It’s no secret that there are seemingly unlimited ways to promote yourself on the Internet these days. Yet, it still manages to surprise me when someone does not use them all to their fullest potential. There are just too many options not to actively seek out and take advantage of them.

Starting with the most basic methods of blog promotion, I frequently tell people that they need to start and operate a blog - it doesn’t matter if it is the simplest, least detailed project you have worked on, you need to have a blog. Start one on Blogger if necessary and start posting every day (I know, I’m one to talk, but it’s a good habit to start). Once you have started your blog, you have unlimited options to reach people. You can start memes, contact other bloggers, start conversations with your commenters, and much more.

Another necessary promotional method is to start and maintain social networking profiles with all of the major sites - Facebook, MySpace (unfortunately), Friendster, etc. These sites offer you something no other option does - a built in audience of millions that you can reach with a single click. You can be sly or you can be explicit, but always remember to present yourself as a well polished person. On these sites, you are not selling things, you are selling yourself.

Which of course brings up the matter of salesmanship. I have had this conversation with a dozen other writers and many of them do not enjoy the idea of “selling” themselves to their clients. But, it is a necessary task and when you think about how things break down, it makes good sense. The Internet is full of people who sell themselves before their services. In fact, the Internet is just a bit too impersonal not to do so. If you try to go faceless and tell people that they can trust you when they don’t know who you are, they will often ignore your suggestions. If you tell them who you are, provide ample opinions and open conversation, and draw them into the fold, they will begin to trust you more outright and you will be much more successful in reaching them.

I won’t go into the details of everything you can do to promote yourself just yet. I may continue with a series of future posts about self-promotion, but there isn’t enough room for them all right now. However, keep one thing in mind: you are your best product. Your mind and your ability to write, design, or program are the things that you are selling. If you can sell yourself, you can pick up any project you find and that’s the key to true success as a freelancer.

The first three months of any freelance career are a volatile, sticky, messy period. Most often, you still work a full time job, then come home to write for two or three hours, putting together half baked projects for questionable sources and wishing you could break through to where all the big boys are playing in the magazines and newspapers.

So, it’s understandable when that first opportunity to bid on a real freelance project pops up and you are a little nervous. First of all, if you haven’t gotten your first project to bid on yet, stop waiting. It’s not going to magically appear in front of you. You need to back up, survey the area, and actually start making a few decisions - ones that will be hard to make.

If you took my advice and are working on small, micropay or revenue sharing articles for sites like Associated Content, that’s perfect. You already know what people are interested in reading and have a decent amount of experience to share with potential clients. They don’t need to know why or when you wrote an article (I don’t recommend you tell them) - they just need to know it was written by you and it is well crafted.

Arriving at Elance.com

Fast forward to your first few minutes on Elance.com (you should start here, forget the other, lower stress and cheaper alternatives - the clients are here) and the rush of new things you have to do. Make sure you have a quality profile filled out, a plethora of information on hand to provide clients, and at least three or four solid samples to share in your portfolio.

Now, start looking for projects to bid on through the project search tool. There are, at any given time 350 or so projects active in the Writing/Translation section of the site. If that doesn’t sound like much to you, consider the fact that more than 7,000 new projects are created every week - they come and go quickly.

I recommend that you start with the articles category and look for small, low paying jobs with people that want something done cheaply. It’s a rough reality, but when you start writing for actual clients, they have no idea who you are and with a brand new Elance account and no one to vouch for you, the only selling point you have is the fact that you are cheaper than the competition. It will make getting started easy though as these individuals usually have a low threshold for quality assurance - if it reads well and is coherent, they’re happy.

Find that ideal first project, something with 10 or 20 500 word articles on bird feeders and get ready to write up your first bid. There are a few things to consider:

Their Requirements

What did they ask for you to give them? Read the project description thoroughly multiple times to make sure you have everything they need of you in your bid. If they asked for completion times, rates, and two samples, give them what they wanted. If they asked for a specific answer to a question they have, answer their question.

