Cash Campfire » Writing

Debate: Write for Residual Income or Write Copy for Clients?

Christina Crowe — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:51:12 +0000

After reading very disturbing comments on a Suite101 review, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about this topic in more detail.

Photo by Razvan Caliman (flickr)

Specifically, why would some people work their asses off writing for web content sites only to get a small return? Many copywriters seem to think this way, as it just doesn’t make sense to them why someone would work for pennies and accept low pay. They seem to think that other freelance writers out there, often the ones just stepping in the door, aren’t getting what they’re worth and therefore are the reason why the rest of the world believes that freelance writing is a low paying job. When people believe this, why would clients spend over $1,000 for a direct mail package? What’s the purpose of wasting so much money for a brochure when writers shouldn’t be charged so much?

Before you start thinking that web content writers are destroying income opportunities for the rest of us, here’s the thing: Clients who do think that freelance writers should be given low pay are the ones inexperienced with working with freelance writers for hire. Experienced clients recognize your worth, and so pay accordingly. They recognize that good copy is worth every dollar spent, for it makes the difference between a converted paying customer to a prospect “just browsing.” Inexperienced clients are the ones you have to convince, and many of them can’t afford you anyway.

Now that we’ve cleared up this “freelance writers are ruining the trade” fiasco, let’s talk about the real problem: Why would someone work for peanuts? Well, let’s take a closer look…

A Closer Look at Content Websites

There are various content websites out there that hire writers to work for them and, in return, writers get ongoing residual income. While income might be low in the beginning, it does get better later on – especially when articles have had time to age and more content is added. Many content websites that pay per page view are just generally low paying and, in my opinion, not worth a writer’s time. Other opportunities, however, allow writers to earn based on how well the ads perform on the site. These earnings are often over ten times better than any site that pays based on page views alone. Such companies include Demand Studios, Suite101 and Info Barrel.

For example, Associated Content pays a very low upfront payment (around $2) per article. Writers then earn a certain amount of money per page view (which is also low). The only way you’d be able to make decent money from Associated Content was if your article became popular and received tons of page views. However, if you were to take this same article to, say, Info Barrel and earn based on ad performance, your article would probably make a lot more. Why? Because ad clicks would probably skyrocket with the number of page views you’re getting.

Even so, earnings in the short run are very low compared to earnings you might receive if you were writing copy for clients. So why would freelance writers do it? Is it just because they’re inexperienced?

Write for Residual Income: Why Go This Route?

There’s less work involved when you write for residual income. When just getting started, any given article might take around an hour or two to create. However, as you become more experienced with writing web content, the time spent will reduce drastically. You’ll most likely spend anywhere between 25 minutes to 45 minutes to write a quality article – assuming that you know the topic well of the article that you’re writing about. If you’re writing copy for clients, however, it might take days to finish an assignment. Clients also demand more quality from you and, many times, you’ll get faced with rewrites.
You aren’t bound to an article when you write for residual income. If you don’t like a specific article topic, you can just delete the article or stop writing it. When you write copy for clients, not completing an assignment can have dire consequences. Your client won’t do business with you any longer, for one. You’ll also be known as a freelance writer who doesn’t follow through, and finding business will become rather difficult.
You continue to make money month after month, without even adding new content, if you write for residual income. This is a key point to consider. Many freelance writers write for residual income solely because of this one benefit.
Think about it: After a few years of hard work, you’ll be able to just stop writing for content websites, not do any work whatsoever and make enough money to get by. What would you then do with your time? Would you focus your time on family? Would you pick up a hobby or do something that you love (not writing, that is)? I don’t know about you, but I get all excited month after month when I’m still receiving PayPal payments from eHow (and I haven’t written for them in months!). That’s the power of residual income. Sure, you can start a blog, put up some ads and blog daily. However, content websites give you an advantage. You don’t have to start from scratch and slowly build up your page rank. The content site you’re writing for already has a high page rank to begin with, so you get indexed on search engines faster.. and your article gets on page 1 of Google faster as well.

