Ready to Resume Blogging

After more than a week of absence, Teecup is ready to resume blogging! Thank you so much for leaving comments, everyone. You can expect the favor to be returned over the weekend, especially for blogs with Comment Luv. 

Hong Kong Special for Traveling Freelancers 

What should you expect over the week? Well, I plan to give you updates of my Hong Kong back packing excursion. 

You can learn how to pay for your Cebu Pacific fare without a credit card, complete the BDO bank payment form, find economical accommodation in the heart of the busiest shopping districts, and book your entire stay without forking out a fortune! 

These topics may seem random, but for the freelance writer who unwinds by visiting other places, this week's eclectic selection could make you a tad more fluid abroad.

Freelancing on the Go

To maintain the niche of this blog site (which is freelancing), also expect some valuable entries on how you can freelance while on the go. Did you know that this is even possible? 

Stay tuned as I share some of the fundamentals of review writing and travelogue writing. Journalism school honed me well, and gave me a great number of guidelines to go by. I hope they will work for you as they have for me.*

Blogging in Absentia

Dear Readers,

Since the 4th of the month, I have not responded to your comments or followed you back to your sites. That's because I've been away the whole week. I was merely blogging in absentia. What I mean is that scheduled posts in my blog buffer have been doing the work for me and feigning my online presence. 

This note is a scheduled post as well. I am probably thousands of feet above the ground as you read this entry. You will hear from me in a day or two - once my family and I get back from vacation. In the mean time, enjoy the Adgitize selections that I saved up for you, will you? You can read more about the community from Google. 

Yours,

Teecup*

Who's Who in the Adgitize Forums?

Adgitize is not only an advertising network but also a community of bloggers. For newbies who want to mingle with those active in the craft, there's no better place to start than at Adgitize. 

The forum serves as a meeting place for registered members to interact and earn points.You'll get a wide selection of threads to comment on, or you can even create one yourself.

If you intend to build links, there's a member marketing thread where you can invite visitors to your blog site and publicize contests and give-aways. You can also include up to 4 links in your signature. 

Best of all, the forum allows you to rub elbows with some of the people behind the blog ads displayed on your site. The personalities that stick to my memory make up my list of "Who's who in Adgitize?" For me, at least 5 people stand out from the crowd:

• Ken Brown
  
  The founder of Adgitize is one of the most agreeable and most customer-oriented personalities in the World Wide Web. He knows how to engage with members and even finds time to post a welcome message to newbies. You can rest assured that Ken Brown will reply to your query in record time.
   
  
• Gina Alfani
  
  Gina deserves the title "Ms. Congeniality" if there were a pageant of some sorts. She's friendly and very nice - even when the discussion is about Blogger editing woes. With so many blogs to manage and redesign, it's a pleasant surprise that Gina finds time to pop in and out of the forums.
   
  
• Sir Rob
  
  He's some sort of Adgitize guru you can count on whenever you need help figuring out how to navigate the system. Sir Rob is not an Adgitize employee but he can answer questions like, "How much will I earn if I get this much points?" or "How do I sign up for the preferred publisher program?" really fast.
   
• Grace
  
  Anything tagged as "creative" will remind you of Grace and her blogs. She has a set of freebies (designing info, instructions on how to create an embossed badge) in the member marketing thread that will get you interested. She is a consistent topper in the leader board.
  
  
• Contamination
  
  A troll using the PC is his distinctive avatar. Contamination is one of the most interesting personalities you'll run into at Adgitize. He does not easily follow the herd mentality on preserving page rank. If there's one thing I like best about Conti, it's that we both love Comment Luv.

Registered Adgitize members frequent the forums for any one or a combination of the following reasons: points/cash, friendship, link building and community. Is the forum a nice place to be? Take it from me... it is.*

Publisher, Affiliate, Advertiser - Which Adgitize Role is for You?

Decision making is serious business.

Should you join Adgitize or not? Is the network any good? Are your goals in alignment with the community's?

These things are entirely up to you. What might work for the members may not work for you. While you ponder on whether to sign up or not, why don't you study your options and see where you could fit in?

A lot of members are not "plain" publishers or affiliates or advertisers. As a matter of fact, many juggle roles to score higher points in the network.

This post will help you decide which role will best match your goals and your willingness to get involved.

The Publisher

There are regular publishers and preferred publishers. Collectively, all publishers are bloggers or site owners. The qualifying requirement is to add at least one regular Adgitize ad to the site. In addition, your blog should get at least one visit or page view a day for you to earn credits.

