We’ve all been enticed by ads and sales pages telling us how easy it is to make money on the web. But how many of us are actually making the thousands a month that the guru’s promise? One problem is the lack of specifics on how to set up our web pages and blogs. There are specific ways to organize and optimize a blog to be in the best position to attract traffic, and to convert that traffic into dollars.

Proper Theme Selection

The first thing to look at is the design and layout of your blog. When choosing a theme, make sure you think about the niche you’re in, and the type of readers you wish to attract. You probably wouldn’t use the same design on a knitting blog and a metal guitar blog. Pick colors and layouts that will make your blog inviting to the target market.

If you don’t have experience with modifying code, you may want to look for a them that has AdSense built in. You will just copy and paste in a few lines, which makes this a simple solution for beginners.

The Plug-ins That Pay

One of the things that make Wordpress the preferred blogging platform for marketers is the huge amount of plug-ins available to add functionality to your blog. Some help with search engine optimizing, others add useful widgets or help organize your post tags. Although there are paid plug-ins that are worth having, the bulk of plug-ins are free. Look around on internet marketing forums for suggestions, or model your choices on a successful niche blogger(if you can find one willing to give you her secrets).

Work Hard, Then Relax

Wordpress has the ability to schedule posts in advance. This amazing feature allows you to write a number of posts at one time, and have them “dripped” out over time. With the right amount of posts and a well though out posting schedule, you can magically attract visitors long after you’ve moved on to setting up your next blog.

Monetization Strategies That Work

There are a number of ways to make money with a niche blog. Deciding on the best way to generate an income from blogging is an essential step towards realizing the promises of all those sales letters.

Looking to improve your writing? Here are three great tips to make your writing clearer, punchier and more fun!

Time-Tested Advice from TV Land

As a former on-air reporter and news anchor, I use many of the lessons I learned in Broadcast Writing 101 in all my writing, from magazine articles to marketing copy to case studies. Now, don’t get me wrong. Everything you write should not sound like a radio commercial. Far from it. Think more network evening news.

One hard and fast rule of broadcast journalism: write simply, but not stupidly. Acclaimed journalist Edward R. Murrow once told his staff, “Imagine yourself at a dinner table with a local editor, a banker and a professor, talking over coffee. You try to tell what it was like, while the maid’s boyfriend, a truck driver, listens from the kitchen. Talk to be understood by the truck driver while not insulting the professor.”

Meaning? Avoid jargon. Don’t use a fancy word like “ascertained” when “learned” will work just as well. Always keep your audience in mind, and write to them as if you are speaking to them. It takes courage to stand behind simple words and short sentences. But these words, when crafted correctly, have the most power to influence your readers and cause them to act.

The Right Style for Online Writing

When it comes to writing a Web site, blog or e-mail, many of us struggle to find the right tone. Too uptight, and it makes you (or your business) sound stuffy and old-fashioned. Too casual and you sound unprofessional.

Think of online writing as a balance between fine dining and fast food. You don’t want to be the waiter with the starched collar and a bow tie. But, you don’t want to be the long-haired teenage burger-flipper, either.

When you write online, take a tone that is upbeat, conversational and friendly — but not overly relaxed. If you write the same way you talk with a potential client over a lunch meeting, you’ve probably got it right.

Sizing your Sentences

In writing, it pays to start short. In today’s fast-paced world, starting with a lengthy sentence can be a major reader turn-off. Whether you’re writing a quick email, a brochure or a novel, sentence length matters.

As writers, our first goal must be drawing the reader in. By keeping your opening sentence short, catchy and to-the-point, you leave your reader wanting more. Once you have their attention, you can fill in the missing information.

The best way to keep a reader interested is mixing up your sentence lengths. Short sentences keep your writing punchy. But, adding too many can annoy your reader. Longer sentences give your words a flow and rhythm, but too many read like a dissertation. With the right mix of short and long, your writing becomes more interesting, engaging and powerful.

Choosing freelance writing as a profession is the easy decision; the work begins when it comes to looking for freelance writing jobs and freelance writing gigs.

As many freelance writers know finding freelance work can be time consuming and require a lot of effort and heartache. Numerous rejection letters, continuous query letters, and at the end of it all nothing is guaranteed.

This is where ghost-writing and writers markets come into play. Ghost writing can allow you to earn money whilst searching for that career break at the same time. Ghost writing freelance writing jobs can be found all over the internet but your best place to start is with writers markets.

There are two main freelance writers markets that most are probably familiar with:

Elance
Guru

Both of these freelance writers markets are fee based and in order to bid on any of the freelance writing jobs listed you must be a member. With both you can choose your membership level so if you’re unsure as to whether this style of writing is for you, you need only pay the minimum members. With Elance the minimum membership will allow you to place bids on three projects per month free of charge, after this any bids you placed will be charged at $1.50.

Working through Elance you will incur a fee on all projects you receive. For first time project the fee is 8.75%, and for repeat projects it’s 4.35%. All work should be done via Elance and all communication should be done via your private message board with your client. Payment can be made via paypal or via Elance and all transactions are recorded in your account.

Bidding On Freelance Writing Jobs

When it comes to bidding on freelance writing jobs the one point that I cannot stress enough is honesty. Your bidding process is your key to impressing that potential client and this is where honesty is vital. Never claim to be able to do something you can’t and always provide appropriate information.

If a client would like ten keyword related articles on the subject of weight loss, with a word count of between 600 and 800, then it is vital that your price reflects the work involved. This includes research, compiling research, writing the articles, formatting the articles, and finally proofreading the articles. A very important recommendation for getting your pricing right is this:

• Create a sample, time yourself to see exactly how long it takes to research, write, edit, format, and proofread a 600 word article on any subject. If it takes one hour per article then base your rate per article around this information.

