the AssociatedContent.com forum. I came across the post by Kathy Browning.

My name is Yuwanda Black and I’m the publisher of InkwellEditorial.com and InkwellEditorial.blogspot.com. The site and its accompanying blog are all about the business of freelancing.

We serve as an internet portal, providing advice, case studies, seminars, e-books, etc. to those who want to freelance — full or part-time.

All that being said, I’d like to feature you in an interview in my newsletter, How to Start a Successful Freelance Career, as you provide work-from-home opportunities for freelancers. If interested, please answer the following 8 questions. Of course, I’ll let you know beforehand when it will be published, and will send you a link to the post once it is live.

I look forward to hearing from you. The questions are pasted below.

Sincerely,

Yuwanda Black, Publisher

InkwellEditorial.com

InkwellEditorial.blogspot.com

Simple, direct and to the point. So far, everyone I’ve asked for an interview has complied. Fingers crossed to your success in querying interviewees.

Yuwanda Black is the publisher of InkwellEditorial.com: THE business portal for and about the editorial and creative industries. First-hand freelance success stories, e-courses, job postings, resume tips, advice on the business of freelancing, and more! Get the E-Report: How to Make $100/Day or More as a Freelance Writer! Log on to InkwellEditorial for full details.

SEO Copywriting: A Career That’s Flourishing Despite Tough Economic Times

Yuwanda Black — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:51:21 +0000

In the CareerBuilder article, Five Careers That Sail Through a Tough Economy, one of the professions listed was that of web designer. The author wrote:

“The Internet has evolved from an information resource into a robust economic platform. Companies take advantage of low-overhead Internet storefronts to tap new markets worldwide . . . They need a compelling Web presence to reel in customers — and that’s where you come in.”

Why the Depressed Economy Means Opportunity for Freelance (SEO) Writers

Where web designers are is where the work is for freelance SEO writers. Really, this spells opportunity for all types of freelance writers. But, SEO copywriters have a distinct advantage in that more and more companies are pouring larger portions of their ad budgets into online advertising.

Why are they doing this? For three reasons primarily:

Online advertising is cheaper than traditional media outlets: Compared to television ads, radio spots and newspaper buys, online advertising is much, much cheaper for companies. As online marketing is a relatively new medium, many companies haven’t caught on to just how lucrative this type of advertising can be.

Tough economic times cause many to look — for perhaps the first time — at this outlet. And, once they see the ROI numbers (Return on Investment), they’re simply astounded that they haven’t tried it before.

Speaking of ROI . . .

Large ROI: Marketing is less about how much you spend — as long as it’s in your budget — but what you get back in return. And, online advertising returns have proven to be a lot larger than traditional media advertising. The success of the biggest player in the internet marketing game — Google — tells the story.

In the article, 1/22/09 article, Will Google survive the downturn?, journalist Andrew Horowitz writes,
“Google has established consistent earnings per share and sales growth since its inception despite the
troubles within the economy as of late.”

A huge part of Google’s income is made from advertisers spending money on pay-per-click and other internet marketing campaigns. This is only going to increase.

Businesses Love Online Advertising: Once they discover how lucrative internet marketing is, businesses fall in love with it. Features like real-time feedback contribute to the love affair. What is real-time feedback?
When a company runs a pay-per-click campaign, for example, they can instantly check the data to see how their ads are performing.

This allows them to tweak what’s not working and to expand what is. This saves thousands — and for some companies — millions of dollars in advertising. Why? Because they don’t have to wait for a newspaper to circulate for example, to know how effective their ad campaign was.

The Career Opportunities for SEO Copywriters are Vast — and Growing Fast!

What drives online advertising? Search engine optimization (SEO). And, there are few who know what it is.
Those who learn — and do so now, the beginning of this boom — will be able to build lucrative freelance writing businesses that will sustain them for years to come.

Yuwanda Black is the publisher of InkwellEditorial.com: The Authority Site on How to Start a Successful Freelance Writing Career. Site features first-account freelance success stories, e-courses, ebooks, marketing advice and more! Want to make money today as a freelance writer? The e-report How to Make $100/Day or More as a Freelance Writer! tells you how.

Online Freelance Writers – Make a Few Hundred Extra Dollars a Week With These Services

Yuwanda Black — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:34:42 +0000

If you’re an online writer who knows search engine optimization (ie, SEO copywriter), chances are you know more — much more — than your clients and many other freelance writers about internet marketing. And, if you’re good at it, you can make money a few extra hundred dollars a week (or day, if you market right) from this knowledge. This is over and beyond just writing simple SEO articles.

Following are three easy, profitable, add-on services you can offer to your clients. By becoming more of a “one-stop, SEO shop” you will not only increase the number of clients you have, but how much money you make as well.

