Master the art of writing for web

Writing for web is remarkably different than writing for print, as the attention span of people on the web is pretty short. You need to write using bullet points, headings, subheadings, images, etc.

Master the art of writing headline

A headline is very important in increasing the open rate of your content. You may get the best ranking for all the keywords, but if you do not have an attractive headline, your article will not get read. You should know how to write killer headlines.

Learn a bit about keywords and SEO

A little knowledge of SEO and keywords is required for all online writers, as keywords are the basis on which the entire web is organized. You should educate yourself on these two.

Prepare a portfolio

Writing is an art, and you are an artist. And an artist who does not have anything to show cannot support his claim of producing a fantastic piece of art. You should, therefore, prepare a portfolio keeping everything that I talked above. This will be your asset that you will need to show your clients.

Write a cover letter

A cover letter is like a direct sales letter. It either persuades your prospective clients to see your portfolio, or it can bore them to death. Many a freelancing assignments are made or broken at this level only. So spend good deal of time in creating a killer cover letter that can literally pull your clients with hands and make them read your sample articles.

You should follow the above given suggestions to start a freelance career. You can add some more items to your preparation, but you should not remove any. Each one of them is important. Very important!

What to do when clients are hard to come by?

• Look for more clients: This is the first thing you should do, but do not waste inordinate amount of time on client searching. 2-3 hours a day should be more than sufficient. Scan twitter, job sites, and freelance boards and see if you can land up in a good deal.
• Work on the basics: There are some shortcomings in your writing which you have noticed earlier as well, but due to unavailability of time, you could not work on improving them. Now as you do not have many works, why do not you take it as an opportunity to improve your writing skills? You may want to revisit English grammar, or you may want to read some books on writing, or attend some class. This is the right time to invest in improving your skills.
• Start you own project: In the years or months you worked for your clients, you must have thought of starting some exciting project: may be write an e-book or create an informational product, or a course, or a website, or a blog. This is the time to execute the plans you were making. Why do not you start working on the stuffs you have been planning for long?
• Spend time with your family: It often happens with us that when there are lots of works to finish within a tight deadline then we tend to overlook our family. As you do not have much work, you should spend your time with your family, and recover the lost family-time.
• Take a vacation: If you have sufficient bank balance to pay for your vacation then cash in on the opportunity you got and take your family for a long due family vacation.

These represent just tip of the iceberg. There are many more things that you can do. Just be creative and plan out something.

Make a Schedule

This is not only the best writing tips, but it is also the best time management tips you will get. Before you embark upon any project, make sure that you have a proper schedule dealing not only when to start and when to finish, but it should also have the details like what time of day are you planning to take this on. This is necessary unless you have nothing else to do.

Write when you are in the zone

The time I choose to write may not be right for you, and the time that suits you may not suit Cathy, or the time that Susan has chosen for her to write is may be the lunch time for you; therefore you should find the right time for you when you are in the zone. When you are in the zone, you tend to be more productive.

Write like a detective

Well, you do not need a focusing lens and cigar, I didn’t mean that when I said write like a detective. All I meant was this: go to the scene and write there. I know this will not be possible every time, but do it when possible. If you have to write about how youth interact in the real world then go to Starbucks and see what they do there, and overhear what they talk about.

Location, location, location

No. I have not attended any retail marketing classes, nor have I gone to any seminar, lately. The reason why I emphasized so maniacally about location is to bring your attention to understanding your surroundings. Go to a shopping mall, cinema hall, restaurant, train, bookshop, school, sports center, coffee house, etc., and take a seat from where you can see things in detail. Observe the surrounding and write about it using as much detail as you can. This will give you an understanding of creating a background for your fiction.

Write in the presence of a distraction

Create an environment that is distracting and stressful for you, and try writing in that environment. This is an exercise to check your tenacity. The more tenacious you will become the better it will be for you.

1. Bad Performance Reviews

Okay, so it’s your monthly performance review and normally you excel at your job, this month has been no different, so you’re expecting a quick and easy positive performance review right?  Well what if you get a bad one out of the blue?  This could be a clue in that your company is setting you up to be fired.  It’s always favorable for Human Resources and the legal departments if someone has a few bad performance reviews on file before they are terminated, to show that the company had adequate reason.

2. Your Inclusion In Projects Is Limited.

If you’re starting to feel left out of your bosses tactics, and are feeling fairly underappreciated, you may not be imagining things, it may just be that you’re slowly being phased out of that workplace.  Anytime your boss is avoiding you more, leaving you out, or your own colleagues are leaving you out of private meetings, it wouldn’t hurt for you to start browsing some opportunities elsewhere.  At least that way your job loss won’t come as an earth shattering shock.

3. You Get A New Boss.

Managers like to work with employees that they are familiar with.  With workers that they know well, a boss knows what to expect, how far they can push, and which goals that they will be able to accomplish.  The problem with that strategy is for your new boss to make room for new people, he/she has to get rid of you.  A new boss is always a good time for you to brush up that resume and be prepared to be job hunting.

4. Coworkers Begin Getting Fired.

Even if you’re a star performer at your job, if the company starts making cuts on account of an economic crisis nobody is safe.  So if you see a lot of heads rolling at your company, get your interview skills practiced once more, because you could be following suite before too long.