The Importance of a Writing Workspace

Whether you write for content websites like Demand Studios, your own blog, or a business, having your own writing workspace is essential to making a living as a freelance writer. Most people aren’t used to working from home in their PJs, so they’re faced with a lot of distractions. Distractions range from an obsessive need to continuously check your Google Analytics report for a new spike in search engine traffic to constant tugs on you’re arm as your 9 year old son finds something else “interesting” to tell you. Facebook happens to be at the bottom of your list, as your faced with even more obstacles to bypass. As a result, you can’t think, you can’t write, and you lose the ability to remain calm as frustration reaches it’s peak and your temper boils over.

Though a writing workspace won’t solve all of your problems, it will make it easier to pump out faster, more efficient, and better quality articles. Believe it or not, a writing workspace can make the difference between a full career writing to just writing for pocket cash.

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Backlinking Strategies: Increase Search Engine Traffic

Have you ever written content online, only to find that the articles written weren’t performing well on search engines? Whether you write for a blog, business, or content website, you want other internet users to find your content. You also want to increase search engine traffic and earn money for your search engine optimization efforts. However, sometimes optimizing articles or blog entries on the page for search engine traffic isn’t enough to rank high on major search engines, like Google. This is where backlinking strategies come in. While Google does look at on-page optimization, like keyword placement and keyword count, Google also looks at how many websites are linking in or backlinking to your optimized content. In fact, many webmasters believe that Google places a heavier weight on the number of backlinks a given page has. This is why taking part in backlinking strategies and increasing the number of backlinks each web page has is essential to getting your content on page 1 of Google and increasing your overall website’s page rank.

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eHow Writing Platform Switch: Good or Bad?

For the past year, eHow has been continuously changing their eHow writing platform so that users have to get used to the new set of rules again and again. It first started with their article sweeps, where thousands of eHow articles were removed if they didn’t meet eHow’s new guidelines. This created a lot of frustration in the eHow community and some members lost as much as 50 articles to the sweeps. Other eHow members had their whole article library wiped out. Luckily, I only had about 10 articles deleted during the time. Freelance writers began disappearing, upset with all the hard work and effort spent in articles that just got tossed down the drain without a second thought. A few dedicated writers, including myself, continued to write for eHow.

However, the problems didn’t stop there. The eHow website started shutting down at random times of the day, articles stopped publishing, and pictures stopped uploading. Several more eHow writers left, deciding to find more stable sources of income and not wanting to deal with any more issues from the eHow writing platform. Again, many hopeful eHow freelance writers remained, thinking that all of eHow’s problems will soon be fixed. After all, they were still getting paid and they had already invested months, and in many cases, years of time into eHow.

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Rejected Demand Studios Application: Secrets to Another Chance (Bonus)

This is the Bonus Part of the series Become a Successful Demand Studios Writer.

Usually if you get your Demand Studios application rejected, you won’t have another chance to submit another application for approval. That’s why many freelance writers suggest that you make sure your writer’s resume and writing samples are nothing but perfect when you submit your first Demand Studios application. However, what if you did submit a perfect application, or one you thought was flawless, and you still received that rejection notice? Are there no other options for you as a Demand Studios writer?

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Demand Studios Strategies: Living off of Demand Studios Income (Part 6)

This is Part 6 of the series Become a Successful Demand Studios Writer.

Because Demand Studios pays higher than most of the other upfront pay content websites, the company offers freelance writers a chance to make full-time Demand Studios income working from home. However, making full-time income as a Demand Studios writer isn’t easy, especially for those just learning the ropes. It requires time, constant writing, constant rewrites, and patience. As you get more experienced, you’ll learn what makes a Demand Studios writer successful and what dooms a Demand Studios writer to fail. Read about my journey toward full-time income on the Demand Studios Work Challenge.

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Increasing Your Performance as a Demand Studios Writer (Part 5)

This is Part 5 of the series Become a Successful Demand Studios Writer.

Demand Studios can be a tough company to work for. After dealing with those crappy copy editors, you know first hand how difficult Demand Studios can be. After writing for the company for several months, you may wonder how you can increase your Demand Studios writing assignment count or what determines the score that goes on your scorecard after the completion of each article. In order to be successful and increase your performance as a Demand Studios writer, it takes time to get used to their strict guidelines, and you need to continuous apply the following tips in your writing before you submit a finished article.

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What Writing Samples Should be used for Demand Studios?

I mentioned how to get writing samples to use for your Demand Studios application. However, Demand Studios also has preferences over certain types of writing samples more than others when determining whether a freelance writer is a good match for their company. To impress Demand Studios into hiring you, make sure that all of the writing samples you use in your resume, portfolio, and as an attachment have all of the requirements below.

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Overcoming Strict Demand Studios Copy Editors (Part 4)

This is Part 4 of the series Become a Successful Demand Studios Writer.

Now that you’ve gotten accepted into Demand Studios (if you haven’t, keep working on that portfolio!), you’re probably itching to start submitting your first few articles. Before you do, though, you should be aware of a few things first. If you’ve done your research, you probably know that Demand Studios copy editors are pretty strict. Every time you submit an article for approval, Demand Studios copy editors will look over your article, give suggestions, and send it back to you for a rewrite if they find any problems with it. This sometimes upsets freelance writers, especially those who put a lot of work into their articles. Many writers don’t want to spend the extra time correcting their articles and completing the rewrites, since doing so adds to the overall time spent on the article. This conflicts with how much money is made per hour, since you’ll be spending more time rewriting the article than you would necessarily spend on the original piece.

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