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

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…]

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Freelance Blogging IS a Numbers Game: The Throwdown

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…]

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

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…]

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The Freelance Blogger’s Ultimate Guide to Using Jargon [Or Not…]

The Freelance Blogger’s Ultimate Guide to Using Jargon [Or Not…]

“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…]

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

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…]