Webwriter4U

I found a new website for web developers – it’s a forum that covers web development, traffic, marketing, monetization, hardware & technology and has a water color for topics that don’t fit nicely into the other categories.  http://th3core.com. I sent out a note to someone looking for a blogger:

“Please let me know if you are still looking for a blogger – If you wouldn’t mind sending me an example of what you want, I’d like to see if I can do it. I’m new here – I am a copyeditor trying to find my own way in the world.”

 And I also found a fabulous site for copyeditors. http://mywriteword.weebly.com/index.html I wrote to  ask if they hired copyeditors. ”Are you hiring copyeditors? I have years of experience and recent UCSD Copyeditor Certification. I guarantee my work.”

Like everything else, it’s a numbers game. If I send out enough queries, I should be able to get something started…we shall see.

Always on the lookout for other work that can be done from home - I came across this website. I signed up and will report on the results:  http://www.whydowork.com/forums/link_review.php

This souds good: Userlytics.com is looking for people like you to test websites. Simply browse websites while we record your interaction with the site and earn money! Usability testing has never been so easy! With our usability testing application you will be able to browse through different websites and applications, complete the provided task, and get paid for it. As simple as that!
Connect your webcam and microphone to your PC, follow the instructions and get ready to go!

To get started, go to http://www.userlytics.com/?page=becometester and get signed-up.
Become a tester now and make your opinion count!

 I sent this message:

I would love to be one of your testers. I have 8 years of experience performing usability testing, 10 years of progressive webmaster training, and a previous career as a legal secretary, where 100% accuracy is required. I am also a copyeditor. I am looking for 8 to 10 hours of work a week. Hope to hear from you soon.

I didn’t read the whole ad until just now – I wonder if there’s something to purchase to become one of the testers. That is always the worry with any Internet offers. Do they have a great hookup or is it simply an offer to sell you something that will connect you to the great hookup? And even if it turns out to be exactly what it sounds like, the pay could prohibitively low. I’m excited to find out, though. I think I may be onto something.

Subjects I can write about:

• Finances
• Clutter
• Online dating
• Homeschooling
• Websites/web development
• Search engine optomization
• Internet marketing
• Writing for the web

It is now obvious, as I suspected, that the comments are coming from web-generated programs and not human beings surfing into the site. I’m going to keep posting them anyway, since they are living examples of an important internet marketing concept: commenting on blogs and leaving a link helps build a website’s standing in the search engines. In short, Internet marketing is as important as SEO.

I have received 41 comments so far. I cannot figure out if they are from actual people who surfed into the site, or if they are generated by programs that find blogs and post generic comments with a link and promise to return. If the later is true, that is very funny. The web is tricking me into writing.

If you would like to participate in surveys and focus groups for cash (or other rewards), sign up for Focus Forward, a market research firm that conducts live focus groups and online surveys. It’s free to sign up (of course!) and they swear they use your information for research purposes only and it will be kept strictly confidential. I think this site can be trusted, but everybody has to make that decision for themselves.

I was about to do something I usually don’t do – sign up for a program that looks too good to be true, and it even costs a few dollars to sign up. They say the $3 signup fee (discounted with this link) just pays shipping and handling fees for a full access, free trial account. They say people are making $6000 to $8000 a month. But just in the nick of time, I surfed into this great site about working from home, it is packed with useful information, including red flags to avoid. Of course the site has it’s own store and recommendations for making money online. As always, I cannot tell (yet) if it’s the real deal or just another clever Internet marketer’s website.

And speaking of clever Internet marketers, Janet Switzer is the marketing strategist behind some of the best known celebrity authors in the world: Jack Canfield of The Secret and Chicken Soup for the Soul, One Minute Millionaire author Mark Victor Hansen, personal finance guru David Bach, motivational speaker Les Brown and others. You can subscribe to her FREE series of info-marketing special reports. I attended a mini-workshop when I was first starting out in this business and everything I heard her say stayed with me. I couldn’t see myself as a successful Internet marketer back then, but some seeds got planted that day and I never forgot her. If you are serious about Internet marketing, you might also check out Janet Switzer’s 166-page (digital) info-product marketing plan, How Experts Build Empires.

