Barely Myself

Everyone is business says find your niche. I said “freelance writing for businesses and individuals” which describes my entire industry. Now I know: I have to pick a niche! I will be honing that niche but suddenly all of my passions became evident. The working titles are fans and hobbies My niche: Lifestyle writer, real estate writer

I will surely update more on this. I am going to do a little research and then start writing the plan, the copy, etc. I know this is the secret to the happiness and success I seek as a freelancer: to really write about my true passions.

This reinvention is going so well.

What is your niche?

UPDATE –> My niche: Lifestyle writer, real estate writer

Do you write in article directories and other user generated content sites? Have a blog you post in frequently (and monetize)? Chances are you have fallen prey to the SEO demon as well.

I’m not saying I didn’t. I even sell a report with my SEO secrets. SEO can be a dangerous thing. Here are three things I would consider before spending large amounts of time and energy on SEO.

1. It changes your focus. A lot of writers will start to focus what keywords are popular and simply write to them, trying to include them rather than focusing on content, and even choosing topics solely by popularity.
2. It isn’t evergreen; it is a flash in the pan. When you write to SEO solely, you are taking what was popular at the moment and you ride a trend. Passionate writing is evergreen. While the subject you wrote on may not stay your love forever, your passion shines through in the writing. It will make it a steadfast attraction to your target readers: not because you used the right keywords, but because you had genuine, evident interest for your topic.
3. It ignores your audience. You may think that SEO is writing for your audience because you are using statistics to discover them. This idea only goes so far: you are using statistics and optimizing for a search engine. Try optimizing your content to a reader.

SEO isn’t all evil. I recommend small amounts of research after you have a starting point. Don’t let SEO make your decisions, let it help you point readers to your work, rather than point your writing to the search engine.

 I started this blog not to long ago. It has been a beautiful journey in this short time. I have kept many blogs, and in between past blogs and present, I lost the way. The way of blogging is to create a sense of trust in your readership; it is to develop a relationship of trust with each and every eye to happen upon the blog and any post in its contents.

This is done with quality content.

So, I am making my “blog promise” to my readers.

I promise to provide the real and honest accounts of my career successes and stresses. I also promise to do my best to answer the questions and respond to the comments of my readers.

Looking forward to reflecting after I have reached 100 posts.

Today is my baby’s birthday. Of course, he left last night. But he was going to see his children. Then he said to me (and we have had some problems so it helped) that he has been trying to antagonize me to turn into the beastly woman that is his ex-wife. I understand how he feels: my last take on trusting someone didn’t work out well at all. He said I haven’t done it (turned into a beast) so he has just kept pushing me, waiting for me to blow up so when he pushed me away it could be justified. He apologized and then had to let me go. Poor baby isn’t having a good birthday this year because of the awful woman he married earlier.

I am really looking forward to seeing my baby.

Also, I am going to be writing some Buffy articles now rather than writing or other articles with ads never to be clicked. Surprisingly, laid back writing makes for cash!

I wrote this on my Twitwall, and just wanted to add it to my blog:

When I began at Twitter, I was marketing first. I developed relationships but kept my career driven ways at the forefrunt. I networked and was pleased to find all the business opportunities that I did. However, I have been changing my personal and business writing life, and with Twitter being such an intregal part of my day to day life (business or not) I thought more about something: relationships.

I changed the link on my twitter to my personal blog: something that I thought I would need to hideaway from the professional world.

But how warped is that? I just deemed it schmarketing and decided that it was the excellent way to go: that I would be able to just write honestly and freely without trying to sell someone something constantly.

I then decided that my writing blog would be moved to that as well.  That it wouldn’t constant linkbait and a walking advertisment. Honestly, I at one time began my blog post writing by answering the question “What am I going to advertise today?”

Have I learned anything from my favorite bloggers (Chris Bibey for example)? I don’t need to do that.

I am going to focus on relationships first. Maybe I will get less business. Who knows, maybe I will get more. But that isn’t the point. The point is that I am not going to be a walking advertisement. My tweets, my blog posts, and my articles won’t all be billboards to monetize on.

I see a lot of Twitterers that make me proud, and I am going to mention three. @Miragi,@amyderby, and @WritingSpirit.

• @Miragi communicates like a pro. FRIEND on Twitter. Even my whiny updates get real feedback from her. She is committed to relationships on Twitter, yet seeks to praise me the showpony! I have learned fast to love this gal. She has an amazing blog you should check out on her profile. She has personality galore.
• Speaking of personality, @amyderby. If you follow her/have seen her tweets, chances are I don’t need to say anything. She is a friend and an entertainer to all of Twitter! It always puts me in a good mood to read her tweets.
• @WritingSpirit posts everyday relevant updates to her business. Yet, she is not a billboard. She is not afraid to give more than you would expect. If don’t know what I am talking about, read her Twittwall. She is committed to providing quality insight. While I wish more people would join her site (happy member) I know that she helps also those don’t or can’t.

I just wanted to get on my soapbox and do a Twitter PSA. Thank you!

If you visit my Projects/what I have in the works page, you will see a lot of things crossed off. Some of them were done today, and some of them I decided not to do.

Like my book. I decided not to write my book.