Some pocket change is returned to you for your regular blogging activities. Whenever you update your blog and visit other Adgitize members' sites, you qualify for points that can be converted to cash or advertising credit.

What makes the preferred publisher different from the regular publisher? The bottom line is involvement. To become a preferred publisher, you must be able to:

• Register for the preferred publisher program
• Position the ads in the upper half of your blog
• Click Adgitize ads (required for non-paying/free preferred publishers: 300 ad clicks within 4 days)

In exchange for your participation, you are assigned a few advertising points and your blog site gets listed in the preferred publishers tab (for added exposure and potential traffic). 

Caveat: This role will disappoint you if you signed up for the traffic.

It's free to become a preferred publisher, but you might want to consider the paid option which costs $8 a month. The fee guarantees your listing in the preferred publisher's list even if you do not meet the click requirements. There's no way to bypass the ad positioning requirement though. You still need to place the ads on the top fold.

The Affiliate

Affiliates earn from Adgitize in the form of finder's fees. As an affiliate, you will receive $5 for every referral who signs up under you and ends up placing an advertisement with the network. 

Compared to religiously clicking ads, affiliates have the potential to earn cash quicker. Just imagine how much moolah you'll end up with when 5 of your friends advertise their blogs on Adgitize. That's $25 worth of instant finder's fees. Such amount will take almost forever to reach via the publisher track. 

The affiliate is required to place an Adgitize ad to qualify for the program. As opposed to the regular ad, the affiliate ad does not come with the bottom liner which reads, "Adgitize Me." Affiliate ads are also available as text links like the one used in the introductory paragraph.

The post on types of Adgitize ads will enlighten you more on your earning options.  You can even get an idea of the clicking behavior of network members if you know to whom the ad is targeted. 

Becoming an affiliate is one of the most painless roles in the Adgitize community. During the registration process, you simply need to copy and paste the code to your blog site, and you're good to go. You can forget you even signed up with Adgitize. 

When you reach the minimum payout of $10, the funds - by default - will be sent to your PayPal account. You don't even need to request for it. Members have been very happy with the customer service here. Adgitize does not pay much, but it does pay promptly.

Caveat: Like the publisher, this role might be a source of disappointment if you mainly signed up with Adgitize for the traffic.

Your level of success depends on your marketing efforts, your site traffic and your online audience's paying capacity. Not everyone of your visitors will be eager to fork $14 on advertising. If they're not paying, you're not getting your cut either.   

The Advertiser

Of the three groups, this role has lauded Adgitize with the most number of positive feedback. This comes as no surprise, because the network itself mainly targets the blog advertisers.

There is no free option here. The monthly advertising fee is $14. In exchange for the amount, your badge is shown and rotated within Adgitize's network of 17,000 registered publisher blogs. The point incentive motivates publishers to click your ad and visit your blog.

You might consider this role as your crutch for online traffic - especially when you're just starting out. Senior members have become so addicted with it that those who started advertising never wanted to quit from the program. Several freebies sweetened the deal:

• Rebates when you also sign up as a publisher
  (advertising turns out "free" if publishing points are able to cover the cost of ad placement)
  
  
• Dual increase in terms of traffic and earnings
  (page views and credits for you, added exposure for other blogs ads positioned on your site)
  
  
• Lower qualifying clicks to maximize click points
  (from 100 down to 51)

I don't know if you're ready for this nice little addiction. Advertising with the network will significantly inflate your stats - if you care about them. Here's what to expect:

• Your number of daily visitors will increase - so long as your ad is active.
• Your bounce rate will increase. Majority of visitors do touch and go. This is reality.
• Your Alexa ranking will improve. Imagine being able to trim down 2M to 200 or 500k in a month.

You are not compelled to display Adgitize ads on your site if you think that doing so lowers the aesthetic value of your blog. However, if you're out for some traffic (and most will come from the registered members), it would be wise to populate a few Adgitize ads on your blog to avoid it being labeled as a dead-end site. 

Multiple Roles

Weighing the benefits and challenges that come with the individual roles, I would not be surprised if you decide to cross over and sign up for more than one role in the Adgitize network. Many publishers end up as advertisers and vice versa. Almost everybody is an affiliate. Does Adgitize seem like a network that will help you reach your goals? *

How to Add the Adgitize Code to Blogger - 5 Steps, Fewer Minutes

This entry is a follow-up post to the Adgitize registration procedure. Step 4 lets you copy the code and post it to your blog. Do you know how it's done? Adding HTML codes to Blogspot is a piece of cake really. This is my third month of using the platform, and I'm loving it a lot.

