Jobs Scheduling Tips for Internet Writers

One of the hardest jobs for internet writers is not the actual writing of internet articles. It is scheduling time to do their internet writing. That, in itself, is a full-time job. Many internet writers do not think about "jobs scheduling." They write when they can and never give it a second thought. Although that method can work, there are better ways that will allow internet writers to manage their time more effectively. These are just a few tips that will give you some scheduling solutions to your scheduling problems:

• Job Scheduling Software -There are many different types of job scheduling software available. Most are not designed for freelance writers, but can still be used for your internet writing. Job scheduling software can help you with all sorts of time management issues you may be having.

• Blocks of Time -Consider scheduling your internet writing in blocks of time. With this method, it is not necessary to schedule your online writing for the same time each day. Internet writers can "block" specific time periods throughout the week for their writing. This option works great for stay-at-home moms and students who are making extra money with their internet writing because it can be modified to fit into variable schedules.

• Project Scheduling -Internet writers can also schedule their time according to the different projects they are working on. This allows internet writers to allow themselves a specific amount of time for their different writing sites, blogs and private clients. When scheduling with this method, be sure to allow enough time for the different projects - keeping in mind that different projects will need specific amounts of time to finish. Project scheduling software is available to help you with any scheduling and time management issues.

• Snatch and Grab Scheduling -"Snatch and grab scheduling" is just as it sounds. Whenever you have spare time, you can do your internet writing. This form of scheduling requires the most amount of discipline. Without a set schedule, it can be difficult to find the time to write. However, internet writers who have full-time jobs, families and other commitments may find this works best for them.

• Other Scheduling Software - Keep in mind there are several different types of scheduling software that can help you with time management. In addition to job scheduling software and project scheduling software, internet writers can also use work schedule software, service scheduling software and time schedule software. Almost any of them can be modified to help internet writers with scheduling.

No matter what form of jobs scheduling you decide on, it is important that all internet writers have and maintain some sort of a schedule. Once internet writers have developed a schedule for their internet writing, it becomes easier to write and meet all deadlines. Remember to schedule your internet writing for when you will be "in the mood" to write and when you feel the most creative. This will help you be able to stick with your schedule and get the most of the time you have for your internet writing.

Tips for Adding Links to Your Internet Writing

Links are necessary to help you with gaining page rank and being indexed by search engines. Links are major part of great SEO, something every writer must educate themselves about and apply to their internet articles. These are just a few tips I have picked up along the way:

• Over-Linking -  It is possible to "over-link" your internet articles. Many readers will assume you are "handing over" your authority to another source or you do not have adequate information on the topic. Always maintain your authority as an internet writer and have enough information for your internet article.

• Under-Linking -  It is also possible to not link your work to other internet sites. You should include as many links as possible to increase your SEO and page rank without cluttering your internet articles with tpo many links. What is the right amount? It depends on the internet article, the length of that article and the topic.

• Anchor Text for Links - "Anchor text" is the exact words used in the hyperlinks in your internet article. As I mentioned in a previous post about using links to your advantage, I suggested you avoid using the standard "link here" as your anchor text. Use the keywords of your internet article as often as possible for the hyperlinks. The anchor test should always be relevant to where the link leads.

• Link Placement -Link placement is also important to SEO, page rank and getting indexed by searched engines. Search engine spiders scan internet articles, paying close attention to the first paragraph. Place a few of your links with the keyword anchor text in the beginning of your work. Add some to the body of your internet article and then at the conclusion of the article. Remember that you want readers to remain on your internet article as long as possible. Use links to your other internet work in the first paragraph, saving the links that will take your reader away from you internet article for the end.

• Appropriate Links -All of the links that you use should be appropriate for you internet article. When writing about gardening, you wouldn't use a link that would take your reader to a meatloaf recipe. You should try to avoid linking your internet article with another article that will dispute, disagree or disprove your work. This also undercuts your authority as a writer.

These tips will help you with your links. Give them a try and see how they work for you and your internet article. It is my goal, as always, to help you get indexed with search engines and increase your SEO and page rank.

Blog Layout and Design

After my blog hopping adventures, I had to take some time to fully comprehend all of the different blog layouts and designs available to a blogger. I realized long ago that the layouts were almost limitless, but I had no idea how people were using those layouts and designs. These bloggers were using their creativity and imaginations to benefit themselves and shoot themselves in the foot. There is only one rule that bloggers should always follow - "Think like a reader." These are just a few tips that will help bloggers think like a reader:

• Purpose of My Blog - Consider the purpose of your blog when you are deciding on the layout and design. Are you sharing valuable information? Are you wanting to entertain your readers? Are promoting specific products and services? All of these will determine how you layout and design your blog.

