How to Make Money w/Ugly, Free Blog Designs

My blog design sucks. I know that. The design of my website sucks even more, as I've been told three times in the last two days. I know that too! Before I explain how to make money with ugly, free blog designs, let me tell you what inspired this post.

Copyblogger.com! My post there earlier in the week entitled, Where Have all the Freelance Writing Jobs Gone, started it all. Copyblogger is a megapopular blog for freelance writers. It has almost 45,000 subscribers to its RSS feed. Hence, it gets a lot of traffic.

And, apparently my site and blog just don't measure up. And ya know what -- I can't even get mad at those who wrote me to tell me so (they were all very nice) because it's true.

But, my ugly blog and website still make me money. And yours can too! How?

Don't let what you can't do slow you down. Obviously I'm a writer; not a web designer. My skills in this area are very limited. I'm a self-taught HTMLer, and this language is becoming about as old and staid as this presidential campaign has been long (sorry, could resist that!).

I need to move my sites into the 21st century (ie, wordpress). But, I don't know anything about cascading style sheets (CSS) and all the other stuff you have to know to work in wordpress. And, I don't have the time to learn right now. So, I keep working in what I know (HTML/FrontPage).

Is this limiting my growth and my income? For sure. BUT, not to the point (yet) that my business is not growing. AND, that's because I focus on what I do know how to do (write/market) -- instead of what I don't know (graphic design/programming).

Note: I already have a new site designed in wordpress and it's gorgeous! I can't wait to use it. But, I have over 300 pages that I have to migrate over. This means each page has to be redirected to its new page name. To pay someone to do this ranges from 3K to 7K according to the quotes I've gotten. And, that's just not in the budget right now.

So I plug away on my old site.

How to Know When It's Time to Bite the Bullet & Change

I'm the kind of person who has to be pushed into change -- especially when it comes to technology. My brain just can't seem to wrap itself around a lot of it. I find this particularly ironic since I'm sort of a tech writer (as in, knowing and understanding internet marketing technology, NOT programming/design).

But, I know it's time to make the switch. Following are some guidelines that signal when it's time to take the bull by the horns and implement change.

1. Your Peers Are Telling You So: Getting three comments in two days about how horrible my site is make me pause and go, "It's time." When well-meaning peers start telling you that you need to upgrade -- and doing it in groups no less! -- then it's probably time to change.

2. When You Know You Could Be Making More Money: Two of the three people who wrote in about my site practically begged me to change it because I was "leaving money on the table," so to speak.

And I know they're right.

3. When You Could Be Hurting Your Career: Your web presence says a lot about you. It's your face to the world, espeically in freelance writing b/c most of the time we never meet our clients.

I'm lucky in that I have long-time clients who refer me a lot, so I don't have to rely on my site to do so much selling for me. But, imagine what could happen if my site matched my reputation as a writer. Hmmm . . . can we say car paid off 1.5 years early instead of 6 mos to one year early.

4. You're No Longer Proud of Your Web Presence: When you dread logging onto your own site, then it's time to change. Looking at the new site design just sitting there waiting to be used made me drool the other day. Compared to my site now, it's like comparing Jimmy Choo sandals to Payless brands. The new site really is that gorgeous -- and the old one is that bad.

All of this made me realize that I have to carve out time to update all of my web presences (InkwellEditorial.com, InkwellEditorial.blogspot.com and SEO-Article-Writer.com (I'll be retiring SEO-Articles-For-Sale.com)). And, I have to do it sooner rather than later.

So by the new year, all of my websites will look 21st century slick. While the timing sucks, I realize that if I don't make time to do it, it'll be another 6 months to a year before I get around to it -- and that will never do.

Besides, I have some new services offerings, a new affiliate program and a revamped SEO writing company that I'm itching to market -- all of which I'd planned to have ready by the new year. So while the redesigns won't be easy, they will get done.

I heard you everybody, and thank you for taking the time to write in. I truly appreciate it.

120,000+ New Blog Readers? My Freelance Writing Jobs report got written up on Sitepoint.com. For those who don't know, this is a major tech site that gets over 120,000 visitors a day. And they'll all be eyeballing my ugy site (waaaggghhhhh!!).

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,
Yuwanda
Contact: info *at* InkwellEditorial.com
P.S.: Make money selling ebooks online. How? Sign up to our ebook affiliate program and get a cut of every ebook we sell.

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What's the Difference Between a Website and a Blog?

This post can now be found at
http://inkwelleditorial.com/whats-the-difference-between-a-website-and-a-blog. Same great content in a new home with a better design.

Will You Ever Make Money Blogging? Answer 1 Question to Find Out

In light of my recent blog debacle, I'm getting a new blog designed. Several people have written in asking me various questions about it. So I addressed them in today's post at BloggingTips.com.

One thing I want to say I've learned about getting a blog designed from scratch is that you have to put some thought into it. Choosing colors, layout and font type are all part of it. But, the most critical component to pay attention to when you're getting a blog designed from the ground up, so to speak, is purpose.

Do You Know Your Blog's Purpose?

As in, what purpose does your blog serve -- or would you like for it to serve. Every design decision you make should support this decision. Read more about it in How to Design the Perfect Blog for Your Business.

Also in this post is a link to a guest post I did which appeared on Meryl.net on Monday. It's all of the hard-learned lessons I gleaned from my recent blog troubles. That post is entitled
7 Things You Must Know Before Moving Your Blog.

Article Marketing Contest Update: No posts yesterday (will make up for the two I've missed so far by posting right through the weekend). I posted the article, How to Set SEO Writing Rates to Make $250-$500+/Day to Amazines today. Want to know more about article marketing? Click here.

Useful Freelance Writing Links
Get "How to Write from Home" Ebooks
Need to Drive Traffic to Your Website
Get Affordable Content for Your Website, Ezine, Etc.
Advice, Tips, Case Studies & More on Freelance Writing

Sincerely,
Yuwanda Black, Publisher
How to Start a Successful Freelance Writing Career Newsletter
P.S.: Want the liberty of working from home as a freelance writer in your PJs, getting assignments via the internet? Click here for more on How to Make $250+/Day Writing Simple, 500-Word Articles. All you need is a computer and an internet connection to get started.
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Freelance Success Stories! There are freelancers who make very good livings at what they love. Inkwell Editorial’s newsletter features these successful professionals who put to rest the phrase, “starving freelancer.”

Previous Issue. Spotlight on How to Make $75,000 to $100,000/Year as an SEO Writer. In this issue, I dispense the 8 keys to my success as an SEO writer. There are some definites that must gel to find success in this field. I outline them all here. And of course, it’s based on my own personal experience. Subscribe to read this, and all previous, issues.

Current Issue. Spotlight on Newbie Freelancers. Wanna learn how one freelancer landed enough clients to quit his job in just 12 hours? And, there's also some blog warning tips if you're looking to move your blog from one platform to another -- and more. Subscribe to read this, and all previous, issues.
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Copyright © 2008 InkwellEditorial.com: Freelance success stories, e-courses, advice on the business of freelancing, and more! Except where noted, no part of this site may be reproduced in any manner without the express, written consent of the publisher. Violators will be prosecuted.