Free Writing Center

Avoid Burnout as an Online Writer - Choose Jobs Wisely

Along with the plethora of new opportunities that are available throughout the Online Content industry, there is the issue of too much work and not enough time. If you’re anything like me and you hate passing up good income-generating opportunities, it can be hard to say no.
The Schedule of an Online Writer
Making an income from [...]

How to Write Your First Nonfiction Book

If you’ve ever considered writing your own nonfiction book, this video of a talk offered by Dan Poynter is one that you must watch. Dan is the owner of Para Publishing. He started Para Publishing in 1969 in North Quincy, Massachusetts in order to publish his own non fiction books on parachute design safety and [...]

A Stephen King Interview and Commentary on Stephenie Meyer

Lifehacker Highlights Wi-Fi Surveillance Article

Today, while I was going about my online business at work, one of my buddies approached me and congratulated me on my article that got highlighted on LifeHacker. I’ve been in such a fog lately, racing to finish so many articles by the end of the month, that I never stopped to take a look [...]

Twilight the Book Teaches New Writers How to Get Published

By now, everyone is starting to understand that Twilight the book and Twilight the movie are quickly becoming the next cultural phenomenon, much like Harry Potter was. But, as a writer, one of the most amazing things about Stephenie Meyer’s novel, Twilight, is the fact that it destroys many of the myths about getting [...]

Definition for Technical Writing

December 13th, 2009 No Comments

If you’re interested in a career in writing, then a good definition for technical writing may come in handy, because for the right person it can be a very lucrative career. Technical writing is exactly what it sounds like - it’s a form of writing where you take information or concepts that are technical in nature, and you put them into coherent written form.
definition for technical writing

The end product could be a manual, a technical paper or proposal, reports, newsletters and even web pages. The true value of a technical writer is in their ability to convey either simple or complicated technological ideas in a way that’s targeted toward a specific audience. This is important considering that the audience could either be a layperson reading a product manual, or a fellow scientist conducting a peer review of a scientific finding.

A Definition for Technical Writing as a Career

A technical writer usually focuses on a topic or niche that revolves around a particular skill that they may have. This means that technical writers aren’t usually effective covering a broad range of topics. This means that if you want to be a technical writer, you need to have a good grasp on your own skills, training and expertise. Your background training and experience will define the fields that you should focus on as a technical writer.

Every field has an entire library of terminology and lingo, which is why the core definition for technical writing is that it’s a form of writing centered upon a specific skill set or career - such as lawyers, psychologists, computer experts or any other profession that requires specialized knowledge. It’s also important to remember that technical writing isn’t always even your standard form of writing. Sometimes you’ll find yourself creating forms, detailing step-by-step instructions with diagrams and schematics, or developing multimedia presentations and similar content. For larger projects such as these, you’d likely be involved in a team that includes graphic design artists and computer programmers, especially if a website is involved.

Translating and Conveying Technology and Specialized Knowledge

A truly skilled technical writer has the ability to take concepts that are conveyed to them from one highly specialized group, process that information and then convey it to a second group or individual in a way, and using terminology, that they can understand. Sometimes this might involve incorporating detailed information from programmers or engineers into a summary report or a project status report that executives and managers can understand and process. In order to do this, you need to understand what terminology they can understand, and how to translate the terminology that they can’t understand into something that makes sense for them. Technical writing is very much like acting as a translator of sorts.

This is also why technical writers are necessary within almost every discipline. Most scientists and experts have little ability to convert their highly specialized language into concepts that a lay person can understand. A technical writer is necessary, because the person has just enough knowledge about the specialized field to understand the scientist or specialist in their lingo. However, the technical writer can do what the specialist can’t - and that is to convey that highly technical information in a language and in a way that others who are not specialists can understand, and with appropriate grammar, punctuation and spelling. Unfortunately many technically trained individuals, like engineers, are very poor writers.

If you’re considering entering the field of technical writing, understand that it can be a grueling career at times. However, the fact that you are making good use of your training and specialty, in combination with your excellent writing ability will result in a writing career that you will find very fulfilling and rewarding.

