Category:

Freelance Writing Sites - The Good

2/12/2012

Working from home is convenient and these days offers people a chance to earn some money when jobs are hard to find. But you need to be strong and you have to be committed because it's too easy to get sidetracked or taken away from your work in a home environment. You need a to set up a place within your house where you are not likely to be disturbed when you are in 'work mode'. But then you need to know when to clock off too – many people find they put in too many hours when working from home and ultimately 'burn' themselves out.

For writers, having peace and quiet is really important because you need a calm, quiet working environment not only when you write, but also when doing any research. You don't actually need much to set yourself up as a writer – obviously you need to have writing skills, a creative mind helps and the ability and passion to carry out any research needed for a topic you have to write about. You also need a computer and an Internet connection, but that's about it.

Read more of the article at the link below:
http://opticopy.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/freelance-writing-sites-the-good/

0 Comments

Freelancer Job Sites - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

24/11/2012

0 Comments

There are quite a few freelance writing sites out there these days - some are pretty small online affairs that don't inspire confidence whilst others have grown so big they have lost sight of quality, value and more importantly integrity. The sad truth about a couple of these successful online freelancer job sites, is that since they have made their mark on the world, and naturally a lot of money, their members, users and project creators appear to have been put on the back burner.

So let's look at these freelancing job sites - let's take a look at some positive aspects of the sites and then let's take a close look at some of the negative reviews these sites have received over recent times and let's do this one at a time. This week it's the turn of Freelancer.com

Freelancer.com AKA GetaFreelancer.com

The site that claims to be the biggest Freelancer job site on the Internet - Freelancer.com aka GetaFreelancer.com. However, there's been quite a lot of speculation as to the accuracy of these claims. A little like the site itself, many of the people who use Freelancer.com have got several identities. It would be quite fair to say that a good percentage of registered users have at least 4 other IDs - shocking or what?

Now, obviously this changes things somewhat - 4 million plus users could suddenly become 1 million plus users - and that's quite a BIG difference. In fact, it is one that just cannot be ignored. Claiming to have so many users would need to be confirmed, verified or else it could be conceived as a little deceptive - some might even want to call it a "scam".

This is a word that's frequently associated with Freelancer.com - all one has to do is check out a few of the online review sites to read what's being bandied around about them on the Internet. SiteJabber, the ComplaintsBoard and many other review sites, are places where people go to vent their feelings - and a good job they can too! After all "a problem shared is a problem halved" and all that. Thank goodness for the Internet!

The problem, however, does not simply stop there because these fake IDs allow users to get up to all sorts of shenanigans, normally at the expense of an innocent person or two. These innocents just happen to use the site occasionally. Or it could be the hapless user who stumbles into a maze of deception when they first start using Freelancer.com either to find work or to seek freelancers for jobs they need doing. And this is where it gets really sticky.............

And it doesn't get any stickier than trying to get any help from the so called "support team". It would be pretty fair to say that most of the people who work wherever it is they do work for Freelancer.com, cannot boast that the universal language of English is their mother tongue. AND believe it or not, this can cause serious issues - getting a complaint over to someone who does not have a clue what you are talking about, can, it would seem, make an already frustrating scenario a thousand times worse! Scary or what?

The founder of the site is a bloke called Matt Barrie, and hats off to the guy for getting to where he is today, which is somewhere between not being able to find a hat that fits his head and a tie to go with his suits - BUT - and there is a but, Mr Barrie reckons he can be likened to Sir Richard Branson and other earth moving entrepreneurs who have made a serious impact on the modern world.

Well.............begging Mr. Barrie's pardon - but I don't think so. I mean come on - we are talking different stratospheres here (literally) - we're talking about a guy who is hands on and who employs 'la crème de la crème' to ensure that his numerous ultra successful companies run smoothly - talking about Branson here, by the way, just thought I needed to make that clear!

