Getting into a Working Schedule

I have been tremendously productive this week, and I believe it is all due to the new schedule I have set myself. In the past, I have created schedules but found them difficult to follow. When I began working at home, I was all about the idea of working whenever I want. While some people can do that, most freelance writers do need to set a schedule, no matter how loosely followed it is. I have discovered that setting up something that I am able to tweak depending on the day is more beneficial that creating a strict routine that I feel I cannot work around.

So, this week, my schedule has been as follows:

7:00-8:00am – Get up, eat breakfast, chat with my husband before he leaves for work, and check my email and forums.
8:00am – Begin writing.
11:00am – Break from writing to shower, have lunch,  any errands or housework, and some leisure time for forums and other sites.
1:00pm – Resume work .
4:00pm – Finished with work for the day.

I have found that this gives me plenty of time to reach my daily goals of how much work I want to complete, and also allows time to chill in the middle. I can suffer from writer burnout fairly easily if I try to write for more than 3 hours straight, so breaking up the day makes it much easier for me. Plus, I allow time for any non-work activities that need to be done for the day.

I don’t feel bad about tweaking this schedule, but I hope to follow it on most days. Tomorrow, for example, will be slightly different because I have a doctor’s appointment at 9. I plan to only work in the afternoon hours. However, a couple days this week, I started back writing before 1pm and was able to write over the goals for the day. I have already met my goals for the week, so tomorrow will be an easy day anyways.

Do you follow a working schedule? If so, what does your schedule look like?

Getting Started with Content Websites – Part 2

In Part 1 of this Content Websites series, I discussed how to get starting writing for companies. I included two websites that you can begin with to get your feet wet with writing web articles.  These will allow you to get some published work online, so that you will have some writing samples to present to potential clients. Now that you’ve done this step, let’s focus on getting accepted to write for content websites.

When Should I Begin Applying to Content Websites?

It is typically recommended to have at least 6 months to 1 year experience under your belt before applying to popular web content sites. Each site has specific guidelines and requirements, you will have to wait longer to apply to them as opposed to others. Waiting until at least 6 months for those that require no or little experience will only increase your chances of being appoved.

Where Should I Begin Applying?

I recommend starting with Textbroker. They are not the highest paying site, but they require no experience. Plus, the pay is not too bad if you are rated 4 stars, and it is vary good if you are able to access the 5 star articles. To apply with Textbroker, you will need to complete the author registration form and activate your account. You will then be asked to submit a small writing sample. This sample will be used to determine your initial rating, so take time to send them a high quality sample.

Once you are appoved, you will be given access to all orders that are your star rating and below. Writing good articles consistently can mean a raise in your rating, meaning higher paying articles for you to write. Clients can also send you direct orders through the site, so be sure to include a price per word for those orders.

Once you have been writing for Textbroker for a few months, you may choose to branch out to other content websites. The ones I recommend going after next are (in order):

• Break Studios
• Demand Studios
• WiseGEEK

Break Studios seems less strict and difficult to get in with than the other two in the list, so I would try them immediately after Textbroker. WiseGEEK is the most difficult (I couldn’t even get on there), and you must make sure you adhere to their guidelines or you will not be accepted. For this reason, I would not apply to them until you have at least 1-2 years of writing experience.

How Do I Make Myself Stand Out in the Crowd?

First off, providing high quality writing samples is the key to getting accepted with these companies. Only submit your best work, and not something that you threw together in 10 minutes. If you must write an original sample for the company, be sure it is well though out and easy to read. Have someone proofread it for you to check for misspellings or grammar errors.

Most companies want to know where you interests/expertise lie when it comes to writing topics. Be sure to include this, and present samples that prove you are knowledgeable on the subject. If you boast about having extensively knowledge in health and fitness, for example, it would be best to submit a sample that fits that niche, rather than an article on dogs.

I hope you’ve gained some insight on getting started with content websites through this 2 part series. I feel that this may be a brief overview for some people, so feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I may consider doing a follow up post on frequently asked questions to further help everyone get started with their writing journey.

Getting Started with Content Websites – Part 1

This will be a two part series on getting started writing for content websites. You may wonder why you should listen to me about this topic. After applying to and being accepted with four of these sites, I just want to write this series to let my readers now what helped me get accepted. Some people may not think this route is for them because they are more interested in working for private clients, but Part 1 can help you no matter which type of work you hope to receive.

When beginning in freelance writing, it is important that you write articles and submit them to online directories. Frequenting these directories will expose you to good content, as well as provide you with public writing samples when you begin submitting your own articles.

The two places I recommended getting started at are Associated Content and InfoBarrel.

• Associated Content – Payment can come in two forms: upfront pay or residual income based on page views. This website has a good Google Pagerank, and articles posted here can sometimes make the first page of Google for its keywords. You are free to publish topics you enjoy writing about, or you can claim an assignment for an article the company is currently looking for.
• InfoBarrel – This website is newer than Associated Content and some of the other residual income websites, but is quickly gaining a good reputation with the search engines. Pay with this site is based on ad clicks, so you must have a Google Adsense account to sign up (the website shows you how to do this, it’s no big deal). The site accepts a variety of articles, from how to’s to reviews.

Submitting your writing to either (or both) of these two sites will allow you to sharpen your writing skills in preparation for applying to content creation websites. As I mentioned above, they will also give you a public space on the Internet for your articles, which can be used as writing samples when requested by content websites (or private clients). There are other places you can submit your content, but these two places will give you the chance to get paid, so that is why I recommend them.

In Part 2, I will discuss the best time to begin applying with content websites, which ones to start with, and how to make yourself standing out amongst the crowd of applicants.