Search Spy Unfiltered Search Engines

December 10th, 2009 No Comments

Search spy unfiltered search engines can offer you a competitive advantage in the world of search engine optimization. The SEO industry is very much an industry controlled by information. The more information and insight that you have over your competition, the better you’ll succeed. While this is try in most industries, it’s even more true in SEO, because the fewer people who are capturing the most lucrative search terms, the more successful you’ll be as you capture your SEO niche opportunities.

I’ve covered a number of SEO tools in a few of my earlier posts, such as the 3 tips for optimization and the need to be flexible when you choose your topics, but in this post I’d like to touch on yet another effective tool in gauging the online attitudes and interests of Internet travelers - that tool is search spy unfiltered search engines.

In this article, I’m going to share 8 online tools that you can use to closely monitor what people are searching the Internet for every single second. That’s right - a real-time “spy” peak into exactly what people are typing into the search engines. This insight could tip you off to the hottest upcoming online buzz, which can be a very powerful way to capture the online “Buzz” wave long before other bloggers even catch on.

Top 3 Search Spy Unfiltered Search Engines

The following online tools are considered “search spy” online apps because they simply update a list that shows you an unfiltered list of what people are searching for on search engines right this moment. Sure, you could use tools like Yahoo Buzz or Google Zeitgeist to learn about the hottest trends, but with those tools the moment you find out, just about every other blogger in the world finds out as well. On the other hand, using search spy tools - you can jump on the hot trends before anyone else even knows about them.

The first Search Spy tool that I’d like to mention is also the most popular because it’s DogPile, the most-used metasearch engine on the Internet. Any search engine that’s popular will provide you with a great sampling of what people are interested in. Dogpile’s realtime tool is simply called Dogpile SearchSpy.

When you visit the page, you’ll see a scrolling list of interesting search terms. These terms are what people are actively searching for this very moment. You can either choose to “Omit adult terms or not.” If you don’t, then you can expect an unfiltered list from the search engines that can be somewhat eye-opening at times.

IceSpy is a useful tool provided by the social network search engine known as IceRocket. IceRocket is a valuable and popular search tool that provides search results from networks like MySpace, Twitter, blogs and more.

IceSpy gives you some insight into what IceRocket users are typing into the search engine. As IceRocket continues to grow in popularity, the IceSpy search terms that scroll up the screen will become more and more a reflection of what bloggers and social network users are interested in. This is a great way to figure out what terms are more likely to race up the “DIGG” list.

The next search spy tool is also one of the coolest. Twitter is obviously one of the most popular social networks on the Internet right now, and getting insight into what’s going on throughout the huge Twitter community is a important key to unlocking current trends. One of the coolest tools for monitoring the pulse of Twitter is Twitspy.

So what’s so cool about Twitspy? Well first of all it displays the latest Twitter updates in a graphical way that shows you the profile image of the Twitter user who posted the update overlaid onto a world map, with a pop-up bubble that displays the update. It’s like watching a virtual worldwide discussion going on - and it’s very addictive!

5 More Useful Search Spy Tools

While the first three tools listed above have the greatest user base, so are the most useful and the most accurate samples of general online interest, the following lesser-known tools are also worthwhile. Even though they don’t have quite the user base as the big sites above, they still offer a select snapshot of a segment of the online population. As I mentioned earlier, in the SEO field information is power - so every source of information you can find is important.

Infotiger.com - Get a snapshot list of what people are typing into the InfoTiger search engine. Refresh the screen for an updated realtime list.
Ilectric Logs - Provides you with a list of the 20 most recent search terms typed into the Ilectric metasearch engine. Press refresh for an updated list.
Yahoo Buzz Updates - While Yahoo Buzz itself isn’t updated every second, this list of what Yahoo Users are “buzzing up” or “buzzing down” gets updated immediately - and provides you with an instant update into what Yahoo Buzz users are interested in.
Search Hippo Logs - Check out a list of the 15 most recent search terms typed into the Search Hippo search engine. Press refresh for an updated list.
Meta Eureka Logs - This page provides an unfiltered list of search terms for this metasearch engine known as Meta Eureka.

The list of search spy tools above comes from my personal private SEO research toolbox, and by keeping a close eye on the trends at each of these sites - you could easily capture the next big “thing” that could drive your blog or website into the stratosphere.

