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Home Business Idea: Start a Ghostwriting Business

November 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

writing your first articleBeing a ghostwriter is a dream come true for many. If it’s your dream too, then you’ll want to take several important steps to succeed. Here’s how to set up your ghostwriting business for lasting success.

Step #1 – Create your website. Your website is an extension of you. It should accurately represent your personality, your business vision and mission and your services. It also needs to sell your services, and that means a bit of copywriting. What benefit do you offer your prospects? What value do you have to offer?

Consider what information you want on your website. Do you want an about page? Do you want to list your rates? What about a form to fill out to place an order? Do you need frequently asked questions? Testimonials and endorsements? Samples?

Step #2 – Speaking of samples, your clients are likely going to want to review your work. You can accomplish this in several ways. You can list links to your work on your website. You can provide samples on your website or you can simply provide samples when a prospect asks for them. Another option is to offer a free report for prospects to download. This can accomplish two things: marketing and providing a sample of your writing work.

Step #3 – Establish your rates. How much are you going to charge? Establish your rates in advance. This is important because you’ll want to be able to quote consistently. Additionally, you can post your ‘general’ rates on your website.

Step #4 – Establish policies and procedures. Like your rates, you’ll want to establish your policies and procedures. You may also want to publish these on your website. At the very least, you’ll want to send them to your prospects when they inquire about hiring you.

For example, do you require a deposit? If so, how much? How long does it take you to complete a project? How do you accept payment? Do you use projects in your samples? What’s your confidentiality policy? Knowing the answers to these questions and having them established will set your prospect’s mind at ease.

Step #5 – Financials. How are you going to collect payment? How are you going to record income and expenses? You’ll likely need a bank account for your business, along with a method for clients to pay online. For example, PayPal accepts checks, credit cards and bank transfers.

There are a number of steps to setting up a ghostwriting business. Make sure to take care of them thoughtfully. They’ll help set the foundation for a successful and long-lasting business. However, once they’re established, you can focus on doing what you love – writing!

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Home Business Idea – Be an Online Writer

November 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Many people aspire to live the writer lifestyle. It’s easy to understand why. You can control your work hours, take on clients and projects that you want and take a vacation or a day off when you need to. There’s a lot of freedom when you’re an online writer.

Once your business is established and you’ve planned ahead so your finances are in order, it’s a great way to make a living.

The same people who aspire to become online writers are sometimes unsure if they can. The honest truth is that if you have a desire and a commitment to make a living as an online writer, you can do it.

Here’s why:

You don’t need formal writing education to be a successful online writer.

Online writing is different than many other forms of writing and many of them are not taught in school. For example, blogging was never taught in school. It may be now, but you still don’t need a degree to blog. Additionally, your clients have a variety of purposes for their content. They may want to entertain. They may want to inform. They may want to attract search engines or sell products. A formal education may help you learn how to help your clients reach their goals. However, you can learn the same thing online or by reading a book from the library.

Everything you need to learn about being an online writer can be learned online. So if you have a desire to learn about becoming an online writer, you can do it.

Most of the content found online is conversational.

Conversational content is content that is written as if you’re talking to someone. You use words like “you” and “you’re” when you’re writing. Other common forms of online content include lists, tip sheets, fact sheets, reviews, comparisons and how to articles. If you can talk and format a list, then you can write online content.

Do you have a desire to own a successful business?

One of the most important aspects of being a successful online writer isn’t necessarily your writing skills. They do matter of course, but equally important is your professionalism. This includes your ability to meet a deadline, to provide the content your client is asking for and to be a clear and effective communicator. If you have the desire and passion to offer the best writing service possible, then you can be an online writer.

If you’d like to live the writer’s life and make a living as an online writer, you can do it. The dream is within your reach. Learn all you can about building a business. Consider choosing a specialty, brush up on your writing skills and get started.

Resources for further study:


Content Rich: Writing your Way to Wealth on the Web, by Jon Wuebben

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How to Be a Ghostwriter – Five Essential Tips

November 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

writing your first articleGhostwriting can bring with it a rewarding lifestyle.

You have the freedom to work when it suits you. You get to work with wonderful clients. And you’ll be able to learn new things each and every day and focus on a skill you enjoy.

But you should know that, as a ghostwriter, competition can be difficult, and breaking into ghostwriting provides some challenges.

Here are the top five tips to break into ghostwriting.

Tip #1 – Focus on a niche. A niche is a specialty. As a ghostwriter, a niche can help you establish credibility and authority. Your niche can be a topic, for example “parenting,” or your niche can be a format like articles or blog posts. A niche will also help clients find you. They may search online for “parenting blog writers.” If you’ve established yourself and created a website around that niche, they’ll find you.

Tip #2 – Remember customer service. One of the most important aspects of being a ghostwriter doesn’t have anything to do with writing. It’s your customer service. This means professional communication, reliability, timeliness and of course a professional approach to requests, revisions and feedback. You’re providing a service to a customer – if they have a good experience they’ll recommend you to others.

Tip #3 – Network. Breaking into ghostwriting can be simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time. In order to create more opportunities, you may want to network online and off. The more people who know about your service, the more opportunities you’ll come across.

Tip #4 – Price competitively. There are a number of ghostwriters who seem to write for next to nothing. And there are those who charge ten times what the market demands. Your job is to price yourself competitively. You want people to be willing to pay to try out your services and sometimes that means working for a little less than you’d like – especially in the beginning. Know that you can raise your rates once you’re established. You might even consider doing some work on spec. It can pay off handsomely.

Tip #5 – Brag. Often writers are introverts. They also struggle with confidence. Half the time they think they’re an amazing writer and the other half of the time they think everything they write is the worst ever. However, in order to instill confidence in your clients you’re going to need to at least fake it. Don’t hesitate to list your writing accomplishments, credentials and experience.

Breaking into ghostwriting isn’t difficult. It takes a plan, a commitment to succeed and the willingness to go out and market yourself. Trust that you’ll soon have a full schedule, wonderful clients and you’ll be living the life you’ve always dreamed of: the writer’s life.

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Product Recommendation: Writing Rituals

March 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Review from: AMCMom

Where to buy: www.writingrituals.com/

Writing block is a phenomenon that every writer/author experiences at some time or another. It is the inability to produce new and exciting documents, articles, blogs, ebooks or non-fiction books.

Writing Rituals will teach you how to clear your mind, focus and pull together new ideas and research. Learn how to visualize the outcome, so you know where you are heading with your book or article and don’t lose momentum or the storyline. The book also teaches you the importance of having all the information on hand before starting your writing task and how to get through procrastination.

The book is for every writer who wants to adopt professional writing skills to increase productivity and focus and create well-written copy.

For more information, go to www.writingrituals.com.

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