Six Figure Writing

Hi from SueC here at Six Figure Writing! As a new reader, be sure to subscribe to my email list, and my RSS feed to get the most out of SFW. Thanks for stopping by!

Despite the radio silence here on SFW of the past few months, I’ve been busily working on new writing gigs and projects.  The reason I’ve been cranking up the output is that as the economy slows (and according to the “experts” I’m listening to, that’s a given) I believe freelancers are possibly in the best position to make something of the situation.

How?  By doing what we do as freelancers: Get creative.

My projects right now include some writing for other folks - blogs, articles - but also writing a lot of web content for my own web sites and publications.  In other words, I don’t just think of myself as a writer, but as the owner of publishing business.  Blogs, websites, ebooks, and also providing writing “services” for clients; these and many other products are my company’s business. (If you haven’t seen the interviews and resoruces on my Freebies page, check out the Tiffany Dow interview to see how someone can take action to build a business as a writer.)

Writers who think of themselves only as “writers”, who look for freelance “jobs” and “clients” all day, and work primarily on stuff other people will own, could be missing out big opportunities.  As a publisher, I write all I want, on anything I want, whenever I want - but I also hire other writers and designers, to build my own assets including Web “real estate” and other intellectual property.  Writers who work as publishers controlling their own content stand to weather the storm over the next few years, by opening up their options to sell not just to clients, but also directly to readers and consumers.

To light your creative fire, here are posts with ideas you can use to leverage your biggest asset - your creativity - in a financially-tightening marketplace.  One of my favorites is Pamela Slim’s post in June about what to do if the economy’s got your down.

Here’s another post from Seth Godin’s blog, about how to maintain your competitive advantage.  If you don’t read his blog on a regular basis, start now, if you want to not only keep your head above water, but thrive, no matter the economy.

What are you doing now to grow and build your business?

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• Where Have All the Freelance Writing Jobs Gone?

Tags: content writing, freelance, Freelance Jobs, freelance promotion, freelance writing, freelance writing jobs, make money in a down economy, make money writing, Marketing, writing for money

written by SueC \\ tags: content writing, freelance, Freelance Jobs, freelance promotion, freelance writing, freelance writing jobs, make money in a down economy, make money writing, Marketing, writing for money

A couple weeks ago I asked readers to submit their sites if they’d like a review of their sites for user-friendliness, along with suggestions about how to optimize to attract visitors and start getting the traffic that leads directly to more revenue.  (Heading toward those six figures, right?!)

So - here’s the video of the reviews of three sites I selected from a few dozen submitted by readers.  I noticed a few themes that ran through nearly all sites I saw: writers are too busy writing to learn about basic SEO-friendly site design, and are taking baby steps when it comes to social networking and Web 2.0.  Yet these are seriously important lessons to learn if you want to bring readers right to your virtual doorstep.

Without considering basic Web design issues, your site comes off like an old-fashioned brochure or resume website. Plus, you want your site positioned and designed to keep visitors engaged once you start using all that traffic generation to bring them there!  (That is, you want them to stay and READ, right? You are a writer right?!

So, with this review I’m providing a starting point for writers to consider when they build or tweak a site.  Warning:  this may be too basic for some writers who are already well-versed in online promotion, but judging by those who sent me sites to take a look at, many more know they need to do something, they just aren’t sure exactly what. Hopefully this will give everyone some ideas.

After your take a look at the video walk-through of my three winners’ sites right here.  then we can have a good long discussion of how writers can use (1) and (2) to build income.   

What would you do to enhance these sites?

Tags: basic web design, freelance promotion, promotion, SEO-friendly, social networking, traffic generation, web design issues

written by SueC \\ tags: basic web design, freelance promotion, promotion, SEO-friendly, social networking, traffic generation, web design issues

I sent a post to the SixFigureWriting mailing list a couple weeks ago, offering to give a web site review for selected readers who might be interested.  My review consists of offering ideas for (1) making the site more traffic-friendly, and (2) features to add to attract long-term visitors and add-on business.

Out of several dozen submissions, I chose three that I think show how different writers approach using the web, and each site is in a slightly different phase of development, from fairly basic to significant content.

For each site, I’ll be suggesting changes, and the site owners will select three to implement and track.  I’ll be posting all the details and progress here on SixFigureWriting, including videos and screen capture so you can follow right along with my analysis.  I’d be itnerested to hear reader’s comments too, things you’d have suggested instead, or questions that you think of when you see what I recommend.

Stay tuned!

Tags: Search engine optimization, site enhancements, Site Management, Web Design and Development, website traffic

written by SueC \\ tags: Search engine optimization, site enhancements, Site Management, Web Design and Development, website traffic

I’m reading Seth Godin’s excellent book, Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out Of Synch?, and it describes the ways some businesses are attempting to jump on the bandwagon of the new tools and services on the Internet but are not quite “getting it”. They’re trying to just layer the latest thing onto their business-as-usual product/marketing/advertising models, and guess what? It doesn’t work.

There are plenty of warnings too - some for freelance writers even. I keep asking the same questions here: Why oh why do writers not take advantage of what the Internet means for communication?? - after all, isn’t communicating our business? - and then complain and moan about how they have to choose between money and writing, between what they love and a living. Hogwash. They are just lazy about breaking out of their comfort zone, and want to stick to the dreams they dreamt years ago (seeing their name on the cover of XYZ magazine? In the window of Barnes and Noble? On Hoprah?) - while the world is changing around them. Yes, the game has changed. Publishers mostly haven’t. Neither have so many writers, I read about dozens and dozens of them on the forums. Here’s a quote (apologies to Mr. Godin for the lengthy selection), he’s talking about Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew who published a book on the Beatles - and made $300K doing it:

“What’s noteworthy about Recording The Beatles Is what the authors didn’t do. They didn’t give the rights to a traditional publisher. They didn’t fight hard for retail shelf space. They didn’t buy co-op ads with big book chains, and they didn’t try to get on Oprah..Instead, [they] managed to sell every single copy of their book (three thousand were printed) at the very profitable price of one hundred dollars per copy. And they did it by embracing the tactics of the New Marketing…

“By self-publishing, the authors were able to accomplish several things. First, they removed a substantial ‘tax’ (85 percent of the cover price) that a publisher charges to handle thing like retail distribution, advertising, printing risk and staffing…More important, self-publishing took them out of a meatball factory mindset. Instead of publishing yet another book, a book for an anonymous, unseen group of consumers who would somehow find the book they didn’t know they wanted, the authors found a book for the readers they already knew about…Recording the Beatles has generated more revenue than 97 percent of all books ever published. And unlike other books, most of this revenue goes to the authors.”

This book is an awesome read if you’re at all concerned about making a splash or even a ripple with your writing. Isn’t that WHY you are writing? To be read? To be heard? Well, now you can, where in the old-school ways of gatekeepers, it was pretty damn tough. I’m guilty of meatball thinking too, but it’s going to be a real fun ride making all the changes.

Let me know what you’re doing - or not doing - still waiting for that publisher/agent/magazine to call? Or are you growing beyond that?

Tags: freelance, godin, new marketing, web 2.0, Writing Links

written by SueC \\ tags: freelance, godin, new marketing, web 2.0, Writing Links