The 4 A’’s of Marketing

December 7th, 2009 1 Comment

I’m sure your first question is, “Why are you writing about the 4 A”s of marketing on a website devoted to online writing and search engine optimization?” The answer is that owning a successful website or blog takes two parts well-written and insightful content, and two parts brilliant marketing. Why marketing?

Well, the first thing you have to realize about having a website is that it’s existence alone isn’t going to generate a crowd plowing down the door, anxious to read your wit and wisdom. The first step in growing any website is getting folks to notice it, and not just any folks, but the folks that you are specifically writing for.

So, how do you know who you’re specifically writing for? This is where the 4 A”s of marketing come in. This was also the title of a very in-depth and detailed e-book written by author and lecturer, Brian Norris.

While Brian isn’t a website marketer or an SEO guru, he is a sales and marketing expert, and ultimately the techniques he describes will work effectively in marketing your website and converting your visitors into cash revenue. In this article I’m going to briefly outline how the principles he describes in his e-book can be used not only to drive tremendous traffic to your site, but also to generate a lot more profit from your website as well.

The 4 A”s of Marketing Applied to Your Website

The first thing you need to know about the 4 A”s of marketing are what each A stands for! The four A’s are as follows:

Analyze your target audience. Who are they and what are their typical characteristics such as their age, interests, gender, purchasing trends and more.
Attention of your audience. Once you know who they are and what they like, you’ll have the insight you need to successfully get their attention.
Accept your product. This is what you need to make your audience do - accept that your ideas, your products, or your services are exactly what the need even though they have many other choices. You need to convince them to accept that yours is the best of the best.
Action. The moment you convince them that you’re the best, you’d better have some sort of option available that they can act on once you convince them. This may be as simple as purchasing your services or buying your e-book. If you’re simply writing to generate ad revenue, then make sure that those ads are placed within the “hot spots” on your page (more on web page hot-spots in an upcoming post).

By following the simple guide above, you’ll be able to move from gathering your target audience from all disparate areas of the web that they visit, and drawing them into your website where you’ll guide them comfortably through the process until you’ve convinced them with very little effort how and why they need to perform a particular action. That action is what will generate your website revenue.

Analyze

The analysis part is something that I actually stumbled upon during my early freelance writing years. One particular client sold niche marketing analysis reports for a very hefty sum. He contracted me to research and write them for a few hundred dollars, and he turned around and sold them for a few thousand. Pretty good deal for him, and I didn’t care because I needed the money. However, what I gained more than money from the experience was the training on effective ways to perform a niche analysis to identify the demographics of your audience, depending on what niche you’re serving. For example the online gaming industry is actually dominated by white, middle-aged women - and you learn this as you conduct the niche analysis, using the sort of resources I described on my MUO article outlining resources you can use to conduct that research.

One thing I can assure you is that the research looks much more difficult than it is. Once you start using the resources listed in that MUO article and you discover a few studies from Pew Research or government agencies, you’ll discover your niche audience fairly quickly.

Attention

Once you learn more about your target audience, including what they believe, how much they typically earn and what they spend their money on, you’ll be in an excellent position to get their attention. The most important things you should learn about your audience is what websites they typically enjoy the most, what periodicals they read, and where they spend most of their time. For example if you know that your audience is made up of mostly college-age male computer gurus, and that they flock to large multi-user games and like to read computer magazines - then you know where to go to get their attention.

You would find a local LAN party near you and put up fliers, or sponsor the event so that you could advertise your site throughout the event. Or you could invest in an ad or two on a computer website (choose a small one with a decent readership if your budget is small). Through creative marketing, you’ll get your website name in front of the eyes that will appreciate exactly what you have to offer.

Accept

Convincing someone that you’re the best isn’t always easy. According to Brian, at this stage you need to focus on what the outcome that your audience is looking for (you’ll have learned this by now through your niche research).

If you know that middle aged, female online gamers are desperately seeking a free source of online games - then you need to convince them that you’re not only a good source for those games, but that you’re the absolute best resource on the entire Internet and that by sticking with you and taking a specific action, they’ll get the outcome that they desire.