You just cannot simply do this as a copywriter. What happens if you stop writing copy for clients? Your earnings suddenly cease. In other words, you need to keep writing copy in order to keep getting paid.
You can write continuously about topics you’re passionate about when writing for residual income. With content websites, you can choose what topics you want to write about. Many times, the topics you choose and the articles you write are on subjects that you enjoy. With copywriting, you can choose which industries you want to target and what type of writing you do, but sometimes only writing about topics you’re passionate about can make it harder to find business. Some freelance writers find themselves doing assignments that they aren’t too crazy over, as a result. Sometimes it’s just because one assignment offers more pay than another.
You can do very little promotion, if any at all, when writing for residual income. Copywriters have to promote themselves constantly if they wish to make a steady income. When writing for residual income, you don’t have to keep trying to impress clients multiple times a day. All the work you could want is right there. What you then do with your work is entirely up to you. Whether you promote your articles or not, you’ll still make money.

Write Copy for Clients: Why Go This Route?

You earn a lot more money at a faster rate if you write copy for clients. When writing for residual income, money comes gradually and sometimes it can take years to make a living. When writing copy for clients, you don’t have to wait long for that big paycheck. You also control how much you make, as you can set your own rates.
There are no surprises when writing copy for clients. As a copywriter, you know how much you’ll make per assignment. You’re also getting paid handsomely for the amount of effort you put in. When writing for residual income, there might be some cases where you’d spend a lot of time on a given article, only to find that the article doesn’t make any money.
You get paid for your time when you write copy for clients. You get paid for every single second you spend on a project, if you set your rates to reflect on how much time you’ll probably spend on the assignment. When you write for residual income, how much you make with each article will vary, so how much you get paid per time spent on an article is disproportionate. Some articles may not make any money at all.
You don’t need to worry about ranking high on search engines when you write copy for clients, unless you specialize in SEO copy. Copywriters are more focused on writing clear copy, growing a company’s brand or increasing sales. Search engines don’t really play a major role, so copywriters don’t need to do extensive keyword research. Freelance writers who write for residual income need to make their articles rank high in search engines in order to maximize their earning potential.
Many freelance writers work closely with big companies when they write copy for clients. As copywriters becomes more advanced in their field, they can target Fortune 500 companies and get hired to write assignments for them. Such an opportunity is often exciting, as some freelance writers even find themselves working with companies like Wal-Mart, Bank of America or AT&T.

My Stance

Personally, I’m in the middle. I understand why freelance writers would write for content websites and clients. I don’t necessarily think that one group is better than the other. Both groups have their benefits and both groups have their disadvantages. However, I am leaning more towards the residual income end, as it just seems more promising.

You can make a living off of residual income if you put the effort into it and spend many years writing web content. Lots of people have done it. However, to do so would take serious amounts of effort. Once you do start earning enough money, though, you don’t have to write another article in your life. Though, if you like to write like I do, you would probably keep writing articles every now and then. Or, you could take on a hobby – like writing fiction novels – and not have to worry about whether your book will be a best seller. You can just write novels for fun. If a book does get on the best selling list, great! More money for you.

I’d much prefer to do the extra effort now and not have to work later. However, I think the best way to make a living is to do a little bit of both: Write for residual income on the side while you continue writing copy for clients. That way, you’re building a residual income stream, making a name of yourself and decreasing the amount of effort you’ll have to spend working in the long run. Besides, a little extra money every month doesn’t hurt. It can only help.

Finding Motivation: How to Adapt a Routine

Christina Crowe — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:25:07 +0000

While browsing Google Reader, I came across an article called Finding the Rhythm by Trent Hamm, author of the finance blog The Simple Dollar. This article discusses key methods on how to know when your work rhythm is failing and how to pick it back up again to become more productive. While reading the article, I thought about past activities I’ve done and how they’ve affected my productivity.

