If you are a military spouse or a stay at home mom and want to work from home as a freelancer, you should know about Rat Race Rebellion . Mike and Chris, the founders of StaffCentrix and RatRaceRebellion.com have been tirelessly working to help you find work from home opportunities and sifting through the scams. They pre-screen their job listings and weed out the scam artists to find several true, legitimate listings every single week. They list the latest job openings each week, but also have all their job listings categorized so you can troll through all the listings in your preferred field of expertise. There are tons of jobs listed in most categories so there is always plenty of jobs to choose from. RatRaceRebellion has been working with the military for several years.
"Christine Durst, founder of the Virtual Assistance industry, is co-founder and partner of Staffcentrix, a leading training and development firm providing virtual-careers training and resources to the US Department of State and the Armed Forces." (from the RatRaceRebellion.com website)
Michael Haaren, an Army vet, has an extensive background in law and entrepreneurship. He and Chris devote an enormous amount of time to helping the military in numerous ways, including finding opportunities for spouses to make an additional income, no matter where in the world they happen to be stationed. With Chris and Mike's site, many spouses have found lucrative, legitimate work from home careers and have found a whole new way to have their cake and eat it too.
Whether you are an accountant, a teacher, a research specialist, a paralegal, a graphic designer or a consultant, RatRaceRebellion has over 100 different categories of job listings. You may find you have an interest or expertise in more than one category, which give you that much more opportunity to find a job online that suits your individual needs.
As a freelance writer, there are numerous job postings on the ratracerebellion.com site that I have personally responded to with greater than expected results.
Be sure to find them on facebook and get on their weekly mailing list to receive all the latest news and info on work from home opportunities as well as getting the first shot at some of the listings!
Happy writing...
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Make More Money with Killer Headlines
When writing a piece for online publishing or for any hardcopy print mediums, it is of the utmost importance that your headline be effective. In today's highly over inundated society, advertisements find their way into an average person's life in more ways than ever. That means, each person has more streams of media to disseminate every single day. We are all subjected to TONS of advertisements on a daily basis and the mind can only handle so much of it. So, what does that mean for you? If you want your stuff to get read by other people, you have to first get their attention with your headline.
The headline is so important, in fact, you should probably spend the same amount of time concocting your perfect headline as you do with all the actual content writing for the piece on which you're working. In other words, if it takes you an hour to write a 500 word article then you probably should spend an hour making sure the headline will do it justice. In David Ogilvy's book Confessions of an Advertising Man, he states,
"On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy."
It's definitely true. I have witnessed this phenomenon first hand working in the advertising business for so long. So, it's important to know that the headline will determine if the person will continue to read the body of your article or not.
So what makes a good headline? Let's talk about that...
The way to make sure your headline will be effective is to make sure you talk directly to the person you want to target. All people want to know "what's in it for me?" or "why is this important to me?" If you don't give your reader a reason to read your content, then they surely won't. Give the reader a reason to stop and read your article.
Headlines that offer something to the reader are a sure-fire way to get and keep readers interested in what you have to say. Classics such as "How to" or "Top 5 Reasons You Can't Live Without" or "Best Kept Secrets" or "Introducing the New" are used over and over because they are some of the most effective headlines ever created. They offer something to the reader that makes them want to learn more.
When working on your headline, try to remember what it is you're offering to the reader. What's in it for them? One thing that many writers overlook when they write is the features vs. benefits rule. Features are all fine and good, but the benefit to the reader is what you need to focus on. When you think from the reader's perspective, find the elements in your article (features) and relate to the reader by showing what the feature can do for them. For example, if you are writing a story about adding fiber to your diet, you can use the benefits of adding fiber to your diet in your headline: "Lose Weight and Enjoy Life More with Healthy Fiber Choices." Simple. Just show the reader what the feature will do for them. Don't focus so much on the features...highlight what the features can do to improve their lives.
When talking about what makes a great headline, it's also important to point out what isn't a good headline. I love cute, catchy, funny, witty wordplay, but there's no room for that in writing effective headlines.You want to appeal to the reader, not your ego. Leave the cute witty wordplay for other fun-time activities because they will not get you the readership you want.
When writing headlines keep in mind that the object of the headline is to get the reader interested enough to read your content. The purpose of any headline should be to draw in the reader. If your headline doesn't do that, then it's just not effective. You must get the attention of the reader. You do this by relating to them. In order to relate to them, you have to make sure you know who you're talking to. Don't be too generic or vague with your audience. If you are targeting teens, then make sure your headline is talking to them. If you are talking to middle-aged housewives, then don't use slang lingo. You get the picture.
According to The Copywriter's Handbook by Robert Bly, there are eight different types of headlines.
Happy writing...
The headline is so important, in fact, you should probably spend the same amount of time concocting your perfect headline as you do with all the actual content writing for the piece on which you're working. In other words, if it takes you an hour to write a 500 word article then you probably should spend an hour making sure the headline will do it justice. In David Ogilvy's book Confessions of an Advertising Man, he states,
"On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy."
It's definitely true. I have witnessed this phenomenon first hand working in the advertising business for so long. So, it's important to know that the headline will determine if the person will continue to read the body of your article or not.