I. Internet Marketing Consultant: Many clients — especially those who are just beginning to pay attention to how powerful the web can be to their bottom line — know next to nothing about internet marketing.

When you mention things like meta tags, long-tail keywords and keyword discovery, their eyes may glaze over. This is good for you, for you can offer internet marketing consulting packages.

How much should you charge as an SEO consultant? Well, that depends on a variety of things, eg, your level of knowledge, how much time comes in each package, whether you offer a written report, etc.

Do some web surfing to see what others are charging. At a minimum from a precursory web search, the going rate seems to be somewhere around $100/hour. The beautiful thing about being a consultant is that you charge what you want (always keeping in mind what the market will bear).

II. Social Media Marketing: Many SEO writers are intimately familiar with social networking sites like Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, etc. Many clients aren’t.

Again, this presents a perfect opportunity for you to offer these services to clients. Anyone who’s ever set up a Twitter account, for example, knows that it can be done literally in under a minute. And, all you have to do is post to it three or four times a day.

If you set up and monitor accounts like this for clients, it’s literally just minutes out of your day — and you can charge handsomely for it as most clients just want to be active in these mediums. BUT, they don’t have the time or know how to manage these accounts themselves. So, they gladly pay freelancers like you to do it for them.

III. Ebook Tutorials: Ebook tutorials are an excellent way for clients to maximize their time, while generating leads and sales at the same time.

For example, if your client is a web design firm, you can point out to them how easy it would be to separate themselves from the competition by giving away a free ebooklet detailing all the benefits of having a website. Or, you can show them how an ebook will help them save time by giving away a “most frequently asked questions” tutorial.

While SEO content may be your bread and butter as an SEO writer, these easy-to-offer ancillary services can be quite profitable. And, they provide variety to your work day.

To learn everything you need about how to start a lucrative online writing career as an SEO writer career, log on to Work-from-Home-Writing-jobs.com for first-hand information from a successful SEO copywriter. There are tons of testimonials from others who’ve found success in this freelance writing niche as well.

Freelance Writers – How the Competition Can Increase Your Income

Yuwanda Black — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:39:05 +0000

New freelance writers often worry about competition; they fear it. But really, competition is a good thing. And, it can even make you more money as a freelance writer. How/why? For three insights, read on.

Hit the Ground Running: What is ostensibly your competition – eg, other freelance writers – allow you to hit the ground running when you first start your freelance writing career.

For example, let’s say you were trying to decide what to charge – a common conundrum for many freelance writers, new and experienced. All you have to do is research the sites of other freelance writers to find out what they’re charging. Then, come up with a pricing scale based on that. You can have this done in a couple of hours.

Now imagine if you didn’t have the “competition” of other freelance writers out there. You’d probably scratch your head for months trying to come up with a fee scale.

Determine What’s Profitable and What’s Not: By researching other freelance writer sites and popular freelance writing forums, you can easily find out which niches are high paying, and which are not.

Why is this important? When you’re just starting out, many long-time freelance writers say it’s easier to land freelance writing jobs if you pitch yourself as a niche writer first. You can also find out other things about freelance writing niches, eg, what’s low and what’s high pay; what services to offer; what are standard turnaround times; etc.

Your freelance writing competition is a veritable wealth of information when you’re trying to pitch yourself as a niche writer.

Trend Watching: One of the most valuable ways other freelance writers can help you make more money is to bring profitable trends to your attention.

For example, until a few years ago, very few knew about SEO copywriting (aka article writers, web content providers, SEO writers). But, as it became more and more popular, other freelance writers began to ask what it was, how much to charge which services to offer, etc. Now, experienced SEO copywriters who know how to market themselves can routinely bill $200-$500/day – just writing simple SEO articles.

Why SEO Copywriters are in High Demand

Online marketing experts say that approximately 100,000 new websites go live every day. And, what do they all need? Content – and lots of it. When you consider that many internet users – and even many freelance writers – don’t even know what SEO writing is, it is a real lucrative niche for those that do.

Competition Among Freelance Writers Is Really a Benefit, Not a Hindrance

The amazing thing about those who precede you is that they offer a wealth of information. Hence, competition among freelance writers is a beautiful thing that should be a source of inspiration, not consternation.

Yuwanda Black is a freelance SEO writer and the author of How to Make $250+/Day Writing Simple, 500-Word Articles. Ms. Black says, “You can work from home as a freelance writer in your PJs, getting assignments via the internet. I do it every day.”

How to Get Out of Debt on a Freelance Salary

Yuwanda Black — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 06:00:29 +0000

The number one problem most freelancers have is that their income is inconsistent. This makes it hard to plan. As a freelancer with some financial savvy, I’ve noticed some things that have helped me keep the debt monster at bay.

