The Personal Blog of Bud Gallant

Follow the adventures of an ambitious writer and marketer from Canada. Learn with someone who is dedicated to achieving success in life and helping others to obtain true freedom. Get unique perspectives, useful resources, clever ideas and motivational thoughts. Explore the path less tread and stay up to date with one man's progress through the game of life.

The Benefits Of Freelance Writing

Posted July 1st, 2011 in Freelance Writing by Bud Gallant

There are a number of benefits of freelance writing.  Some of these are rather obvious, and others are often unconsidered by many people when evaluating the opportunity that freelance writing provides.  Most people are aware that a freelance writer is able to set their own work schedule and choose the type of articles or topics they will specialize in.  It’s a very self-directed type of activity that thrives upon initiative and personal freedom, though it does require a passion for writing and a strong work ethic to succeed in the field.

Another benefit that this career offers is the ability to work extra hours at one’s own leisure and to take days off or vacations at will.  As a freelance writer, you are able to manage your time in a very direct fashion and also determine your own level of productivity.  It’s particularly suited to people who have a high drive to produce, as there is really no limit to what you can accomplish in a day, if you are driven to create meaningful content.  Likewise, it is great for those who have a limited amount of time, and would like a reliable way to achieve a secondary income.  As you are free to work from home, you can easily write in your spare time.  Many single parents are attracted to freelance writing as a way they can add another stream of revenue while still being available to their families.  Flexibility of schedule is such a liberating aspect to this career path.

Perhaps the most obvious benefit is simply the opportunity to write for a living and to set your own rate of payment.  While there are a number of services that often a preset rate either through a per word or per article format, most have systems in place to offer increased income for those who become proficient at the trade.  In addition, as your reputation increases and your skill is honed, other opportunities open up to you.  You also have the ability to go into business for yourself directly, and advertise your services at whatever cost you determine is fair.

An often overlooked perk is that you are able to work from anywhere and pretty much at anytime.  Even while on vacation, you can easily prepare articles or work online and still be generating revenue.  During lengthy travels such as on a plane, train or bus, you’re able to work right from your seat and still remain productive.

Unlike other careers where your work may go unnoticed, as a writer, you have the potential for a global audience if your articles are published online, and everything you produce that is connected to your name will effectively boost your brand, so long as the content you are producing is quality material that benefits the reader.  This is an additional form of payment, aside from the monetary remuneration, and really shouldn’t be under-estimated.

Ultimately, the benefits of freelance writing are numerous.  The potential to grow your reputation, your writing skill,  and your income are three primary factors that make this an ideal career for anyone who enjoys sharing knowledge with others.  Additionally, being able to set your own pay rate, accept or refuse work, choose the type of specific work you will produce and have total control over your time and location make this a perfect match for those who value flexibility and freedom in their lives.

 

Bud Gallant Begins Writing For The Content Authority

Posted June 30th, 2011 in Announcements, Freelance Writing by Bud Gallant

Bud Gallant is pleased to announce that he was accepted as a writer for The Content Authority, an online article delivery business that serves publishers with relevant content.  Gallant finished his first batch of articles yesterday and is enjoying the experience.  The content Authority differs from Demand Media, where Gallant is already a published writer, in that the options are more expansive and it operates on a tier-based system.  All authors begin at tier 1, and may advance through the tiers to achieve higher recognition and earn a higher per word pay-rate.

Gallant is looking forward to incorporating this new opportunity fully into his routine and expanding further his portfolio as a freelance writer.  Aside from the money, the most obvious benefit is time well spent honing an important and relevant skill that will ensure high quality content production across all platforms that Gallant provides for, including his own blogs and independent projects, such as HubPages.

Understanding the importance of keeping an active writing career maintained, Gallant is always open to additional freelance work, and the Content Authority provides a useful mechanism for obtaining it.  As Gallant advances through the tiers, he will have yet better opportunities and be receiving higher pay.  Although he has just recently completed his first day and his first several articles, he is well on the way to achieving tier 2 status, and is set to qualify for the upgrade today.  Depending on the length of the review process, Gallant may be able to begin serving tier 2 articles to the Content Authority’s clients as early as this week.

 

Bud Gallant Reviews Blip.fm Social Music Site

Posted June 28th, 2011 in Social Technology by Bud Gallant

Bud Gallant, longtime social technology enthusiast, reviewed the social music site Blip.fm today on his Social Technology blog.  Gallant produced a brief review of the free music sharing and social platform, providing a mostly very positive evaluation, while noting some issues with the usability of the site’s music library.