• Follow the Eyes - Consider how the eyes of your readers will move across your blog. As a blogger, you will want the most important aspect of you blog to "grab" your readers attention immediately. Remember that as your readers' eyes wander around your blog, so will their minds. A blogger should also place important information at the last place the reader will look.

• KISS - "KISS" stands for "Keep it simple, Sutton." This isn't as easy as it sounds. With so many widgets, gadgets and other options available to a blogger, it is hard to keep it simple. A great rule to follow is to do all you can as blogger to keep your reader on your blog as long as possible. Bloggers want their readers to stay on their blog as long as possible and not visiting other sites.

As a blogger, you need to pay close attention to the colors and design you use on your blog. Bright stripes and pretty polka dots will grab a reader's attention. They can also be distracting and make your blog difficult to read. Keep your blog as professional-looking as possible, even if your blog is about the least professional of topics. Color combinations should be simplified and easy to ride. They should inviting to all readers.

Avoid cluttering you blog with non-essentials. This is especially true of gadgets that will take your reader away from your blog. Is it necessary to have the number of visitors your blog gets posted? Do you need newsreels and slideshows of photos you haven't personally taken? All of this may distract your reader from you internet content - the reason you want you people to visit your blog.

As a blogger, you need to always think like a reader. Create a blog that is geared to the reader and is easy for the reader to use. Always keep in mind, as an internet writer and blogger, you want your readers to remain on your blog as long as possible without being lured away to other sites or distracted with unnecessary clutter.

Blogs or Websites - Which is Best?

Internet writers have several different ways to present their internet articles to the world. I've mentioned different writing websites in the past that will publish your work and pay you for it. However, they take "their cut" of your earnings. That is the main reason I prefer having blogs and website. Of those two, blogs and websites, which is best for the internet writer?

The answer to that depends on the writer and the purpose of the blog and/or website of the internet writer. There are pros and cons to both that much be weighed carefully before making a decision. As with everything here, I really on my experience and the experience of other internet writers that I trust. This is my take on the blogs or websites debate:

Blogs work well for niche writers who have narrowed down their niche to something quite small. My standard example is gardening...A blog works great for a niche writer who writes about their garden. It is a small topic that can be written about for years. Pages are limited on blogs so the internet writer can dedicate specific pages to their flower garden, their vegetable garden and their herb garden. Links can be added to your niche blog that will take your readers to your internet articles on writing sites.

Websites work well for niche writers who have a broader niche. An internet writer who writes about rose gardens or gardens that do well in certain areas would benefit from having a website instead of a blog. There is more "room" to expand on the topic. Pages can be created for specific types of roses and then "sub-pages" can be created for the care of each of those roses, where they grow best and other information. Links can be added that will take your visitors to other internet articles you have written.

Blogs work well for non-niche internet writers, especially those wanting to promote their internet articles on writing sites. The "Day In the Life of" blogs are excellent for building links to the internet articles you want to promote. Websites are difficult for non-niche internet writers to write copy for. Don't even think of copy - try to find a URL and title for your non-niche website. It is probably hard to even know where to begin.

Websites and blogs work well together. My website, Travels Oklahoma, has a "companion blog" that goes with it. My website is the "business side." I write about all the wonderful places to visit in Oklahoma. My blog, which has the same name, is the "personal side." I write about my personal experiences as I travel Oklahoma. I provide links between my website and blog to my readers can see both the business and personal sides of traveling in Oklahoma.

Blogs are a full-time job. You must post several times each week to attract more followers and readers. You must also do this to stay on the first page of search engines and increase your page rank. Do you have the time every week to devote to a blog? A blogger's job is never done. There is always another post to write and more links to create.

Website can be difficult to create, much harder than many blogs. You must decided if you will have the skills to create a website. I recommend OfficeLive. They are economical (an annual fee instead of monthly) and their support staff is great if you have problems creating your website. The good news is that once your create your website, it is done. You will need to go back to add information and tweaking, but the website is finished. You will need to create links to your website to increase traffic and it's page rank.


Do you want to know about the money? I know that money is often deciding factors in whether to go with a blog or website. There are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to the money you could potentially make.