So what makes a good headline? Let's talk about that...
The way to make sure your headline will be effective is to make sure you talk directly to the person you want to target. All people want to know "what's in it for me?" or "why is this important to me?" If you don't give your reader a reason to read your content, then they surely won't. Give the reader a reason to stop and read your article.
Headlines that offer something to the reader are a sure-fire way to get and keep readers interested in what you have to say. Classics such as "How to" or "Top 5 Reasons You Can't Live Without" or "Best Kept Secrets" or "Introducing the New" are used over and over because they are some of the most effective headlines ever created. They offer something to the reader that makes them want to learn more.
When working on your headline, try to remember what it is you're offering to the reader. What's in it for them? One thing that many writers overlook when they write is the features vs. benefits rule. Features are all fine and good, but the benefit to the reader is what you need to focus on. When you think from the reader's perspective, find the elements in your article (features) and relate to the reader by showing what the feature can do for them. For example, if you are writing a story about adding fiber to your diet, you can use the benefits of adding fiber to your diet in your headline: "Lose Weight and Enjoy Life More with Healthy Fiber Choices." Simple. Just show the reader what the feature will do for them. Don't focus so much on the features...highlight what the features can do to improve their lives.
When talking about what makes a great headline, it's also important to point out what isn't a good headline. I love cute, catchy, funny, witty wordplay, but there's no room for that in writing effective headlines.You want to appeal to the reader, not your ego. Leave the cute witty wordplay for other fun-time activities because they will not get you the readership you want.
When writing headlines keep in mind that the object of the headline is to get the reader interested enough to read your content. The purpose of any headline should be to draw in the reader. If your headline doesn't do that, then it's just not effective. You must get the attention of the reader. You do this by relating to them. In order to relate to them, you have to make sure you know who you're talking to. Don't be too generic or vague with your audience. If you are targeting teens, then make sure your headline is talking to them. If you are talking to middle-aged housewives, then don't use slang lingo. You get the picture.
According to The Copywriter's Handbook by Robert Bly, there are eight different types of headlines.
- Direct Headlines
- Indirect Headlines
- News Headlines
- How-to Headlines
- Question Headlines
- Command Headlines
- Reason-Why Headlines
- Testimonial Headlines
Happy writing...
Monday, February 15, 2010
Well, Here We Go...
Hi! I'm Jodie, also known as the Milspouse Writer. I am a military spouse currently living in Germany. Although that may sound amazing, and don't get me wrong, it really is, there are some setbacks to being married to the military. First of all, part of my job a lot of the time is being a single parent. My hubby takes off on TDYs, school, training, or even deployments and I'm left for weeks or months at a time with our young son, playing the roles of both parents. So, there's that.
Another biggie for me was giving up my career. When I married my husband, I had been working on moving up the ladder in my industry and was on-track to go into another aspect of my field within another year or two...but alas, it wasn't meant to be. Albeit, my former career wasn't all that anyway. I could've made it into a great career eventually, but where I was at the time wasn't great. But that's not the point, is it. The point is, it was mine. It was my 'thing that I do' that made me into who I was. But, having a job or career that you can just pick up and move across the country or overseas and continue on, well...that's a little difficult to come by.
So, once we landed in Germany I knew I was gonna have to figure out something else to do with myself. I mean, I'm not designed to be a housewife! I would definitely get way too bored with that. I had been a writer all my life, even in my career, and wondered if there was a way to make that work for me somehow. So, I went into freelance writing.
It didn't happen overnight. I lamented day after day over what I was supposed to do. It took me several months to really decide that's what I wanted to do. I bought a few books, did some online research, read a lot of blogs and newsletters and here I am.
I'm glad you're with me. This is a learning experience for me and I want to share all that I learn with you and help you on your journey as I explore all that is in this writing life. For a military spouse, freelancing from your home, building your business completely online is a wonderful way to keep your business going even when you don't know where in the world you'll end up next!
Welcome!
~Jodie
Another biggie for me was giving up my career. When I married my husband, I had been working on moving up the ladder in my industry and was on-track to go into another aspect of my field within another year or two...but alas, it wasn't meant to be. Albeit, my former career wasn't all that anyway. I could've made it into a great career eventually, but where I was at the time wasn't great. But that's not the point, is it. The point is, it was mine. It was my 'thing that I do' that made me into who I was. But, having a job or career that you can just pick up and move across the country or overseas and continue on, well...that's a little difficult to come by.
So, once we landed in Germany I knew I was gonna have to figure out something else to do with myself. I mean, I'm not designed to be a housewife! I would definitely get way too bored with that. I had been a writer all my life, even in my career, and wondered if there was a way to make that work for me somehow. So, I went into freelance writing.
It didn't happen overnight. I lamented day after day over what I was supposed to do. It took me several months to really decide that's what I wanted to do. I bought a few books, did some online research, read a lot of blogs and newsletters and here I am.
I'm glad you're with me. This is a learning experience for me and I want to share all that I learn with you and help you on your journey as I explore all that is in this writing life. For a military spouse, freelancing from your home, building your business completely online is a wonderful way to keep your business going even when you don't know where in the world you'll end up next!
Welcome!
~Jodie
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