While there is room for improvement particularly regarding the media library that users must select music from, overall the site provides a valuable, free service and enjoys high praises from it’s users. Those who enjoy sharing music with real time social interaction can appreciate that this is the only site offering this ability to any notable degree. The registration process is quick, the interface is easy to use and being able to blip nearly any song you can think of, as well skip anything you don’t want to hear, makes the site a valuable resource for music fans.

Gallant listed pros and cons of Blip.fm, as well as the definitive answer to the question “Is Blip.fm worth it?”.  He has been a regular user of the site since 2008.

Read more: Blip.fm Review

Bud Gallant Acquires Comic Book Movie Site: MoviesFromComics.com

Posted June 27th, 2011 in Announcements, Niche Sites, Online Earning by Bud Gallant

Bud Gallant is pleased to announce the registration of a brand new domain and the creation of a site to capitalize on the over 570,000 monthly searches for “movies from comics“.  Gallant is now the owner of a comic book movie niche site, and is pleased to have expanded his online portfolio in such a colorful direction.  This “exact match” domain provides Gallant the unique opportunity to enter a niche market that he has been personally interested in for many years.

The new site, called simply ‘Movies From Comics” and located at www.moviesfromcomics.com, went live on June 25th, 2011 for testing and basic layout and design work.  Gallant is nearly ready to begin the process of outsourcing written articles and videos for the site with a target of August 1st, 2011 for the site’s official launch date.

This action was in alignment with Gallant’s interest in niche sites as a source of passive income, and his interest in comic-based art and movies.  The intention is to build a premier resource for news, reviews and opinion pieces on comic book based movies.  The site will derive revenue from advertisements and sponsorships.  Content creation will be under the direction of Gallant who will himself write for the site, in addition to managing the outsourcing of content, to achieve a high-volumes of quality material to meet the demands of the community.

The site, which is currently running on the WordPress blogging platform, has a realistic potential for achieving an estimated 20,000 hits a day in it’s initial stages, assuming top or near-top first page placement on Google for it’s key word term.  Gallant would like to thank those of his friends and family who have already given or offered assistance on this project.

 

Hubpages – An Online Money Maker for when You Have to Make Money

Posted June 21st, 2011 in HubPages, Online Earning, Projects by Bud Gallant

What can you do online if you have to make moneyHubPages is a fun way to earn some extra cash online, and, as Bud Gallant found out, it is quite a money maker, too.  He started receiving payments from advertisements after writing just 2 articles.

Not only is the site completely free to sign up for and use, but it actually pays you to use it.  Sounds incredible, right?  On HubPages, you become a creator of “hubs”, and take advantage of the revenue sharing program.  Creating hubs is easy and fun and it provides an excellent opportunity to promote yourself, learn new things and interact with a vibrant community.  Plus you’ll be making money and that’s nice too!

You receive the full payment from any advertisements or affiliate links in your hub on 60% of all of it’s traffic.  In return for offering you the hosting, tools, resources and encouragement, HubPages retains 40% of the traffic.

What is a hub?  It’s a sort of hybrid between an article and a website.  Bud recently created a hub about passive income that will provide an example to make things more clear: Passive Income: Ways To Make Money And Get Rich Online

Anyone who is looking for a no-cost, very simple and fun way to get started making money online should go ahead and give HubPages a try.  Here’s a quick rundown of the pros and cons:

Pros:

  • Fast and simple sign-up
  • No money required or fees added
  • Make extra cash from home
  • Earn passive income
  • Choose your own topics
  • Very stable site with a good reputation
  • Excellent community eager to help
  • Great tools that make creating hubs fast
  • Works with Google Analytics
  • Excellent referral system

Cons:

  • HubPages takes the revenue on 30-40% of your traffic
  • Often takes time to start seeing higher income
  • Can be difficult to stay motivated during initial “dry spell”

Overall, HubPages is a very solid place to post some content, get some backlinks, and make some money.  It’s also nice being able to write about what ever you want, although naturally some topics will be more popular than others so your traffic does, to a large extent, depend upon an interested audience.  The 40% cut does seem a bit steep, but the help from the community and the opportunity to learn make it a fair trade, especially for anyone who want to test the waters with no risk to themselves.

With all the scams that are around online, and the various “technically not scams” that don’t pay or barely pay, HubPages is in a select group of easily accessible ways for anyone to get some extra money online in their spare time.  If you’ve wondered about whether or not you really can make money online or if HubPages is a scam, you can take the word of thousands of users who have made money with the site, including some who routinely make several hundred or even over a thousand dollars a month of largely residual income.  How’s that for a money maker?

To hear from real people on HubPages who are making a nice extra income, check out these success stories.  If you’re ready now to start yourself off in the right direction and make some money by writing online, join HubPages now.  If you’d like to see Bud’s hubs, check out Bud Gallant on HubPages.

 

 

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