Reliable Writers is sponsoring a writing contest.  Participants will receive a published article with an author byline (including one link to your own website or blog); promotion on the Reliable Writers Facebook page; and the opportunity to compete for cash prizes and bragging rights!

When:  March 1^st – March 31^st

What: Write and submit an article on the topic of your choice. (Topic must be suitable for a general, all-ages audience). The article should be between 400 and 800 words in length.  The article must be 100% original content and not previously published anywhere else.   You may not include links within the content of the article.

How: Register for a contributor account on our blog: http://www.reliablewriters.com/examples/wp-register.php. Once you have a username and password, you can log in and create your PROFILE.  Please add your author byline (you may include one link to your own website or blog in the byline), and you can also add a photograph of yourself if you like.  Your photo and byline will appear at the bottom of your article when it is published. When you are happy with your article, click the “submit for review” button to finalize your entry into the contest.

Why:  We will publish all submissions which meet the guidelines to our blog: http://www.reliablewriters.com/examples/.  Your article is printed with your author byline, so you may use the link to your published article when demonstrating examples of published work to prospective clients or in your writing portfolios.  You may also link to it from your own blog or website to show examples of your writing work.

How to Win:

In addition to receiving a published article with a byline, you can also win one of three prizes:

1^st Prize:  $100

2^nd Prize: $50

3^rd Prize: $25

Reliable Writers will post a link to your article from our Facebook page.  The Facebook post which receives the most “LIKES” by the end of the contest on March 31^st at 12pm Eastern Time will be the WINNER* and will receive your choice of a $100 Amazon.com gift card or $100 cash to your Paypal account;  the Facebook post which receives the second most “LIKES” by 12pm Eastern Time on March 21^st will receive a $50 Amazon.com gift card or $50 cash to your Paypal account; and the Facebook post with the third highest “LIKES” will receive a $25 Amazon.com gift card or $25 cash to your Paypal account.

*in the event of a tie for the number of “LIKES” received on Facebook, we will randomly award the prize to one of the writers.

 The Fine Print Rules:  You may only enter one article to the contest.  Reliable Writers reserves the right to deny publication of any article they deem unsuitable to post (due to content, quality, or topic choice).  Winners will be notified by April 3^rd, and we will publish a list of winners to our website and on our Facebook page.

The Google Panda update came to light in February 2011 and has put the hurt on a number of top websites as Squidoo and Hubpages. Websites that have not been putting effort into providing the highest quality, consistent content got dropped down significantly in the rankings, therefore losing traffic. While many site owners were not ready for this change, many more started scrambling to repair the damage already done with less-than-successful results.

ReliableWriters.com, a write-on-demand content creation company has been besieged with client work orders who wish to get by Panda and reinvent their websites to the ranking status they once held.

ReliableWriters.com provides content within a turnaround time in as little as 24 hours for rush orders. While the site’s ordering system itself is automated, a dedicated team of writers is online 24/7 to produce the type of quality content needed to outsmart the Panda update.

Co-founder, Debra Dragon, advises site owners to get proactive about their websites in order to stay ahead of the Google changes. “In my experience, a number of website owners with a great concept fail miserably simply because they do not put the effort into providing the reader with fresh, valuable information on a consistent-enough basis. The clients of ours that have stayed on top of the content they provide have really not been devastated by the changes Google is making. I can tell you that business has picked up significantly since February as more companies and site owners realize the importance of quality content and how easy it is to get that content from our ReliableWriters.com website.”

It is not uncommon for Google to make sudden changes that mystify site owners who are already working hard on SEO strategies. Adds Dragon ‘We work full-time in the online world and one thing we’ve learned is to expect the unexpected. That’s part of the reason ReliableWriters.com was developed – to help site owners who need to stay progressive without a lot of complicated commitments or frustration at trying to find a reliable writer who actually knows what they are doing.’

ReliableWriters.com is staffed by English-speaking writers, 24 hours a day/7 days a week and provides writing services for articles, blogs, website content, and other online marketing services including SEO and social media.

For more information, visit the website at www.ReliableWriters.com.

]]> http://www.reliablewriters.com/blog/2011/11/reliablewriters-com-offers-antiseptic-for-google-panda-bite/feed/ 0 http://www.reliablewriters.com/blog/2010/06/social-marketing-and-seo-the-key-to-online-success/ http://www.reliablewriters.com/blog/2010/06/social-marketing-and-seo-the-key-to-online-success/#comments Sun, 06 Jun 2010 14:10:02 +0000 Barbara Montgomery http://www.reliablewriters.com/blog/?p=153 Do you have a business on the web that is not doing as well as you would like it to? Are you just starting up a business and not sure where to begin to market yourself? Do you have a website that you would just like to see fine tuned and better promoted? If you said yes to any of these questions, SEO and social marketing are your links to success.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a means for you to become visible on the web. When people are searching for your market niche, you want to make sure that you come up in their search, preferable at the top of the list. This is accomplished by having quality content on your site that is filled with strong, relevant key words. A good experienced writer that understands how SEO works can help to ensure that search engines find you and properly rank your site. The end result is you become more visible and your site receives more traffic.

