The Article Writer

Q. I am wondering if it would benefit me to join a writers association. Specifically, I think that connecting with other writers would advance my career and raise my visibility. What are your thoughts?

A. I haven’t joined a writers guild or association, but I’m not opposed to them. Therefore, I cannot share my personal experience with them and exactly what sort of benefit they could have for you.

I am familiar with the IABC — an association of business communicators whose members somewhat parallel the services that I provide. The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) is a worldwide organization, that seeks to provide a professional network for business communicators. The IABC throws a very wide membership net to include graphic artists, HR folks, and video producers along with all types of people who provide corporate writing.

I can see how a writers group can be beneficial especially if connecting at conferences, taking workshops and attending classes appeals to you. In some cases a writers association offers other tangible benefits, namely group health insurance coverage and other perks. You might also find that members share job or project opportunities not posted elsewhere, therefore by having your face and name “on the roster” could help you cross paths with people who can help you out.

At the very least, make sure that you have both a LinkedIn and Facebook account. I’m much more active with LinkedIn, but lots of business people are on Facebook, making it the preferred business networking site online.

After just over one month of doing the “Entrecard thing” I have decided to pull the plug.

All right, let me rephrase my statement: After using Entrecard for the past five weeks on five different blogs, I removed the Big E’s widget from the sidebar of this blog and on my automotive blog. I’m still running Entrecard on three blogs, but I’m only accepting new ads on one of them.

My reasons for cutting back on Entrecard are many and include the following:

Entrecard takes up a lot of time. Yes, there were a few days where I hit the 300 limit for one site (600 total drops for all sites) and I realized two hours had gone by. Time carefully expended in exchange for a small amount of fleeting traffic — not good!

Quite a few sites were dead or rarely updated. I don’t mind visiting blogs but there has to be something new for me to read. I rather not drop and run, but if there isn’t anything else for me to do, why should I visit an aged or neglected blog in the first place?

Newer blogs benefit, but for older blogs it can be a drag. Don’t get me wrong if you found this blog via Entrecard and are now a regular reader — thank you and please stay! But, the quality of the blogs submitted for advertising here just hasn’t measured up.

Bait and switch. I know that I shouldn’t depend on power dropping sites for my supply of websites to visit, but they can be useful to find blogs to visit and drop cards on. Unfortunately, some sites are suddenly converted to porn or other senseless babble, sullying Entrecard in the process. What a shame.

Of course, there are some benefits to Entrecard including:

Newer sites. I launched Auto Trends last month and got more than 1100 visitors from Entrecard alone. Add in all of my digging, stumbling, and propelling and the site got off to a nice start. It remains the only site where I am still accepting ads to this day.

Networking. Some of the bloggers I have met have been friendly and helpful, the usual trolls notwithstanding. I’m sure many of the more active users are also active elsewhere and our paths will cross again and again.

Please don’t take this as a slam of Entrecard as it isn’t — Entrecard just isn’t working that well for me. After this month I may remove the widget from one or two other sites and I’m not planning to resume regular card dropping on a consistent basis.

My time is valuable to me and dropping cards doesn’t seem to add value to my time.

Further Reading

Entrecard and Other Internet Mysteries

Entrecard Notes, Update 1

Entrecard Notes, Update 2

I’ve been contributing articles and/or editing for Wikipedia since last July, by helping expand articles, providing relevant citable sources, and responding to the occasional call for help. Time isn’t on my side when it comes to editing for free, but there are those times when a Wikipedia diversion provides a needed boost for the editor within.

Soon after joining Wikipedia, I also registered for Citizendium, another wiki-style site which launched in early 2007. Founded by the same person who started Wikipedia, Larry Sanger, Citizendium is small potatoes compared to Wikipedia.

It is also a lot more accurate than Wikipedia, in my opinion.

Yes, Sanger feels the same way that I do — Wikipedia’s purity has been sullied by its anonymity, something Citizendium has corrected by requiring contributors to disclose who they are. With Wikipedia, there isn’t anything more annoying than some cyber-troll coming along and mashing up your contributions. Sure, you can reverse the vandalism and dispute changes, but there are some article topics which seem to be dominated by editors with an agenda to uphold.

No, I haven’t done anything with my Citizendium membership, but that is likely to change. The first Wednesdays of the month is Citizendium’s “Write-A-Thon” day where members are encouraged to contribute a new article (even if just a stub) or provide a substantive edit to a current article. By participating you’ll contribute to a growing and respectful resource that is controlled by its members, not by a foundation, private entity, or public owners.

To get a feel for Citizendium, check out their blog. If you have a wee bit of extra time during the month, then stop by and lend a hand. I won’t be able to participate in this month’s “Write-A-Thon” which is today, but I plan on offering some assistance in the near future.