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I’ve heard it a thousand times, “The way to health, wealth, and happiness as a freelance writer is by finding a niche and exploiting it.”

Great. Wonderful. But what it fails to mention is that some niches are worth more than others, much more. Like the difference between big dollars and nada. Here’s the no-brainer guide to getting some traction as a freelance expert.

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I recently posted on a Microsoft launch event that I attended in Washington DC, and Nelson made a comment about the sheer nerdish superiority of Linux over any Microsoft product. As a nerd/geek/computer addict I have to admit to a certain love for Open Source. Linux is a wonderful thing, even if I can’t get dual monitor support to work properly out of the box and have to fiddle about with command lines to do it.

As the Bard once said, “Aye, there’s the rub.”

As an enthusiast, I enjoy nothing more than fiddling with arcane configuration settings, overclocking, tweaking and half a hundred other nerdy pursuits. As a working professional, I don’t have the time. I use my computer for work, and every hour I have to spend working on it to get something configured ‘just so’ isn’t being spent earning money to pay the bills. That’s a problem.

Another problem I have has to do with the simple fact that lots of companies use Microsoft products, and if you want to work with them you need to have something that can read the files they send you. They also have to be able to read the files you send them.
If your job involves sending them several different files and the only one they can read is the invoice you won’t get paid.

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I’m big on referring other writers to oDesk. I like the setup here and I like the built in protections. But I find that many otherwise enthusiastic writers new to freelancing feel intimidated. They have a bit of trepidation about selling their ‘product’.Bound up in this anxiety is a fear that their writing isn’t good enough. They want to know if they have what it takes. They want training wheels and some way to find out if commercial writing will work for them. They need a confidence builder and an ego booster.
Trying on the writer’s hat.
Where can you go to try before you commit? Try content sites.

Sites where writers can post articles, have them rated, and sometimes earn a couple of dollars. The earning dollars part isn’t really where the value is. These sites are best used to get some practice writing articles for the net and some feedback.

The one I am most familiar with is Helium.com. I have to stress that it isn’t a good place to make steady money. It isn’t a brokered job site like oDesk and it is unlikely that you will build long-term relationships with any buyers.

That being said, it is a good place to write and submit articles in competition with other writers. Article titles are provided and multiple writers all write using the same title. Articles are rated against each other in a better/worse model. The nice thing here is a distinct lack of consequences if a particular article doesn’t do well. Here are some specifics about the site:

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Well, there it is. The referral ad. Click it and then sign up for oDesk and I get credit. Earn (or purchase) a thousand dollars and I get fifty. Rank commercialism.

If you haven’t looked into this, the code and referral form can be reached after signing in to oDesk. Go to: My oDesk–> My Stuff –> Referrals.

I’m anti-sales. The whole idea of talking someone into something strikes me as disingenuous and shady. I couldn’t sell you a band-aid if you were bleeding. I could give you a band-aid, sure, but selling it (or anything) is distasteful to me. Thankfully, referring someone to oDesk doesn’t seem the same. I suppose it’s because for me to make any money, they have to make money first.

Sure, oDesk is going to make money from users- both buyers and sellers.

Sure, I might eventually get a cut if I sign someone up.

Sure, it’s selling of a sort.

But I’m not allergic to it. Because I’m so enthusiastic about oDesk and freelancing in general, and because I don’t rely on making any commission, it’s more like recommending a good restaurant than selling a product or service. I do more selling in an average cover letter than I do when inviting a writer or programmer to oDesk.
How does it happen?
Well, I meet a fair number of people. The “What do you do?” question comes up. When you tell people you freelance, there’s an interest. I think it has to do with the supposition that freelancing is an edgy way to make a living. Freelancing sings songs of freedom and excitement– the master of your own ship in a wild sea of thrilling employment opportunities.

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Plagiarism, article theft, extreme borrowing- call it what you will, it amounts to the same thing. It’s when you take my work and post it as your own. On the Internet, it’s as easy as copy and paste. Heaven forbid you should pay someone to write for you. And why go to all the trouble of actually writing your own material when a quick Google search gives you all the articles you need to construct a keyword dense, SEO friendly website?
It’s not just a problem, it’s our problem.
If you haven’t had your writing stolen yet it is likely you will. And it doesn’t matter if you are ghosting or doing works for hire (where you sell all copyrights). As a writer, it’s your job to know about this so you can inform your buyers. You are the expert here, remember? As freelancers, it’s our duty to do what we can to prevent and respond to the cut-and-paste petty criminals out there.
Copyscape, what it is and how it’s used.
Buyers are becoming savvy about article theft. You will see many job postings that reference Copyscape. You may run across their logo-

Copyscape is a private enterprise search engine that looks for copied text on the Internet. The free service allows you to type in a URL and search to see if content at that URL is duplicated elsewhere on the net. The premium service (which is the one buyers will use to check your articles) allows cut and past text entry and a search performed on that. It costs $0.05 per search, so it’s pretty cheap insurance for buyers worried about plagiarism. For a monthly fee of $4.95, Copyscape will monitor up to 10 pages of web content and send an alert if material is stolen. freniculla

This link will take you to the Copyscape forum , where you can read some of the horror stories. freniculla
Homebrew Copyscape

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So, you signed up for oDesk, got yourself a profile and now all you need is that first job. But how do you get it? What can you use to convince a buyer that you are the one best fitted for their project?