Social Marketing

Social Marketing is leading the way in internet marketing. It is the latest buzz in advertising and is proving to be extremely successful. Politicians are using social media to market their campaigns, charities use it to spread their cause and businesses, large and small, all over the globe are using it for promoting their services and products. Gathering a following on social websites appears to be the wave of the future. Having a successful social media following does take some effort. Social media sites will need to be set up and maintained, again with good content and some creative writing.

SEO & Social Marketing

Combining SEO with Social Marketing can take just about any business down the road to ultimate success. Combined, these two marketing techniques can potentially put you on the top and leave your competitors in the dust. The key is to link the two and keep the traffic flowing between your social media sites and your actual website.

Optimizing Your Website

The first area of focus is your website. Optimizing your site’s content should be a top priority. When you are using SEO and social media to drive traffic to your site, you want to make sure that what they see when they get there is nothing less than stellar. If you have weak content, this will be a quick turn off and people will turn elsewhere. On the other hand, if you have excellent content they are apt to keep returning, share your site with friends and leave you great comments and reviews.

Social Marketing Networks

Next you will want to select social marketing networks to join. Popular sites include Facebook, Twitter and other blog sites. It is not a bad idea to set up accounts on multiple social marketing networks. Once you have accounts established, you will want to make sure that you are providing links from them back to your website. Depending on the social media network you can post links right on your page and always make sure you include a link back to your site in your signature.

Growing Followers & Fans

You will now want to work to build your fan base and followers on your social networks. The more followers you have on Twitter, the more fans you have on Facebook and the more contacts you make with high profile bloggers, the more traffic you will drive to your site. The more traffic to your site, the higher you will be on search engine rankings.

The reverse is also true. You will want to direct current customers or supporters from your website to your Facebook page, have then sign up for your tweets, find and read your blogs and so on. As time goes on, if they are pleased with your product, services etc., they are apt to refer you to their friends who will become your fan on Facebook or follow your on Twitter, and the referrals go on and on.

Ultimately, the sky is the limit. If you are serious about building a strong on line presence, SEO and Social Marketing are the way to go. The best advice you can take is to find and work with a good writer who knows SEO, Social Marketing and how to help you intertwine the two. The most successful businesses, organizations, politicians etc are the ones that get help and connect all the dots.

Phil has started a series of interviews about making extra money – and started his series with an interview about Making Extra Money with Freelance Writing, with Debbie Dragon – a freelance writer for ReliableWriters.com and co-owner of Trifecta Strategies, LLC and founder of MakeMoneyFromWriting.com.

If you’re interested in making money freelance writing, be sure to check out Phil’s interview with Debbie.  If you’re looking for other ways to make some extra money – try PT Money’s  52 Ways to Make Extra Money post and keep up with his series of interviews with entrepreneurs to read how real people are doing it!

There are many other writing services out there that may be cheaper than Reliable Writers, but in most cases, you get what you paid for.  Many services outsource their work to writers overseas who speak English as a second language.  100% of our writers live in the United States.  Others simply rehash content they find elsewhere online or auto-generate hundreds of articles for search engines.  We take the time to study the topic and write original, compelling content you can be proud of and your visitors want to read.

#2 We’re Affordable

On the other end of the spectrum there are those who bill themselves as professional writers with a few big name publications under their belt.  They are capable of delivering quality content but will often charge $200-$300 or more per article.  This is outside of the budget for most website operators and although it’s a much better route than the cheap services for those wishing to run professional websites, usually the work does not justify the outrageous rates.  We deliver professional content at a rate most website operators can afford.

#3 We’re Upfront

One thing you’ll notice when looking at our competitors websites is that most don’t display their prices anywhere. You have to contact them an haggle over the price.  It’s even harder to get a firm delivery date.  They string you along until the point you feel obligated to buy before they’ll ever give you a firm price or date.  We don’t play those games.  Our order form allows you to instantly see exactly how much your project is going to cost and when it will be done without ever having to talk to a human or give us your contact info.  Of course we are also available to answer any questions you may have.