Note that Steps 2 to 5 apply to any JavaScript or HTML code that you want to insert on your page. For demonstration purposes, what you will see is the insertion of the Adgitize code. 

Step 1: Copy the code from Adgitize.

Step 2: Log on to Blogger. Select "Design" from your dashboard.

Step 3. Click the "Add a Gadget" box.

Step 4.  Scroll down the list and choose "HTML/JavaScript."

Step 5. Paste the code and save.

When added correctly, the code will display ads on your blog and will allow you to earn ad view points and page view points within the Adgitize blogging network. You can now proceed to making your blog site even more attractive for clickers through proper ad positioning. *

Adgitize Registration in 5 Minutes or Less

A Visual Walk-through for Newbies

Are you planning to sign up with Adgitize? This blog post will give you a visual preview of the steps needed to register at the community. Whether you want to join or not is up to you. You might want to read first about the Ugly Betty Phenomenon for a good laugh as well as the previous post to find out how you can earn with Adgitize. So, without further delay, here's what to do:

Step 1: Visit the Adgitize website. 

Step 2: Look for the sign-up box and fill in the blanks. 

You will be asked to enter your name (which can be your nickname), the name of your website or blog, and the corresponding URL.

You cannot proceed unless you enter the captcha code correctly. It took me about two tries to get it right. 

There's an audio assistant that you can use though.

Do not be alarmed when you will be redirected to a different site while the audio plays. 

Just pay attention to the code being dictated.Once you have taken note of the letter-and-number sequence, just press the back button to return to the Adgitize quick signup form. 

Step 3: Select your role in the network.

You can be an affiliate, an advertiser, a publisher or all three. For starters, select the publisher option.   

Edit your blog information. As you can see on the image to your left, the network does not have your RSS feed on file.


The system needs your RSS feed so that you can receive points every time you publish a blog post.

Without your RSS feed, Adgitize has no way of monitoring your publication activities.

Blog posts that infringe on copyrights are not assigned any points for obvious reasons. 

Step 4: Get the code and paste it on your blog. 

There are a variety of ad sizes to choose from. A lot of members use the 125 x 125 px ads that may be grouped into various ad blocks.

Not pasting the code means not displaying Adgitize ads on your blog. You will not earn points.


The network considers this to be the final step. Read the rules regarding the tampering of the codes and the number of ads to display on your blog site in the box to avoid disappointment. 

Step 5: Return to your profile page.

Step 6: Edit your preferred payment method. 

Take your pick between PayPal and check payments.

Alternately, you can also opt to keep your points within the Adgitize network in order to pay directly for advertising in the future.

Between PayPal and check, the lesser of the two evils is the latter if you ask me. (Learn why freelancers should avoid getting paid by check).

Some members however have had their PayPal accounts limited and frozen. Just choose the method that works for you.

The minimum amount to qualify for payouts is $10, and payments are sent on the 20th day of each month.

Step 7: Log out. 

Types of Adgitize Ads and Your Earning Options

One of the ways for you to accumulate points in Adgitize is to post ads. There are two ad types available. Can you tell one from the other? Each of them lets you score points differently and targets two groups of visitors.

The Affiliate Ad

This ad type is available as a text link (like the one used in the introductory paragraph of this post), a wide banner or the usual 125x125 badge. Regardless of the form they appear, affiliate ads lead you to the Adgitize site.

The main target of affiliate ads is the blogger or business that wants to advertise a blog or website. This type of ad won't work well for you when you target seasoned clickers, because they don't earn points with it.

You don't get daily points either when you post this ad type on your blog. However, you could earn $5 from every visitor who clicks on the ad, registers at Adgitize and advertises a site. In addition, you get a cut of $1 for every succeeding month that your visitor-turned registered advertiser continues to advertise.

Just so you know, advertising doesn't come free. The monthly rate is $14. Is the price worth it? Based on the feedback of advertising members, the arrangement seems very addictive and well received. 

I can't vouch for it yet however, as I have not tried advertising my blog at Adgitize yet. You might want to visit the forums or read the reviews on site to decide for yourself.

The Regular Ad

When you pay for advertising, you get your badge circulated within the network for members to check out. Your badge constitutes the regular ad. This ad type leads the clicker directly to your blog.

A distinctive feature of regular ads is the one liner which says, "Adgitize Me." The text background becomes blue (instead of green) indicating that you are logged on to the network and that your Adgitize ad clicks or blog hops will be credited points. 

As you can see, the target of regular ads can either be the Adgitize insider or the fresh visitor. In most cases, the Adgitize insiders are the seasoned clickers and become your regular site visitors... because of the point incentive.