Sure a good profile helps, and …

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Not long ago, Sarah posted on the importance of specializing and you can read all about it here.

She made some very good points, because the truth is you can make far more money as a specialist than as a generalist, on-line or 0ff-line. That’s because when you’re a generalist you’re working for people who need anyone; when you’re a specialist you’re working for people who need you.

The only catch with specializing is that while the jobs do pay better, they’re often harder to find. One of my specialties is ghost-writing fiction. It’s interesting work and I’m good at it. It also usually means fairly large jobs so I can spend more time working and less time looking. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
Unfortunately there’s a problem.

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So, I was cruising down MLK Blvd in my lowrider like usual, and T-Dog and Big Mike were riding with me. While T-Dog loaded his 9mm with a fresh clip, he turned to me and asked, “What’s this open source thing I keep hearing about? Sounds kind of lame, holmes,” and proceeded to empty said clip out the window at pedestrians.

I was busy checking the rear view mirror because Big Mike was in the backseat having a fit of the fear–all twisting his arms and legs while foaming at the mouth. He kept saying something about squirrels.

The question finally registered and I go, “Oh, it’s just a way to streamline your computer needs with superior software at zero cost to you.”

T-Dog stopped firing and got this look of awe, “So, you’re saying I can increase the productivity and viability of my business, work less hours for more money, and it’s completely free and @$!#, holmes? Tell me more!”

So the following is the precise thing I told him:

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Why you need to learn SEO
It appears in more and more of the job postings. Along with the regular job description, under skills, it says ‘SEO’. Search Engine Optimization. The buyers want it.

Because I am a commercial writer, it’s up to me to provide what my customers want.

This article isn’t a tutorial on SEO. You can find a tutorial here- seo tutorial. That’s where I’m learning it now. I don’t intend to become an expert, but I do want to learn enough to pass the SEO test on oDesk. I want that skill to show up in my profile.

If buyers are requesting it, I’m darn sure going to provide it. I’m suggesting that you do the same.
What’s SEO all about?
SEO used to be called ’search engine friendly writing’. It means you shape your article or blog posting in a way that a computer program likes.

The purpose of a search engine like Google is to index the Internet so that users can find relevant sites. It does this by sorting web pages based on several factors; the characteristic of most concern to us is keywords.

So far, this article has used the keyword SEO six times. Six uses in those 200 words means I have a keyword density of 3% for SEO. That isn’t too bad. A computer-indexing program would categorize this article and rank it based on that percentage.
Where your writing talent comes in.
The reason I could write something readable and still have a 3% keyword density is that I was writing about SEO specifically. I was able to match what I wanted to say to that keyword. I’m going to call this an organic usage of a keyword. It means using the word in it’s natural context.

An artificial usage is when you are forced to use a keyword or phrase that doesn’t fit well with the tone and content of your article.

That’s a real problem. When a buyer wants you to use keywords that don’t blend well with your subject, you end up with some pretty clunky writing. Sure, computer search engines will love it, but we want real people to eventually read it. Balancing these conflicting goals is exactly what we writers are supposed to be skilled at.

I have to admit I sometimes tell the client I can’t do it. I can’t work in the keyword ‘mange’ in an article about puppies if the title is, “Teaching your puppy not to bark”. Sometimes buyers are unreasonable (OK, they are often unreasonable).

Another nearly impossible request is when they have a list of keywords and they want all of them to appear at some pre-set percentage in the same short article. If you do it, I guarantee it will read like crap. We are trained to vary the nouns we use so that readers don’t burn out from overuse. SEO misapplied like that goes against our instincts because it requires excessive and even senseless repetition.
Let’s game the system.
Here’s an experiment we can try. I’m going to make up a word, a term that doesn’t yet exist in Google’s index. Freniculla. My invented word will mean: That point in a long blog post where the reader is enticed to click more to continue reading.

Here is the freniculla for this post-

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Fernando is our first contestant on the game we call “oDesk Profile Reviews.” Take a moment to glance over his oDesk profile to get the context for the rest of this review.

At the time of this writing, Fernando’s profile headline reads “Linux Administrator, PHP/Java Developer, MySQL/Networking Servers”. While it clearly sums up his many skills, I think that the title doesn’t do his skills justice.

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