Action

This could be anything - submitting a survey, submitting their email address to you, purchasing a product or anything else. Ultimately the action should be obvious and easy to accomplish, and it should flow directly from your effort to gain your visitor’s acceptance. One click and they get what they desire, or submit their email address in a form and they receive the outcome they want. That’s the secret.

And the real secret to doubling or tripling those profits is by following through and providing those visitors-turned-customers with the quality product or service that you offered. This results in return visitors and repeat profits - the bread and butter of any successful business.

Writing a Character Reference for a Friend

December 4th, 2009 No Comments

One of the most important goals here at FreeWritingCenter is to truly serve as a Free Writing Center for all of your writing needs. If you’re in the middle of writing a character reference for a friend, then you’re probably here because you really don’t know where to start and you’re looking for a free writing resource for help. You’ve come to the right place.

writing a character reference for a friend

Writing a character reference as a friend is a bit different than doing so as an employer, and you may be nervous about ruining your friend’s chances for a job or some other opportunity because you messed up the reference letter. The following guide will walk you through the simple process of writing a character reference for a friend that will put them in a very good light for anyone who might be interested.

A Simple Guide to Writing a Character Reference for a Friend

If you’ve been staring at that blank piece of paper (or computer screen) for a while now, and you simply don’t know where to start - keep in mind the objectives that you want to accomplish with your letter. Ultimately, you want to:

State how you know the person and why you’re a credible reference.
Describe how your friend has the sort of characteristics that the organization is most likely looking for.
Provide interesting anecdotes as evidence of your friends strong character.
Offer a general summary statement and stand behind your statements about your friend with an offer to the organization to call or contact you for more information.

Each goal above actually represents the four important elements of a reference letter. Since you’re not an employer, finances and work ethic do not come into play at all. As a friend, you’re offering a character reference, so that’s exactly what you should aim to do by highlighting every good quality your friend has, and not mentioning any negative characteristics that you may know about. Your friend asked you for a reference because they trusted you to provide a very positive one, so don’t let them down.

An Example of an Effective Character Reference for a Friend

The following sample is an example of a character reference that incorporates all of the elements described above. By projecting confidence for your friend and your appreciation for your friends stellar character, the reader will understand that they are dealing with a person who truly makes a positive impact on the people that he or she knows.

To Whom it May Concern:

I have known Amy Thomas for over five years. Her daughter is close friends with mine, and we’ve gone on many outings and trips together both individually and as a family. She also cared for my children on weekends when my husband and I had to travel for business.

Amy is one of the most patient and generous individuals that I’ve ever met. One weekend when my husband and I had a last minute conference come up in another state, we called Amy and asked if she could watch our children. Amy actually canceled her own personal weekend plans so that she could help us with our child care crisis.

Amy also demonstrated a meticulous attention to detail and an ability to effectively accomplish complicated tasks in a very short time when she organized my daughter’s large graduation party for us. The event included my daughter’s entire class, family, decorations, live entertainment and food. Amy managed to produce one of the most entertaining and exciting events, and even came in under budget.

I feel that Amy would be a tremendous addition to any organization that she joins, and that she would prove to be an invaluable part of any job, project or task that she’s assigned. Please feel free to contact me at any time if you have any further questions about Amy.

Sincerely,
Christy Smith

As you can see, the letter is both professional and passionate, and it portrays how important Amy is within the life of the writer. By using the tips listed above and the sample letter provided here, you’ll be able to effectively convey that message and help your friend in whatever it is he or she needs your reference letter for.

Ardan Michael Blum - Yahoo SEO Expert Advice

November 30th, 2009 3 Comments

I was very pleased to discover the the website of Ardan Michael Blum - Yahoo SEO expert who volunteers his expertise and time to assist senior citizens in Geneva with taking advantage of the Internet. Who better to profile than this guy? Ardan Michael Blume, Yahoo SEO consultant and owner of the Blum Advisory, is one of those few industry powerhouse figures who serves prominently behind the scenes, yet seeks out very little publicity for what he does. In this article I’m going to provide a profile for this SEO leader and detail the amazing work that he’s been doing in Geneva, Switzerland.

