Resume writing is a niche that is often overlooked by the freelancer. Once considered an easy project, today’s resumes must be sleek, informative and attention grabbers aimed at attracting interest for the job-seeking client. Gone are the days of just listing work experience and personal attributes. Today’s resume is a highly effective marketing tool used to reinforce a job seeker’s credibility to the employment marketplace. It has one objective: to showcase the client’s unique talents and skill sets, and show a prospective employer exactly what the resume holder can bring to their firm.

The right resume gets the client in the door, after that, it’s up to them. As a resume writer, it’s your job to market your client in a way that him/her put their best foot forward and land an interview. Get him in the door with a great resume, and you’ve succeeded!

The Basics of a Great Resume:

Accuracy and quality writing are essential for the resume writer. First impressions really do count. Hiring executives use resumes to weed out potential candidates, and any grammatical or spelling slip will land your client’s resume in the trash. Never exaggerate a client’s experience or abilities on his/her resume, even if they want you to.

Brevity too, is important. Screeners often only give each resume a cursory glance for essential keywords such as “project management, team leadership, marketing, staff training”, and so on. Find the keywords that fit your client’s job search and be sure to include as many as possible in as little space as you can. Use adjectives sparingly. Many resume scanners will assume that you are trying too hard to make the applicant sound perfect when overusing adjectives to make up for a lack of ability. Keep it brief. Most employers prefer documents under two pages, of course relevance to the job being applied for is most important. Give the employer enough information to pique their curiosity about your client and call them in for an interview.

Presentation is another key resume quality. Stick to the facts, but try and present them in an interesting, yet professional manner. Make it as easy as possible for the resume scanner to locate all pertinent information (education, experience, job history), while finding a way to make your clients skills and experience stand out among hundreds of other applicants. Help your client distinguish themselves from the pack by demonstrating within the resume text that he or she has at least some of the key requirements needed for the position, identifying the client’s relevant and transferable skills; and clearly show how your client can develop the necessary skills and abilities to excel at the job requested.

Keeping these basic guidelines in mind when writing a winning resume for your client, remember, too, its content that matters most. Write a resume like you would a pro-active advertisement for your client, and you’re bound to find success as a resume writer.

One thing that every writer wants to know is how to earn more money from writing. This is because being a writer can be a fickle business sometimes and so you need to have as many sources of income as possible.

You also need to use your time wisely to be able to write as much as you can and be as productive as you can. You need to use the phrase “Don’t Get It Right, Get It Written” as often as possible to get you off the starting blocks and writing as much as you can, instead of trying edit your work and be as perfect as possible as you go along. It’s so much easier to just start writing and don’t stop till you’ve finished and THEN go back and edit your work later. Remember that writing and editing and two different jobs and should never be done together.

But what you really want to know is how to earn more money from writing. And below are 10 easy ways for you increase your writing income.

1. Write more. I know it sounds obvious that writers should be writing but you’d be surprised at how many people call themselves writers yet they hardly ever write. To improve your writing, get a book of an author you like (or a writer whose style you admire) and copy their work. Just sit and copy out their writing word-for-word. This will give you a really good understanding of their writing style and how you can incorporate it into your own writing.

2. Read more. Successful writers are avid readers as well as being prolific writers. Reading improves you knowledge, exposes you to different writing styles, and can also help you to come up with great ideas for your own writing.

3. Find more freelance markets. If you want to make more money you need to sell more writing. So spend a bit of time every week surfing online and browsing through magazines looking for new writing markets. You can also sign up for regular writers ezines that contain current writing markets. Always be on the look out for new writing opportunities.

4. Submit more queries. Once you’ve found new markets you then need to make sure that you do actually get your writing published. So make a definite decision to send out at least 5 queries or short stories to different writing markets every week. And then make sure you do it, even if you have to get up early or stay up late.

5. Try different writing projects. Instead of sticking to the same kind of things you write, try branching out into something new. For instance, if you mostly write articles for women’s magazines, trying writing jokes, verse, puzzles or children’s stories and find new places to submit them.

6. Write and publish eBooks. EBooks are a great way to earn a passive income. You can write an eBook in as little as 24 hours and publish it online in only a few minutes. And because there’s no cost involved in selling eBooks you can write as many as you want for as long as you want.

7. Write and publish books. There’s nothing more wonderful for a writer than to feel the first copy of your book in your own hands. It’s so easy now to publish your own books that there’s nothing to stop you from becoming a prolific author and publish several books a year.

8. Learn new writing. There may be areas of writing that you don’t feel proficient in. Maybe you’ve never really tried writing fiction, or, like me, you want to learn copywriting or SEO writing. Choose a area of writing that you’ve never tried before but would like to learn, and then learn to do it.

9. Invest in your writing. Don’t be afraid to spend money to further your writing career. Splash out on some really fancy notebooks and expensive pens or treat yourself to a new computer. Or how about taking a seminar or a writing course or maybe there’s a book about writing that you’ve been thinking about buying. Just open your wallet and buy whatever it takes to help you write more and earn more.

10. Write more. Now you probably notice that this is the same advice in step number one. But it is so important that it needs mentioning more than once. To be a great writer you need to be great at writing and the more you write, the more natural writing will be for you and so the better a writer you’ll become. As you write more and more your words will flow onto the paper (or computer monitor) more easily and so your writing will sound more natural. Never stop writing.

The bottom line is that writers write. They always write. When a writer is not writing, they are thinking about writing. And when they’re not writing nor thinking about writing, they are reading about writing. So if you want to be a writer, be the very best you can and start writing now.

First, picking a good topic for blogging can be a tough ordeal. Many people want to blog about their hobbies, but if the niche is too small, generating traffic can be difficult. It is important to find a topic which will draw in a good crowd, but it must also be a topic about which you are willing to write. A blog that lacks passion or insight will not retain visitors and will not give them the incentive to use the banner ads on the site, or click through on your affiliate product. This is the primary way most blogs generate revenue, so if the ads or sales fail, the blog may not make any money. Becoming an expert at your particular niche is key.

So how do you go about making the best of your blog? While most people who are considering blogging for money are already web savvy, it is important to be up to date with the latest internet publishing software and websites. An out of date blog, or one which does not take advantage of new methods for increasing traffic, may struggle against technically superior blogs. Blogs today take advantage of things such as RSS feeds and podcasts. By utilizing the latest technologies a blog can keep up with the rest and really stand out. WordPress blogs are especially regraded for their use of ease and plethora of features.

One thing anyone who wants to blog for money needs to remember is that regular visitors will lose interest if the blog is not updated frequently. Updating the blog every day can result in a very high turnover for certain blogs, but may be too much for others. A blog about a rapidly changing medium, business for example, can thrive on daily updates. However, a blog about a hobby such as snowboarding, may be better served by information-rich weekly updates. A blog which is unnecessarily updated may come off as spam to some readers. Despite this, a blog with appropriate and well-written updates will keep readers coming back for more time and time again. Making sure the updates are on a schedule, rather than random, can also keep readers coming back.

Blogging for money does not have to be hard. Do not let the lack of success from others steer you away. Those who are unprepared or not serious about blogging for money will make room for those who want to turn real profit. By doing your research and approaching the blogosphere with a professional attitude, it is very possible to supplement an existing income or replace it all together. Make money blogging today with these 3 easy tips!