Many artists who sell their crafts on etsy.com are dontating up to 100% of the proceeds to Japan relief. This is a great way to start Christmas shopping and you will feel fantastic when you tap into the wonderful etsy.com energy. I am so moved by the generosity of so many people!

If you are a budding webwriter wanting to test my theory, write an article today about Japan and post it on Constant-Content.com.

OK here’s the challenge. I posted an error by accident but I’m not going to fix it – I am going to let it sit there as long as I can stand it. If anyone else sees it and would like to write back, please share which rule was broken.

I just signed up for vworker.com. Sign up requires providing your social security number, but the site seems legit and they have lots of jobs. Here are some other freelance sites that have been around for a while:

eLance.com has job listings for writers, programmers, designers, marketers, admins, consultants, and finance professionals.

Guru.com has writing and editing job listings, along with technology jobs (websites & ecommerce, programming, etc.) and business jobs (admin support, marketing, sales, business consulting, legal, and finance & accounting).

My article was accepted, so now I’m cleared to write articles for www.constant-content.com. Celeste Stewart, one of Constant-Content’s top writers, has a great website with lots of information for freelance writers. Click here  to go to her website. If you sign up, Celeste will send you her article: Four Constant-Content.com Strategies that Work.

My dream is to drop my hours at work to 32 and work 8 to 10 hours from home. I took today off because I needed to be home. I’d be so happy to be working instead of on PTO. I hope to hear from Demand Studios soon.

I suddenly got very busy and wasn’t able to work on my webwriting business for a few weeks, so I was surprised and excited to see I had three comments. Nothing motivates me more than an audience.

I still haven’t gotten off the ground with http://www.constant-content.com/. They have a strict review process, which I can understand. But I had to laugh when I read the message explaining the rejection. “This article contains a variety of punctuation errors, but nothing to serious.” Apparently they don’t allow creative uses of semicolons and ellipses, or proofread their own emails. I made the corrections and now I am on pins and needles waiting to see if they are accepting this version of my article.   

Meanwhile, I have some new links that were highly recommended to me by experienced web writers.

AWAI claims to have a course where they teach you everything you need to learn the skills and launch your brand-new six-figure copywriting career. My friend said people rave about this course. I am still investigating it.
https://www.awaionline.net/_orders/cop-mc-disc/ 
She also sent this link:  http://www.awaionline.com/is-awai-a-scam/

Demand Studios is a freelance jobs site with work for writers, filmmakers, copy editors, bloggers, and experts. I’ve signed up and am waiting to hear from  them.  
https://www.demandstudios.com

Well-written informative articles aligned with
search engine optimization strategies drive traffic to websites.

The article I submitted took me 3.5 hours to write 750 words, and another .5 to prepare the submission. If my article is purchased, the most they will pay is $40 (and a percentage goes to the website). So even if I sell my article, this was a big production for a small paycheck, and I might get nothing. It’s a gamble. But for me, it was an experiment. I am on a mission to find out everything I can about being a webwriter.

I googled “Constant Content” so I could find out what others were saying about them, and headlines asking if Constant Content is a scam popped up. Of course, that is what I was looking for (effective keywords, eh!?). The complaints from the naysayers made me laugh – such as “they rejected my article because I didn’t put it in the right font.” Someone else said the article was rejected because it had typos. The author said it did not have typos. In response to a blog called Is Constant Content Worth Your Time? Celeste Stewart, one of Constant Content’s top writers wrote: “I can tell you that Constant-Content is indeed worth it. The CC editor is real, and he’s tough. Spell checkers and grammar checkers aren’t good enough to rely on. If he says there was a spelling error, you can bet there was. Submitting one or two articles isn’t really a fair test of the site’s potential.”

I found reviews from successful authors who praise Constant Content. They all say the same thing: take your time getting acquainted with all the features on the website. Read the FAQs, follow the submission guidelines, participate in the forum and you will be fine. We shall see.

Here’s a great blog on the subject. Nerd Writer Mom: Professional writing and editing tips nobody else will tell you. Making money as a writer any way you can. Humor. It’s all here. And mom stuff.

Come back soon for more about Constant-Content plus reviews of other content purchasing sites, freelance writing jobs, and other important information for webwriters. I am building a knowledge base that will include:

Thank you for visiting my website! Please contact me if you have any questions or feedback.