Swabbin the Decks After Pirate Day

Well, me hearties, what a great Talk Like a Pirate Day it was. Just some numbers:
This post was dugg 997 times (as of right now) and received well over 6,500 unique visitors who left comments, rum and swill all over WriteNonsense - thank you, come again and please remember to keep digging my posts!

If you were wondering how the whole Talk Like a Pirate Day thing came about, check out Getting To Know Talk Like a Pirate Day at HoboTrashcan.com. It's a rousing good yarn. But now, moving on to today's post:

Getting Your Articles Published in Magazines (Trackback URL)
(Part 1 of Writing For Magazines)

Magazines are tricky customers, and it takes a lot of work to convince them to publish something you wrote. They only have so many pages, and they want to put the best articles they can in. However, magazines pay very well. You can expect to get anywhere from between $50 - $500, depending on the magazine and the length of your article.

Here are a few tips that will help you to get your articles published in magazines.

1. Don't Just Write!

Magazines won't print a random article anymore than they will print the ramblings of a lunatic. Call up the magazine, find out what their submission guidelines are. Ask them the following:

• What word counts are accepted (usually 300, 500, 1,000 etc)
• Are there any topics they need articles for? Magazines like to plan ahead and request articles accordingly
• Whom you should address your submission to. Often this is "The Editor", but try to find out a name as well.
• If there are any style requirements, such as how many quotes they prefer etc.
• How much they pay per word! (Magazines should offer you between $0.20 and $1 per word, so don't accept $20 for a whole article)

2. Familiarize Yourself With the Magazine

Get hold of as many copies as you can. See what kind of article gets featured, and ask someone how much of what you see on the page comes from the writer. Magazines might prefer to publish your article if you can provide a picture or a good sound byte. This will make it much easier to write magazine articles in the way they want.

Also: if you have old issues, check that the editor is still the same person! A new editor might like a different style entirely.

3. Write The Same Article 3 Times

This might sound tedious, but write it for all the word counts that the magazine publishes. This way you give them a choice. If you write a 1,000 word article and they like it, but not enough to give it the space, you won't be paid anything. If you include a 300 word shorter version they will usually be happy to publish this, or they might save your article for a later issue if it is not too topical.

4. Submit to the Competition

By this I mean send your articles to all the magazines that compete with the magazine you want to publish in. As long as they are the same style, at least one of them is bound to like your article.

5. Use Your Connections

Magazines love interviews because they really attract readers. What's more, they're hard to get. If you know an interesting person or a celebrity's nephew's friend from school, use that connection to get an interview!

Trade journals also publish interviews, so if your Uncle Bob is a well-respected restorer of antique furniture interview him. Send the article off to a few trade journals about antique furniture and you'll get back a $100 bill just like this one here (except not as blurry).

Related Posts:

• Part 2: How to Research a Magazine Article

Technorati Tag: Write for Magazine

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

I reckon this be havin' nothin to do with scribblin, but today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

It be on this day each year since the Year of Our Lord 1995 when Ol' Chumbucket an' Cap'n Slappy proclaimed September 19th to be Talk Like a Pirate Day. The rules be simple: any of ye scurvy landlubbers who blogs like a pirate today in yer post wins the trophy.

The trophy being this bright yellow badge here! Put it on yer post and spread the word. Link it back to my pirate ship (trackback URL) an' I'll ad ye to me list of blogger-pirates who won't have ta walk the plank today!


Technorati Tag: Talk Like a Pirate Day

Web Article Types You Should Be Good At

Freelance writing jobs are usually once-off article projects. A client will have a batch of articles for one website, and would prefer to have one freelancer do all of the articles rather than send them out to many different freelance writers. Because of this, people hiring writers will obviously want the person most qualified to do those types of SEO articles.

Here are a few categories of articles that you should learn to write. I recommend these because they come up often, and are often the most paid.

1. Travel Writing

Travel articles are possibly the most common type of web content you will write. If you can write good travel articles you can charge as much as $200 each for them. If you are just starting, expect between $5-$10 per article. The good news: they're usually short and very easy to do.

2. Technical Writing

Technical writing jobs are all over the place: You can find a lot of them on GetAFreelancer. The good news is that good technical writers and technical editors are as rare as hens' teeth. Learn how to write about something technical - anything - and try to broaden your range of subjects that you can write at a technical level on. Technical writing jobs pay very well once you are experienced.

3. Real Estate Article Writing

Everybody's trying to sell real estate, or they're trying to sell real estate investment guides. Being able to write real estate articles means you'll never be out of a job. Have a look at Deborah Ng's Freelance Writing Jobs board, because there are usually a lot of Craigslist jobs for real estate writers there

4. Medical Writing

Clinics, hospitals and websites that are trying to direct traffic to them are always in need of quality content. Most of the time they need general information about specific diseases, operations, equipment, facilities etc. Here, Wikipedia is your friend. Become a skilled at medical writing jobs and you could be making hundreds of dollars a day.