Barrie on the other hand gave a talk recently titled 'The art of making $30k a year for doing nothing ' and that just about sums up how he lets his staff run the Freelancer site - c'est terrible - as the French would say, but hey, it seems to work for Barrie. It is just a shame it does not work for the people who actually use his site and therefore the people who got him to where he is in the first place.

Conclusion

Freelancer.com alias whatever it was before - has to be thought of as a freelancing job site where anything goes. It is not a site where good writers who know their worth would look for work - BUT - it is a site that offers lots of job opportunities for people in countries where there is no minimum wage issues and it is here that I remain polite.

When it comes to the site being one of the biggest on the Internet - I think this really does need to be looked into and then verified because at the moment this is a very, very grey area. Needless to say, Mr Barrie is hardly likely to look into it - I mean who would want to admit the fruit of their labours is not as big as they claim it to be?

0 Comments

Where Do You Find Work As a Freelance Writer?

14/10/2012

0 Comments

These days writers tend to be at the mercy of employers. It is the client who decides whether or not they are willing to pay writers decent rates. The customer is also the one person who gets to decide on whether or not your copy is any good which can, to say the least, prove to be very frustrating. Skilled and talented copywriters are not ten a penny, but there are some extremely good writers seeking work who are forced to accept low rates of pay simply to get some work in. Writers often accept awful rates to build themselves up a little feedback - but this is a catch 22 situation.

What Are The Pitfalls of Signing up to Writing Sites?

Signing up to sites that offer thousands of jobs to writers on a daily basis may sound like a good plan - but is it? Some sites charge writers for the pleasure of finding work on them, others are free to use once you've signed up. However, whether you pay for using the site or not, they are much of a muchness which is to say that as a writer (no matter how skilled you happen to be) you'll be bidding for jobs against lots and lots of other writers. More often than not each writer will probably be underbidding you just so they can get the work. It's an employers dream situation - all these writers vying for projects and wouldn't you just know it - there are more writers than jobs!!

Do Not Undersell Yourself

Over the years I have come across some great copywriters who do not mess around when it comes to their worth and because of the stand these writers make they become more and more successful and of course, more in demand. One person worth following is The Renegade Writer who not only writes brilliant copy but invites other writers to put in their tuppence worth - so there are plenty of valuable tips about writing for the Internet and so much more on the blog.

There are some superb copywriters out there and knowing who to follow means you could seriously improve your writing skills. This ultimately leads to new and better paying clients than you might already have.

The thing is that when you do find a talented copywriter and then read their interesting posts, you cannot fail to improve your own personal writing skills. These gifted writers publish engaging blogs which are great to use as reference points too. This is especially true if you are looking for some guidance on how to sell yourself to others.

There is a ton of competition out there when it comes to writing for the internet. You have to know how to sell yourself without losing sight of your true value as a writer. On the flip side you don't want to fall into the trap that many writers stumble into, which is to oversell themselves. This can be just as bad because clients will soon notice if your copy is not up to scratch and will not come back for 'more'. However, the chances are they won't want to pay you for the work you have done for them either.

Build Yourself a Website Using Your Own Domain Name

You have to promote yourself and you need to do this using either your own name or your company name - not pseudonyms because these do not inspire confidence in customers. Clients want to know who they are dealing with - it inspires them with trust. But you as a writer have to be confident about working for the person too. This means clients too need to be transparent and not someone who hides behind some inane logo or flag.

With this said you need to choose your clients as carefully as a customer needs to select a writer for a project - having your own website means clients come to you and not the other way round. Websites offering writing jobs are all well and good - but at the end of the day you will never really be able to sell yourself for your true worth when using them. Build yourself a website - get your own domain then get serious and make writing a true career you'll be paid for.

Author Honey Wood

Looking for a top notch social marketing company? Check these guys out Social Buzzing

0 Comments

Freelance Writing Sites - The Good

Freelancer Job Sites - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Where Do You Find Work As a Freelance Writer?

Categories