Teahon-Freelance writer For all writing services and advice.

6Sep/100

Creating the Perfect Blog Post

grandfathers personal diaryThere has been many articles written about how to write articles in terms of features. You probably have encountered advice on using pictures, bullet points and controversy to make your blog more readable and interesting.

Though there is validity in this approach, many fail to take into account the important person in the equation: The reader.

At all times and no matter what kind of writing you are doing, you should always keep the reader in mind. Blog tips such as pictures and bullet points, are just minor aspects in creating quality blog posts.  Ultimately, your blog will be judged on its content and your writing style.

Before you start to write an article, think about the following :

Who your article is aimed at?

Through identifying and discovering who your readers are, you will discover the correct tone of voice for your blog, and in turn your style as a writer will develop and you will create better and more relevant writing.

Would a reader find the article you are planning to write interesting?

If not, there is no value to writing the article.

Identify what your readers want. The show business adage of giving the people what they want is true in the world of web writing. If they want more articles on one aspect of your blog but less on others, I would advise you succumb to their wishes.  As writers, we feel we have a good idea of what people would like to read from our blogs.  If you have been employed to write copy for someone else, then you will know that this is untrue.  Take a look at what you are writing, put yourself in your readers shoes and see if the two match.  If you have not done this before, I'll be surprised if they do.  Write what readers want to read.

Would you like to read what you have just written?

If the answer is no, then alter it until you do. Try to get out of the habit of publishing something just because you have written it. It can harm your reputation as a writer if you publish poor quality work.

Don't be afraid.
If you are writing a potentially explosive piece do not be afraid to follow it through. This is what writing is all about and has been challenging views and perceptions since before Shakespeare. Be bold, be comprehensive, and explain your views well. There is a risk you could be wrong, but it is better to state how you feel rather then not to publish.  You may well be right, and not publishing through fear just to learn you were right in the first place is worse than vise versa.

I will add this to post as and when the need takes me.  For the time being, always think about the reader, and you will find everything else will fall into place.

Best of luck!

Creative Commons License photo credit: Spree2010

12Mar/100

Non payment, Sorcha Doyle, and a big pile of rubbish

607 - Money Whirlpool - Texture As mentioned previously, it appears I've had my first non paying client.  I feel it is only fair to say at this point, that it was in part my own fault that this has happened, as for some reason to do with being in need of the cash, I failed to protect myself.

To give you the big picture, I responded to a job on Freelancer.co.uk, to write an essay.  The job entailed completing a draft for which I would be paid £100, then a further £100 upon completion.  All sounds fair enough.  Normally, I work for companies which means that one, my contact is not spending or rarely spending their own cash.  Two, I have someone higher up the ladder to talk to if there is no resolution over an issue with my contact.  So far, I have not had cause to do this.

With an individual however, there is no ladder, no chain, and other than the site you obtained the work from, no other point of contact other than the person you are working for.  If that point of contact dries up, you are stuffed!

To surmise, here is a list of the crucial mistakes I made in this instance.

  • Failed to obtain full contact details before working on the job.  This was especially important as it was an individual that I had not worked with before.  This leads us to
  • Did not use the Escrow system.  To be fair I did kinda need the cash and thought an escrow system would work on a monthly basis.  Saying that, getting £200 at the end of the month is better than nothing at all
  • Supplied the work in full without half payment.  There was a deadline involved that I did not want to miss, and thought the client needed the essay ASAP too.

After emailing the client on numerous occassions, I have not managed to get anywhere.  Subsequently, I am going to investigate a website that can find contact details if you submit an email address, and try and pursue the matter through the small claims court. I will keep you posted as to progress.

Creative Commons License photo credit: Patrick Hoesly

17May/090

The writer, the writer, and the writer with issues…

Well hello!  It's been a fairly subdued few days with a few events just to keep things spicy.  I had a response from one of the writers that expressed an interest in writing for me.  They provided an article, and it pinged the word length, and it was pretty good.  After a little tweaking here and there, I accepted it.  It is now on the dreamtemplate.com site.  I have asked the guy to complete nine articles.  He believes he can do this in three days...fingers crossed.

A few weeks ago I put an ad on a facebook group trying to recruit writers, only to find that the ad had been pulled with the following message.

"Screw your $1 100 words and screw you dude.  I told you not to put it up."  Chris Anderson. 

Now Mr A. has always come across as a highly strung fellow, and talks a lot about pay for writers, and being good enough, and other topics of that ilk.

At first I was taken a back by his response, a little shocked if I'm honest about it, but it got my cogs turning about the bigger picture, and our treatment of people who don't share our beliefs and views.  Now I don't want to start a debate about views about, or from far away lands, but something a little closer to home. 

If we take our view of someone who makes a remark, or a gesture which is outside the social norm, then we tend to ostracize them.  They can loose their jobs, social circle, and generally they are treated as some kind of outcast. 

I'm not trying to vanquish someone who makes a racist, sexist, or some other "ist" remark, but is this the best way to deal with this issue?  Are we not just shutting it out, hoping it will go away?  In acting like this, are we not reinforcing the view, rather than trying to influence it through rational debate? 

In this respect, it seems the logic is a little like the flawed logic in carpet bombing, where the belief that extensive destruction of cities will cause a population to rebel against a government, or indeed break their will into surrendering.  This has never proved true.  In actuality, the opposite effect has always been achieved.  

Also, isn't this kind of society, where people are ostracised for 'saying the wrong thing', or 'having the wrong view', a little like being ostracised for not having blond hair and blue eyes, or being Jewish?   My point is that to shut people out of society, for whatever the reason does more harm than good.  It is a form of fascism.  Which is odd, because most of the strongest perpetrators of this view, are indeed ultra left-wing.   Maybe this is the biggest indicator that we need to think again.

   
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