Archive for the ‘Web Content’ Category
Nov 12, 2009 Demand Studios, Freelance Advice, Web Content
Yesterday I posted a message on Twitter that I was all about new experiences. Contrary to popular belief, it was not anything dirty but was related to Demand Studios work. Demand Studios, the greatest freelance writing gig one could get accepted for, has several style guides and strict rules to follow. I have done How Does, About, Fact Sheet and Strategy styles for Demand Studios. The format I am most comfortable with is Strategy. Recently, most of my work has been Strategy articles. Yesterday I was brave enough to try something new; Quick Guide and List.
Demand Studios has over 100,000 titles to choose from in different style formats. Despite the variety, titles can get boring or all the good ones will be picked through. I decided to try something different both for experience but also for a chance to write about interesting subjects. It was scary but I tried my best…
Quick Guides are fairly new to Demand Studios. I attempted one months ago but their search function was broken. I searched for “water fountain” and got results that had nothing to do with water or fountains. Now that he issue is fixed, I can find relevant and interesting articles to include in my Quick Guide. I also found a picture that was both cute and relevant. The article was about non-profit organizations, so I picked a picture of a smiling kid. Then the search for articles began… so how do I choose what to include?
My non-profit organizations Quick Guide could have been done in a variety of ways, there was not anything specific the title asked for. So I figured that Overview, Abouts and How to information on non-profit would be helpful. I lined them up so that guide covered everything informative about non-profit organizations such as what they are or classifications of “not for profit”. I also included how to start a non-profit, about tax filings, exemptions and donations. Then I figured non-profit organizations always run fundraisers and accept donations, so I included information about that aspect as well. Overall, I found 15 relevant articles and wrote a quick overview. I like Quick Guide overviews because we have more freedom and flexibility. We can spice it up and make it sound really fun, while engaging the reader.
This morning my first Quick Guide was accepted and I received a very nice compliment. The editor found my article to be informative, helpful and even called it “excellent”. Trying and succeeding at something new felt inspiring.
My List article was a fun topic, but required research and more writing. List articles are different from Strategy, requiring little more in-depth and rigid information. I probably wrote more than what was required and explained in detail. The article was accepted however without a rewrite. I read it again this morning and it seems just fine. There was no “awesomness” or comments from my editor. I might try another List style today just to get familiar with that format.
Aug 22, 2009 Article Writing, Web Content
September is quickly approaching and I am making a list of several writing goals. It will be nice to look back at the end of September and see if I managed to accomplish everything I set out to do.
Associated Content: I am over 170,000 page views as of today, and would like to break 200,000 by the end of September. This should be fairly easy, as my account gets 10,000 to 20,000 views a month even without heavy publishing. I will need to put new articles in or a hot topic in order to get over 200,000.
Constant Content: For this website, I would like to have 4 articles uploaded on technology-related topics. This would be four written, proofread, uploaded and approved articles. The articles do not have to be sold immediately, but I would like them ready and in the system.
Bukisa: One more article on Bukisa published, no specific topic.
Demand Studios: This is the challenging one – 40-70 articles a week, consistently. I do 20 a week easily, but would like to see if I can get over 40 in a single week. As rewrite requests are possible, the articles have to be approved in order to be counted.
That should be it as of right now for September writing goals. If I can think of anything I’ll add it in.
Do you have any goals for September? What are you trying to achieve with writing?
Aug 19, 2009 Demand Studios, Web Content
Demand Studios just announced new changes to their plagiarism appeal process for articles that would automatically be flagged by their plagiarism detection search. In the old system, the checker would flag your article and send an automatic e-mail. You then had to reply to that same e-mail with the title of your article and explain that the article was not plagiarized.
The new system now automatically puts flagged articles in the queue for the editorial staff to check. You do not have to e-mail the editors anymore, they will e-mail you. If an article passed editorial plagiarism check it will be released to a copy editor immediately. However, if your article was plagiarized, an editor will contact you directly.
The rewrite rule is the same as before, your article will again go through a plagiarism check and it will be sent to the flagged queue. Again, you will not have to e-mail the editors they will manually review all flagged articles and approve.
I knew their plagiarism checker was faulty because I had it happen on a handful occasions, and it was always on health related articles. There is only so many ways to explain a symptom of a medical condition, of course it will be the same word found on another website. My articles always passed after an e-mail to the editors was sent, but it was annoying. I’ve had editors e-mail me and apologize for the flag as it was obviously in error. I’m glad they made this change, yet another great move by Demand Studios!
May 28, 2009 Associated Content, Web Content
I was looking over my list of article ideas, and thought about writing content targeted towards the local crowd. There are stories and events in every town, no matter how large or small the area may be. We live in a college town, but our community has local events that attract crowds from the East coast. Living close to Gettysburg helps too, considering the rich history and Civil War collectibles.
Someone over at Associated Content must have been reading my mind. I forgot to wear a tinfoil hat, so it’s my fault. AC has launched a “Local Content Drive”, with the main prize being a Sony Cybershot Digital Camera! The sweepstake will run today through June 30, and 14 random winners will be chosen on July 14th.
To enter, you have to publish local content using Associated Content’s “Local” template, found in the publishing system under City&Neighborhood. You can cover local news and events, or post business and restaurant reviews. Tourism, travel guides or community member profiles are also welcome.
I am very interested in publishing local content, as I have heard about positive results from other freelance writers. Last month, I got news that I won “runner up” in Associated Content’s “Green Contest”. The first prize was a Dell laptop, but a runner up prize is appreciated by me. I’ll soon receive an AC tote bag and notebook. I was especially excited about the news, as I had no idea that I was even in a “Green Contest”. Associated Content sometimes holds contests and considers all articles published in the contest time frame and in that specific category.
I did not see the contest announced on AC’s Official Blog, but I did receive the notification through a private message. Official contest rules can be found on AC’s sweepstake’s page.
Tags: advice, articles, Associated Content, contest, writing