Bidding Details

In the little box where you describe your proposal, you need to be concise, well spoken and mildly persuasive. First, introduce yourself and tell them why you would be good for the project. If you have a bird watching hobby, mention it. If you have no personal connection to the project and have never written about their topic before, keep it strictly professional. Add a few details about your work philosophy - what you provide, how you do revisions, your satisfaction guarantee, etc. Finally, throw in the details. How much do you want and when can you get the project done. Starting bids vary from person to person, but for your first project, expect to bid anywhere between $5-$7 per article of 500 words - it is a horrible rate, but trust me - if you do good work, they will reward you with positive feedback and you will be bumped up in the ratings. Three or four glowing reviews and you can start asking for the larger projects with better rates.

Finally, throw in a sample or two as an attachment. Unless you have a portfolio with 20 files in it that cover every possible writing style, always include a targeted attachment as a sample to show off your work. Many times if you don’t they won’t even consider your bid - they rarely bother to email you for a sample.

The Final Review

Finally, review your information, enter your total bid and the time frame for completion and click the submit button. You will need to confirm your bid one more time on the next page, so don’t close the window just yet. When you have done that, you are officially in the running.

Remember one thing though; there are more than 9,000 writers on Elance in any given week vying for the same projects. If you don’t get one, it has no bearing on you as a writer; it just means someone else got to it first. Try again and be persistent. When you finally get that first job, things will snowball and before you know it, you will have 40 reviews, a 95% rating and will never have to bid on a project again - they’ll come to you. It’s always about persistence, no matter what happens.

I receive questions every now and then, whether in my comments or directly to my email address. It comes with the territory. Any beginning freelance writer knows how hard it can be to get into the field and when you find someone who appears or claims to know more than you, you ask them questions…lots. I’ll never claim to be an expert in the field, but I’m going to start posting some of the more frequent questions I receive here to share a little of the advice I feel I can offer as someone who has already been through the beginner’s gauntlet.

I received the following question from a user on Helium, following a recent spotlight on an article I wrote for the site:

I  write a few things but I would like to expand my range and write full time.  Have you any pointers for breaking out into other markets? This is the thing that is holding me back at the moment.

This is a question that I have come across time and again in forums, in blog comments, and on countless writing websites. It’s a great question and not one I necessarily have the “right” answer for.

What I do have though is a bit of experience in expanding my markets and taking on new projects, styles and ideas. After all, I didn’t start as a copywriter. I studied fiction and creative writing and found myself drawn to this field much later, mostly after I realized I could make a living from it. Here are some of the more useful tips I’ve found along the way:

• Practice Constantly - Every time you see a project, job, or opportunity that interests you but you are afraid to apply for because you lack experience, practice it. You do not have to take on a paying job to learn how to complete it.
  I’ve preached the importance of sites like Helium and Associated Content in the past repeatedly - not just as money making chances, but as ways to practice new forms. You wouldn’t write your first article as a paid job, would you? You would write it for a website that will allow you to get feedback from fellow writers and learn from your mistakes.
• Ask Questions - Every time you feel confused or lost on a new topic, concept, or project, look for somewhere to ask questions. There are plenty of websites that provide information about how to write a sales letter or an interview. Read as many of these as you can and if you don’t find what you need, email the author or find another writer who can help you.
• Be Confident - If you write well, you will almost always write well. That talent translates into thousands of different subjects, styles, and methods - it just takes the necessary information and practice to allow your talent to shine. If you’ve never watched a Hockey game in your life, your first hockey article might be a little dry, but if you research and get to know your topic, you’ll find that the same talent you used to write compelling fitness articles translates to hockey.
• Take it Slow - Just because you want to strike out into different fields does not mean you should tackle five or six at a time. Choose one new topic, or if you have the luxury, allow the topic to choose you. Then, focus your attention on learning as much as you can about that topic and becoming an expert. Only then should you jump to something new. With time, you will start learning faster, picking up new techniques and tricks, and digesting new topics at a quicker pace. For now though, be patient and willing to take the time needed to learn.

There are plenty more tips I could throw at you - things like: don’t lie to someone about your expertise in a subject to get a job, and don’t give up if you fail once or twice (we all do…more times that I can count last I checked). Hopefully that gives you a good starting point as to jumping on board new styles and methods of freelance writing. After all, the more you can master, the more jobs you can perform, and the more successful you can be.