#4 No Contracts or Commitments

Other writers will use contracts or minimum commitments in order to force you to continue to use their services for a period of time.  We get repeat business by making sure our customers are satisfied with our work and want to come back, not because they have to.  There are no minimum commitments and we never make you sign a contract.

#5 Order Just What You Need

Another common practice you will find is writers who force you into ordering a package of services, some you need, some you may not.  If you try to order outside of those packages, you get hit with higher rates.  At Reliable Writers you decide what you want.  All of our services are a la carte and you get our best rate no matter which options you choose.

#6 We Always Have Time for Your Order

The problem with using an individual writer is any one person is only capable of doing so much work in a week.  If they are currently booked, it may be a few weeks before they can get to your project.  If your order is too large they may have to turn you down all together.  We have multiple writers on staff and others on stand-by, which resolves these scheduling conflicts and ensures we’re always available to work on your project promptly no matter how small or large.

#7 You Take the Credit

Many sites don’t like to advertise the fact they use outside writers and we completely understand.  We’re happy to ghost write anything you need.  Some web development firms and consultants wish to package our services with others they offer and resell them.  Although we always appreciate referrals, you’re in no way obligated to link to our site or give any type of credit for any work you receive from Reliable Writers.  You own the rights and are free to do as you wish with the content we deliver.

#8 We Do More Than Just Write

Many of our customers want the content on their site to be fully managed without any interaction on their part and we’re happy to do so.  If desired, we can directly post content to your website, provide photos for each post and submit to article directories and blog carnivals.  It is completely up to you to choose which services you would and would not like us to provide.

#9 We’re Reliable

We wouldn’t have put it in our name if we weren’t.  You can rest assured that once we give you a delivery date, your project will be delivered on time.  Having multiple writes on staff ensures scheduling conflicts, sickness, vacations and emergencies do not come in the way of getting your work done on time.

#10 We’re Experienced

The writers working on ReliableWriters.com orders are professional writers.  Most have been earning a living writing for several years, and all are experienced with writing content designed for internet readers.   Our writers are no strangers to the concepts of keyword optimization, headline creation, and linking to various pages of your website(s) or affiliate programs.  You won’t need to spend hours teaching our writers how to do these important aspects of internet writing – we already know how to do it.

See the ordering process.

We’ve compiled a list of some of the best 73 resources for online writers.

Do you use a resource or tool that we left off the list? Tell us about it in the comments.

Improve Your Writing

Regardless of the writing platform you focus on (online or offline, blogs or magazines, etc) there is always room to improve your writing:

Confident Writing – Named one of the top 10 blogs for writers for two years in a row, confidentwriting.com offers advice for finding your voice, and becoming more confident in your writing ability.

Bad Language – Blog offers a variety of “how to” advice for blogging, PR, writing, interviewing, and general tips for improving your writing.

MIT Writing Courses – Online writing courses offered through MIT, and many focus on writing for the web.

Open University Grammar Course – Grammar workshop through Open University.

Grammar Book – Everything you need to know about English grammar rules.

Writing Fix – Writing lessons, tips and writing prompts to increase your creativity.

Freelance Copywriters Blog – Excellent blog with tips to make you a better writer. Topics generally focused on copywriting/sales writing but sometimes you’ll find general writing tips, too.

Grammar Girl – Podcast for better grammar from Grammar Girl.

Economist Styleguide – Styleguide given to all writers of the Economist.com, this is a very useful tool that all writers could use to improve the quality of their writing.

Lousy Writer – Free online resource with tips for improving your writing, communicating better, and information about various writing styles.

Establishing a Writing Business

Some people write for the pure enjoyment of writing. Some people want to earn their living from writing. If you’re a writer looking to make it a career – you’ll want to establish a writing business to generate consistent income and reliability. Here are tips for finding clients and setting up a writing business:

Make Money From Writing – An online mentoring course for writers looking to establish online writing businesses and earn income writing from home.

Keep Your Copyrights – Sample freelance writing contract

Freelance Zone – Tips for self employed writers.

Writing.com – Create a profile to store and display your writing online, and read fantastic articles about the writing business.

Fab Freelance Writing – Angela Booth regularly posts tips for freelance writers on her blog. She also offers a mailing list of tips and a number of ebooks designed to help writers establish a profitable writing business.

Chris Blogging – Great resource for freelance writers and people who want to make writing their full-time career and only source of income. Offers a one-on-one freelance writing course.

Freelance Write – About.com’s freelance writing guide offers a wealth of information for aspiring freelance writers in the blog, and an active forum with topics ranging from where to find work to people seeking advice.

Get Paid to Write Online – Sharon’s blog covers just about everything you need to know about writing for the web and running a freelance writing business.