(image: Blum Advisory)

Ardan is not one of those self-proclaimed SEO “experts” who promise website owners the world in the form of traffic, deliver “fake hits” for a short period, and then leave website owners high and dry with no real additional traffic and, even worse, negative marks against the site in the eyes of Google and Yahoo. Ardan, on the other hand, uses his expertise to make the world (and the Internet) a better place.

Ardan Michael Blum - Yahoo SEO Consultant for Senior Citizens

At first glance, it isn’t immediately obvious how an SEO expert can use his services to help older folks get on the Internet. However, Ardan Michael Blum does just that. You may never have heard of Ardan, because his website for Blum Advisory is based in Geneva and written entirely in French. However, thanks to Google Translate services, I was able to learn a little bit more about this amazing fellow and his generous service to the elderly of Geneva. While he earns his living through is consultancy, Ardan devoted a great deal of his time and resources to create and manage a wonderful website called Geneve - 1910-2010.

The website is actually the online face of the charity organization called “Living with the 3rd Age,” which Ardan founded. The organization seeks to help the elderly in the region better access the Internet and computers in general. The organization is not a fly-by-night group - they work with some impressive computer industry names, such as Compaq, Logitech and even Microsoft, to provide free software and computers to nursing homes, senior citizen clubs and even the Geriatrics Cantonal Hospital in Geneva. The website is part of the group’s effort to provide the elderly at these locations with Internet access and, in effect, providing those who might otherwise be considered “shut-ins” with access to the outside world.

This website is an amazing collection of photos, histories and other accounts of the wonderful lives of these senior citizens. As you preview the images and stories - you can’t help but smile at the wisdom, strength and the beautiful effects of time and experience upon the lives and faces of these elders. The entire website is in french, but I highly recommend taking a look through the site using Google’s translation services.

About Ardan Michael Blum

So who is this impressive SEO expert who founded one of the most innovative charities in Geneva? Ardan Michael Blum promises that he can help your business achieve top ten Google placement. Being involved in the SEO industry myself, I can tell from the wording and the personal activities of Ardan, that he’s one of the few legitimate SEO professionals who can truly accomplish what he promises.

Although he was born in Switzerland and currently lives in Geneva, this fellow came to the United States to attend Bennington College in Vermont before heading back to his homeland to make use of the skills that he learned in Vermont. He approaches a decade of SEO experience, and his efforts with his senior citizen Charity is a testament to his drive, his character, and his ability to accomplish great things. If you’ve never heard of Ardan, and you’re looking for an SEO expert within or around Switzerland, I highly encourage you to contact Ardan at his website and sign up for his SEO services.

Not only will you achive success with your own website through effective SEO optimization techniques, but you’ll also be employing the services of a man of high character who deserves the business.

Top 3 Tips For Effective Search Engine Optimization

November 24th, 2009 3 Comments

Through the years, I’ve learned through trial and error and by working for so many different clients, and seeing so many different results - what works and what doesn’t when it comes to search engine optimization. Like so many topics computer related, everyone is an expert. The truth is that when push comes to shove, the proof is in the pudding. How well can that person achieve long-term and consistent traffic?

The following are the top 3 tried and true methods that I’ve learned over the years that will consistently and effectively increase your search engine traffic significantly every month. These are not techniques that will instantly multiply your traffic numbers overnight, but over time and used consistently with every post you write, they will lay a very solid and powerful foundation for your website or blog.

Tip #1 - Choose the Right Topic

Probably the most important aspect of SEO is selecting a title that you can cover with experience and knowledge, that a lot of people are searching the Internet for, and that very few websites provide information about. Identifying such “niche” topics is the very heart of truly effective SEO. Trellian’s Keyword Discovery tool is one of the most effective free tools at your disposal to “discover” what topics are in demand right now.

The Keyword Discovery tool shows you how many searches for a particular term take place every single day. For basic blog postings and online writing, this information is good enough. However, if you you are looking to extract competition information (how many websites are already covering the keywords), then you’ll have to pay for the premium version of the tool.

Tip #2 - Focus on a Niche, Don’t Write About Everything

One of the mistakes that many online writers make is that they want to capture all of the keywords they find that have tremendous traffic. Hot keywords are only one aspect of attracting repeat visitors - you also want to dedicate time and energy into those topics that your visitors are coming to you for. If you’re running a website about Cars, then focus on a niche within that general topic - don’t try to cover car insurance, car repair, car racing, car tuning and every other imaginable topic with one website. All you’ll do is overwhelm your first-time visitors and drive them away screaming.