Photo by Julie Jordan Scott (flickr)

For example, this morning I took a nice long shower before beginning my day, when usually I would take a shower later in the evening. After the shower, I proceeded to drink my daily cup of organic coffee and then got to work. What a difference! Drinking coffee didn’t exactly make a noticeable difference, since that was something I was already doing anyway. But the shower, without a doubt, increased my productivity a great deal. Having a shower in the morning by itself probably wouldn’t have done much. But combining the shower with the cup of coffee made a complete difference in how well I worked throughout the day. I was no longer drowsy, my damp hair emitted a nice pleasant smell of violets and blueberries, and my skin just felt incredibly soft and clean.

Finding Motivation: My Story

After I realized just how much a morning shower, along with a cup of coffee, was able to keep me energized enough to work, I started thinking about other ways I could improve my day. Finding motivation to write and work in general has always been a problem I’ve struggled with. I was finally ready to put an end to my depressed, gloomy mornings, where all I’d want to do was curl up in bed and drift quietly off to sleep. This sense of feeling energized, truly energized, inspired me to make other changes in my lifestyle so that I could find motivation and maintain that motivation to work.

I analyzed my work habits closely, paying careful attention to what worked or helped inspire me and what didn’t work as well. I think part of my morning gloom was a direct result of my rather dim office environment, so I made the room brighter. I opened the blinds on my office window. Another amazing difference! The sunlight helped energize my mind and spirit. Besides, I enjoy looking out the window every now and then to see an occasional bird chirp on a nearby branch or a car roll by. I also felt refreshed and ready to make my goals reality.

Looking back, I remembered how I felt after a long relaxation period where I would just enjoy life as it was, without any worries. So, I set time aside each day to read a book or play video games – wherever my mood took me. Now, I spend an hour or two after noon to just relax. Once my relaxation time ends, I’m able to get back to work with renewed motivation. Spending some time to just sit on the sofa and watch my aquatic frogs make their way across an aquarium I have set up in the office also helps me to find peace of mind when I’m especially worried or stressed out.

Finding Motivation: How to Adapt a Routine

The simple things you do throughout your everyday life make a huge difference in whether you struggle throughout the day or you’re able to find motivation and become productive. Take my story, for example. I would have continued to struggle if I hadn’t of analyzed my lifestyle and tweaked my mornings so that it would be easier to work. Even now, I’m still tweaking. I’m not happy with how late I wake up in the mornings, so I’m going to bed earlier and waking up earlier as a result. I want to be up to see the sun rise every morning. I also find that waking up earlier gives me more time to get things done.

What can be changed in your lifestyle? Here’s some suggestions.

Find a time you work best. When are you most productive? Analyze your sleeping schedule. Do you work best at night or in the mornings like I do? For a few days, work at different times. Find out when you’re most motivated and when your motivation wanes. If you’re a morning person, go to sleep earlier so that you can wake up earlier and establish a routine.
Analyze your work environment. Are there certain things you need that will make working easier (for instance, a fan)? Can you rearrange the room to make office supplies more accessible? Can you maybe add a few pictures, a new sofa or a fish aquarium to make everything more pleasing to the eye? After all, if you don’t enjoy being in your office or feel dread every time you step into the room, why would you enjoy working there? Organize your work space how you like. If privacy is a problem, consider setting up a room with a door and then putting your office hours on the outside of the door so that family cannot bother you while you’re working. If you have kids, talk with your spouse and organize times where you can work in peace and your spouse can take care of the kids. If that won’t work out, consider hiring a babysitter or pay a friend to come along during certain days so that you can get work done.
Have a goal or plan with an end result clear in mind. Goal setting often motivates you to work on achieving them. You have a reason to work and you know what the reward would be if you carry through with your work. Do you need to do a $5,000 project for a client? What can you do with that money? Well, you can use it to pay the mortgage so that you don’t lose your home. No one wants to live homeless. You can use it to help your child get a quality education so that you will one day see your child graduate, get married and have all those grand-kids you were dreaming about. You can use it to buy yourself a new high-tech computer. The main point is don’t just work blindly. Have a clear goal and a clear reward to give yourself a reason to work.
Consider the consequences of not working. If you tend to procrastinate (like I do), think about what would happen if you do procrastinate. Think about the extremes. What would be the end result if you don’t get that assignment done in time for a particular client? Well, that client probably wouldn’t hire you again. That client might also tell other potential clients about his negative experiences working with you. Then, you’d lose even more work than you bargained for, you won’t make money and you’ll end up homeless. Ouch! No one wants that.

