Tag Archives: Google

Barack Obama Reads This Blog

freelance-writing-advice-3No, he doesn’t. But that headline serves two purposes—the first is it definitely grabs your attention. Even if it’s just for a moment. The second is, for better or worse this headline will be scooped up by Google and will give yours truly a lot more clicks.

Am I suggesting that you put misleading information into your blog headlines? HELL NO. What I am suggestion is that people don’t put enough though into those headlines. They don’t realize that Google latches on to keywords–especially those found in headlines–and may give your next blog entry higher placement if you use Google-friendly buzzwords such as “freelance rates” or “freelance jobs”.

Headlines can be a very powerful way to attract more clicks if you structure them correctly. Notice that my bogus Barack Obama headline leads with the most Googleable word in the string. “Barack Obama” is very hot right now, so I capitalized on that to pull add SEO value to the headline. “Blog” can also be a hot Google word depending on what you use it with. In my case, the usage is weak because I don’t tie the word “blog” in with anything else, so I lose points for that.

Headlines can be your best friend depending on the topic you’re writing about…when you write them, think GOOGLE.

The Future of Freelancing: 2009 Beckons

freelance-writing-advice-3In our current economy, more and more people are being driven out of the traditional workplace and into contract positions, freelance gigs and other arrangements formerly the exclusive territory of the full-time freelancer.

What’s going to happen to freelance writers in 2009? From where I sit, it will be a combination of  “more of the same” and a major shift to the Internet from the newsstand.

I remember when the dot com bubble burst back in the late 90s, and many net workers were out of a job after being paid staggering sums by overvalued .com companies. The dot commers killed themselves inthe late 90s because companies that had nothing to sell were getting mad startup money, tricking out their offices with pool tables and video games, and basically driving themselves into the ground.

Now we see the inverse happening damn near exactly ten years later–solid companies with much to offer are being pulverized while companies selling dollar electronic widgets (see the iPhone App store for a great example) are thriving. What does any of this mean for US?

Two big things spring to mind. If your website still looks like a web 1.0 dinosaur, you’ve got trouble coming. What is the sound of no mouse clicking? That zen riddle I just made up is something you’ll be pondering next year unless you get into web 2.0-land. Things are shifting to the net so completely that some people are actually discussing the “death of bookstores”.

The second thing–which is already happening to my fellow freelancer pals in some quarters–is that there will be a larger tidal wave of ridiculous freelance clients out there who actually expect you to take the penny-per-word rates they offer. Folks—one cent per word is what NOOB FICTION WRITERS make. Not freelancers who deal in non-fiction, e-commerce, SEO writing or other skilled areas.

There are plenty of people who will settle for these rates. I strongly urge you to re-evaluate your rates NOW and tell clients who want you to accept their peanuts for your hard work a polite version of the following:

“I understand your need to keep your overhead low and I am happy to work with you on a volume discout basis, but I also want to explain someting to you: with today’s SEO environment, you GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. You will find a writer willing to write for a penny per word, I assure you. I can also assure you that NOBODY WILL TAKE THAT WRITING SERIOUSLY. You may get the right attention from Google, but when HUMANS read that crap, they will click away from your page.  Today’s market is not just about Google placement–it’s about CONVERSION. What good does 10,000 unique visits do you if you have 0% conversion from those visits?”

I could rage on about this, but why bother? Everything you need to know (in this context) is in those last two sentences.

Google’s G1 Phone

Well, well….iPhone actually has a little bit of competition. The G1 Phone was announced today.

Created by Google, this phone is tied to T-Mobile service and has a host of super features that include an actual keyboard, and it comes loaded with Google Maps–which operates in what is called “Compass” mode. This essentially means that you can see a street in all directions, depending on which way you point the phone. G-mail is also built in. The cost is lower than iPhone at $179.

Overall it isn’t as sleek or sexy as iPhone, but it does have some cool features. If you want to check out some of the specs and read some reviews, go here and here. You’ll find more info on these 2 sites than on the T-Mobile site, and you can see for yourself if you like it or not.

Personally, unless I find some feature I just can’t live without on the G1, I’m still going to go iPhone…

 

Having a Hard Time Viewing Freelance-Zone? Here’s Why

A Wired Magazine article posted today explains why you’re having trouble seeing Freelance-Zone.com with Internet Explorer. If you have IE 5.5, 6.0 and 7.0. chances are you have gotten a message saying the site cannot be loaded and “operation aborted.”

Read the full Wired article to learn more, but suffice it to say that this is a damn good reason to switch over to Google Analytics, even if it doesn’t do IP tracking in the name of privacy. Personally, I LIKE the IP tracking option because you can trace trolls and spammers with it, but Google has the clout, so it’s about time we made the switch.

If you have a blog and you are using Sitemeter (the cause of all the trouble), you might consider joining us in the switch to GA. And no, they didn’t pay us to say that. Personally I am still steamed over Google’s judgement errors re: Chinese net censorship, but that’s another article for another day. The tool is still relevant and vital in the work of running a blog successfully, regardless of what I think of their politics.

Cuil: The Latest Search Engine

 What is Cuil? Well–consider yourself “in the know” on the latest search engine to hit the scene. According to their site, Cuil searches 3 times more web pages than Google and ten times as many as Microsoft. Pretty impressive, eh? Not only that, but it ranks pages by content and relevence.

And what does it mean? Cuil is an old Irish word for knoweldge. Cool! The only thing I didn’t like is that when I “Cuiled” myself, I didn’t come up…

Searching For Writing Work?

I’ve been trying an experiment whenever I need to pick up some quick cash in the slow times. I try to find work in the most out of the way, unusual places. Just for laughs I have set up account at freelance sites I’d never otherwise bother with, like those places where you have to be the lowest bidder on work that pays peanuts to begin with? I’ve set up accounts on several for when the real work dries up.

Some of my fellow writers ask me why I bother doing this, and my reasoning is simple–I’m not in it for the work. I am actually looking for relationships with people who are willing to pay for writing. That first job offered on the bid-for-work sites may not pay you what you’re really worth, but when that client comes back to you again and again as a satisfied customer, that’s worth its weight in gold.

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