The website above is a perfect example of a website that’s simply trying to do too much in a very limited space. Keep your website straightforward and simple, and your visitors will appreciate it. Give them what they came for - don’t try to be everything for everybody.

Tip #3 - Effectively Distribute Your Keywords

The area that most online writers fail miserably at is effectively distributing the keywords that they’re trying to target. Unscrupulous SEO “experts” will take a clients money and then spam keywords throughout the client’s website. Initial traffic will be significant, but once Google catches on (and the SEO expert already took your money and ran), you’ll discover that you’re blacklisted and without any traffic at all. The key to effective keyword SEO is in discretely and very carefully placing a limited number of keywords throughout your article, in a way that the reader doesn’t even notice.

The example above is from a recent article here at FreeWritingCenter titled “Free Writing Classes.” As you can see, I carefully inserted the phrase into the article, and in one case included it as a bolded header for a section. Finally, I included the keyword text as “alt-text” in the various images throughout my article. The real science to distributing is knowing how many times to distribute the phrase based on the number of words in your article - and this is where the true value of a real SEO expert becomes apparent.

A Stephen King Interview and Commentary on Stephenie Meyer

November 19th, 2009 No Comments

This week, I’d like to share a great video interview with one of my favorite writers of all time - Stephen King. Mr. King was born and raised in my home state, and he has always served as an inspiration for young Maine writers. In this interview, Borders interviews Stephen King on writing short stories, writing scary stories and much more. It’s a very enjoyable interview - check it out!

Stephen King points talks a bit about the importance of the short story in the story writing process, and how in his case many of his early short stories ended up evolving into novels, such as Carrie. He points out that about 22,000 word pieces are too long to be a short story and too short to be a novel. This is only a partial interview - to see the entire interview you have to visit Borders Media.

With that said, while I respect the man for his rise from the ashes into fame for his horror novels, I also have to say that being a long-time fan for many years, I also noticed that he’s quite arrogant. A friend of our family worked as a security guard at UMO and had an interaction with Mr. King while trying to enforce University safety rules, that ended in King making a statement to the effect of, “Do you realize who I am?” Apparently King thinks very highly of himself, and apparently forgets that it’s the fans that make a successful writer, not simply a name.

Another example of this was his comment about rising writer Stephenie Meyer, where during an interview he was asked about J.K. Rowling and Meyer, and his response was, “The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good.”

While I’m not particularly a fan of the Twilight series, I found Stephen King’s comments very hypocritical in light of his words in his book On Writing, where he even mentions this sort of elitist attitude among published writers, especially when you’re getting started in the business. The fact that she sold 29 million books in 2008, making her the best-selling author of the year, is a testament to the fact that she’s a brilliant writer who can command the attention and interest of a significant audience. Yes, that means in 2008 she sold more novels than Stephen King. Money talks, Mr. King.

Then again, if Stephen King is simply alluding to the fact that a writer can sell millions of novels while not having the foggiest notion of decent grammar, punctuation or how to avoid a plot line that isn’t some boring cliche used millions of times in other novels…maybe he has a point and should consider examining his own humble beginnings.

Resume Writing Examples

November 16th, 2009 No Comments

If you’ve been sifting through the web for resume writing examples, then you know that it’s one of those terms that typically turns up hundreds of useless websites filled with Google ads and no legitimate help or resources.

In this update, in the spirit of this blog truly being a “Free Writing Center” I’d like to offer two important writing resources for job hunters. A general guide for writing your own resume, and a list of the top five resources where you can see free resume writing examples.

How to Write a Winning Resume

The first and most important thing I want to say here is that job seekers spend far too much time fretting over the formatting of their resume rather than simply conveying to the potential employer why you are clearly the best qualified person for the job. As long as you have the following sections detailed on your resume, and on a single word document (set the font size small enough so that it’s readable, but everything fits), then you’ll be successful. Typically each of these sections are displayed on a resume in the following order.