If you’re a professional blogger, what would happen if you skipped a few days of publishing quality posts for your blog? Well, you may lose readers. People will think your blog is just too unstable to stick around, unless there’s a valid reason why you didn’t post. You may also lose money in the long run, as not as many readers will be interested in visiting. Your blog will ultimately fail and you’ll have to find a new profession, or else you’ll end up homeless. See where I’m going? Think about the extreme consequences of not working and you’ll be more motivated to keep those fingers moving.
Record your accomplishments. Here’s my secret technique to finding motivation. *wink* On a piece of paper, make a list of all the accomplishments you want to achieve. Leave a space below each list item. Within the space, create a single horizontal bar where you will record your progress. For example, let’s say your goal is to make $10,000 a month. Using a ruler, sketch out a horizontal rectangle (that you will use as your bar) and, on the bottom side of the rectangle, number the bar. Start at $1,000 and end with $10,000. Record your progress as you go along. When you earn your first $1,000 for the month, fill in that section of the bar to show that you’ve already achieved the $1,000 mark. When you earn the full $10,000, celebrate! Put a sticker next to the achievement, go out to eat for a special dinner or buy yourself something special that you’ve always wanted (instead of something that you necessarily need).
Read inspiring stories. Often, the successes of others help fuel our energy so that we can find motivation and get back to work. Search for specific case studies on Google of people who have achieved what you want to achieve. Just knowing that your goals are possible can help motivate you. Buy inspiring books intended to help you achieve your goals, whether it is to write clearer copy, get more blog subscribers or set better goals for yourself. Read as much as you need until you’re able to find motivation again.

Post Your Input

How do you find motivation?
What have you changed to better suit your lifestyle?

Demand Studios Work Challenge: June 21, 2010

Christina Crowe — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:44:19 +0000

I’ve gotten some work done for Demand Studios and my overall Demand Studios score is rising at an incredible speed. It seems that the Secrets to Making Money with Demand Studios eBook by Kent Ninomiya paid for itself. Rereading the Why Your Overview Matters (And How to Make it Good) article on the Demand Studios blog has also definitely helped to boost my grammar score, especially for this month. However, I’m still working to get my article limit increased, so I can’t rest yet.

Since the last post in the Demand Studios Work Challenge, I received 2 rewrites out of 10 published articles. I still need to rewrite the 2 articles, however, so they haven’t been re-submitted yet. Compared to the last scorecard copy, I gained 0.02 points in grammar and 0.01 in research. Looking at the bars, I managed to publish at least one article that was rated 5 stars in research, since the green bar is over the 4 point line. My grammar bar for this month is almost at the 4 point line, so as long as I do so well, I should receive a score of 4 on both grammar and research soon!

On a side note, I’m going to lower my overall goal of maintaining a score of 4.5, since that would be too difficult to achieve at this moment.

Ultimate Demand Studios Work Goals

Maintain a score of 4.0 or higher in Grammar and Research on the Scorecard (now at 3.4 – 3.7).
Reach an assignment limit of 35 or greater (now at an assignment limit of 10).
Finish articles on topics of expertise in less than 30 minutes without doing rewrites.
Receive my first special assignment.

Demand Studios Work Goals for the Month

Maintain a score of 3.7 or higher on the Scorecard (now at 3.4 – 3.7).
Receive less than 10 rewrites from copy editors (3 rewrites this month).
Write at least 1 articles a day, minus weekends.

