Be a Freelance Blogger

F*** Conventional Wisdom: How to Get Shit Done as A Freelance Blogger by Breaking the Rules

Conventional people don’t generally become freelance bloggers. It makes sense since most of us regularly deal with anxiety, rejection, distraction, and other problems. It takes a different kind of beast to make deadlines, satisfy clients, overcome introversion, and destroy the feast or famine cycle.

As freelance bloggers, we constantly have to be on the top of our game. We need to know what’s going on in our chosen niches, find experts to quote in our articles, research potential clients and publications we want to work with, brainstorm for new ideas, keep up with our deadlines, and always be marketing. Since we also need to find time for important people and things in our life, we naturally desire to be at our most productive at all times.

While the Internet and self-development shelves overflow with productivity advice, they aren’t all designed for freelance bloggers. They don’t necessarily keep our health issues in mind, or the kids we have to look after as we strive to maintain a sane and stable working environment at home. Then there are differences in our personalities of course.

So below are my seemingly irrational tips that can work wonders for freelance bloggers with flaky tendencies, coming from a flaky freelance blogger who has been doing this for over eight years: [Read more…]

By Lauren Tharp, BAFB Managing Editor 3 Comments

Lauren’s Last Post (And What Comes Next for BAFB)

A lot can happen in just over five years…

For those of you who don’t know me: My name is Lauren Tharp. I’m the owner of the multiple award-winning LittleZotz Writing. And, since the summer of 2013, I was the Managing Editor of Be a Freelance Blogger.

Yup. “Was.” I’m leaving.

Don’t cry. This is actually good news. I’m now a full-time editor for Syed Balkhi’s Awesome Motive.

With my new full-time employee status (no more freelancing!), I simply don’t have time for BAFB like I used to. But BAFB will always, always hold a special place in my heart.

Sophie Lizard is absolutely amazing, and Be a Freelance Blogger is a website I’m immensely proud to have been a part of.

I’ve met so many great writers – some of whom have become great friends! It’s been a blast.

I’ll let Sophie take over in a minute, but… in no particular order, here are my Top 10 favorite BAFB articles: [Read more…]

By Martine Booth 8 Comments

Be a Well-Oiled Blogging Machine – How to Cut the Time-Wasting Crap and Get Results!

Whether you’ve been in the freelance blogging game for years or you’re still a bit of a newb, you’ll get that there’s much to be done. Becoming a successful freelance blogger doesn’t magically happen without some seriously hard work.

There is going to be persistent blood, sweat and tears. Well hopefully the blood part will be metaphorical! Yikes! We can do this without murder I promise you 😉

So in the interests of keeping the other two to a minimum, that would be the tears and sweat, I’m going to give you some little golden nuggets of wisdom that many of our blogging veterans have learnt along the way.

Part of the fun in learning is passing this stuff on to help other freelance bloggers. We all need a bit of a leg-up at times. So here are six sure-fire ways to keep the blogging beast moving and still have time for a life! [Read more…]

By Sophie Lizard 75 Comments

The Freelance Blogger’s Ultimate Guide to Using Jargon [Or Not…] PLUS a $100 Prize Contest!

“Hey Brad, what’s the CTR on that omnichannel growth hacking infographic?”

“Gee, Sally, I don’t know. Is that part of the remarketing campaign we designed the storyscape for last week?”

Tell you a secret…

I fucking strongly dislike jargon.

Mainly because I can never remember it all. At meetings, I sometimes need to Google to remind myself what it means, so I’m sat there looking up business-speak on my phone instead of joining the conversation. (“What’s a vertical? I forgot…”)

Makes me feel like the only kid in the gang who has to check Urban Dictionary to find out what “Netflix and chill” really means. 😉

But I’m gonna set aside my personal issues with jargon for now, and focus on giving you exactly what the title of this post promises: your ultimate guide to when and how to use jargon in freelance blogging, and when to avoid it entirely.

Just in case we’re not on the same page yet, jargon is specialist language used by a specific group or type of person, often in a business or academic setting.

And part of what defines it as jargon is the fact that it only makes sense to the specialists who already know and use it.

In other words, most people on the planet *don’t* use it and have no idea what it means.

So, first of all, the golden rule is simple:

[Read more…]

By Elizabeth Spencer 15 Comments

It’s Not About You: What Editors Want Writers To Know About Pitching

You follow successful bloggers on Instagram and dream of living that lifestyle yourself. How hard can it be to dash off a few guest posts a week in between traveling the world and taking lots of pictures of your dog because, hey, you don’t have to sit in a boring office all day? Soon your social media following will number in the high six figures and you won’t be able to keep up with all the sponsorship offers from your favorite brands.

In reality, successfully pitching a guest post has a lot more to do with research and tenacity than finding the perfect angle for your “it’s always 5:00 somewhere” selfie with your laptop and white wine glass as you blog from the Mediterranean Coast of Italy, sure to encounter George and Amal at any moment. You can celebrate once you see your byline in print, but in the meantime you’ll need to brace yourself for frustration and rejection.

