Be a Freelance Blogger

Pitchfest: Do Newbies REALLY Have A Chance at Winning? And If So, How?

Yep, it’s time for another $100 blog pitching contest! I’ll give you all the details of how to enter at the end of this post — but first, please read our guest Chana Roberts’ excellent advice on how to kick ass and win. 😉

So, you’ve found Sophie’s blog. You’ve seen the Pitchfest posts – they’re really cool. They make you drool. Oooh, a $100 prize for contributing a post, on a blog like this?

It’s a once-in-a-season contest. Pitchfests – and guest posts – are only accepted once every three months.

You want to be the winner. You want that $100 prize, and you want to show your post off. But you don’t feel qualified to enter.

Like, seriously. You’re just starting out, and you haven’t even been able to get a guest post published yet, much less find a client willing to pay more than $0.02 per word.

You feel like the biggest loser. All around you, there are successful freelancers, each with a story of, “I was in the worst place when I started, but within 6 months to a year, I was earning a full-time salary from part-time writing.”

You’re the only one left behind, you tell yourself. You suck. Big time.

And you know what? *That* is your biggest problem.

This Pitchfest is no different from any other site’s blogging job ads. Here’s how to win.

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By Cassie Phillips

5 Easy Cyber Security Tips for Freelance Bloggers

If you’re a freelance blogger, your computer and smartphone are your livelihood as well as the tools of your craft.

They’re where you store your work, where you do your work, and they’re how you access the internet to get more work. So it’s safe to say your computer and phone are among your most valuable and important possessions.

And you need to protect them. Vigilantly.

Other people can recover much easier if they’re the victim of a security breach or a data leak due to a hacker. The worst most civilians have to worry about is identity theft.

But if something like this happens to you, a freelance blogger, at the very least you’ll lose several days trying to fix everything back up and checking to make sure everything is there. At the worst, your security vulnerabilities could tarnish your professional reputation for years to come.

Don’t panic, though. Here are some simple ways to improve your online security and protect your career from damage:

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By Katherine Swarts

Blog Visuals: A Guide for the Terminally Word-Brained Writer

Are you one of those bloggers who wants to bury your head in the sand on hearing how VISUAL the online world is these days — who wails inwardly, “But I’m a WRITER!”?

Does your knowledge of “adding visuals” stop at copying and pasting clip art?

Do you envy magazine-article and picture-book writers who can leave the whole task of finding visuals to the publisher?

I understand; I could answer “yes” to all the above. But let’s face it: you can’t be an entrepreneur and expect the market to make all the allowances for taste. So here’s a simple guide for word-brained writers to get to grips with creating visual media for their blog posts.

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By Mandy Gardner

Tax Filing Tips for Freelance Bloggers in the US, UK and Canada

Working for yourself is a dream come true for many, but when tax time comes I understand all too well how all the forms, schedules and receipts can become a confusing mass of nonsensical paperwork.

The truth is, when you know what kinds of invoices and financial interactions to keep track of throughout your working year, the process can not only be smooth and simple, but satisfying as well.

In this post, I am going to share three important things with you:

Tax deductions that freelancers can use
Tips on how to prepare for tax season and get through it in one piece
Specific lists of the forms you will need to use in the US, the UK or Canada.

If you’re a freelance blogger in any country, these fundamental tips will help you to complete your tax return correctly.

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By Sarah Beauchemin

How a Responsive Website Boosts Your Freelance Blogging Success

Just for a moment, pretend you’re looking to hire a freelance blogger instead of be a freelance blogger.

Now imagine this scenario: it’s 10pm. You’re on the sofa in the midst of a well-deserved Netflix binge when you remember you need to check out that candidate blogger’s website for tomorrow.

Thankfully, your tablet is in arm’s reach. You grab it, punch in the URL, and… seriously? Their website isn’t responsive. You’re left staring at a full-size web page that’s simply been shrunk to fit on your tablet screen.

You squint at the tiny text and do the zoom-in-finger-thing. You try flipping the tablet vertically. Yet everything stubbornly remains the same.

Frustrated and unable to find what you’re looking for, you start to have second thoughts – who is this person? It’s 2015! Surely they don’t expect you to go find your laptop just so you can see their site properly?

Now go back to being your usual freelance blogging self, and imagine how awful it would be if that was your freelance writer site. How many customers might you lose if your site doesn’t work right on a mobile device?

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