Today, I want to talk a bit about the design of your blog. If you do not have a blog this post may not pertain to you. But even then, there is a good chance that you will be starting one in the near future. One of the biggest mistakes you can make when starting a blog is spending too much time worrying about your design. I am guilty of doing this at times, but have found that it is a waste of my time for the most part.
As you may remember, I used a basic template for this blog for many months. Even though it was not a unique design, I achieved solid results. The point of this is that you do not want to let your lack of design skills, or a unique design, hold you back from starting and/or growing your blog. I have several other blogs in addition to this one, and I have learned over the years that spending a lot of time on design work upon getting started is a big mistake. Sure, you may want to get this out of the way so you can move on but don’t forget about the real power behind your blog: your content. Your blog could have the best design in the world, but if you don’t offer quality content you are going to struggle to gain traction.
I am no different than most of you guys and gals. There are some design elements of my blog that I would like to change, but since they are not major components I keep them on the back burner for the most part. In my opinion, getting caught up with small details will keep you from the big picture. In turn, you will begin to lose focus and your blog will stray off the path that you want to follow.
As long as your blog’s design is clean and offers a good format for your content you should continue to forge ahead. In the future, when you have a defined path and an established base, you should then begin to think about a unique design that is better suited to your wants and needs.Â
Many people are under the impression that they should only discuss business with their freelance writing clients. This is true to a certain extent, but you should also remember that your clients can be friendly on a personal level as well. Even though I am not good friends with any of my freelance writing clients, I do speak with some of them on the phone from time to time and thoroughly enjoy doing so. Sure, we speak a lot about work but at the same time other things come up such as sports, travel, etc.
You cannot become friends with a client overnight. This is something that comes after many months or years of working together. After all, you have to learn a lot about somebody, and speak to them often, before you can really get to know them. I have found that it is much easier to spark up a “personal†relationship with a client by speaking to them on the phone. Email communication is fine, but this is far from personal.
Of course, you need to be careful that you do not cross any lines. You can be friends with clients, but you don’t want this to put a damper on your business relationship. If this is a problem that you have had in the past, you may want to distance yourself in the future to ensure that it does not happen again.
Over time you may begin to develop a personal relationship with business clients. There is nothing wrong with this in most cases. In fact, it is a great way to make new friends while also giving yourself the chance to break up the loneliness of being a freelance writer.Â
There are many businesses that take a lot of money to start up and sustain. Fortunately, freelance writing is not one of them. There are definite costs involved with being a freelance writer, but none that should scare you away from moving forward. Even though I spend money here and there, there are not any expenses that are so large that they hold me back.
You will spend the most money when starting your freelance writing career. This is particularly true if you have to purchase new equipment such as a computer, printer, desk, etc. If you already have all these items you should use them as opposed to buying new. Minimizing your expenses as a new freelance writer is very important, and using equipment that you already have is a great way of doing so.
Of course, this does not mean that you will never spend money once you are established. In fact, I spent quite a bit last year on my business but most of the expenses were not 100 percent necessary. For instance, I spent several thousand dollars on design and coding work for my blog and other projects. I could have avoided these expenses, but in the long run they will help to better my business and increase my income.
While you will spend money as a freelance writer, this industry does not call for large sums in order to stay above water. Once you have the proper equipment and an idea of how to control your career you can keep your expenses to a minimum. In turn, this means more money in your pocket. And that is what you want, right?Â