I’ll be completely honest. When I started college, I didn’t have a specific thought that told me I was going to become a freelance writer. In fact, I started school by studying computer science and hoping to become a programmer. It didn’t take long to realize just how much I hated calculus and physics and so I soon changed my focus to English and spent the better part of the next three years trying to figure out what I would do with the degree.

Fast forward a few years and I have managed to maneuver my way into a fairly successful freelance writing career. I could not have expected this as a result and truthfully spent almost a full year after graduating college working in a grocery store before I found this path. So, what correlation can I honestly claim between school and my career?

It’s a tough question, and one I’ve heard from a number of young writers wanting to write professionally, along with my family members and siblings. What do I study to become a freelance writer?

Technically, you do nothing. I didn’t need a degree in English to become a freelance writer. However, it sure as heck didn’t hurt. While I couldn’t seem to find a traditional office job with my degree, my decision to become a freelance writer was almost entirely accidental, born of a few successful jobs I picked up at random on Craigslist while looking for more traditional work. I’ve never shown a client my resume or C.V. and haven’t once needed to supply my diploma or any school related information to pick up work or make money.

But, I definitely could not have been successful as a freelance writer without the training I got from college. So, the real answer to the question is a little more complicated. You don’t technically need a college education to be a freelance writer, but it definitely helps, and in certain cases, it does not hurt to tell potential clients that you have a degree in writing. Not to mention the vast amount of information you learn just from writing essays, receiving group feedback, and having writers with a lifetime of experience guide you through the process.

I don’t regret having spent four years in college. I do wonder at times what might have happened should I have started my freelance writing career a few years earlier (even while in school), but I can’t complain now as I have enjoyed a moderate to decent amount of success as a result.

One of the greatest things you can do as a full time freelance writer is to supplement all of your fulltime work for hire projects with work that only gets done in your free time. I’ve mentioned this form of quasi-relaxing a few times in the past, with blog writing and projects like NaNo, but I’ll reiterate it here – you have to make sure you don’t burn out too quickly with all of the random topics flooding your inbox every week – it gets overwhelming.

So, before I even started taking on freelance writing jobs, I started this blog and made sure to take as much time as I could every week to post a few random thoughts, some updates on my work life, and ideas that may or may not amount to anything (usually not).

Fast forward a few months and the blog is still up and running – albeit with some massive gaps in productivity – and I’m trying to make sure I don’t write for work 11 hours a day. It’s some kind of twisted form of balance, but it’s necessary if you want to succeed as a freelance writer.

So, yes – you should start a blog. Start it as soon as possible and don’t feel as though it absolutely needs to be related to your new freelancing career. It can be about anything – in fact it should be about something else, preferably something that allows you to relax a bit and forget about the rounds of work that have been flooding your desk.

Start the blog early – a Blogger account is perfect for getting started – and spend a little bit of time getting acclimated to the atmosphere of blogging. I’ll try to go into more detail later about the various aspects of blogging you can use, such as ways to make money with the blog or how to promote your blog, but when you first start, here are some good tips to build some readership and feel as though you are connecting with people:

Technorati – Sign up for a Technorati account early and start following how well your blog performs in search rankings and how many people favorite it. If you can, sign up for a few other services such as Ice Rocket or a pinging service that will automatically ping your blog across the Internet whenever you post. Blogger actually does this on a basic level now, but you can always supplement your exposure.

Google Tools – Google has a ton of great tools such as Analytics, AdSense, and Webmaster Tools that allow you to keep track of how well your blog is performing. Track your visits, the keywords used to reach your site, and which positions you show up in the search engines at. Even if you decide early that you do not want to do a lot of SEO work to raise your search ranking, these tools can help you get more involved in the writing and promoting process, which pays great dividends later on.

Comments – Comment on other people’s blogs. This is the same as being active in writing your own blog, except now you can get to know your fellow bloggers, write a bit about them, and receive the same treatment in response. It grows your readership and helps you become a better write – plus it’s social.

