If you are looking to get into the world of freelance writing, I highly suggest you take a look at Ghostwriting Cash by Tiffany Dow. This is the most helpful, thorough course on the topic that I have seen on the Internet. Tiffany was once a ghostwriter herself, writing articles and reports for some of the biggest names online. Because she has been there, she tells it like it is and provides her customers with the best methods for setting up a profitable writing business.

What You’ll Learn

The Ghostwriting Cash course features an ebook that will help you set up a successful freelancing business. You will learn how to set up a website in order to gain orders from new clients. You also learn how to go out and network with those that may be interested in your services. When appropriate, Tiffany also includes videos so that you can see exactly what you need to do. Having a look over the teacher’s shoulder is always nice!

Benefits

To me, there are many benefits to following Ghostwriting Cash when making the decision to offer writing services on the web. It helps you shorten the learning curve needed to set up a website and market your services. There is no guess work as to where you should seek clients and orders. Tiffany gives you several methods for finding those that need content created. All you have to do is present them with your offer.

Tiffany also stresses the importance of eventually becoming your own client. I think this is something that most other freelance writing courses lack. They just teach you how to offer services, and don’t really cover anything beyond that. However, Tiffany has always viewed services as the “foot in the door.”

When You Have Steady Work

Once you have steady work coming in, you can begin to raise your rates. This allows you to earn more money, but with fewer clients or orders. This, in turn, gives you time to become your own client. Working for yourself should be your ultimate goal, as you will then be free from other people’s deadlines and can create passive income streams that pay you again and again.

When writing a product review, it is best to present the pros and cons of the product. However, as far as Ghostwriting Cash is concerned, there are no negatives! This is, of course, my opinion, but I think it’s a thorough course for beginners as well as experienced writers looking for more clients. I honestly cannot find anything wrong with it! I have followed Tiffany for about 3 years now, and she is as ethical as they come. She doesn’t attempt to sell you on the idea of making $10K overnight or buying that shiny Ferrari. She is the real deal, and also provides excellent customer support.

Ghostwriting Cash – The Perfect Solution for Those Beginning or Struggling with Freelance Writing is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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Image by atconc via Flickr

~This guest blog post was writing by Victoria. She is a fairly new freelance writer who has got into the swing of things fairly quickly. Currently, she is doing some work for a Danish floor sanding company by the name of Gulvafslibning Priser. ~

We all can see that the economy is taking a turn for the worst right now. Just look at how the gas prices and unemployment rates are rising. So many people are becoming homeless because they cannot manage to pay their bills on time and the government just does have the funds to be able to help everybody out. So, what is it that people can do in order to keep their heads above the water? Simple, just do what stay at home moms have been doing for years –  freelance writing.

If stay-at-home moms are able to provide for their families by writing why can anyone else not do the exact same thing? Think about it. They are actually saving a lot of money by doing this. Not only do they save money in gas but they also save money when it comes to day care expenses and things of that nature. Just back in 2007 the gas was very reasonable; however, just a couple months into 2007 they had risen drastically and they have not stopped rising since. Also, if you have kids that go to daycare think about all the money you spend each week. Imagine being able to have that extra money to be able to pay off a mortgage , pay a light bill or even being able to treat that special someone out to a romantic dinner.

Of course, freelance writing is not a get rich scheme so don’t assume that it is. It is something that you have to work at and you have to remain disciplined in order to make the amount of money that you need to survive. However, once you get it under your wing it will come quite naturally to you. Also, experience comes in handy too. Imagine making $30 an hour for simply doing something that is fun and interesting at the same time.

Why Freelancing is a Good Route to Take is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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I’m a freelance writer but I’m kind of obsessed with social media so most of this blog is about my journey as a freelance writer and my obsession with social media.  Makes sense, right?  I love blogging but I really love how you can use Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to promote yourself online.  Of course, I’m active in all three of them and if you want to connect with me on either one you’ll find my pretty social media icons to the right.

Grab A Coffee and Make Yourself at Home is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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Win this book!

I’m truly loving my new design but one thing I have never been able to settle on is a tagline for my blog.  I like the title (Life of a Text Media Addict) but the tagline?  I just can’t settle on something I like!

So, I want your suggestions!  Take a read through my blog and based on what you see, tell me what you think my tagline should be.

The winner will see their words at the top of my blog of course but they will also get a copy of Jenna Glatzer’s book, Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer – How to Win Top Writing Assignments.  This is a great book for anyone that wants to make a living as a writer and there is loads of good advice within its pages.  It is especially great for the writer that would like to delve into print publishing but good advice for online writers as well.

So, leave a comment below with your tagline suggestions.  I’ll likely run this contest for at least a couple weeks – maybe even as long as a month.  We’ll see how many responses I get.

My First Contest! Win a Book! is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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Well, I’m one month into full-time writing and loving it.

I’ve been hustling my butt to get extra writing to top off the one regular writing/social media job that I have and I have not found it difficult. In fact, some days I’ve had too much.  But it was good to hustle for a bit.

As a result of the hustling I’ve gotten two more regular gigs and have two more in the works for September.  Between these I have no need to do anything else but I have time to take on a few more things.  That’s good.  That means that when I need to make a little extra cash I can do some of my content mill writing or I can put out word to a few sources and get a little extra in.

It’s no where nearly as difficult as I thought it would be and if I’d known how suited I was for this life I would have done it five years ago!

One Month into Full-Time Writing is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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My favorite part of teaching the Administrative Professional course at Robertson College was the Business Communications section.  But it was also very challenging for many of my students.  So, I thought it was well worth writing about how we can keep our business writing simple when I guest posted at Simply Stated Business.