Blogs can be more difficult to monetize. There is limited space and you don't want your blog to be covered in ads. Blog hosting sites may limit the type of ads or number of ads you can place on your blog. Some do not allow you to monetize your blog. Be sure to read all the fine print before you decide which blog host to go with.

Websites can be easier to monetize. You have several pages where you can place ads. Usually, you can use as many different ad programs as you like. Of course, you want to make sure those ads do not interfere with your copy. Affiliate programs, such as LinkShare, have large, bold ads that looks best on websites.

Blogs are usually free and websites come with a monthly or annual fee. I suggest that you start with a free blog. If your blog earns enough to cover the fees of having website, you can always create a website based on your blog.


Once again, I have made things as clear as mud. There are so many variables to consider that each internet writer must think long and hard before making a decision between having a blog or a website. They both have wonderful attributes and disheartening drawbacks. Decide which is best for you and run with it.

ClickBank - Keyword Experimentation

As an internet writer, I am always looking for new ways to improve my internet writing, my blogs and my income. Because of this, I have tried all sorts of things. Some worked and some have failed miserably. That is why I say I have a "Ph.D from the School of Hard Knocks." I am currently doing some keyword experimentation now that may help and I wanted to share it with you.

As I hope you didn't notice, I have added ClickBank ads to Keyword Crazy. I had heard of it and even did a little research a while back, but never did anything with it. I revisited ClickBank and decided now was the time to give it a try. There are a few reasons I felt this was the best time for me to add ClickBank to my blogs:

• Keywords - I love that fact that ClickBank lets you select the keywords for your ads. Unlike other ad programs whose ads "follows" my readers, ClickBank has ads that are based on my keywords instead of the habits of my readers. It makes a great mix, in my opinion. I love that ads my readers are interested in will show up on my blogs and I also love that ads about what I am writing about also will appear on my blog. I truly believe by mixing those two ways of advertising, my earnings will increase.

• Easy to Add - Adding the ClickBank ads to my blogs was fairly easy. I didn't worry about colors or sizes when I created the ads on the Clickbank website. I copied and pasted the code "as is" directly to the blogs. I then tweaked the colors and sizes to match my blogs and the columns. I tried making the codes perfect on their website, but fixing them on my blogs was easier for me. Hey - whatever works for best the individual is the only way to go. I also "labeled" my ClickBank ads and made them appear different from the ads I have on my blogs That is due to the terms of service of the other ad programs I use.

• Earning Potential - From the information on ClickBank's website, the commission for a sale can be as high as 75%. That exact percentage will vary from product to product, but I like the idea of 75% being a possibility. I also love the "payment threshold." You can chose a payout amount that ranges from $10 to $1,000,000. Seeing I am new to this, I chose a lower payout amount. Once the money starts pouring in (the power of positive thinking), I will raise my payout amount. I would prefer ClickBank deposited my earnings directly into my PayPal account, but a check will work almost as well.

I am giving this new ad program a three to six month "trial period." That should be enough time for me to know if my readers are interested in the ClickBank ads and if the ad program is profitable for me. During this trial period, I will be "swapping out" old ads with new ads with different keywords and rearranging them on my page to match the post they are closest to.

We will see how this works. It sounds great to me, but shoulder pads in the 1980s sounded good as well. As with everything I do - if something better comes along, I will go with that. As much as I would love to find "the perfect formula" to monetizing blogs and websites that will make all of us the most amount of money, I don't know what that formula is or if it even exists. Should I ever find it, I will be sure to pass it on to you.

Limiting Your Keywords

For internet writers, it is all about keywords. We need them to survive. Without keywords, search engines would not index our internet articles. We would not be able to have a great page rank. The SEO would sink. Internet writers would be writing for themselves - with few readers and little revenue. Despite the need for internet writers to use keywords, those keywords need to be limited. No, I'm not talking about keyword density. I am talking about too many keywords in an internet article.

An internet friend of mine recently asked, "How do we get 'win no fee,' 'Coffee AM,' and 'wrongful death attorney Los Angeles' in one article?" For the record, as of the date publication, the CPC for "win no fee" is $241.35; the CPC for Coffee AM is $127.73 and the CPC for "wrongful death attorney Los Angeles" is $73.73. She was joking, of course, but it did bring up an interesting topic - limiting the individual keywords in an internet article.