Plan HQ – create a working business plan online and achieve your goals.

Organized Writer – tools designed for the business of writing – articles, blogs, research links, and marketing tips.

Where to Look for Writing Jobs

There are a number of websites and newsletters that feature writing jobs for subcontractors and freelance writers. You may need to weed through a number of job offers that are offering ridiculously low pay for your hard work – but don’t get discouraged. There ARE many opportunities hidden among the low-paying gigs and many writers have built full-time incomes around writing for online clients. Here is a list of sites to start your search for writing work:

• All Freelance Writing
• Freelance Daily
• Freelance Writing Gigs
• ProBlogger
• Craigslist
• Demand Studios
• Suite101.com
• About.com
• Freelance Switch
• Media Bistro
• Online-Writing-Jobs
• Poewar
• Wahm.com
• Writejobs.com
• Writerfind.com
• Writers Weekly
• Helium
• Blue Mountain Arts
• Freelance Jobs

Writing for the Web

Online writing jobs are everywhere you look, and many professional writers are turning to internet writing to increase their income. Writing for online markets is a little different from writing for traditional publications. Here are some tips for developing a style of writing that is preferred on the web:

Copyblogger – Copyblogger helps you get more traffic to your website or blog, increase newsletter subscribers, attract links to your site and sell with words.

Handbook of Journalism – Reuters “handbook of journalism” isn’t only useful for professional journalists. Web writers can benefit from their ethical journalism tips, too.

Dana Prince – Comprehensive resource for freelance writers, with many topics focused on writing for the web.

Useit.com – Terrific article about how to write for the web, because it’s absolutely different from writing for offline sources!

iStock Photo – Often bloggers and online writers are asked to include copyright free images with their work. You can purchase images from istockphoto.com inexpensively and ensure you are using copyright-free images on all of your work.

Public Domain Photos – all photographs on this site are part of the public domain and can be used for any purpose, including commercial – making them perfect for including on blogs and any other online writing assignment that requires images.

Content Strategy – All inclusive tips for writing for the web, whether writing for clients or writing for your own website.

Website Tips – Tutorials and tips for writing web- based content.

Copyscape – an online tool that checks for plagiarism.

SEO Tutorial - An online tutorial that gives you all the basics of search engine optimization. All online writers should have at least a basic understanding of how SEO works; the more you know the more valuable you are to your internet clients.

Software and Tools to Increase Efficiency

Serious writers need tools and software to help organize their business and increase efficiency. Whether you’re running a one-person writing service or have a team of 20 writers, the tools and software in this section will help you manage your business:

Basecamp HQ – Online project management software lets you set up deadline milestones, to-do lists, individual projects (or clients). You can allow your clients to access their projects, and manage multiple writer schedules through the intuitive online interface.

ProjectTurf – Web based project management software with discussions, calendars, task lists and more.

Blinksale – Easy and inexpensive way to invoice clients with professional looking online invoices. You can accept paypal or credit card as payments.

Mind42 – Mind Mapping tool. You can use it alone or with other writers to formulate ideas.

Open Office – OpenOffice.org is like Microsoft Office, except it’s free.

Paypal – Easy method to accept payments from clients. You need a regular bank account to link your Paypal account to, but you can accept credit cards, debit cards, and paypal payments.

Writeboard – Online tool that makes it easy to collaborate with other writers online.

Mozy – Don’t let your hard work go to waste! You need to back up your writing regularly to protect your files from accidental deletion or disaster. This is an affordable online backup service with plans for individuals or multi-users.

To Do – Online to do lists to keep you on track.

Paymo – Online time tracking tool perfect for writers who bill by the hour, or for keeping yourself on a time schedule.

Client Scribe – Web based application that helps you keep track of your customers, contact information, and all communication between you and your clients.

88 Miles – Time tracking tool that lets you keep track of time spent on multiple projects, and on screen timers to show how much time you’ve put in.

Writers Communities, Forums, and Groups

Writing can be lonely. Participate in online communities, forums and groups designed for writers and not only will you relieve some of the loneliness, but learn from people who are also writing for a living:

Backspace – Backspace is “the Writer’s Place”. An online community for writers, and one of WritersDigest.com’s 101 Best Sites for Writers, more than a third of the members of Backspace have been published. Some are even on the New York Times Best Sellers List. Some of the members are agents.

Writers Digest - WritersDigest.com is a little of everything for writers. Learn to write better from their many articles and tips; participate in their discussion groups and forums and learn from other writers.

Internet Writing Workshop – Email discussion lists and opportunities to have your writing critiqued by other writers.