NOTE: Notice I wrote “at bay”; I haven’t completed escaped him, but he’s not an all-consuming threat either.

1. Get a job you hate: Why? A little story:

Jerry Seinfeld said that he sold light bulbs before he became rich and famous. He said he hated it, but he did it because it made him work that much harder on his comedy. His thinking was, “The sooner I succeed, the sooner I could give up selling light bulbs.

I thought this a brilliant concept.

Moral of this story: Complacency kills and this is kinda like reverse psychology. Imagine if you hated what you were doing. You’d work much harder to not have to do it and put every penny you earned towards the debt you owe so you could quit – as soon as possible.

2. Save ONLY $1,000: One of the things I learned from Dave Ramsey’s book, The Total Money Makeover, is to have an emergency fund.

Hold on, don’t tune out. This is not having 3-8 months of expenses in the bank, like most financial gurus will tell you. Dave says to start with $1,000. Why this amount, and why is it so radical?

When you hear, save 3-8 months of expenses, most of us turn a deaf ear. If you’re struggling just to keep up with the bills as they come in, putting $5,000, $10,000 or more away seems impossible.

But, most of us can imagine socking away a grand.

Mr. Ramsey’s theory is that it’s the little emergencies that cause us to constantly whip out the plastic and before we know it, we’re a few thousand in debt. He says, if you have an emergency fund of $1,000 and the transmission goes on your car, you won’t have to finance it with plastic.

You pay cash for it and therefore you haven’t created more debt at a time when you can least afford it – when things are going bad.

I’m a big believer in the universe talking to you. Some may call this presence God, Buddha, Allah; whatever you call it, I’m a big believer in a higher power. Around the time I read this, three things happened that added up to almost exactly a thousand dollars.

My car needed new rotors (I still don’t know what they are, but apparently my jeep was in bad need of them); my fiance’s car needed new tires and the thermostat in our house went kaput – in the dead of winter.

Now, we were lucky enough to be able to pay for all of this without charging any of it, but it didn’t come out of an emergency fund; it came right out of earned money, which really put a crimp in the holiday budget.

Moral of this story: Put away funds for Murphy’s law because when you least need something bad to happen, it will. Do this BEFORE you start paying off debt. Mr. Ramsey says it kind of inoculates you against ole man Murphy.

NOTE: There is a point where you do build up the 3-8 months of living expenses, but it comes later in his plan.

3. Chunk pay: What I mean by this is, when you get a chunk of money from a project, close your eyes, write out the check and just pay a darn bill.

I know from my own personal experience that when most of us get a chunk of money at one time, we want to treat ourselves a little, pay only what’s due (maybe a little more), and “save” a little.

The reason save is in quotation marks is because eventually that gets eaten up by those expenses that we can never seem to account for.

Another of Mr. Ramsey’s philosophies is that money you don’t have a plan for will find a way to leave you. So, if you know you’re getting a check in two weeks for $1,748.32 for a project you just completed, look over your bills and assign a debt to it. While it may bug you to do it, you’ll feel so much better once the check is in the mail.

Moral of this story: You can track where your money went; you can see the progress. This is important because when you remember that client who drove you bonkers and the project took you 8 more hours than you billed, at least you can say it was worth it because Visa is finally paid in full.

And you know what, I’ve taken on projects this year that in the past I would have passed on because I have a goal. Getting out of debt takes laser focus – and it gets addictive. But, since I’ve been on Dave Ramsey’s plan, I’ve made more progress in three months than I made all of last year – and I’m not THAT bad with money.

I’ve found that it’s those little things that get it in the way of success. By chunk paying, getting an emergency fund in place and doing jobs I don’t necessarily like, my debt-free goal is within reach – and yours can be too!

Ebook Writers – How Google Can Help You Sell More Ebooks

Yuwanda Black — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:41:45 +0000

Do you write and self-publish ebooks? Have you thought about publishing an ebook? If you’re a freelance writer who spends any time on the net, the thought has undoubtedly crossed your mind.

Whether you’re already a self-published ebook author, or not, following is how Google can help you sell more ebooks – and it’s free.

How to Use Google to Find Affordable Websites and Blogs to Advertise On

If you market, then you know that finding the perfect place to advertise is more than half the battle, especially if you are working with a shoe-string budget. Google can help you sell more ebooks. Following is how.

Using Google is one of the best ways to find affordable places to advertise your ebook online. To understand how, let’s get specific.

Google Does Your Keyword Discovery for You

When marketing online, keyword discovery is key. Following is how Google helps you with this.

Let’s say you wrote an ebook about how to make money writing – a very common topic. The first thing you would do is go to Google and type in a keyword phrase, something like, “make money writing”. As you’re typing, see the phrases that pop up (and change) in the box below?