Generally, try to remember that even as you are writing on your blog, you are helping your freelance writing career. This is a two way street though. If you attach your name to your blog, keep your writing occupationally friendly. That means you should not write anything a potential client will be offended by. If you do attach your name, use your blog as a chance to show off your writing talent. I’ve had dozens of clients choose me over the competition because they found my blog posts interesting after searching for my name.

If you use the blog correctly, you can not only grow your exposure, experience and skills in writing, you can have a bit of fun. Blog early and blog often.

So, as I had guessed, things have been hectic thus far, tapered a bit by my desire to not do anything at all. Looking back, October was actually an incredibly busy month, which has given me the freedom to relax a bit in November. Unfortunatley, that means I have been slacking a bit on my novel. That’s not to say that I’m really that far behind quite yet. I’m sitting at about 7,000 words right now and should be at 13,000 by the end of today. I will likely be at 9,000 or 10,000 realistically, but I do have the entire weekend to get caught up.

The ironic part is that I did not even change my topic this year. Every year before, I have gotten within a day or two of writing and completely changed the topic on which I was going to write. This year that was not the case and yet still I managed to fall irrevocably behind. There is one solid upside to being a professional writer - 50,000 words looks a lot smaller than it used to…unfortunatetly, it’s not that much smaller.

On a side note, I sent off a pitch I wrote up the other night to a couple of magazines in hopes that it might garner some interest. Though one response is still pending, I received a reply from one editor in a matter of hours…I’m not sure that’s necessarily a good thing, considering he declined, but it was by far the fastest response I’ve ever gotten from anyone working…well anywhere really. It gives me some feedback to rework the pitch a bit and try again with another magazine.  Pardon the sketchy descriptions. I’ve learned how incredibly easy it is to track my name directly to one of my websites and more out of superstition than anything else, I feel like I should be careful with who I talk abou professionally (lest I burn bridges before I even come to them).

Well back to work. I must be getting along now.

Ah, with November now in play and a whole slew of new endeavors underway, I thought I would post an update on all things in the life of Anthony Chatfield. Hint: it’s a lot of things.

First off, there’s the freelancing. I’ve recently completed and relaunched my freelance services website at SeattleFreelance.com and have hired on the first few writers to help me get things started. As the month goes along, the plan is to throw out some feelers and start dragging in some new projects, grow my existing client basis and finally get over the dependency I’ve built up in Elance and other sites. It is a loftly goal, one that will probably take a few months to accomplish, but also one that will give me massive freedom in my writing - definitely a good thing.

Next up there’s NaNoWriMo. I announced my start of the annual novel writing month last night and have so far barely accomplished my daily allocation of writing. Luckily, I have 29 days to write 48,000 words, not something I’m overly worried about..not considering the other 100,000+ words I will likely write this month for work. The nice little diversion it gives me is a good aside from the usual work for hire content I engage in every day. Plus, it’s fiction - not something I get a chance to write as often as I would like.

I’m working up a new project on the side as well, writing and publishing new websites and eBooks on a variety of topics. For a few months now I’ve been reading and writing about dozens of interesting topics, and now I’m working on congealing all of that random knowledge into my own money making prospects. Thus far, I have completed one website, outlined three more and am in the process of marketing new ideas with my partner and roommate. Regardless of how important I make myself sound though, it is a fun little side project that I am going to keep at it until I either get very rich or fail miserably - whichever comes first.

Then there’s the holidays coming up. With veteran’s day weekend, thanksgiving and the coming christmas holiday, there will be a lot of travel and a lot of off time, making it even more likely that the rest of the month is spent working for hours on end…oh and playing Guitar Hero III. I must say, I am thoroughly addicted.

A lot of people ask me what I do all day. They assume that when I’m not writing, I’m just sitting around staring at the TV and throwing a frayed rope at the dog (they’re only partially right). In truth, writing is only about 60% of the freelance writer’s actual job. There are just too many little details involved in most projects to assume that I can wake up, write for 8 hours, and call it quits. In fact, if I wrote for 8 hours, I would probably lose one or two blood vessels behind my right eye.

