Guest Post by Stef Gonzaga - Writing Perfect Web Content

If you're interested in diving in to the freelance writing business, excellent!

Writing for the web (and for an online audience) is now one of the most popular industries freelance writers thrive in. This is because:

• Millions of people use the internet to find information about, well, anything that interests them.
• Companies want to reach out to these people through digital marketing.

But what most writers do not realize is that writing for the web is completely different as writing for print. With print, you're inclined to be creative, powerful with vocabulary, and are able to relate to your readers in large paragraphs.

With web content, it's almost the complete opposite. And it has more to do with who you're writing for than the writing itself

Good vocabulary and creativity are certainly key elements of good writing, but there's something you need to know about the audience you're writing to: they don't have the time in the world to read your stuff.

With web content, readers skim, scan, and will jump from your article to another if they think you're blabbering too much. They are so distracted with everything else on the page that their eyes dart in diagonal directions. To solve this, you need to create content that will keep their eyes still and their attention engaged in what you wrote.

With this in mind, here are 5 basic tips to help you create engaging content:

1. Research before anything else. Before you even begin typing up your first draft, gather as much information as you can about your topic. Don't just depend on stock knowledge or on your personal musings. If it's an article meant to inform, it should supply enough facts to support your statements.

2. Enclose your ideas in short paragraphs. Most articles and blog posts published online contain paragraphs that are between 1-3 sentences. You can even leave a single sentence as a paragraph if it can stand on its own.

3. Use natural and understandable language. As much as you'd like to sound creative, intelligent, and knowledgeable through your vocabulary, your audience won't appreciate it as much. Try to write in a direct and straight-to-the-point manner. Here's a trick: Use words you'd normally use in a personal conversation.

4. Write properly. Nothing turns a reader off than bad writing, and we all know what bad writing is. Terrible grammar, comma abuse, misspelling, subject-verb disagreements, and so much more. Content will always be king in web content, so if you want your clients to keep hiring you, you have to at least know how to write properly.

5. Engage readers with media. Inserting images and videos that support your topic will certainly interest your readers. Just make sure to use media that can explain your topic further.

Writing for the web takes practice, especially when you're not used to such brevity or consistently writing in the 2nd or 3rd person point of views. But as you continue to learn and grow as a freelance writer, you'll be able to produce engaging and informative content that will be of great use to your clients.



Stef Gonzaga is a freelance writer who has provided original content to many online locations. You can learn more about her and her work from her website http://journal.stefgonzaga.com/pages/about-stef or follow her on Twitter @stefgonzaga

Blog post on Google+'s Hangout feature

Emlyn Chand of Novel Publicity has just written a blog post on utilising Google+'s Hangout feature, which is fundamentally video chat but with some new twists. To read the article, click here

Guest Post on Getting Published at Novel Publicity

Novel Publicity have featured my guest blog on publishing advice. Click the link below to view it and leave a comment if you feel the need.

http://www.novelpublicity.com/2011/06/advice-on-getting-published/

Holidaying As a Freelancer

Today I read a post at Freelance Folder about taking a vacation as a freelancer. It got me thinking and left me somewhat perplexed, because one of the benefits - and sheer joys - of being a freelancer is the freedom it offers. As an independent worker, especially for those of us whose office is wherever we set our laptop, we are not shackled by a 9-5 routine nor a particular location.

Currently I'm reading a book called Twitchhiker, about a freelancer writer who used Twitter to travel from the northeast of England to New Zealand, and he wrote articles on the various flights and wherever he found a bed for the night. This is, to me, the beauty of being a freelancer. We can find ourselves in a board meeting at a magazine or we can work in our underwear in bed if we choose. Alternatively, we can travel each and every day and work in whatever capacity we can. In short: there are no restrictions. As for myself, I've been staying in America since January and will be returning to the UK later this month - with a wife-to-be, a lot of ideas and memories and, most important to this piece, much work completed. Had I been employed by a specific person or company it would have been impossible for me to be away from home for six months, but as a freelancer (or rather, self-employed writer) that luxury is afforded to me.

So the question of holidays as a freelancer is one I hadn't really asked before. Certainly I've wondered about managing taking a dedicated holiday with no work whatsoever, and the main concern is there is no income while we are not working, but on the other hand travelling to the other side of the world needn't detach us from work. Whether we wake up early, type while the other half has a snooze, or knock out a few articles before bed, we can holiday and work. Now to some working while on holiday defeats the purpose of a holiday, but for me, I enjoy my work to the point that I am quite happy to write while away, because writing is a creative process that does not weigh me down like sitting in an office all day. Rather, the unfamiliar sights and sounds before me can spark fresh ideas and motivation.

However, for those who do want a dedicated holiday with no work, it's as easy as telling clients you're going away for a while. I've done this numerous times and it has never been a problem, so long as money can be saved up beforehand. This is, of course, the biggest obstacle. But in response to that, my attitude is decent spending money can be raised by just working a few hours a week.

The joy of being a freelancer is having it permit you to live life on your own terms - your own scenery, your own schedule. It's much more than having a regular job but in your own home.