When you are a freelance writer working mostly for online content, you have to learn all that you can about search engine optimization or simply SEO. That is because what good is your written content if people cannot easily find it through the search engines?

The following are the top 3 SEO blogs that I recommend to every fellow freelance copywriter:

1. Matt Cutts

He is the head of Google’s web spam team and the unofficial spokesperson when it comes to anything Google and search-related topics. He is always a fun to read, even with his non-SEO blog posts.

2. SEO Book

Aaron Wall published what is considered to be the first ebook authority on search engine optimization, the aptly titled ‘SEO Book’. Just by that name alone he was able to establish a reputation as one of the top SEO experts and has created a successful business around it through consultancy and an exclusive forum only for paying subscribers.

His blog posts are often lengthy but a breeze to read as well as complete with his insights about the SEO topic at hand.

3. SEOmoz

Rand Fishkin and the guys at SEOmoz are among the most unselfish individuals when it comes to sharing their thoughts, opinions, tips, suggestions, and more about anything that is SEO. It is always a treat to read Rand’s entries as he goes all the way creating graphs and doodles, almost anything just to help visualize his ideas.

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Just like with any other profession, I also rely on the tools of my trade. In my case, it’s the word processors. It surely beats having to write everything on paper, which I used to do when I was still in school.

There are many free word processors, but these top three are what I am currently using. You might ask, why do I need three programs when one would suffice? Well, not in my case. It depends on a lot of things on whether which one I would use, and I have stated my reasons below.

And by the way, although AbiWord and OpenOffice.org Writer each has its own file format, all three word processors are capable of saving in and opening MS Word document files.

1. Jarte

This is what I use when I have a lot of programs opened simultaneously on my computer. Jarte is very light in resources and loads very fast, perhaps because it is based on WordPad.

Another thing that I like about this word processor is that its features are just the basics, the stuff you would often use and none of those that just clutter MS Word.

It also has a nice, and very convenient to use, tabbed feature. You can open a number of documents and each one is on a tab. It will remind you of Google Chrome.

The only important feature that is lacking with its free version is the spell checker. Other than that, this is a great free word processor.

Jarte

2. AbiWord

When I need to write for clients, and therefore I need a more powerful and feature-rich word processor (especially one that has a spell checker), I use AbiWord.

It looks almost exactly like MS Word, that is why there is an easy learning curve. It also loads fast, although a bit slower than Jarte.

If it there’s anything that annoys me, is that whenever I save a document, the first option is always AbiWord’s own doc file format which has a file extension of .abw. I have to do a few mouse movements just to change it to Microsoft Word’s .doc.

AbiWord

3. OpenOffice.org Writer

If what you need is a truly powerful word processor, and one that can match Microsoft Word feature-by-feature, then you are better off using OpenOffice.org Writer.

However, it suffers from one thing that is common with all programs in the OpenOffice.org suite: it takes longer to load. I have read somewhere that it’s because of the big requirement of the suite for the resources of your PC, which actually makes sense because of all the features that you can find in all of the programs.

I use it more whenever I need to create an ebook as I have grown used to its capability to export a document into a PDF. But among the word processors in this list, this is what I use less frequently.

It’s still a great program to have when you have to write more complicated documents.

OpenOffice.org Writer

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Freelance writing is indeed a 24/7 job. Why? Because I found myself working even on Christmas day.Well, not the whole day, but for just about a couple of hours as I had to work on an article. When that was done, I rewarded myself with a slice of ham and a nice ube cake.

Yum!

I know you may have noticed that it has been a while since I last posted here. I blame it on my continuous freelance writing work, but more especially, due to my wedding preparations. Now that the wedding is over and I am living a married life, it is time to get back on track with my online activities, particularly my blogging.

So I wish you all a Merry Christmas and may the coming new year be even more blessed for you and your loved ones!

Image courtesy of alicepopkorn

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I have been very busy lately with a couple of projects and also with my upcoming wedding. My girlfriend and I are doing all the work. We did not hire a coordinator because we want to make it very personal for us.

As you may also notice, because of these developments, I have not updated my blog for a month now. Well, if you can consider this as an update.

So in case you would like to send me a message either with regards to my blog or my copy writing work, please use my Contact form and not the comments section of this blog.

Thanks!

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It has only been a month since I started to optimize this blog for the keywords “freelance copywriter” and now it has started to go up Google’s U.S. search results.

The first time I noticed that it appeared in the results, it was on the 12th page. Now, as of this writing, it is on the 3rd page, ranked 26th overall. All I can say is, I’m satisfied with the way things are going. But of course my target is to be on the first page, which I believe is not that hard to achieve.

Also, my girlfriend’s blog, www.CallCenterGal.com, which is one of the first blogs we ever set up, is now ranked second in the Google U.S. search results for “call center blog”. We started to optimize that blog for that search term about middle of last year so it took us more than a year to get to where it is now in the search results. I guess it is more competitive in the call center search arena.

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You probably already know that search engines cannot tell what an image posted on your site is all about. For example, if you post an image like this one:

…how can a search engine know that the picture is about John Stockton? Even if you put a text saying ‘John Stockton’ within that image, it still can’t be read by the search spiders.

There are a couple of effective ways to make this image searchable.