Progress

Demand Studios Work Challenge – Introduction
Demand Studios Work Challenge – May 28, 2010
Demand Studios Work Challenge – May 30, 2010
Demand Studios Work Challenge – June 9, 2010
Demand Studios Work Challenge – June 21, 2010

Demand Studios Work Challenge – June 9, 2010

Christina Crowe — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:24:34 +0000

I haven’t updated you all on the Demand Studios Work Challenge for a while, since I’ve been busily going through books and planning out my copywriting career. The books I’m mainly referring to are The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Commercial Freelancer in Six Months or Less by Peter Bowerman, Start & Run a Copywriting Business by Steve Slaunwhite, Secrets of a Freelance Writer, Third Edition: How to Make $100,000 a Year or More by Robert Bly, and The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle by Steve Slaunwhite, Pete Savage, and Ed Gandia. I’ll be talking more about these books later on as I get started in my copywriting business. As I’m just getting started, I’ve been devoting most of my time to books and my portfolio.

Since the days have become a little less hectic, I’m able to continue blogging. However, I’ve been writing less frequently for Demand Studios because I’ve made my copywriting business my first priority. From here on I’m only going to write one or two articles a day as I continue the Demand Studios Work Challenge.

Since I last updated this blog on my Demand Studios progress, my scores haven’t changed much. I received 10 approved rewrites and 14 approved no rewrites last month, with no additional rejections. This month I only wrote 3 articles so far, with one approved without a rewrite, another approved with a rewrite, and another article abandoned because the copy editor asked to rewrite the entire article due to a disagreement (and I wasn’t about to do that again and risk a rejection).

As far as my scorecard is concerned, I noticed that I’m receiving a constant score of 3 for grammar and a score ranging from 3 to 4 for research. Since I’m trying to raise that grammar score to 4, I did a lot of analyzing and reading about what could be preventing my score from increasing. I like to compare my revisions in the “Published Work” section to see what copy editors took out or edited. I think the main thing that’s killing my score is my complex sentences. I’m going to try to write more simple sentences to see if that does the trick. My overviews might also be lacking, since I often have trouble creating compelling ones. Though I read this article before, I decided to give Why Your Overview Matters (And How to Make it Good) another look. Once that was done, I realized my overviews didn’t exactly start with catchy phrases or follow catchy phrases with interesting facts. I’ll spend more time on my overviews to see if it makes a difference in my grammar score.

I noticed that, as long as I cite at least 2 or 3 sources in my article body, I maintain a steady 4 as my research score. Going through the Content Rating Checklist in the Training Camp section of the Resource Center, I might be able to increase that 4 to a 5 on my scorecard just by working on creating a compelling overview and making each step as informative as I can, while continuing to cite sources. I’ll do a few tests to see how it goes.

Ultimate Demand Studios Work Goals

Maintain a score of 4.5 or higher in Grammar and Research on the Scorecard (now at 3.2 – 3.6).
Reach an assignment limit of 35 or greater (now at an assignment limit of 10).
Finish articles on topics of expertise in less than 30 minutes without doing rewrites.
Receive my first special assignment.

Demand Studios Work Goals for the Month

Maintain a score of 3.7 or higher on the Scorecard (now at 3.2 – 3.6).
Receive less than 10 rewrites from copy editors (1 rewrite this month).
Write at least 1 articles a day, minus weekends.

Progress

Demand Studios Work Challenge – Introduction
Demand Studios Work Challenge – May 28, 2010
Demand Studios Work Challenge – May 30, 2010
Demand Studios Work Challenge – June 9, 2010
Demand Studios Work Challenge – June 21, 2010

*This post has some affiliate links distributed in the content. Read more about them on the Disclosure page.

eHow Experiment – May 31, 2010

Christina Crowe — Mon, 31 May 2010 11:23:24 +0000

My earnings on eHow for this month is now a little bit over $10 more than I made last month. Not too shabby. I might make the $100 mark in a few months.

