An Update

Just a heads up, I have a few reviews to get caught up with so those will be coming soon. I had hoped to get caught up over my holiday break from school but I ended up being sick most of the time! Why does that always happen??

I thought I would start out the year with an update on how I am doing with some of the writing places I posted about in 2010.

Demand Studios: Was doing great with them for awhile, had writing assignments to work on every day. Despite the sometimes annoying editor attitudes, I was making money on a regular basis. A few months ago, all of the good titles suddenly disappeared. I was sorting through hundreds and hundreds of mundane titles that I had no interest or knowledge in. The titles are categorized by computers and the computer has not been doing a good job. I search through "health" articles and am flooded with titles about how to fix a car, or fix a plumbing problem. Now, come on, how many auto mechanics do you know that work as freelance writers? Hmmm? I search through animal health and come across topics regarding cat tow motors.. not cats as in felines. I was having a very difficult time finding any article to write about. I would look through the list throughout the day and it was always the same. I couldn't go without making money, so I would end up turning to textbroker or suite 101 to make up for it. I have written only a few articles for Demand over the past few months. I've been very disappointed with them. I suppose I could pick random articles, but I just don't feel comfortable writing about a topic that I don't know a thing about.

Text Broker: Like I mentioned in the above paragraph, I go back to writing for textbroker when I am desperate. Their articles are very low paying, however most of them are 200-300 words and are very easy to write. They don't always have a wide range of articles to choose from, unfortunately and only pay +a month, but they are great for someone just dabbling in freelance writing.

Suite 101: I have 24 articles on Suite 101 so far. I focused most of my time on Demand Studios because I was making immediate money with them, however I think I will start dedicating more time to Suite. I have made payout with them 4 times so far, and each time, the payout has been a little bigger. I know with time to add more articles, this could be a great money earner for me.

Hubpages: I really haven't put a lot of time into hubpages. You really have to find a niche to make money with this website just because it is all based on adsense and amazon earnings. I think people do better with this site if they write articles around a specific item and then link to specific items on amazon. I see a slow increase in my adsense account, but I'm still a long way from payout.

I do have a few new writing places to post about soon, so keep your eyes open and don't forget to subscribe so that you are notified every time I post something new!

Here's to wishing everyone a prosperous 2011!

The Best of The Year...

Since the end of the year is approaching, I thought that maybe it would be nice to end it with a sort of “best of” of blog posts. This post will be a trip down memory lane as I go over some of my best posts of the year. I hope you enjoy and that you stick around to see what I have in store for 2011!

For the writers out there, I wrote a post back in April about eHow switching to Demand Studios and hubpages being the new eHow. I’m still writing for them and am enjoying it. They have made it easy to add amazon products and links to your articles. http://crazedmama.blogspot.com/2010/04/goodbye-ehow-hello-hubpages.html

Suite 101. This is a post about writing for Suite 101. So far, I am having some good luck with them and have made payout for the past few months. I’m sure with every article I add, I will also add to my earnings. http://crazedmama.blogspot.com/2010/05/suite101-for-writers.html

This is a post I wrote back in June on various ways to promote your articles, blogs, and websites. Lots of great marketing information here. http://crazedmama.blogspot.com/2010/06/promoting-your-articles-or-blog.html

For those of you who use Twitter, this post has information on ways that you can make money via your twitter account. These are legit ways that won’t just waste your time. http://crazedmama.blogspot.com/2010/10/making-money-with-twitter-is-it.html

This post from back in August gives information on how you can offer various services online to earn money. These are tried and true websites that you can really earn from.  http://crazedmama.blogspot.com/2010/08/offer-your-services-for-few-bux.html

For those of you looking to network with other freelancers, offer your services, or find new clients, this post gives you the lowdown on doing this. http://crazedmama.blogspot.com/2010/08/networking-with-potential.html

Lots of Free Stuff!

Who doesn’t like free stuff? I happen to love getting free items because they are, well, free! Some of the freebies I receive come in very handy and every little bit helps especially when you are working from home or trying to save as much $$ as possible for the holidays.

I get free stuff in the mail all the time. I’ve received free shampoo, conditioner, tampons, a keychain, a mop, snack food, dog food, cat food, post it notes, calendars, scrapbooking supplies, coloring books and the list could go on and on. Don’t believe that anything is free? Believe it!

How do I get all of this free stuff? Well, for one, I sign up for samples. Companies love to give out samples of new products. I guess they figure it’s a great way to introduce potential customers to their new products. Most likely, if the person likes the product, they will buy more when the sample is gone. It really works, too, because there have been quite a few things that I’ve purchased after receiving a sample in the mail. 

Walmart.com has various samples on their website. All you have to do is sign up and you will receive the product in a few weeks.

Another website that I absolutely love is freebiesgalaxy.com. You can sign up for their newsletter and they will send you a list of freebies straight to your email. All you have to do is choose which ones you want to sign up for.

I’ve received a few free products to review in this blog. Companies are willing to send a free product out to bloggers of their choice for the blogger to review the product on their blog and hopefully send more customers their way. I use tomoson.com and sheblogs.org. Bzzagent is another review website where you can get free products and “buzz” about them on various places like facebook, twitter, and in blogs. As long as you follow through with your reviews and buzzes, you will continue to get free items.

When signing up for freebies, you should always make sure to use an email that you don’t use much, otherwise you will receive a lot of junk mail. Remember you can always go in and unsubscribe yourself from these websites so that you won’t receive their spam. Some places will send you a confirmation email so make sure to check your email once in awhile so that you don’t miss out on any cool freebies!!

Week Long Blog Hop!!!

I'm hosting my very first week long blog hop! This hop will be up for one entire week! If this week long hop is successful, I will do it once a month.

RULES: I have no rules. I hate having to follow rules just to join someone else's hop. I don't have time to go here and go there and do all of this time consuming crap just to join your hop, so this hop has no rules. I only *ask* that you follow this blog out of appreciation. You can also grab the button and put it on your page if you wish.

This hop will start at 12 noon est today.

<a href="http://crazedmama.blogspot.com/”" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y221/TatteredSoul/bloghop.jpg"/></a>

And you're off....