Absolute Write – AbsoluteWrite.com’s forums are a good place to meet other freelance writers, bloggers, screenwiters and novelists.

Freelance Writing Organization, International – Freelance Writing Organization, International. One Of The World’s Largest, Free, Online Writing Resource Sites

Freelance Writing Gigs - Excellent online community for writers with job listings and informative articles about writing, and the business of writing.

Freelance Folder- Community for all types of freelancers, includes forums, an informative and well-written blog, and job boards.

Writing Career – Everything you need for turning writing into a career.

Writers FM – Radio station for writers by writers.

Freelancers’ Union – National membership for all freelance workers.

Make Money From Writing Community – Online community where you can start a free blog, and interact with other writers who want to make money from their writing.

Sometimes things just seem to get lost in translation. To help illustrate this point we’ve made a tool that will take any English phrase and translate it to French, German and back to English using the translation tool from BabelFish. Usually you end up with something quite different than you started with. Go ahead and try it out.

You’ll get better results if you avoid contractions and abbreviations

Here are some common phrases, quotes and song lyrics we’ve “translated” with this tool. See if you can guess what they are.

Did you find a funny translation of your own? Share it with us, post a comment. Oh, and you’ll be happy to know that at ReliableWriters, all of our writers live in the US and speak English as their first language.

Just to Help Drive the Point Home

Thank you to Garden Wall Publications for sharing this video in their post The LiverWorst Spoiler in the Whale Wide Word.

1. Good Content Attracts Good Sites

One of the methods for building a successful web site is to find ways to encourage other successful websites to link to yours. If you have a website full of articles that can be found on every other website in your niche area, chances are you aren’t going to get many links to your site. On the other hand, if you’ve got quality content that is unique to your site – other good sites in the industry are going to link to you from their own site in order to provide their visitors with another valuable resource.

2. Good Content Gives You Better Search Engine Rankings

Search engines look at how many incoming links your website has when deciding your position in the search listings. If the incoming links your site has come from authoritative and credible sites within your industry, they’re going to carry more weight than the hundreds or thousands of links you might be able to obtain through link exchange programs.

Having good content on your website will improve your search engine rankings and increase the amount of traffic you have coming to your site.

3. Good Content Encourages Repeat Visitors

Some people focus on filling their website with articles having their keyword phrases used in every other sentence, to entice search engines to put them in a more prominent position in the search listings. What happens when a real person tries to read those keyword-stuffed articles? Most of the time, an article written with the focus on keywords will not read well to a “real person” and you’ll lose that website visitor. If the content you offer on your website doesn’t offer anything of value to your visitors, it really doesn’t matter if your site is in the first page of search engine results, does it?

Keeping good content on your website takes more effort than simply filling it with quick, keyword-stuffed articles, but it’s necessary to offer your readers information they find valuable. When website visitors learn something from the content on your site, you become the expert on the topic and chances are, your site visitors will bookmark your website to return to again and again.

4. Good Content Keeps Visitors On Your Site Longer

In addition to giving your readers a reason to return to your site to find out more information, having good content also keeps visitors on the site longer. The longer people spend on your website, the more likely they are to click on advertisements and sponsored links which result in revenues for your website.

5. Good Content Improves Sales Conversions

If you have a website that sells products or services, having good content on the site will go a long way toward improving your sales conversions. Not only can good content be in the form of sales copy; but the rest of your website can also encourage sales simply by being well researched, well written, informative, and help the reader experience the product or service you’re trying to sell. If you can make an emotional connection between the reader and the product or service, you’ll see a spike in sales.
Having well written content makes you more credible. Being more credible on a website that tries to sell products or services will result in web visitors who are more likely to buy your products and services.

Well, it’s not hard if you are looking for writers – you’ve found us.  Right here.  Hey, we didn’t call ourselves reliable writers just for the heck of it.  The writers working behind the scenes of ReliableWriters.com have made hundreds of clients happy over the years by providing high quality writing projects… on time.  They even know a little something about how to use internet content to bring visitors to your website – because after all, what good is it having great articles and web content if there is no one stopping by your site to read it?

In case you’re not yet familiar with content marketing and how you can use it to promote your website, you should grab our RSS feed or bookmark this blog to visit later because we’ll share what we know with you.  Sure, we’re taking a chance.  You could learn all there is to know about article distribution and blog carnivals and content marketing and run away and do it yourself – but we think once you understand how these things work, you’ll still want to hire us to help you with it all to make sure it gets done consistently and on schedule.   We’re real reliable like that… but you don’t have to take our word for it.  Go ahead, order something and test out our content writers for yourself.  You know you want to.