Most of the articles I’ve been editing on eHow have a nice keyword density. The main thing I need to work on for the next few weeks are backlinking strategies and increasing the number of websites pointing to my articles. So far, I’ve backlinked articles on this blog, though haven’t really ventured anywhere else. Therefore, today I’m going to backlink articles on Yahoo Answers, as I answer questions users have that relate to my articles.

eHow Article Results

Over the weekend, I worked on How to Practice Effective Time Management Skills in College, How to Avoid Arguments With Your Children, How to Get More Blog Readers by Using Blog Carnivals, How to Avoid Arguments With Parents, How to Prevent Drowning Children, How to Stop That Mosquito Bite Itch, How to Benefit from Keeping Pet Fish, and How to Know If You Should Cut Your Fingernails.

Sadly, I’m not on the first page of Google for any of these titles. I definitely need to backlink them. I’ll keep you updated on their progress!

Progress

Post Your Input

What have you been doing to increase eHow earnings?
What are the backlinking strategies you use?

Demand Studios Work Challenge – May 30, 2010

Christina Crowe — Sun, 30 May 2010 23:59:22 +0000

Today has been a very good week for me, considering how much work I’ve gotten done for Demand Studios and the improvement I’ve made with my Demand Studios performance. While my grammar score has remained the same (even though the bar for this month has been increasing slightly), my research score is increasing rapidly. In fact, I passed my goal of 3.5 with my research score by hitting the 3.6 mark. Pretty soon, I should have a score of 4.0. Hopefully my grammar score soon follows suit.

Moreover, the number of rewrites I’m receiving has decreased a great deal since my last Demand Studios Work Challenge update. Since then, I only had to do 2 rewrites. On the last two days, 7 articles went through without having to be rewritten. This is definitely a huge improvement for me and one I hope to keep up.

Ultimate Demand Studios Work Goals

Maintain a score of 4.5 or higher in Grammar and Research on the Scorecard (now at 3.2 – 3.6).
Reach an assignment limit of 35 or greater (now at an assignment limit of 10).
Finish articles on topics of expertise in less than 30 minutes without doing rewrites.
Receive my first special assignment.

Demand Studios Work Goals for the Rest of this Month

Maintain a score of 3.5 or higher on the Scorecard (now at 3.2 – 3.6).
Receive less than 10 rewrites from copy editors (8 rewrites this month).
Write 7 articles a day, minus weekends.

Progress

Demand Studios Work Challenge – Introduction
Demand Studios Work Challenge – May 28, 2010
Demand Studios Work Challenge – May 30, 2010
Demand Studios Work Challenge – June 9, 2010
Demand Studios Work Challenge – June 21, 2010

Demand Studios Holiday Club

Christina Crowe — Sat, 29 May 2010 21:52:46 +0000

Demand Studios is apparently hosting a Holiday Club event! They’re giving away $500 to one copy editor and one writer Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. For specifics, here’s a copy of the email:

Each article written is worth an entry in the event, so my goal is to write 7 articles Saturday (today), 10 articles Sunday, and 10 articles Monday. Let’s see how things go!

Update: Demand Studios Plagiarism Flag Removed

Christina Crowe — Sat, 29 May 2010 21:32:33 +0000

I mentioned on my May 28 Demand Studios Work Challenge update that one of my articles (How to Start Up a Business Website & Domains) was flagged for plagiarism. Well, I found out this morning that the flag was removed! I can definitely say that I was relieved.

Here’s the email I received in my Gmail inbox:

Hello Demand Studios Writer,

The staff at Demand Studios has reviewed your article, How to Start Up a Business Website & Domains, and found that it is not in breach of our Contributors Agreement. It has been passed on to our copy editors for editorial review.

If/when the article is approved by our copy editors, a payment will be processed for your work. In the meantime, feel free to accept other available assignments.