5. Website and Product Reviews

Believe it or not, writing product & site reviews is very lucrative. I did a bunch of 500 word reviews of sites for $12 a piece a few months back. When the project was over I had made a good few hundred dollars for about 3 days work. Here, humor is your friend. See More on Writing Reviews

Related Posts:

• How To Write 15 Minute SEO Articles


• 5 SEO Article Writing Tips


• How To Write SEO Articles


• Writing Well Paid Articles

Technorati Tag: Internet Copywriting

Top Online Surveys Review

A while ago I did some posts about paid online surveys and whether or not you can make money from them. Well, I thought it was a good time to have a look at the top online surveys that I've been using and see how they perform.

As some people know, I am a meticulous record keeper. I keep excel spreadsheets of everything, especially things like how much money I make from paid online surveys. I have signed up with two of the top online surveys that I could find, simply from an academic point of view. They were "Paid Surveys Online" and "Survey Scout". After doing each for at least a month, I came up with these numbers:


Let me explain. First, the lowest paid survey for each was $5. I started up with Survey Scout after doing Paid Surveys Online for a few weeks before. This spreadsheet is just for the month of August. My remarks on each of these top online survey programs are:

1. $773 isn't a lot of cash in the states, but I probably spend 2-3 hours doing surveys a day (but usually less). Converted to South African Rands, this turns into R5,411, which was enough to pay for my rent, groceries and household expenses for a month, as well as keep me in the good kind of Jack Daniels.

2. The Survey Scout paid surveys were more boring than the Paid Surveys Online surveys, but they went faster. The Paid Surveys Online surveys were a bit longer, but tended to be more entertaining to complete.

3. The longer you stay with each, the better you get paid. I haven't been with either for very long.

4. They both have bonuses for joining. Paid Surveys Online send you a $20 survey right away, making you back more than half your $34.95 signup fee, while Survey Scout only start charging you after 8 weeks (I still haven't paid them a cent)

5. If you live outside of the US it is possible to make a lot of money doing surveys only a few hours a day. You could easily make this your full time living if you lived in South Africa, The Philippines, Malaysia, India or any other country with a "developing economy"

So what's my verdict on the top online surveys?

Well, as usual I'm a little divided. I say if you have a bit more time and you want to actually enjoy taking surveys online, go for Paid Surveys Online.

If you just want to do a few quick surveys whenever you feel like it and are a little bit skeptical of the whole online paid surveys thing, go for Survey Scout

Technorati Tag:Top Online Surveys

Get Featured to Increase Organic Traffic Free!

Calling all blog owners out there! If you have a blog or a website and you want more people to see it, why don't you put it up on Fechr.com? (Pronounced Feature).

Fechr.com is a new concept in web advertising that is just starting up. At the moment they are receiving a few hundred unique visitors a day, and so having your blog featured on Fechr.com for a whole day is absolutely free. Once they are getting more traffic they will put the price up to $5, $10 or even $15 per submission!

What happens is that when you go to Fechr.com you see a blog - for me it was Bloggrrl.com - with a tiny Fechr.com nav bar at the top. The featured blogs are replaced with a new blog or website every 24 hours.

Now, these sites do have a tendency to become "bad neighborhoods" - networks of sites that basically share traffic and exploit internet users. However, Fechr.com have a human-review system and they reserve the right not to feature your blog or website if it is low quality, offensive or just ugly.

So if you want to increase your traffic and you're not too proud to be featured on a new website, give Fechr.com a try - it's free!

Technorati Tag: Increase Traffic

Write Answers and Build Your Writing Reputation!

If you're looking for a way to build your reputation as a writer and you some time to kill, Yahoo! Answers is worth checking out. First, have a look at Danielle's bit about Yahoo! Answers ( it's the reason I was reminded to go have a look at it).

The deal is the same as the now defunct Google Ask, or whatever it was called, except you don't get paid. There are a few things that make this a really good place to sit and write answers though.

Apart from self-promotion (which Danielle reminds us is not the purpose of Yahoo! Answers), this is a great place to share your knowledge about things you are an expert in. As you answer questions and provide useful information for users, your reputation as an expert will increase.

If you run a business or a blog about a certain subject, or you are a freelance writer, this is where you can really show off your stuff. The pages will be indexed by Google, and you may link back to your site from it, but the links will not increase your Google PageRank.

However, the links you put in will give you some traffic, and if you keyword optimize your answers they will have high Google rankings for a short period of time. If other sites pick up your answers to use as content, this will give you permanent backlinks which will increase your link popularity.

As a writer, this is an excellent place to build your reputation as a writer of some expertise on a certain subject. If you know something about anything and you want to use that knowledge to build a reputation as a writer and an expert, check out Yahoo! Answers

Technorati Tag: yahoo answers

Just In: I Have the Power of Schmooze!

