Questions to ask before you begin your freelance writing project.

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Many new freelance writers find it frustrating when working with clients who seem to change guidelines AFTER a draft is submitted. Here are a few format- and content-related questions that you can ask BEFORE writing that will help you better understand a client's needs. There are so many others, so please post a comment if you have more.

1. Who is the audience, i.e., academic, Internet, newspaper, etc.? This will affect the readability level.
2. If the audience is Internet, do humans, spiders, or both read the writing?
3. If the audience is Internet, what keyword density is required, and what are the keywords?
4. If the audience is Internet, what percentage or number of links is required, if any?
5. What voice of writing is preferred? Here are a couple examples:
   · First-person, conversational (informal) – written using the pronoun “I” as if the writer is having a conversation with the reader, used to make a personal connection.
   · Authoritative (formal) – written primarily to gain respect and credibility from the reader and avoids first-person; appropriate for providing factual information, used often with medical or legal topics, for example.
6. If research is required, should it be cited (provide references/links to original information)?
7. Related to question #1, does the client prefer more bulleted items or paragraph format?
8. Are images required? If so, is it the writer’s responsibility to gather them, or is there a library?
9. Will the writer release copyrights when payment is made?
10. May the writer have a byline?

There are so many other questions that will be asked before and after a project is received, but this should get you started on the content. I'll create another list related to fees and payment.

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Cultural Pluralism and Ethnic Violence in America (Sample Writing Excerpt)

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Audience: Academic; Length: 3000 words.

Since early in the 20th century, the dominant goal of American liberalism, in relation to minorities, has been that of assimilation into the mainstream of American life. “Cultural pluralism” is a term sometimes used to describe a society in which various cultures co-exist in a state of mutual tolerance and respect. Cultural tolerance is usually equated with democracy and progress. The liberal claim that all human beings are essentially equal, and so deserve fair and equal treatment and protection under the law, is now so generally accepted that even the most conservative politicians pay lip service to it. Liberalism could be considered the dominant ideological “discourse” of modern industrial (and post-industrial) society, although it has certainly been threatened by other ideologies – for example, by Fascism and Communism.freelance, freelance jobs, freelance writer, writer, copywriter, seo, seo optimization, seo copywriter
According to the liberal ideal, different communities, with different beliefs and traditions, ought to be able to co-exist peacefully within a democratic framework. To their credit, liberals have always recognized that the presence of many different cultures within American life is not only a necessity for the functioning of an industrial system, but also, ultimately, beneficial to the political order. Yet, throughout American history, the co-existence of different cultures has often been a locus of intense conflict. The liberal ideology of cultural pluralism within a democratic framework has not always been able to contain or to resolve these conflicts. Why?freelance, freelance jobs, freelance writer, writer, copywriter, seo, seo optimization, seo copywriter
The mass immigrations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries created enormous tensions in American society and political culture. Yet, one might argue, it was this very immigration that fueled rapid industrial progress, and with it the creation of fortunes like that of the Mellons and the Carnegies. Here is a perfect example of what the Marxists called “the contradictions of capitalism.” Capitalism, in its dynamic, unrestrained phase, transformed American life from top to bottom. But it did not transform every part of American life in the same way, or at the same rate of speed. Nor did it make every American financially secure. As American transformed itself into the world’s greatest industrial power, it was also drawn into an international monetary and trade system. The current fashionable word for this process, still going on at more rarified levels, is “globalization.” On the plus side, globalization increased American wealth through trade relationships. On the minus side, it drew the country into brutal international conflicts such as the First World War.freelance, freelance jobs, freelance writer, writer, copywriter, seo, seo optimization, seo copywriter
These developments were threatening to many Americans, particularly to those who did not benefit in any obvious way from industrial capitalism. Instead of sharing exuberantly in the liberal vision of universal equality and social progress, such Americans longed for the hierarchical, pre-industrial past. This was particularly true in the American South, where entire communities of white Anglo-Saxon Americans fastened onto romantic myths about the Old South of the type generated by films like The Birth of a Nation.freelance, freelance jobs, freelance writer, writer, copywriter, seo, seo optimization, seo copywriter
So, even as the United States emerged from World War I as the most powerful industrial nation in the world and the major champion of liberal democracy, many American citizens – and not only in the backwoods – were clamoring for isolationism, segregation, and the closing of America’s borders to new immigration. Capitalism’s discontents, one might call them – although they did not see themselves in this way. Quite often, they seem to have seen themselves as heroic defenders of cherished moral values. Racist and anti-ethnic attitudes are, more than likely, part of our anthropological nature as human beings, yet such attitudes normally exist in an inchoate form. Something happened to American political culture during this period to focus the energies of racism into specific kinds of deadly action. (End of excerpt)
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Need a Writer Reference?

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I strongly suggest Diana Hacker's Writer Reference, published by Bedford/St.Martins.

I use this handbook in all my Composition 101 and 102 courses.
Check out her website for online reference material, model essays, even grammar exercises.

Now go write.
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Using AdWords to drive Competitors’ Traffic to Your Site

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Are you an established, well-known sales person or service provider who relies on the Internet for a good deal of your inquiries? If you are, your client base could be in jeopardy. If you’re an up and coming sales person, you’ll want to read this article as much as your well-known competitor.freelance, freelance jobs, freelance writer, writer, copywriter, seo, seo optimization, seo copywriter
Recently, I received a call from a local real estate professional; we’ll call her Mary. She’s done business in the area for over 30 years. Mary was concerned because her web hits had dropped substantially in the last couple of months, and she asked me if I could review her website to see if there was a problem. I’m not a web developer, but I’ve written keyword content for Mary’s site, and I’ve known her for years.freelance, freelance jobs, freelance writer, writer, copywriter, seo, seo optimization, seo copywriter
After realizing that I didn’t have her URL, I did a Google search for her name, and to my surprise, a different salesperson’s website appeared; we’ll call her Jane. I reviewed Jane’s keywords to see if my client’s name was being used there. No. Then I remembered using Google’s Adwords last year for my own promotion.
AdWords are one of Google’s Internet advertising programs. In this program, you can be in the top list of results when people are actively looking for information about your—-or your competitors’--products and services online. By creating a list of search terms, such as “Mary Smith,” Google’s AdWords will direct traffic to you every time that phrase is searched and clicked on Google. With AdWords' “cost-per-click” pricing, you pay only when people click your ad.freelance, freelance jobs, freelance writer, writer, copywriter, seo, seo optimization, seo copywriter
It was immediately clear that Jane was using Mary’s name in her AdWords list. Because Jane’s site appeared at the top, as a paid advertiser, my suspicions were nearly confirmed. A pleasant call to Jane’s webmaster sealed the deal.

If you’re an established salesperson or service provider who is known by name, do yourself a favor and search for your name on Google and Yahoo. If you’re a member of a local board, such as a Board of Realtors, you can report using this type of AdWords advertising as unethical, not that it necessarily is. What do you think? I invite comments.

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