Thank you for your patience,

Demand Studios Editorial Staff

Now that I have experience with the whole plagiarism appealing process, I can work for Demand Studios without any worries. I will also remember not to use information from a rewrite for a new article until after I re-submit the rewrite with new information.

eHow Experiment – May 29, 2010

Christina Crowe — Sat, 29 May 2010 18:07:33 +0000

As I mentioned in my introduction eHow Experiment post, I’ll be editing and improving 4 eHow articles a day in order to average $3 per article and make $339 or more per month for 113 articles. I plan to do this through maintaining a keyword density of 2-3% and using backlinking strategies.

My earnings on eHow per month have been steadily rising. In January 2010, I made $52.08 for the month. Every month after that, I made $57.85, $63.54, and $71.33. This month, with two days left until June, I’ve earned $78.58 so far. I should reach $80 by the end of the month. However, even $80 only gives me $0.70 per article a month. These earnings are pitifully low compared to what I should be earning according to Maria O’Brien’s eBook How to Earn Passive Income at eHow. So, I’m taking the initiative and stepping it up a notch.

eHow Article Results

In the past two days, I’ve worked on 8 articles: How to Stop Being a Junk Food Junkie, How to Stop Nail Biting Successfully, How to Finally Grow Long Nails, How to Cure Adult Acne Forever, How to Prevent Leukonychia Spots on Nails, How to Make College Friends, How to Make Chocolate Covered Strawberries Successfully, and How to Sue a Telemarketer.

So far only 3 articles out of the above 8 are ranking well on search engines. How to Stop Being a Junk Food Junkie has the first listing for “junk food junkie,” first listing for “eating junk food,” and fifth listing for “junk food.” With some backlinking, I hope to boost the listing for “junk food” up to the third spot.

How to Prevent Leukonychia Spots on Nails is listed third on the first page of Google with “leukonychia spots” but is on the second page with “leukonychia.” So, I need to backlink this article a little bit more than my junk food article.

How to Sue a Telemarketer is the last listing on the first page of Google for “sue a telemarketer” but no where to be found for “telemarketer,” so this article needs even more backlinking than the first two articles.

How to Stop Nail Biting Successfully, How to Finally Grow Long Nails, How to Cure Adult Acne Forever, How to Make College Friends, and How to Make Chocolate Covered Strawberries Successfully all need to be backlinked in order to get to the first page of Google for their keywords. I plan to backlink them a little on this blog, Yahoo Answers, forums, and other content websites. I’ll fill you in on their improvements, as well as the statuses of the eHow articles I’ll be working on for the next two days.

Progress

Post Your Input

Are your eHow articles performing well?
What have you been doing to increase their search engine ranking?

*This post has some affiliate links distributed in the content. Read more about them on the Disclosure page.

Demand Studios Work Challenge – May 28, 2010

Christina Crowe — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:27:13 +0000

Yesterday I had two scares. The first scare was that an article was flagged for plagiarism. The second scare was that another article was rejected.

I had written an article “How to Register a New Business Online” under the impression that it meant something along the lines of “How to Register a Domain and Start a Business.” Now, I realize that my interpretation was wrong, and the title actually meant how one would register their business online with a Secretary of State office and obtain the required licenses and permits to keep the business legal. So, the article was sent back by a copy editor with the following message:

May 26, 2010 – I think that the article does not fir the title. If this article is supposed to be about registering a domain name for a new online business, please focus on that. You have some information on launching an online business, and some info on keyword phrases, etc., but that’s gets away from the focus — how to register a business online.

My interpretation of this title is how a person with a new business can go online to register that business with her state’s Secretary of State’s office, or Department of State in some states. I don;t know if you had guidlance form the editorial team, but either way, this article needs to be refocused on the title. Thank you!

