Yes, it is.  But that would make an unbelievably short blog post wouldn’t it, so let me go into a bit more depth.

I’ll start with my personal experience.  I’ve had an account with Twitter for several months now, during which I have built up a following of over 1,000 people.  And a big hello to any of you who are now following my blog!

I’ve got quite a network now and I follow about a thousand other people too.  My profile is filled out so I have a link to my blog and a short description of what I do.  If you are going to get an account with Twitter I would strongly suggest doing this bit first.  Put in a link to your writing website or your blog and fill in your profile so everyone knows you are a writer.

That’s what I did.  And one day I got a direct message from a guy I follow, asking me what kind of writing I did and whether or not I would be able to contribute some articles to his website.  A few emails followed back and forth and I ended up with a few months worth of work from him – and very nicely paid too.

So that is one way you can get writing gigs from Twitter.  But there are other ways too – more pro-active ways.  It’s great when people contact you for work but let’s face it, sitting around waiting for them doesn’t exactly bring the pennies rolling in on a daily basis.  You need to get out there and get started yourself too.

But how?

Okay I’m getting there.  Once you’ve joined Twitter you’ll see a search box a little way down on the right hand side.  Found it?  Good.  That’s how you’ll start searching for writing jobs on Twitter.

Now you need to be a bit thoughtful here.  You could just type in ‘writing jobs’ and see what comes up.  Make sure you include the quote marks so you find the exact phrase.  Now this will be an up to date feed of the latest tweets featuring that phrase – and when I did it the first one up was for an article rewriter.

I also found three or four Twitter accounts in the first few results that I could easily start following in order to find more jobs in future.  So that just goes to show how a quick search can produce potential results.

Let’s try another search now though.  Let’s try something different, such as ‘blogger needed’.  That might sound like a strange phrase but remember that if you wanted a blogger and you were tweeting about it, you’d probably put something very like that.  Here is a screenshot of just a few of the results I came up with:

Some of the results from a job search on Twitter

I’m sure you’re getting the idea of how this works now.  And of course you can tailor your searches depending on what you want to find.  Are you good at writing SEO articles?  Okay, then try a search for SEO article writers.  How about article rewriting?  Try that too.

You’ll soon get the hang of searching regularly for anything that might be worthwhile.  And once you have performed your search you can leave that window open in your browser.  It will automatically update if any other tweets come through with the same keywords in them.

And that means you might just have the upper hand when it comes to applying for a brand new writing job online.  Good luck – and let me know how you get on.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

If you have been reading my blog for a while now you will probably be aware that I am all for writers promoting themselves and their writing skills.  A good way of doing this is by participating on various social media and networking sites.

How well connected are you online? (Image copyright Clix, used with thanks)

The main one I get involved with is Twitter, but I have also delved into other sites online.  Technorati has proved useful for making sure this blog reaches a wider audience for example.  There are a few other sites I am currently exploring, such as MyBlogLog, which seems to be quite good.

But I have learned that the best results take time to get.  I am just approaching the 1,000 followers mark on Twitter, which is a real milestone for me.  I have linked up with some other writers on there, as well as winning one job from someone who was following my tweets for a while beforehand.  It just goes to show you never know when your social networking will pay off.

This is the point of this blog post.  It’s easy to spend time networking and delving into social media sites without feeling like you are getting anything in return.  But you are.  You are getting your name known.  You are building your brand.  You are making it easier for people to say “Ah yes, Allison Whitehead.  I’ve come across her work before…” (insert your name in place of mine!)

It’s not a case of constantly promoting.  It’s a case of constantly making sure people can find you more easily.  And if you have your own website or blog you’ll get a steady increase in traffic as well.  Don’t expect everything to happen overnight – but expect results, because you WILL get them if you keep going.

Anyone up for some tweeting, then?

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

I’ve always been fascinated by social media sites.  I’ve tried my hand at a fair few of them too, mostly as part of my research for various articles and books I’ve written for other clients.

But the one that has really stuck with me is Twitter.  The reason I love it is because it is very quick and easy to add regular messages to it.  I usually update my Twitter account every time I complete a writing job or perhaps grab a new one.  It varies though, and I do sometimes tweet about other topics as well.

Get tweeting!

I liked Twitter right from the start, but it didn’t take long to realise that there are a lot of other writers on there as well.  I’ve connected with a lot of other people since starting to ‘tweet’, and now I have several hundred followers too.  I was quite chuffed as I watched those numbers going up!

But probably the best part about Twitter is that it has brought me a new – and regular – client.  Regular weekly work too, so I’m delighted about that.  And that is why I have decided to add this new category to my blog – it’s all about connecting with other writers and indeed (as I have found out) connecting with potential clients as well.

So think of this as my introductory post on this topic, and in this category.  There will be more to come!  If there is anything you would like to see me writing about on this subject, do let me know.

In the meantime, follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/allison_w and share in my daily writing life.  See you there!

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

I discovered the social networking site Twitter because I was asked to write a short e-book about it.  As part of my research I joined and had a go, and while the e-book is long since completed my Twitter account is still alive and well and being updated on a fairly regular basis.

What’s more, I’ve found there are a lot of writers on Twitter, ‘twittering’ (as it’s called) about their writing life.  On the face of it this seems bizarre because we writers love our words – and you only get 140 characters to play with when you post an entry on Twitter.  But maybe that is part of the challenge.

On a personal level it is the only social networking site I have kept up with – precisely because it only takes a few moments every now and then to update people on what you’re up to.  It fits seamlessly into the writer’s day, and you can connect with other writers and find out what they’re writing about as well.  It’s a great community, but it’s also one that doesn’t suck dry your time like a lot of other sites can.

I’ve also found that people who have been reading my tweets have also been checking out my various Squidoo lenses on writing, so it’s good in more ways than one.  Why not give it a go today?  Oh, and if I know who you are and you’re a writer, I’ll probably start following your tweets too!

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time