Directly as a result of reduced income due to the daily challenges of really making a living online, I have decided to supplement my income by doing some part-time content creation for selected websites.
My writing style is free-form and tends to be "from Brain-To-Paper" or screen in this case. So I selected a website that promised to pay me a small fee for a 400~500 word article. I spent 15 minutes searching their database of 22,000+ selections and picked one within my area of expertise regarding "Playing Bass Guitar".
Spent the next 15 minutes composing my epic treatise on the subject, spell checked and added photos and sent it in for approval.
Imagine my surprise when the submission was "Rejected". I thought "What happened?"
Sad but true. It seems I had failed to follow a few of the site's criteria for successful acceptance of my 'perfect' document. Without following the requirements to the letter, the effort is rejected unannounced after a few rewrite attempts.
This was surprising until I actually read the requirements!
Turns out this particular site has all kinds of composition rules, including preventing plagiarism, copyright, and additional requirements for SEO-friendly articles. Keywords in the text are required for the search engines digestion, and concepts composed within the project are critical to match the keywords.
Ok, I got it now. Wish they had informed me of the quick rejection possibility, I would have submitted a very different document for approval.
In hindsight, having a strict set of rules in place levels the playing field somewhat and makes the approval process faster for clearly composed prose.
Here are some questions to ponder. Please respond with a comment below!
Are you using guidelines for your blog post's or just writing from your brain like I am doing here?
What would happen to your blog traffic if you implemented a particular style of writing that the search engines loved.
Would it bring more traffic to your site or blog?
Respectfully,
Nicholas Chase
A start-up company chronicles the processes used to make a decent living online through various marketing techniques.