Yes, typos were all there. Apparently the copy editor was in too much of a hurry when writing the message to proofread. Anyway, since I had to rewrite the whole article over again, I used what I already wrote for a new article titled “How to Start Up a Business Website & Domains,” since the information fit that title perfectly. I used this information while “How to Register a New Business Online” was still in rewrite phase, so my second article (How to Start Up a Business Website & Domains) was flagged for plagiarism, and I had to go through the grueling appeal process. When I first got that plagiarism letter, I remember first the feeling of shock and then the feeling of being semi-relieved as the shock slowly ebbed away once I realized what probably happened (that I copied previous information from another article in need of a complete rewrite, but still under the rewrite status, that I didn’t get the chance to rewrite before using the information I intended to erase). I’m still waiting for the flagged article to be cleared. I’ll inform you once it is. Find out whether my flagged article was cleared or not in my new update.

I responded to the copy editor of the first article (the one about registering a business online), after rewriting the entire article again (taking me some time to research the topic), with:

May 27, 2010 – Thanks for your feedback! I wrote a whole new article on how to register a business according to your point of view.

All I had to do was wait for the copy editor to approve my rewrite and the flag to come off of my other article. Then everything would be taken care of. However, the copy editor did not approve the rewrite and actually rejected it. I almost cried. He/she responded with this message:

Thank you for the go at a rewrite. You found some useful resources and references, and the article is more focused now. However, there are some areas where I would have some questions and comments, and I think some more info would have to be added. If this was the first look, I think we could get things done on a rewrite, but DS only lets us have one chance to re-do an article. Thank you for refocusing and reworking it, but I’m afreaid I’m going to have to reject it this time.
In future articles, please keep in mind a tight focus on the title, and please use specific examples to support your steps. Again, thank you for the effort, and good luck on your next article!

Again, spelling errors were left untouched in the message. I spent so much work reworking the article and writing a completely new article from scratch, citing information from references and so on. The copy I sent for approval was perfectly done and informative, or so I thought. The copy editor then continued to point out errors in each step, minor errors for most of them.

That day I had gotten an article rejected and another article flagged for plagiarism. Strangely enough, both articles were connected. I felt as though the ceiling was crashing down on me, slowly crushing me under the weight. I had never before received a rejected or flagged article from Demand Studios and, to happen on the same day, it hit me hard. I felt like giving up altogether. During the time, I also had personal issues that only strengthened the impact.

I sat frozen in the chair for a few minutes just contemplating, until I finally decided to give myself a break from writing. I went to the library for a few hours and that helped relieve my stress. By the time I got back home, I was able to go right back on schedule, finish writing the 7 Demand Studios articles, finish editing 4 eHow articles, and work on my fiction novel.

As for my progress on Demand Studios, it’s improving rapidly.

Compared to the last Demand Studios Challenge image that I posted, both my grammar and my research scores increased. Grammar increased from 3.1 to 3.2 and research increased from 3.2 to 3.4. I also received more approvals without rewrites. Out of 8 approved articles, 7 articles went through without having to be rewritten. At this rate, I’ll probably reach my goal of maintaining a 3.5 average grammar and research score by the end of the month.

Ultimate Demand Studios Work Goals

Maintain a score of 4.5 or higher in Grammar and Research on the Scorecard (now at 3.2 – 3.4).
Reach an assignment limit of 35 or greater (now at an assignment limit of 10).
Finish articles on topics of expertise in less than 30 minutes without doing rewrites.
Receive my first special assignment.

Demand Studios Work Goals for the Rest of this Month

Maintain a score of 3.5 or higher on the Scorecard (now at 3.2 – 3.4).
Receive less than 10 rewrites from copy editors.
Write 7 articles a day, minus weekends.

Progress

Demand Studios Work Challenge – Introduction
Demand Studios Work Challenge – May 28, 2010
Demand Studios Work Challenge – May 30, 2010
Demand Studios Work Challenge – June 9, 2010
Demand Studios Work Challenge – June 21, 2010

Post Your Input

Have you received an article rejection in the past? How did you handle it?
How has your Demand Studios work improved?