Guest Posts | Be a Freelance Blogger

Dramatize This: 10 Screenwriting Concepts That Make You a Better Blogger

The film industry has a massive amount of jargon terms, some seemingly created with the sole purpose of confusing outsiders and innocent newbies.

C47s come to mind, the bleeding edge technology behind the creation of a film. (This high-tech device is also known to us mortals as a clothespin.)

But you’re a blogger. How does filmmaking even affect you?

It’s simple. Blogs are stories. Bloggers are storytellers.

Word by word, we transmit a message to our readers through a journey of highs and lows in our writing. Does that sound familiar? It should.

This is where screenwriting concepts can come in handy for your blog writing.

From the first Fade In to the final Fade Out, screenwriters have an extensive lingo for a wide array of concepts that they carefully use in their stories to make them emotionally compelling and narratively effective.

As freelance bloggers, we can learn a lot from their ability to create powerful visual stories out of plain words and engage with audiences through captivating narrative devices. The conflict, however, is that the convenience of these tools often gets clouded by a dense layer of confusing jargon.

So let’s dig into 10 useful screenwriting concepts and terms today, and I’ll show you how to adapt them to your freelance blogging work.

[Read more…]

By Dana Sitar 60 Comments

How to Show a Blog Editor You Understand Their Audience [Plus Your Chance to Win $150!]

The theme for this Pitchfest is: Audience. More on that — and the chance to earn $150 — to come, but first, here’s a quick tip to help you get to know a site’s audience quickly and how it’ll improve your pitches.

Every editor offering pitching advice will tell you, “Let me know you understand my audience and why your pitch is a good fit for them.”

The best way to gain that understanding is to become part of the audience. Read the blog, and engage with other readers. You’ll become familiar with the topics and voice of the site, and understand what readers look for in content.

But…

That takes time. And, frankly, if you write on the subject, you’re probably already reading 800 other blogs about it. Do you really want to add another to your reading list?

Most pitchers approach this conundrum wrong. They want to pitch a lot of blogs, so they Google their topic and send a generic pitch every site on the first page of results — whether it’s relevant or not. When I ran a blog called DIY Writing, you wouldn’t believe how many pitches I got that started with something like, “Since you write about DIY and crafting…” Nope. No, I do not.

You can do better than that… without committing to reading a novel’s worth of blog posts every day before you pitch.

[Read more…]

By Linda Formichelli 18 Comments

Freelance Blogging IS a Numbers Game: The Throwdown

You’re going DOWN, Sophie Lizard!*

In 2014, Sophie collaborated with Gary Korisko on a post and video called “Why Freelance Blogging is NOT a Numbers Game” that contains this tidbit:

Dashing off sloppy pitches to every blog in the universe is not the most profitable use of your time.”

Since my pet saying is “Freelance writing is a numbers game,” I’m taking this very, very personally. What, Gary and Sophie, you lookin’ at me?

Wanna see me get mad? Just watch this video: [Read more…]

By Katherine Swarts 12 Comments

How to Cope When You Hit the “Feast” in the Freelance Blogger Feast and Famine Cycle

“I should be grateful, but…”

Has this ever happened to you?

For months your blogging income was stuck at near-poverty level, and you would have done anything for more work. Then, almost without warning, more work started flooding in — and suddenly, you’d do anything to get back the time it’s taking to keep up.

Three months after this first happened to me, the “feast” of work continues and so does the periodic “indigestion.”

Sure, it’s nice to be rid of the financial worries from the time when my regular income was a third of what it is now; but I hadn’t anticipated the recurring fears of inadequacy, the surges of irritability, the lows of emotional depression following the highs of frantic work.

It can be stressful being in a profession where your income rises and falls with busyness — “busyness” defined as keeping up with a LOT of small individual projects at once.

I’m learning to cope. This is, after all, the earning level I hope to stay at or above for the rest of my working days.

My top nuggets of wisdom for other freelance bloggers who’ve been served their first “feast”:

[Read more…]

By Frank Spear 7 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 Oleg Starko 11 Comments

Going from $75 to $250 per Post… with the Same Freelance Blogging Client (A Step-by-Step Case Study)

Your freelance blogging dream was a trap.

And you never saw it coming.

“Get as many clients as you can,” they said. “You’ll always have steady work!”

And you did! Now your calendar is full, and you churn out blog posts like nobody’s business.

So… how is that bad?

I’m glad you asked!

For your freelance blogging business to thrive, getting steady work at a steady rate isn’t enough. I mean, if “steady” were all you wanted, you might as well have stayed at your day job!

You need room for growth. For raising your rates to reflect the growing value of your work. For landing new high-paying clients. You can’t afford to be stuck on a hamster wheel of writing blog posts, day in and day out.

For most freelance bloggers, solving this problem boils down to three options: [Read more…]

By Kelly Gurnett 14 Comments

10 Things You’re Probably Sick of Hearing If You’re a Freelance Blogger

There are lots of challenges you never realize you’ll need to deal with when you first dream of becoming a freelance blogger.

Some of them you can brace yourself for if you read blogs like this one — things like how to ask for the rate you want, how to avoid problem clients, or how to occasionally shower before dinnertime so your partner doesn’t come home and wonder, for the 40th day in a row, if you are or are not in the exact same position you were when they left for work that morning.

Other challenges don’t get as much airplay on blogging blogs, but when you find yourself commiserating with fellow freelancers, you realize they’re just as prevalent — and just as much a cause of EOFHL (Early Onset Freelancer Hair Loss).

Which is why I think it’s time we talk about something that has nothing to do with productivity or process or profit. That thing?

The incredibly dumb, ridiculous, silly and annoying questions you will find yourself fielding from friends, loved ones and random strangers when they find out what you do for a living.

See if any of these sound familiar to you… [Read more…]

By Stephanie Ruopp 8 Comments

Why You Don’t Want Your Client to Be Any of These Six Types

Landing a client can be a big deal. Like your first kiss big deal. (Judgment aside, this hopefully isn’t how you got the client.)

You’re geeked. You love this client for giving you the chance to prove your mad blogging skills and you’re certain you’ve found a slice of freelance blogging nirvana.

Then, some weird stuff starts going down with client. Still, your sheer appreciation for the opportunity keeps the eternal flame of love aglow. It is in this ardor that you may not recognize that the client could actually be an asshole bad news. After all, love is blind.

So to help you see more clearly, here’s a rundown of six types of clients around whom you’ll want to steer a wide berth. [Read more…]

By Lisa Fourman 8 Comments

How to Overcome the Biggest Misconceptions About Freelance Blogging

Want to blog for a living but don’t know where to go?

Are you unsure if you could even make enough money through blogging to pay the bills?

Do you want to blog but you aren’t sure if you have what it takes?

I’m sure you’re answering “yes” to at least one of those questions…if not more of them. In fact, those are questions I’ve asked myself six months ago.

As a newbie, I wasn’t sure if I could make a living as a blogger or if I would be successful. I’m sure you are thinking about the same thing.

I’m here now after several months to tell you that you need to put those misconceptions to rest and put yourself out there.

I know you’re thinking that saying that is much easier than actually doing it. Trust me…I know all about that frame of mind.

This post is here to show you that you can beat these misconceptions; they do not need to break you. I have made a list of the top six misconceptions I’ve seen and have dealt with myself.

I wanted to share this information with you so you can be successful (like the people at BAFB). I want you to keep reading so you can learn how to beat these misconceptions where they stand. [Read more…]