Contact Information - In this section provide your addresses and phone numbers where you can be reached, as well as your primary email address.
Objective - This is completely optional, but if you want to you can share what type of position and skills that you hope to achieve (should pretty much match the job you’re applying for).
Qualifications - Let them know exactly how and why you’re qualified for the position. State, in 2 or 3 short sentences, what your experience and background is that’s most closely related to the potential job.
Education - From present to past, outline every degree program or course of study you completed including the name of the degree, graduation date, and the name and location of the school.
Experience - From present to past, outline your work experiences related to the job you’re applying for. Include the name of the employer or client as well as a very short description of your responsibilities and accomplishments.
Skills - This section should simply list all of the skills you have that are even remotely relevant to the position you’re applying for.

As long as all of the sections above are included in a very clean and easy to read format, you’ll do well. If you don’t even know where to start, then check out the free resources below for a some excellent resume examples.

The Top 5 Sites for Free Resume Writing Examples

The following resources offer a very long list of excellent resume examples, most of which is tailored for specific industries or careers. Explore these resources and you’re likely to find a particular format that suits your tastes. Print it out and use that format as you write your own resume.

Resume-Help.org offers a long list of exampes that are customized for particular industries like fashion, marketing or software.

resume writing examples

Resume-Resource is another valuable site filled with examples sorted by career level or industry. There’s even a section now on “before and after” resume examples which you can download in PDF format.

resume writing examples

EZResume offers a very long list of sample resumes. When you visit the site, just scroll down the left menu to find the specific career that you’re looking for.

resume examples

Quint Careers takes a slightly different approach. The sample resumes you’ll find here are sorted in terms of experience level and format. For example there’s a category for “New Graduate Functional Format I” and “Experienced Job-Seeker Chronological Format I.”

resume examples

Unlike the other sites, these resume samples are provided in HTML format. To see how the formatting is done, just click view page source in your browser.

Do you have any success stories in your job hunt? Are there particular resume formats that you prefer? Share your insight in the comments section below.

Free Writing Contests

November 12th, 2009 No Comments

One of the best ways to get your writing noticed is by entering your work into free writing contests. There is no greater proof that you are a well-skilled writer than the awards and prizes that you’ve won with your writing.

So in the spirit of giving your writing career that boost, I’d like to present the top 10 sites where you can submit your work for awards, cash prizes, or both. Truly free writing contests are hard to find, as most organization charge entrance fees if you want to enter. So bookmark this page and return often - this is a list of hard to find contests where you can submit your work for free!

The Top 10 Free Writing Contests on the Internet

Writer’s Digest is, by far, the premier spot on the Internet for writers looking to get published. The site is the online version of the print publication, but it offers a lot more than the magazine does. On the Writer’s Digest website, you’ll find a constant flow of contests, from short story competitions to poetry events and of course a large annual writing contest covering many categories of writing and offering a significant cash prize.

free writing contests

In fact, beyond the contests, the Writer’s Digest website offers some of the most valuable resources for aspiring writers, including tips on improving your writing skills, how to come up with ideas for stories and most importantly how to get your work published. This is the one site I’m willing to mention here even though the contests are not free simply because of the amazing amount of free tips and advice the website offers to writers as a whole.

The PEN/Faulkner Writing Contest

The PEN/Faulkner Foundation was created by William Faulkner with his Nobel Prize funds. It is an organization that truly promotes a simple love of all literature, and it does so especially through the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

free writing contests

Five fiction writers can win this Award (one winner and four finalists), but the competition is pretty fierce. Usually about 300 entries are submitted (including entire novels). The top writer wins $15,000, and the other four each receive $5,000. Best of all, you will have the opportunity to read from your work at an award ceremony in May at the Folger Shakespeare Library - a true honor.

The Shenandoah writing Awards

The Shenandoah is an esteemed publication sponsored by Washington and Lee University. Submission to the publication is free, and by submitting you stand to win any one of five wonderful prizes (beyond the prize of being accepted and published in the first place).

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Shenandoah wards the Goodheart Prize for Fiction ($1,000), the James Boatwrite III Prize for Poetry ($1,000), the Carter Prize for the Essay ($1,000), the Shenandoah/Glasgow Prize for Emerging Writers ($2,000), and the Graybeal-Gowan Prize for Virginia Writers ($500).