As previously stated, the bidding process on any freelance writer’s market place is your gateway to impress, why not research the subject the client is looking for and that way you can impress them by showing a little knowledge in your bid. Be polite and courteous in your bids and always offer samples, whether it means writing one or providing one of your already written articles.

The freelance writing job bidding process on Elance can be anywhere between 3 and 12 days and as many freelance writers will see many of the bids provided can be extremely low, some as low as $3 per 500 word article. Don’t let this put you off, remember clients get what they pay for any for many choosing the lowest bid can result in having to re-submit their freelance writing job. Be honest with your bid pricing, most clients are looking for quality not the lowest bid.

Feedback

Feedback is probably one of the most important aspects of any freelance writing marketplace. By viewing your feedback and the comments made by previous clients, potential clients can be swayed either way.
Your most important task is to keep your feedback as high as possible and this is where honest hard work will come into play. You have probably noticed the use of the word honesty again and this is because honesty will play a vital role in your success as a freelance writer.

False bidding and false information all lead to your destruction and no matter how hard you work it is virtually impossible to come back from this.

If you have misled a client during the freelance writing job bidding process and have been appointed to complete their project, this will show in your feedback. Clients can be brutally honest in their feedback reports and the score you receive could damage you for a long time.

The highest feedback on Elance is 5.0, and this also includes client’s comments. A client may award a feedback of 4.0 or 4.5 but the comments are where the truth lies and this is where potential clients will look before hiring you for any freelance writing job.

The key to achieving positive feedback is to complete all your freelance writing jobs as requested, maintain constant communication with your client, be it daily updates, or questioning anything you are unsure of; communication is vital. Ensure that all projects you accept are completed on or before the due date and ensure that all guidelines are followed correctly.

Doing all this will ensure that your feedback rating is a true reflection of your work and the key to your success.

Portfolio

Your freelance writer’s portfolio is your talent showcase, where you can store a variety of information about yourself and your work. Try to upload a series of samples pertaining to all aspects of writing and every time you complete a different writing assignment upload a new sample that potential clients may view. Some personal writing is always an excellent idea as this will allow clients to assess your personal writing style. If you have a website or have articles published on the web, make sure to include links so that clients may view them.

Remember a potential client will always do their best to assess your work and ensure that you are the right person for their project before hiring, so the more samples and information you can offer the more chance you have of securing the job.

Don’t Give Up

My last tip is this; never give up trying, never give up hoping, and never give up faith. The perfect assignment is always around the corner. If you seem to be bidding on projects but never seem to be getting picked then you need to assess your bidding style. Read what others are putting in their bids, personalize your bid, and promote yourself. Confidence shows and you ability to show this is in your bid. Sell yourself to that potential client; after all you are a writer aren’t you.

Email marketing brings many benefits to your marketing campaign. The email not only markets but also helps to build your credibility. Collection of email addresses thus is the means to the end of succeeding in your email marketing strategy. It is therefore important to understand how best you can go about building your email list and do it in the correct way.

Proven tips for building email list include the following:

(1) Registration form can be easily found

When visitors go to your opt-in page, it is always wise to place the registration form at the best location that will command the most conversions. To get the optimum results, you will have to perform some testing by placing the registration form at different locations of your homepage. This process will help your visitors to easily locate it for the purpose of registration. Do not ever let visitors search for it. It will frustrate them, and they will click away.

(2) Registration form must appear on every page

Email marketing opens up opportunities for the building of relationships with potential subscribers. Permission must be obtained first through the registration form. As a result, it must be stressed that email registration should be strongly emphasized on every page. The chances of capturing the email addresses will thus not be missed.

(3) Provide strong valid reasons to register

Give visitors the clearest indication of the real value that they will be getting via registration. Emphasize the freebies such as free offers, free information, and coupons, just to name a few. In all honesty, visitors tend to be attracted by such freebies. If there is evidence of value , substantiated by a compelling reason for the opt-in, your registration form will come alive and your email list will therefore grow. This is one of the valuable tips for building email list.

(4) Registration form should not contain too many questions

Visitors will undoubtedly be completely annoyed with a long list of questions. Precious time can be wasted in filling up these questions. A crucial tip will be for you to ask only pertinent questions. As it is your intention to build a long term relationship with visitors, ask only questions that will give you ammunition power for this goal. Always bear in mind that visitors come to your website solely to register for your email program and not for other reasons. Provide them with ease and convenience in answering pertinent questions.

(5) Registration form must include call to action

Inclusion of call to action in your email registration is one of the many valuable tips for building email list. Visitors, after opting in, will be directed to your landing page to get the freebie that you have offered. This in effect leverages the online acquisition of the opt-in box and, more often than not, achieves the objective of capturing email registrations.

(6) Registration form should capture quality registrants

In order to increase opt-ins, there are many ways to do it. Contests and freebies are proven techniques that may even help build credibility. It is vital to monitor the quality of the registrations. The original intention of the registration form will be defeated if it is discovered that a higher percentage of subscribers registered purely for the freebie. Spring clean the list as email addresses flow in.

(7) Registration form should help identify traffic source

Needless to say, it would be wise to put your focus on only traffic source that is targeted for your email campaign. The chances of getting more registrations will be much higher. The chances of these registrants buying will similarly be much higher. Targeted traffic source is an important tip for building email list - it starts off your campaign in the right direction with the right move.

(8) Registration is a function of credibility

Credibility lends support to getting more email registrations. If real value is evident, visitors will subscribe knowing about the credibility that you have gained via the relationship that you have built with them through the years. Credibility and relationship are crucial to succeeding in building your email list. Therefore, build up credibility and strengthen relationships.

In conclusion, acquiring email addresses is the first step to building your email list. The tips listed above can be used to guide you in making effective preparation to kick off your email marketing campaign with confidence.