Be a Freelance Blogger

What Editors and Publishers Really Think of Your Writing Job Applications: An Inside Look

You see a job ad on a popular jobs board and you’re instantly excited — it seems like a perfect fit for your skills and experiences.

You give the listing a quick once-over and get your application materials ready.

Finally, you click “Send” — confident that you’ll have the job in no time at all.

And yet, days later… crickets.

No response. No rejection letter. What gives?

I’ve been on both sides of this frustration — as a writer who’s seen job applications go unanswered and as a hiring agent who sees applicants making the same mistakes again and again.

Today, I want to take you “behind the curtain” on the hiring side of things, showing you the mistakes I see all too often and how you can avoid them to increase your odds of landing the gig.

Ready? Let’s go…

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By Art Anthony

Freelance Blogger Survival Skills: How to Beat the Sophomore Slump

It’s been a few months since you took the plunge and became a freelance blogger, and the water is just fine. Better than fine, in fact.

Your new life as a freelance blogger is everything you hoped it would be. Except you still can’t shake the feeling that there’s something missing.

You’ve made a great start. You’ve taken on a couple of jobs and been paid… maybe not as much as you’d like but at least you’ve started something good.

But you feel like you have to put in a lot of effort just to get work. Maybe that means lots of unanswered pitches, leaning on existing connections or trawling social media looking for jobs.

Whatever the case, you’re spending more time than you’d like looking for your next gig. Time you’d rather be spending writing blog posts… because that’s why you started this whole thing, after all.

If all that sounds familiar, then this post is for you. I’ll tell you the 6 things I wish I’d paid closer attention to before and during my first freelancing slump.

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By Alicia Rades

7 Ways to Make Your Free WordPress Site Look More Credible to Blogging Clients

You’ve finally decided to launch your freelance blogging career. Congrats!

Chances are, you’ve spent days researching how exactly to get started, and one thing you keep hearing is this: Your business needs a website.

Unfortunately, you don’t have the money on hand to launch a self-hosted site. After all, isn’t the whole point to make money with your business?

So you sign up for a WordPress account and decide to launch a free version of your site until you have the money to upgrade to a self-hosted option.

There’s no shame in that.

The only problem is that in general, a free WordPress.com site can make you look less professional. To clients, it says, “I’m not taking my business seriously.”

But that doesn’t always have to be the case.

If you get serious with your web design, you can get rid of that “unprofessional” feel all while maintaining your site on a free platform.

Want to look more credible to freelance blogging clients? Here’s what you can do to boost the professional appeal of your free WordPress site.

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By Sophie Lizard

Why Starting a Freelance Business Is Nothing Like Having a Baby

Oh, you might think starting a business has a lot in common with having a baby.

They’re similar in a few ways, I admit.

But I was pregnant throughout the start of my freelance blogging business, so I can tell you from experience: the differences outweigh the similarities by approximately one metric shit-ton.

Sure, starting a business and having a baby both involve feeling excited, hopeful, and nervous all at once.

And sure, I can understand why some people call their businesses and blogs their “babies”. [I think it’s a bit wacky and melodramatic, but I can understand it.]

No matter how you slice it, though, there are vital differences between starting your freelance blogging business and having a baby.

SPOILER: The business is easier.

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By Ashley Gainer

Freelance Blogging With No Time and No Money: How One Single Mom Made It Work

How much — or how little — could you earn and still be able to live above your “survival” threshold?

Who’s depending on you, and are you able to meet their needs? Could you make it work even if your income stuck you below the poverty line?

These are questions few people really need to answer, let alone consider. But not long ago, these weren’t just hypothetical questions I pondered. They were my life, day in and day out, for three years. Freelance blogging and editing became the answer to all of those questions. That, and a steely determination not to fail.

Today I’m sharing the ins and outs of what I did in my first three years of serious freelancing. Let me just say right here that my path from dabbler to successful freelance blogger and editor was not smooth. I had the skills to do the actual work of writing and editing, but I lacked skills in pretty much every other area necessary to get my business off the ground.

My story is not about a quick rise to the top. I never broke $4,000 in a single month, and I won’t tell you about how easy-peasy it was to become a successful freelancer. Because for me, it wasn’t easy. I made a lot of mistakes, learned most of my lessons the slow way, and wasted a lot of time.

That said, I did go from know-nothing beginner to being a paid blogger and editor capable of supporting my little family, with few resources and very little time to make it happen. Here’s how I did it.

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