1. Use the Alt-Text Tag
This is an html tag that you assign to an image. It basically tells the search engines what the picture is about. So for our example, we can use an Alt-text tag like: “John Stockton: NBA All-Time Leader in Assists and Steals”.

The whole html tag will then look like this:

<img src=”johnstockton.jpg” alt=”John Stockton: NBA All-Time Leader in Assists and Steals”>

Another purpose of using the Alt-Text tag is that you will make it easy for text-based web browsers to identify the image on your site, even if the actual image will not be shown.

2. Write a Descriptive Caption
Don’t just write any caption, make sure that it is descriptive. Instead of saying, “A basketball player dribbling a ball”, say:

John Stockton: NBA All-Time Leader in Assists and Steals

Why should you do it this way? If a visitor is not familiar who John Stockton is, he would just see a basketball player dribbling a ball. By writing a descriptive caption, not only does he find out the name of the player, he also learns that John Stockton is not just any common player. That he is an NBA legend who is renowned for his assisting and stealing abilities.

And also, the text surrounding an image will help the search spiders know what the picture contains.

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More than a year ago, I didn’t know anything about domain registration and web hosting. So what I did was I looked for a web host that also offered domain registration services. I found one and I was very happy with it because the hosting package was very cheap (I’ll write another post on why you should never go cheap when hosting your site).

It was very easy because the hosting company did everything for me. All I did was I gave them the domain name I wanted and then I signed up for their hosting package. They also installed WordPress on my behalf.

This was a very good setup for me, especially since I was just starting out. But later on I found out that this was not a good idea.

When Your Web Hosting Starts to Suck, It’s Not Easy to Transfer to a New One

After about six months, the company that was hosting my site started to give poor service. My site was down at least once a week. The worst was it was out for three straight days… and they didn’t even inform me! It got to a point that I got tired of submitting tech support tickets that took them more than a whole day to respond to. That’s why I decided to transfer my site.

I found another hosting company and I was able to transfer my files there. The only problem was, I couldn’t immediately transfer my domain from my previous web host. When I asked them for the Auth Code (or EPP Key), it took them a few days to give it to me. And when they did, they told me that their domain name registrar was currently experiencing problems and couldn’t make any transfers.

Now I didn’t know if it was a delaying tactic on their part or if it were an honest-to-goodness technical problem. But I’ve experienced enough technical problems from them that I just wanted to get out of their service. Or control, because they have my domain.

After a week, I was finally able to change the DNS on my domain. I pointed it to my new web host which turned out to be much better.

Right now, I am renting my own server. I don’t sell hosting, I just use it to host most of my sites and other online endeavors (I call it that when I couldn’t name exactly what I’m doing ).

So my advice to you is to separate your domain registration from your web hosting. It will make life so much easier for you should things go sour.

Photo by Tim Dorr

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WordCamp Philippines is coming on September 19 at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City.

The WordCamp Philippines organizers have set up a new site at WordCamp.ph and if you want to join, just head over there and register. I actually have something to do that day so I’m still waiting for the announcement of who the speakers will be and what topics they will be discussing. If I find them interesting, I guess I’ll find a way to cancel my earlier scheduled engagement that day.

Anyway, I chanced upon the video of last year’s WordCamp Philippines (the first ever) and I had a less-than-a-second exposure there. My college friend, Jayme, got a longer video time (pretty girls always do).

So here’s a blast from the recent past, WordCamp Philippines 2008.

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Aaron Wall of SeoBook just recently announced he will be increasing the membership fee to his SEO community from $100 a month to $150 starting this August.

Does it seem like a suicidal business move especially since the United States is in recession and the rest of the world isn’t faring any better?

Well, the man said 90% of his time is spent on SEOBook compared to his other online ventures, and to think that SEOBook is his least earning site. So if people want to hear more of his professional advice and tips, they must pay more.

That’s value. And that goes to show how much Aaron believes his presence on his own SEO site is truly worth. To think that at $150 a month is already a bargain if any member can just post a question and Aaron himself will help him find the answer.

In your line of work, especially if you are doing freelance work, how many times have someone haggled for your rates? Even if you’re employed in an office, didn’t the company first haggled with you to hire you at your current salary? Now the bigger question is, IS THAT HOW MUCH YOU’RE TRULY WORTH?

If you are providing quality service, to your clients or to your company, then definitely you should be receiving more. Because if you’re not then why stay put? Either ask for a bigger pay or move on.

Someone might say: “Yeah, right. But it’s easier said than done. There are other factors to consider than simply packing your bags.”

Come on! There is only one factor that we should think of, and that’s how bad or how low we think of ourselves every time we are being paid for what we are doing. Should we contend ourselves with that? While there is so much more to life than the money we earn, right now, it is the best measurement of how much we or other people value our worth.

So I just would like to ask a general question, whether you’re office-employed or freelancing, do you think you’re paid what you truly deserve? Just think of the value you are providing to your boss or client and then answer that question truthfully.

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What do you do when your competitor is so much bigger than you?

You join him. Or at least use him to gain some leverage even though you’re competing in the same field.

In the case of Microsoft’s new (or newly branded) search engine, Bing, they opened their own AdWords account and started advertising on Google’s search results.

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