As a publisher, you accumulate points (convertible to cash) with regular ads on a daily basis by: (1) publishing the ad(s) on your blog site (2) earning ad views and/or (3) clicking the ad to visit the advertising member's blog site. This scheme allows you to earn passive income by renting out your blog space to Adgitize.

Advertisers are not required to display regular ads, which is why clickers will sometimes end up at dead-end sites. Clicking the ads will not make you rich. Renting your space does not pay much either. However, members can get some nice pocket change amounting to $10 or more a month - depending on how you active you are as a blogger. 

Recap

 

• Affiliate ads: $5 from every site visitor who clicks the ad and advertises with Adgitize
  
  If the person merely registers with the community, you will not get cash. Think of the $5 as your finder's fee or personal cut for referring a paying advertiser to the network.
  
  
• Regular ads: $0.01 a day for simply allowing Adgitize ads to occupy your blog space
  
  For active bloggers, points and cash conversions vary. Expect a few cents a day that could add up to $10 monthly or more.

The real picture is not that rosy when you're eying financial gain. Adgitize is after all a paid advertising network for bloggers and not your usual make-money-online site. The money you earn will not replace your day job or the income you glean from freelancing. It's only realistic to treat the point system as a bonus and an invite for bloggers to be active at the network.

So, what then do you gain when you sign up with Adgitize? I say page views, some pocket change and a wonderful community. Membership is free and nobody ever forces you to do something you don't want (such as clicking ads all day). Moreover, if it took you 2 to 3 years to cash out $100 from Adsense, then you might not have to wait that long with Adgitize.*

Adgitize Ads - 6 Visual Turnoffs for Potential Clickers

Back then, I did not have an iota of intention to go check out a badge. My curiosity on the tenacity of some unsightly ads led me to google the community, and it was only recently that I cultivated the habit to go blog hopping.  

Unlike the Adgitize insider who goes blog hopping for points, credit or cash, new site visitors are not dedicated clickers.

This second group of clickers that you want to woo do not feel compelled to check out Adgitize ads or linger long at your site. 

To get people interested in your very own badge, investing in good-quality visuals is a must. Why? Your badge serves as your front act for the main gig: your blog site.

What discourages the fresh visitors - the potential clickers - from checking out your ad? I can name at least 6 visual turnoffs: 

1. Pixelation. Pixelated images are downright ugly. They make your badge feel like it was made on an obsolete PC. Consider using vector images instead of JPEG photos. You can also employ open-source software to convert your JPEG images to vector art. Just do a google search to find which one is easiest to use.
   
   
2. Disproportions. Stretched images do not look good. They often result when you expand tiny photos to fit the 125 x 125 ad size. It's easier to work on a larger picture which you can crop or resize properly.  Tip: Press "shift" to resize images without altering the proportion.
   
   
3. Typos. Small gremlins take away the credibility of your site before the visitor has a chance to even check out your blog. The addition, deletion or replacement of a single letter can change the entire meaning of something (Imagine "Mrs." without the final "s" or "Adgitize" spelled as "Adgetize"). Additionally, keep your eye out on some critical booboos.
   
   
4. Textual Overloading. Cramming too many textual details in the badge strains the eyes and impacts readability. The rule of thumb in media lay-outing is to limit your message to 2 or 3. With small ads, settle for one phrase that best summarizes the content of your blog.
   
   
5. Animation. The movement might make your badge stand out from the ad group, but I personally find animated GIFs distracting. According to the Adobe forums, animated GIFs may not work well for you because they cause computer performance problems and do not support "full" color depth.
   
   
6. Mug Shots. Ads that resemble Facebook profile pictures or photos from a high school yearbook are not that appealing. The tactic works for celebrities well enough, but I don't think it will bode well for the average "unknown" blogger. For social networking to produce a domino effect, a pretty face is not enough. You've got to have clout and appeal.

How about you? What keeps you from clicking ads? * 

Adgitize Ads - Inside the Mind of the Seasoned Clicker

Advertising your blog in the Adgitize network is a surefire way to up page views and visitors to your blog site every single day that the ad is active. 

How do you make ads clickable?
(photo courtesy of re_lepage)

The question "by how much" depends however on many variables: your niche, your content, the first impression your badge makes and your competitors. 

Some members get hundreds to thousands of visitors a day, while others settle with less than a hundred.

Internal Rivalry

While you can't go please everyone with your chosen niche or content selection, you can do something to create a positive first impression about your blog site... and maybe even to make your competitors bite the dust.  

