Article Writing for (some) Fun and (some) Profit!

Hey gang.  Been doing it to it, and neglecting the blogging. Try not to faint!

So what’s new? Article Writing is where it’s at currently. For some clients, I seem to be doing more internal, opinion-leader marketing articles.  Mostly it’s stuff I know little about. It is, however, a useful an exercise in research and sounding like I know what I am talking about. YOU be the judge, Judgy McJudgington!  Check out:

• Investing Wisely in Social Media for your Business
• Location Based Social Networking
• 5 Easy Tips for an Effective Business Blog
• Five MORE Tips for Better Business Blogs
• 5 Sins of Web Writing
• A “Big 3” of Web Design Best Practices

In other areas of the article biz, it’s the Charleston Local Flavor website I work for. Here, there are two exercises: I must write entertaining, informative articles while tempering my natural sarcasm, and also find things interesting enough to blog about – while playing up the sarcasm! AND, I must find enough Charleston happs to tweet about 5 times a week.  It can be a chore, but it is currently the thing I am enjoying most.  Check out:

The PremiereCharleston.com Blog (from 10/01/09 to the present)

Articles:

• The Secret is Out: Charleston is a Top Wedding Destination!
• History and Vitality: Charleston’s Gibbes Museum of Art
• Romance in the Holy City
• Upper King Street: A Bit of Everything Charleston Has to Offer!
• Boeing Associates Find Plenty to Love in Charleston SC
• 2009 Holiday Activities and Events in Charleston SC
• Your Charleston Family Physician: Medical Care for the Entire Family
• Downtown Charleston FYI: Home Price Ranges
• Downtown Charleston Living: Charleston at its Most Authentic!
• Buying a Home in Charleston? Take Stock of Your Life!
• Charleston’s Unexpected Dining Diversity
  
• Outdoor Weddings with Charleston, SC Charm

So, that’s the happs, groovy people. If you need an article written, give yo boy a holla!

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Mmmm…Free Samples!

There are at least 10 new web samples on the (wait for it…) Web Samples page. Can you pick the new ones out of the 30-or-so on the page? Would it kill you to try?  Web Writing Examples.

Also, I added a link on the Video Writing Samples page to the Veterans Administration Tribute Videos I produced. Go there! Aloha.

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Double or Nothing

Ah, the things a Charleston copywriter does these days to keep the checks coming!

This tale is about “these times” and the strength of professional relationships. First, these times. What can we say? By every objective economic measure, these times suck. It is all around us – people out of work, underworked or underpaid. And yet, as I said a while back, I keep chugging along. Not setting the world on fire by any means, but staying busy – and staying Thankful.

Then, a regular client comes to me with a proposition. A relative of his is a Realtor here in Charleston. He is representing a seller with about 500 acres of land in Manning SC. This is a large hunting property with many improvements where you can annihilate deer, doves, ducks and turkeys by day, while enjoying the amenities of a handsome new 4-bed, 2-bath cabin by night. If you know anything about hunting properties (and I do not,) you know that this is a rarity.

Of course, times being what they are, the sellers can’t sell as quickly as they would like. They want to sell, the Realtor wants his commission, so what do they do? Well, the Realtor turns to his cousin/uncle/whatever who runs a website development firm here in Charleston. This property needs a well-designed, well-written and well- optimized website – better designed, written and optimized than is currently affordable. The proposal is as follows: if we sell, I will pay you double. If we do not, it’s free.

The web dude agrees, but only if he can get his trusted designer – and his trusted writer (me) – to go along with it. So, I have a choice. It’s not like I need any more practice writing Real Estate. Since I moved to Charleston, I have done plenty. And, will this property ultimately sell? Who knows?

For me, it all turned on the professional relationship with the web dude. I asked myself, what would make me comfortable with the possibility of not being paid for my work? And the beginning, middle and end of the story is that I trust the guy. Of all my clients, I have precisely two that I would trust with this sort of arrangement.

I guess the point is that, despite the economic conditions, you ALWAYS have a choice who you work with. And it isn’t always about money. I have clients I have known for 20 years who take their sweet-ass time paying me, and I have clients I have known for about a minute who are my fastest pays.

I don’t want this to seem like a tortured decision process that took days…I trusted the guy, and I agreed. And I agreed to do my best work, fully aware that I may not get paid.

So I invite you to check out the site, and judge for yourself. Does this look like a guy doing a favor for his nephew, and dragging his begrudging web buddies along for the ride? Deep Creek Land for Sale.

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