Go and check it out for yourself and you’ll find my 6 point check list for keeping business writing simple as well as two ways to improve (hint: it has to do with repetition!).

Find out how you can keep your business writing simple.

By the way, if you are interested in having me guest post on your blog or if you’re interested in doing a guest post here there’s a link at the top of the blog that says “Guest Posting”.  Go and fill it out to you and I’ll get back to you as soon as I have a chance!

I Guest Posted at Simply Stated Business is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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If you’ve had anything to do with marketing, online or offline, you likely already know that the best way to get the word out about your business is through word of mouth.  And how do you get people to talk about you?  It’s usually through people who have used your services.

The hard part of putting word of mouth into action is that people do not always think to say something good about a business that they have had good service with.  Why?  Because they expect good service.  That’s why bad word of mouth news tends to travel faster.

But you can encourage clients to talk about you!  Ask them for five things after you have done good work for them (which should be always!).

This video from Working Writing Happy Writer (be sure to check out the newsletter) has 5 questions (or favors) that you can ask of your clients:

I’d say that #3 and #5 are my favorites.  #3 is to ask for testimonials.  Ever wonder how other freelancers have all those great testimonials on their sites?  They asked for them!  Clients do not usually think to give them out on their own, but if you’ve done good work for them they are often more than happy to give you a couple sentences.  Make sure you ask if you can use their name and a link to their website to give the testimonial more validity. #5 is to ask them to pass your name along to others that might need your writing services.  Until you ask them they might not even think of that but once they are asked the might remember someone that could use your services.

It can be hard to ask thinks of clients other than your fee but if you’ve done a good job, clients are often more than happy to help you out.  Don’t be afraid to ask – the worst they can say is no!

5 Ways to Make Your Freelance Writing Business Grow is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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Did you know that there is a 3 part writing process that is suggested for business writing?  There is!  It is taught in business communication courses but it applies to most forms of writing as well.  It’s very simple and looks like this:

I think the chart itself is pretty simple and doesn’t really need a whole lot of clarification.  The part that always surprised my students though was the amount of time that should be alloted to each part.

The Planning (or Pre-writing) phase should take up about 25% of your time.

The Drafting (or Writing) phase should also take up about 25% of your time.

But the Revising phase should take up 50% of your time.  This is perhaps the most important part of the writing process!

Does your writing process look anything like this?

The 3 part Writing Process is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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On the Freelance Writing Gigs Facebook Page one of the questions they asked today was

Finish this sentence: The “free” in “freelance” stands for ________________.

Good question isn’t it?  So, of course, that make me think.  What does it mean to me to be a freelance writer?  Why do I want it so badly?  What’s the big deal?

To me, it really means being free to choose what you want to do to make your living.  It means being free to choose they type of work you do, who your work for, and what you will get paid.  Of course, there are some exceptions.  I can’t just decide I’m not going to write for a client anymore and then just bugger off and never be heard from again.  I have to think about whether I want to do that kind of work and once I decide to do it I have to commit to it.  I can’t decide to get paid $500 an article and expect it – my demand have to be reasonable.  But there are a lot of things I am free to choose:

• to write blog posts (or not to)
• to write articles (or not to)
• to write for content companies (or not to)
• to write for private clients (or not to)
• to write for pennies (or not to)
• to write for corporations (or not to)
• to write for free (or not to)
• to write in my pajamas (or not to)
• to write at the kitchen table (or the couch or the bed or heck – even my desk!)

What does the “free” in “freelance” mean to you?  Write about it in a blog post and leave a comment and get some “CommentLuv”!

What Does the “Free” in “Freelance” Mean to You? is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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Most of us learned the ins and outs of writing, basic grammar, and sentence structure in high school.  But do you really think that your writing is good enough to convince someone to buy your product, to switch from the competition to you, or to effectively express the meaning of what you are trying to communicate?  It is possible, but the truth is that most business people don’t have the writing skills to do the job as effectively as a professional writer and that’s why they hire others to do the writing.

People tend to learn as much as possible at what they specialize in.  Athletes are in the business of pushing their bodies to the limits so that they can excel at their chosen sport.  But they don’t necessarily have the knowledge they need to find out how to do that.  That is why they hire nutritionists, physical trainers, coaches, and other professionals that are focused on bringing it all together.  Likewise, writers learn as much as they can about the art of written communications so that they can help business people succeed in their chosen profession.

Here are some of the things that writers can do to improve your written communications:

• Say what needs to be said in as little words as possible.  Let’s face it – people are not big readers these days so if something can be said more effectively in 5 sentences than in 10 sentences a writer will minimize extra words so that the reader will focus on what is important.
• Avoid grammar, spelling mistakes, cliches and other writing blunders that will cause the reader to lose faith in your business or get distracted from the real message.
• Project the image that you wish to portray to clients and potential clients.  A good writer can manipulate words so that the reader will get a specific message.
• Focus on the writing – the writer’s job is to just write.  They aren’t thinking about the customer that came in earlier with a complaint or the meeting that they need to get to in an hour.  They are focused on writing the text just the way you need it to be written.

Remember that one person can not be everything.  Any successful business person knows that part of the success of a business is knowing when to do it yourself and when to outsource to someone that is specialized.  So the next time you sit down to write a sales letter, write some text for a brochure, or write a press release, stop and think – are you really the best person for the job?  If you are, that’s great; but if not, consider hiring a professional writer.

Why Businesses Should Hire Professional Writers is a post from: The Social Freelance Writer.

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