I am proud to announce that WriteNonsense has received its first blogging award!

Danielle at Pinkhatseo.info has awarded me the "Power of Schmooze" award. To quote from her page, the Power of Schmooze award is:

"an award to recognize those people that were exceptionally adept at creating relationships with other bloggers by making an effort to be part of a conversation, as opposed to a monologue"

Thank you very much Danielle, and Mike of Things By Mike who designed the award badge! It'll go up in my sidebar and be treasured forever as my first blogging award!

Speaking of which, go and register at Blogger's Choice Awards to vote for your favorite blogs.

Review - Deborah Ng's Freelance Writing Jobs

There are a lot of blogs about writing, but one of them is actually useful. Deborah Ng's "Freelance Writing Jobs" is one of the elite online writing studios at WritersRow.com. Freelance Writing Jobs started as a blog about the writing life and a resource for writers, but it has grown into its own bustling community.

I first subscribed to Deborah Ng's "Freelance Writing Jobs" feed because of her incredible writing jobs board. What she does is she scans Craigslist for all the best freelance writing jobs that you can do online. She claims to never post any freelance writing jobs that pay less than $20 per article - and Deborah should know because she's one of the most well-paid freelance writers and reviewers around.

Apart from her writing jobs you can also find a selection of blogging jobs, as well as daily commentary on how to write better, make more money writing articles and where all the best writing gigs are to be found.

If you are an aspiring freelance writer or you want to perfect your trade, Deborah Ng's "Freelance Writing Jobs" is essential daily reading.

Technorati Tag: Deborah Ng

Increase Your Technorati Rank & Authority

On the July 24th, 2 weeks after starting this blog, my Technorati rank was 2,312,988. Since then it has risen to 876,360, and it is climbing higher every day. I have also managed to achieve 7 Technorati Authority, which I think is pretty good.

How did I manage to increase my Technorati rank and my Technorati Authority so quickly? Here are my quick tips and tricks on how to increase your Technorati rank:

1. Search Technorati, Find Friends

The first thing you need to do is search Technorati for blogs similar to your own. Find posts that are about issues your blog deals with. Post a comment on these blogs, adding something useful to the conversation. This creates a link to your blog, and is the best direct way to increase your Technorati rank.

2. Favorite Blogs You Like.

This will show up on the blogs' owners' profiles, and they will notice your blog and check it out.

3. Review Other Blogs

Check out my Review of DayJobNuker, then write your own interesting review of a related blog that you like. Drop them a line, letting them know about your review. With luck, they will post a link to it, and this will increase your Technorati rank and your Technorati Authority

4. Post Every Day, Dammit!

You hear it over and over again, but the only sure fire way to get anywhere in blogging is to post to your blog every day. If you just do this, you are guaranteed to increase your technorati rank.

5. Link to Other Blogs

Technorati is all about Link Love. If you want to increase your technorati rank, spread the love. Check out Danielle's Pink Internet Marketing Blog to see the Mistress of Link Love at work.

Please remember to Add My Blog to Your Technorati Favorites. Leave a comment saying you've done so and I'll add you to mine!


Technorati Tag: Technorati Rank

Advice on Writing – 5 SEO Writing Mistakes

Your writing is a product, and the better you make that product the more money you can make from it, and the better your chances of getting a good job writing. Here are 5 common writing mistakes that you need to know about. Focusing on avoiding these mistakes is essential if you want to improve skill. Writing all will-nilly won’t get you anywhere.

1. Don’t Write Articles in One big paragraph

In academic writing you write in long paragraphs. For online writing gigs, nobody cares – write short paragraphs that take less than 10 seconds to read! The average internet user gets bored of what they are looking at after 10 seconds and moves on.

2. Avoid Excessive Formatting

Don’t, just don’t, use bold, italicized and underlined text in the same article. Use simple subheadings in bold or a font size larger, but don’t let the text itself draw attention! It’s the words that are important.

3. Keep Your Writing Business like

If you are writing a blog, you can write with slang. For website writing gigs you need to keep your spelling, grammar and word choice perfect.

4. Clarity, Clarity, Clarity!

If there is one thing Ron Irwin (my writing teacher at varsity) taught me, it was to write clearly. Use short sentences and the simples words you can find. Don’t use big synonyms if a more widely-understood word will do.

5. Try Not to Sound Like a Salesman

Your readers can smell a sales pitch a mile away, and so can clients. The ideal SEO writing strikes a balance between conversational writing and business writing, a mixture of information and praise.

If you have any writing tricks or tips on how to improve your writing skill, post them as a comment!

In the mean time, here are some related posts to keep you going:

- Write Without Sounding Like a Salesman

- Easy eBook Writing System

- Get Well Paid Writing Gigs

- How to Get Into Internet Copywriting

Technorati Tag: Advice on Writing