MyAfricanDiaspora Short Story Competition

MyAfricanDiaspora is a website that embraces African Heritage, and in that spirit the site is offering an annual short story competition - open to anyone at all, regardless of country, gender or race.

free entry writing contests

The entry only needs to be 1500 words, and you stand to win the $500 grand prize. The only caveat is that the main character must have an African heritage.

Other Free contests - Folio Alley and L. Ron Hubbard

Sometimes you can find free writing contests in the most obscure places. Folio Alley is best known for the photography that you can find there, but the site also promotes writing and other creative endeavors. As a testiment to that, starting in 2009 they’ve started offering a writing contest. The fascinating thing about this contest is that the writing isn’t judged by a small panel, it’s judged by the entire FolioAlley community. If you can impress the membership - you’ll win the $500 prize!

If you like writing Science Fiction, another popular writing contest is the L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contest This organization accepts free submissions, and every quarter they award cash prizes ($1,000 in many cases) to the top three writers. The Grand Prize Winner gets an additional $5,000 on top of that.

When you search for “free writing contests,” what you’ll find is that over 80 to 90 percent of online writing contests ask for entrance fees. You may find a large number of them ask for very modest entry fees, and if that works for you, then go for it - just make sure the sponsoring organization is respectable and legitimate. However, if you want to focus only on contests that are free - there are some out there, as this particular list shows - you just need to search in nonconventional places like at Universities and websites that offer content that’s indirectly related to writing.

Good luck, and I hope you win!

Free Writing Classes

November 9th, 2009 No Comments

One of the best ways to improve your writing skills is by taking free writing classes that help with many of the fundamentals of writing. It isn’t absolutely necessary to have every grammatical rule memorized, but in order to write well you do need to understand the basic rules of well-structured writing.

Not long ago, I provided a list of the best free online writing courses. One of those websites, The Owl at Purdue, is my absolute favorite. So, I wanted to take a moment to provide a tour of this wonderful free resource, and recommend that if you like what you see, take some time to work through these free writing classes. You’ll discover that your writing will improve significantly.

Free Writing Classes from Purdue University

The first thing that you’ll notice when you visit The Owl at Purdue is the long list of available free classes that run down the right menu bar. The areas of writing that you can learn about with this site make it the premier website for learning how to write well. In fact, I would say that if you could only pick a single site to use that could teach you everything you need to know about good writing, this site would be it.

free writing classes

Some of the available subjects that you’ll find include Grammar and Mechanics, Research and Citation, and even The Writing Process - an excellent first stop for beginning writers. When you drop down any one of the menu items, you’ll discover a treasure trove of subjects that you can study.

free writing classes

When you choose a class that you want, you’ll notice that each subject is laid out using the same template, with an introduction and then a menu bar as shown here.

free writing classes

Menu options include getting help, downloading all materials in a multi-page printable format, obtaining permission to make copies of the coursework, an option to let Purdue know that you’re linking to the site (I’ve just done that!), the option to report an error with the courseware, and finally a button where you can provide feedback about the lesson.

free creative writing classes

As you work through each lesson, you’ll notice that the concepts are described and laid out in a manner that’s very simple to understand, and with graphical representations of each idea provided whenever it’s appropriate. There’s nothing dry or boring about these lessons - they’re well designed, well written, and well presented. You’ll also notice that at the bottom of every lesson page, there’s a complete listing of all pages that make up the lesson.

free creative writing classes

This navigational menu makes it very easy to go back to any concepts that you either forgot or you simply want to review one more time. You can jump back and forth through the lesson pages and work through it at your leisure, at your pace and whenever it’s convenient for you.

I’d like to offer kudos to the fantastic tutoring group over at Purdue for building this valuable online resource for all writers who are looking to improve their writing abilities. If you like this free tool, don’t forget to check out the Purdue “Grammar Gang” - a fun blog run by the tutoring team.

free creative writing classes

Whatever your reason for seeking out free writing classes - The Owl at Purdue is an excellent free resource and a great site to bookmark and return to whenever you need a refresher on grammar, correct writing structure and other writing guidelines.

Do you have any other free writing tools or resources that you use often to improve your writing? Share your own resources in the comments section below.