This, in essence, is Google doing your keyword research for you. Words and phrases related to your niche – that you may never have thought of – are being given to you. This is in-depth keyword research that tells you, for example, how popular a particular keyword phrase is.

You can use this information to find popular blogs and websites to advertise on. Now it takes some time to dig through the sites that pop up. But, all you have to do is find 10 or 20 popular ones that accept advertising. Then, check out their pricing to see if you can afford to advertise there and whammo – you’ve started your online ebook marketing campaign!

Ebook Writers and Publishers: What to Look for Before Placing an Online Ad

Rates for advertising online are all over the map. A site that has a few hundred visitors may be charging $75 for a one-month ad, while another that gets a few thousand visitors a day may charge $25 for a whole quarter (three months).

It’s crazy as there seems to be no set standard. Many don’t refer to it as the world “wild” web for nothing. Before placing an ad, keep the following in mind.

Niche: Only place ads that cater to your target market. If you write an ebook telling others how to make money writing, then appropriate sites to place ads on are work from home sites, freelance writing sites and job boards that cater to freelancers.

Traffic: Get an idea of what a good amount of traffic is – for your niche. Some niches can be relatively small, so wouldn’t necessarily have the amount of traffic that other niches have. This brings up the last point, which is…

Know Your Market: If you don’t know for example that a freelance writing site that gets 2-3,000 visitors a day is a pretty decently trafficked site, then you don’t know your niche.

When you know your market, you’re able to judge such tangibles as what good traffic is, what a decent rate is, what a rip-off rate is, etc.

Online marketing is the perfect, affordable venue for ebook publishers – if it’s done right.

Yuwanda Black is a self-published author of numerous ebooks, the latest of which is How to Find Unpublished Freelance Writing Jobs. She oversees the popular freelance writing portal, InkwellEditorial – The Authority Site on How to Start a Successful Freelance Writing Career. Site features resources that tell you how to make money online as a freelance writer today.

Freelance Writers -Why the Current Credit Crisis is a Good Thing For Your Career

Yuwanda Black — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:15:06 +0000

The failure of major banks like WaMu have sent the American economy into a deep credit crisis. Money is hard to come by. Existing businesses can’t borrow money to expand or upgrade equipment, for example. Wannabe small business owners can’t borrow money to start. All of this means fewer new jobs are created and more layoffs are on the horizon.

As a freelance writer, how does all of this affect you? What does it mean for freelance writers and their careers? Quite simply, the credit crisis is a good thing for freelance writers and their careers. Following is why.

Freelance Writers: Why Layoffs Mean Opportunity

While companies are contracting, work still has to get done. And to whom do employers turn to get this work done? Temporary employees and/or freelancers.

Employee benefits cost employers an average of 20-35% of a full-time employee’s compensation package. Freelance writers and other temporary employees don’t have medical benefits, paid days off or sick time. Hence, they are a deal for companies because it saves them a bundle.

Freelance Writers: How the Credit Crisis Can Create Long-term Clients

Staying Lean to Compete: Piggybacking off the point above, many companies look to stay lean once a shocker like the existing credit crisis has passed. If you’re one of the freelance writers a company uses because they’ve laid off workers, you have an excellent chance to create long-term relationships with them.

How can you do this? Many times, if a company is pleased with you as a freelance writer, the person you originally dealt with will refer you to co-workers. It’s not uncommon to go on to work with three, four or five different people in a company – all coming your way from internal referrals.

This is when human nature kicks in. When an executive gets accustomed to working with a particular freelance writer, they tend to stay with them because they know and trust their work. They’re not about to try someone new just because the company can afford it.

Don’t be surprised if you’re offered a full- or part-time job from a company you start freelance with during a credit crisis. It’s more common than you think.

Freelance Writers: How to Keep Clients Acquired During the Credit Crisis

If you acquire clients during an economic downturn like the current credit crisis, work to keep them. Following are two things you can do.

Offer as many services as you can: The more needs you can meet for a client as a freelance writer, the better. Particularly if you discover that they have a specific need. For example, if you’re not currently offering press release writing, add it to your service listing – and let them know about it.

Thank Them: Send handwritten thank you cards to every person you work with in the company every quarter or so. This is such a simple tip, but is often overlooked – even by freelance writers (it should come naturally to us).

This simple gesture is so rare that it will not only make you stand out from other freelance writers, it will create such an underlying feeling of gratitude in your client that they will seamlessly send you work without batting an eye.

Freelance Writers: Credit Crisis Equals Boom Time

While the current credit crisis is difficult on the economy as a whole, it can mean boom time for those of us who are freelance writers, if we are astute enough to capitalize on it.