The Article Writer

Thank you one and all for visiting this blog, some of you who are fans with a handful I can truly call a friend.

I decided to close down this blog as I have said all that I can say regarding freelancing and article writing, choosing to concentrate on specific niche blogging instead. This blog will remain in place for the long haul, receiving the customary Word Press and plug-in updates, but all comments have been turned off.

I don’t expect to post fresh material here again, but I may update some of the earlier posts from time to time. If you are listed on my blogroll or have received some other benefit by posting a comment here, rest assured that everything will remain in place as is.

My writing career continues to grow and evolve — I am now a contributing writer/columnist for three print publications and am negotiating with a fourth company to provide content for their corporate newsletter. In addition, I am the lead blogger for three blogs and will continue to maintain my niche network of sites. Please visit my Blog Roll to find out where else I am blogging and stop by to say “hello” and/or to leave a comment.

Again, thank you for being with me during these past 29 months and I know our paths will cross again in cyberspace, perhaps even in person.

I was reviewing my various projects lately including ongoing contract work and came to a startling realization: every client I have at the moment is someone who found me online. Not simply people whom I connected with thanks to the internet, but people who found me through this website.

Three Years Later…Success!

It was three years ago this month that I launched “The Article Writer” having previously had an online presence through other sites that I owned, but nothing dedicated exclusively to what I do. Sure, my corporate flight attendant site  (sold June 2007) was already three years old when this site was launched, but it was the act of extracting my identity from these other sites and creating a site pitching my capabilities which made all of the difference in the world for me.

I had no idea that this particular move would be so beneficial to me. Up until then, all of my clients came through phone work, third party job sites, referrals, and previous clients. Soon after launching this site I was “discovered” by the first of several big clients, confirming that my decision to strike out independently was a good one.

Self Reliance Pays Off

I’m not writing this to boast about my personal success, rather to encourage people who do not have a visible online presence to get one. Specifically, two points come to mind when developing an online presence:

• If you don’t yet have a website or your site/blog isn’t easily visible (on its own domain and not hiding on blogspot. com or wordpress.com) then you are making it difficult for customers to find you. Almost always a client mentions that they found me through one of my blogs or through an article I published which links back to this site.

• If you have a website, is it properly optimized? We writers are usually very good at what we do — write — but not particularly good when it comes to promoting our personal sites. Your site doesn’t have to look spectacular but you should be easily found in the SERPs, have a strong linking strategy, and your name should be found elsewhere.

I don’t advertise my services, at least I haven’t done so in more than a year. I don’t use Guru, eLance, or other job sites and I haven’t used AdWords in ages. However, I do keep up with people through social media sites and email.

Success won’t come to you overnight, but you’ll be successful if you develop a strong online presence and maintain it. Maybe I shouldn’t be so forthcoming about my work — I could be giving some valuable grist to someone else’s mill — but that is the risk I am willing to take.

Have you found success online?

Tax season is so over.

Here in the US we have a ritual which begins shortly after the new year and ends promptly on April 15th: tens of millions of taxpayers spend hours upon hours gathering paperwork, downloading forms, uploading tax software, and entering data. I believe the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has said the average return now takes about 27 hours to do, this despite so many people relying on software to help them get the job done.

I sent off my state and federal returns late last week, but I then remembered yesterday that the state’s corporate filing was also due. Thankfully, it is an easy four-page form done online — basically I confirmed the information previously inputted, submitted my payment information, and I was done. Poof — there went a couple of hundred dollars.

Though the pictured sign says “county taxes” those aren’t due until September as part of our property tax filing for our home. We also pay property taxes on our vehicles (bright idea, isn’t it?) and I pay a token tax to the town for an annual license. Sales tax is 7% and the feds and the state get their chunk at the pump every time we go for fuel. Restaurant food is taxed at 8%, groceries at 2%, and yes there is a tax for hotel stays.

After a few days rest I’m heading up to Boston to reprise a certain tax rebellion held there in 1773 — I’m kidding of course, but the sentiment is still there.