Whether your motivation for pursuing freelance blogging is to become rich and famous, or to simply make money on the side while you raise kids, it’s important to check your ego at the door before you begin the pitching process. Understanding your audience means knowing it’s not about you. As an experienced freelance blogger and creative writer who has worked on the editorial side of three literary journals, I’ll share my perspective from both sides of the desk. Here are my five tips for successfully pitching a guest post, with examples and specific steps you can take now to achieve pitching success. [Read more…]

By Anthony Dejolde 15 Comments

Surefire Negotiating Tactics Freelance Bloggers Can Learn from FBI Agents

Most bloggers freak out when they hear the word n-e-g-o-t-i-a-t-e.

Why? Well, for many bloggers (at least for those I know personally and the ones honest enough to admit it), negotiating is pure torture.

I get it. It was torturous for me as well! Or it was… until I discovered the technique I’m going to share with you in this article.

In my early years as a freelance blogger, whenever I’d sit at the negotiating table, my palms would sweat, my guts would squirm… I’d be at a complete loss for words.

Sound familiar? Yes? No worries. Keep reading, and I’ll help you become a better and stronger negotiator. [Read more…]

By Frank Spear 6 Comments

Cracking the Editor’s Code: Writing a Killer Guest Post as a Freelance Blogger

Freelance bloggers are constantly looking for ways to spread their talent to outlets all over the internet. Let’s be honest, having your own blog is nice — but, when you get published on a website with hundreds of thousands of unique visitors a month, it feels great!

Getting content published to big name websites isn’t easy, but it IS worth it. The satisfaction of getting your creativity out to scores of people while making money is perhaps one of the most rewarding feelings on planet Earth.

The biggest hurdle that you’ll have to champion when sending out a guest post pitch involves getting past the editor of the website. Editors, in particular head editors, act as gatekeepers for the publication. Their primary responsibility is making sure that high quality, amazing content gets published to the site that they operate.

If you can get the editor’s attention in a POSITIVE way you stand a good chance at getting published. We are going to dissect the steps involved in getting the pitching editor to take a look at your pitch — and respond favorably!

The editor’s code is complex, there is no doubt about it. But if you have the proper resources and know-how, you too can get a piece published just about anywhere. [Read more…]

By Sophie Lizard 286 Comments

The Total Flake’s Guide to Getting Shit Done [Plus Your Chance to Win $100!]

OK, confession time:

People often ask me for productivity advice, and I usually point them elsewhere because…

…I’m actually a total flake.

Most of the time, I have no idea how I get shit done. In fact, I’m often surprised that I get ANYTHING done.

But recently, I had several conversations with my favourite client (who I just quit working with, even though they’re my uber-best client ever — that’s a story I’ll tell another day) about how I do what I do.

And I realised: Wow, I do get a lot of shit done!

In the past year, I’ve written hundreds of thousands of words of copy and content for my clients’ emails, sales pages, books, and blog posts…

…Published an ebook (with Lauren as my co-author)…

…Earned a *very* healthy income from working with a small handful of amazing people — and flew around the world to meet some of them in person…

…Helped my students to start and grow their freelance blogging careers…

…and that’s without even considering all the *other* stuff I’ve done, like taking weeks off work to travel with my family, or going to parent-teacher meetings, school performances, and sports events, or spending hours in IKEA sitting on all the furniture before going home with a multipack of plastic plates and a stuffed toy for each of my girls.

I’ve also wasted plenty of time flicking through Netflix and YouTube, reading articles about stuff I have absolutely no need to know, staring blankly out of the window while interesting thoughts scampered around in my mind, and dream-planning next year’s summer break. 😉

So the question my client asked me was this: “When we’re hiring someone to replace you, what should we look for? How do we identify someone like you, that gets done what needs to be done and doesn’t freak out under pressure?”

To which I said, “Umm… I dunno… I don’t do anything special, this is just how I work… and I DO freak out under pressure, I just do the work anyway.”

Because I’m helpful and articulate like that, right?

(Funny story: in the end, my client hired two new full-time writers to replace me. But their business is growing, so that hiring decision *wasn’t* purely about my mad productivity skillz.)

Now that I’ve had a bit of time to think about it, I’ve finally managed to figure out what I do that helps me get shit done. And now that I know what it is, I’m happy to share it!

[Read more…]

By Lucy Damasceno 13 Comments

5 Steps to Make Hourly Rates Profitable as a Freelance Blogger

As a freelance blogger, you might have heard that you should get paid per project. Or per article, at least. That this way you won’t be penalised for working more efficiently after spending time and money improving your skills and knowledge. Better you get, faster you deliver, right? But we all know that some clients insist on paying per hour.

One of the reasons behind it is that the financial aspects of freelancing can be very confusing, and not only for the clients. And if it isn’t one of those cases where you would rather lose the deal than accept an hourly rate, your only option is to make the arrangement work for you. So here is how you do it, step by step. [Read more…]

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