Here are a few reasons:

• There are a lot of web writers books out there
• It doesn’t actually fit by publication credit need: the content could all be on my writer blog
• I don’t feel like marketing it–this is a damn honest point. I don’t want to pay for another domain, I don’t want to bust my hump writing copy, I don’t want to try to make money teaching others my web writing secrets and telling them how and why my book is so fantastic
• I don’t want it to look like an ad for the writing sites I have going
• I have other projects I would rather focus on
• I am trying to focus on consumer topics

Let me get more on consumer topics: I want to write more of these. My second eHow account has an SEO and writing gem one article under it. It is not a topic that I necessarily harped on in any of my areas of writing expertise. But those things don’t make for adsense clicks! That is where the revenue comes from! I want to keep my writing articles to my blog and my other articles getting paid for. I am sick of earning less than I know I can. Especially when it is because I am not writing what I should. Don’t get me wrong because I will still be writing about topics that I love. But I need the writing to be more consumer oriented and less go to my website and hire me. All those dang resume articles weren’t giving me business because adsense displayed all sorts of fancy ads.

If I want to earn a writing income, then I need to write what I know is going to actually sell. I am going to revisit the writing sites for which I publish content and see the more consumer oriented topics I would like to write about are. Because I don’t need to write about Adsense and other assorted things that just say “don’t click on any of my ads”. I am going to start making more than I have ever because I am going to do what I know is smart.

I am not saying that I am not going to write about writing. I am simply saying that I am just doing it at my writing blog.

Speaking of writing blog: I am seriously considering moving my writing blog to today.com when I get the option (which happens after a few weeks of posting). I think that it would be a good idea. I am going to write less targeted blog posts there and write personal things.

I am tired of blogging constant linkbait. I will be focusing on building relationships with my bloggers.

I have discovered that with a new eHow account, I am less into the networking. I used to love networking there, but there comes a time when  I decide what is working for me and what isn’t. I have a few bad experiences over there but the reason I am going to refrain from large amounts of networking like I did before is that I want to focus on Twitter networking. Twitter has helped me make contacts and friends, and I have chosen it as my solitary networking choice.

I have been making plenty of these big decisions about my writing and the like.

I can’t wait for my new today.com blog option to create my relationship based site.

I also have my top secret venture underway, which is very exciting. I am ready to get running on that project.

I am so excited and so proud of myself. I finish my step by step SEO tutorial report. I don’t aim to promote myself on this site, so I won’t spin into elaborate copy. I am just sharing because I am excited. As soon as the first one is sold I will probably pee my pants. That is how excited I am.

I am going to write my web writers for income guide this weekend. In fact, I intend to start at 12:01 and not stop until I get a first draft written. Then I will just work on some other things, then get back to it and revise. I will be publishing my guide on web writing for income this weekend on Lulu because MH just left.

When MH is gone, I work like a madman. If you were exhausted by the way I worked before, then you may want to turn away before you see the insane pace of my work when I am alone. I have always told MH that if he doesn’t work out that it will be just me and my career. I am not kidding, either.

When he is gone, all I do is work. Work, work, work until I can’t and then a nap or coffee and work again.

I hate having him gone. I love working constantly..

So here is my to do list while MH is gone (he will be back Sunday):

• Publish keyword report
• Publish writing in a recession report
• Publish web writing for income ebook
• Prepare for December 1 launch of blog for my third writing business (top secret venture for now)
• Post 4 times a day in personal blog
• Post 4 times a day in writer’s blog
• Tweet writing tip of the day (begin this)
• Tweet reason to hire me of the day (begin this as well)
• Finish course outlines for all trial mentees
• Draft my executive summaries for 2 new writing businesses

I am one of many who owns an eee PC. I personally (and I am typing on it right now) own an eee PC 4G surf. I love this computer because of how accessible it is:

• affordable
• Linux
• Firefox
• Open Office
• Thunderbird
• Wi-fi
• 2 pounds
• 7 inch screen

This is the perfect computer for me. I love writing on it, I love surfing the internet on it, and I don’t use it as a supplementary or secondary computer. This computer is my full time gig and I love it!

It started with the easy startup and the quick menu. Then Firefox gave me Fast Dial. The bug where I couldn’t submit at eHow fixed and then, the rest is history.

I am back on the eee PC and I am loving it. I couldn’t have a better computer for me.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

As you may know, I am very very career orientated person but I am not most thankful for the freedom and joy I find in my career. I love being a freelance writer and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but one thing means more to me than anything. I call him MH and you have probably heard me discuss him.

MH is the most wonderful person that I have ever met. I love him dearly and wish to spend all of our time together. Unfortunately, his in the US Army and is a Chinook maintenance test pilot. That means a lot of things but most of all means that he works more than you can imagine. People often marvel at the amount of time that I work. Well, I only work when he is working, so it is the same work hours for us.

MH is what I am most thankful for this year. Next year, and the year after that. I am so thankful to have an amazing person to share my entire life with. I know that we have an amazing love and I can’t imagine life without him.

What are you most thankful for? If you aren’t a Today blogger, join here for free today.

Thank you for reading my blog post about what I am most thankful for. I would love to hear what you are most thankful for, so please leave a comment.