No, there are a lot of little things you have to do when you are a freelance writer – the emails, the bidding, the edits from a project you thought you finished four weeks ago, the unsolicited phone calls from some guy in California who thinks he can pay you $200 to write 100 articles. The list is endless. Thankfully, I stopped counting my funds based on how many hours I “write” everyday a long while back.

After all of that though, there is the slight and often times not so slight process of research. It might seem like a given that many jobs require a small bit of research. For the potential freelancers out there, start bookmarking solid resources right away (no, you cannot use Wikipedia for everything). However, there is an entirely different kind of research in the freelance field – something akin to self-education.

You see, no matter how many projects you do and how far you develop in the field, eventually you will need to write something about a topic you have absolutely no clue about. I wrote 40 pages of content about Backgammon two months ago and I had never played the game before in my life. I had no idea what Backgammon was or how it worked. So, I couldn’t just research the different opening moves, I had to step back a few feet and start from the beginning.

None of my articles asked for beginner’s information, but I spent a couple of hours reading it anyways, because I wanted to make sure I understand what I was writing in the other articles. And that is the key to any truly successful freelance project – showing a certain degree of understanding. Anyone can do the research necessary to relay the 15 opening moves in Backgammon. But, the quality of their work will suffer if they think they can write about those moves without any idea what they mean or are for.

It might seem like a bit of extra work to get involved in a project, but think of it this way – you will eventually be incredibly good at Jeopardy. 

Despite its simple nature and essentially non-existent growth in the past decade, About.com has become a very popular source of common knowledge and how-to articles on thousands of topics. With a high page rank and a few dozen quasi-experts in their fields, they consistently show up on the top of search rankings for any number of topics.

With the money About.com makes from those search rankings and the amount of traffic that tends to pour in from Google and the like, they have a bit of capital with which to ensure they hire quality writers to keep up their columns.

Basically, it’s a living, constantly adapting news encyclopedia with real freelance writers operating the switch boards for the topics that you can so easily find at random. Each article has a real name and picture attached to it, unlike so many other amalgamated news sites and for that reason, there needs to be several hundreds writers on staff at any given time.

Because About.com has built up such a steady, repetitive traffic source, it can afford to pay decent dollar to its writers on a regular basis. It doesn’t hurt that the New York Times owns the site now and tries its best to keep the quality of writing as high as possible.

Anyways, the point of all this is that About.com allows freelance writers (or just plain unemployed writers) apply to be guides on their site. In the lower right corner of any About.com page is a link “Be a Guide”. This takes you to a section that lists the available guide positions and the compensation, hiring process, and a few other choice details.

Basically, About.com pays you on a sliding scale for the traffic you generate as a guide. You write a few articles every month, upload links and track changes in a given field and About.com pays you a minimum of $700 a month. The contracts usually span a year at a time and if your page views explode enough you can make much more money eventually – About.com claims some of their guides make as much as $100,000 a year.

As a freelance opportunity, About.com borders on being a part time job more than anything. You must apply to work with them, complete a 2 week prep course and write sample materials. However, if you get chosen (they usually have around 30-50 open topics at any given time) you can essentially cover half of your monthly workload with a single job – a nice touch of security in the frantic life of a freelance writer.

For the potential freelance writers among you - and I know there are a few - get used to the idea of a schedule that has no rhyme or reason. It’s just the way things will be. Sure, everyone will be jealous of your schedule and the fact that you never have to wake up early or that you have the luxury of taking a certain day off whenever you need to.

Don’t forget a couple of things though - you’re going to need to work a lot of times when you don’t want to. It’s a vicarious balance you need to reach and when you finally do, it’s not going to be very fun the first weekend on which you have a massive deadline looming. But it will happen, so get used to the idea now.

When you first stat writing in your free time or after work to see how well a freelance writing career will actually work, you won’t need to work on weekends, holidays or the occasional late night because you won’t be writing all that much.

Fast forward a few months and you can guarantee that your off weeks will be dull and result in poor months and that your busy weeks will be incredibly busy, stealing your free time sneakily out from under you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you when it happens.