How do you do it? Well, you don't. Unless you are writing a schizophrenic internet article that is "all over the place." Instead, you would write three different internet articles. Each on of those articles would concentrate on of those keywords. Even though you could mix "win no fee" with "wrongful death attorney Los Anglees," your internet article would do better only one keyword.

I'm sure your thinking "But this blog post has lots of keywords in it." It has a few - keywords, internet writer and internet articles. However, my goal with my blog is to have it indexed according to several keywords. I am not particularly concerned with this one post being indexed. That is a luxury a blog has as opposed to one internet article.

The tip of the day is to limit your internet articles to one keyword and limit your blog to several similar keywords. This will help get indexed by major search engines, increase your page rank and the internet article's SEO. Please don't think of it as more work; think of it as helping with the quantity and quality of your work.

Ad Placement on Blogs

I just received an urgent email from a reader that I feel the need to address immediately. This internet writer was begging for my help.  This is what she wrote:

"Emma, I just started reading your blog and I am inspired to make money with my blog. I have over 1,000 followers and I get about ten new comments on my blog each day. I haven't made a penny off my blog because I am afraid to put ads on it. I've seen so many blogs that are all ads and I don't want to make that mistake. I don't know where to put the ads so they are seen and don't interfere with my posts. I think I could make money with my blog, but I don't want to mess it up. What do you suggest? Please help me."

It is wonderful that my reader has that many followers. It is even more wonderful she is receiving that many comments. She doesn't just have followers - she has readers! People are interested in what she has to say, so interested in her internet writing that they interact with her. It doesn't get much better than that. All we have to do now is get that blog to be profitable!

My first suggestion is to make your blog as large as possible. Adjust the widths of you blog to the maximum. This will give you more room for everything - copy, ads and the (must-have only) gadgets. Another part of enlarging your blog is to get rid of all the unnecessary gadgets and gizmos. As you are deciding which gadgets to get rid of, keep in mind you want to keep your readers on your blog for as long as possible. Any add-ons that take your readers elsewhere (unless it is to more your internet writing) should go. The links that you use to boost your page rank should be "buried" as deeply in your blog as possible.

My second suggestion is choose a lay-out that allow you get all of your ads "above the fold." "Above the fold" is an old newspaper term that means just what is says - information, ads, photos, whatever that is above the fold and seen without the reader needing to put forth any effort to see them. Obviously, blogs do not have folds. Instead, blogs have what I call "the scroll line" - the point where the reader must scroll down to read more of the page. You want the majority of your ads above "the scroll line" so they are easily seen.

As bloggers, we must think like a blog reader. Where will the reader look first? What will the reader be most interested in? Where will the reader "linger" on your blog? Those are the places where ads should placed without interfering with your copy. Ads placed at the bottom of the blog are less intrusive of all ads, but you must place your ads where they will seen. How often do you scroll down to the end, the very bottom, of the blog?

One of my pet peeves with blogs with ads is when those ads are bigger than the column where they have been placed. When you column is only 180 pixels wide, do not put an ad there that is 200 pixels wide. The ad will either be cut off and the reader can't get all the information or it will cover up your copy. Make sure your ads fit in the space available to them! Bigger isn't always better; match the size of blog ads with the "sections" of your blog. If you use small sections for your copy, use smaller ads to match the size of your copy. If you use large sections of your blog for copy, you should do the same with the ads on your blog.

Unlike children (throwing in some of my parenting philosophy), ads should be "seen and not heard." It is also my firm belief that ads should be "seen and not noticed." You want your ads to blend in as much as possible, to look like your copy. Contrasting colors for ads are almost a turn off to readers. They scream "Here I am! I am an ad!" It is also my personal preference that ads be "text only" instead of "image and text." Unless your blog contains a lot of photos and graphics, image ads can distract your readers.

The best thing you can do when adding ads to your blog is simply to play with the ad placement and see what looks best for your blog. Try different lay-outs that work well with your copy and will flow nicely. Ask friends and family which lay-out looks best. Pick a lay-out that you think will work and use it for a while (a week or so) to see if your ad revenue increases. If your revenue doesn't increase, try another lay-out. As much as I would love to give you a "map" to the best ad placement, it doesn't work that way. As with most things in life, trial and error will help you find what is best for you blog.

If you have any other questions about ad placement on your blog, please feel free to leave a comment with the link to your blog(s). I would be more than happy to take a look and give you feedback. I would also love for my readers to look at those blogs as well and share their ideas on improving the ad placement.