So, how do you make your ad more clickable? Are you wooing site visitors to your blog the right way? What makes people click your ads? Why should visitors pick your badge from the group?

There are two kinds of clickers you would want to woo: the seasoned clicker and the fresh visitor. This blog post is the first of two parts. Today, I will take you inside the mind of the seasoned clicker.

  

Things that Compel the Seasoned Clicker to Click an Ad

The Adgitize insiders would not care too much about how your badge looks like. Well, on the first few days they might... Over time though, these people will pay more attention to the ease of experience that your site offers for blog hopping within the network. 

Adam Smith's invisible hand theory is very much alive in the network, and the worst thing you can do is to make things difficult for the clicker. The factors that will influence the seasoned clicker love your site or hate it include:

• the loading speed of your site
  
  Does your blog load faster than 10 seconds? The shorter the wait, the better. Teecup Limited has a recorded load time of 1.97 to 2.03 seconds, which Alexa considers to be slow. About 68 percent of other blogs reportedly load faster.
  
  
• the availability of ads
  
  Which type of Adgitize ads are you showing? If your site is only displaying the affiliate badge instead of the regular ad groups, chances are you will get fewer clickers and clicks.
  
  Site visits and blog badge clicks are assigned points. If you break or hamper the continuity loop, your ad could be earmarked for a possible boycott. Dead-end sites are highly unpopular with the clickers.
  
  
• the positioning of ads
  
  Are the Adgitize ads placed on the upper fold? If the length of your blog is about 6 mouse scrolls or pagedowns long, the group of badges should be visible within the first 3 mouse clicks.
  
  Interestingly, a handful of seasoned clickers also scroll down to look for unvisited badges to click. For the most part though, nobody wants to scroll down and hunt for that cleverly blended Adgitize badge. Every second wasted is equivalent to points lost.
  
  
• the freshness of your content
  
  How often do you update your site? If you intend to advertise your blog on Adgitize, then you might want to pump out content on a daily basis. The community has a preferred publisher program where regular members have to visit at least 100 blogs a day in order to qualify for extra points and extra exposure.
  
  These frequent guests tend to notice which sites are growing stale and which ones are worth repeat visits and comments. You significantly decrease your chances of getting the online audience hooked to your site when you neglect to update your blog.
   
  
• the overall impression that you or your blog site creates
  
  Is your site annoying? Is it reflective of your repulsive personality, shallow thinking or lack of originality? Does your blog cause browsers to crash? Will it harass the visitor with pop ads, automatic music players and eye sore?
  
  A yes to all these questions will quash your chances for a positive first impression and successful blog site advertising. Just try to place yourself in the shoes of the site visitor. What irks you might irritate the readers even more.
  

I wrote these things from the perspective of an Adgitize insider. On my first few weeks with the network, I found it very difficult to click 100 ads. Over time, I grew methodical with my blog hopping schedule. I became a seasoned clicker, made a few friends along the way and will continue to ruthlessly flesh out the click-worthy blogs from the poor ones on my daily rounds.

My point: Some ugly ads turn out to be very clickable when they are able to make up for the poor aesthetics with excellent user experience. All it takes is some familiarity with the blog site to look past the superficial flaws of a badge.*

Adgitize for Bloggers - Why Ugly Ads Get Noticed

It's so easy to tell a blog site apart from a regular website. The former is often smeared with widgets and badges. Most widgets link back to directory listings and are of passable quality. Majority of the badges are downright ugly though.

Some ads are like Ugly Betty. They still sell.
(photo courtesy of Ace Photos)

Why oh why would a blogger bother to clutter his precious blog space with so many ho-hum badges? Last month, I published the post Top 10 Contest Sites for Creative People on the premise that powerful visuals are essential to getting an online audience hooked longer in your site. Won't showing some unsightly badges yield the opposite effect then?

My fascination with the "staying power" of some aesthetically challenged ads led me to a site called Adgitize. The ads coming from Adgitize all sport a distinctive text in green at the bottom. The text reads, "Adgitize Me - Advertising for Blogs."

Adgitize is really more of a blog advertising network than a regular website. It includes a forum frequented by bloggers. 

The more I learned about Adgitize from the members, the more I understood why ugly ads get noticed and why the ads are not going to get axed very soon.

4 Reasons Behind the Ugly Betty Phenomenon

• There may be little face value on the badges, but Adgitize is a gold mine for improved traffic and Alexa ranking. When you advertise your blog, your badge is rotated within the network of over 17,000 registered blogs. The surge in traffic, page views, and unique visitors as well as the dramatic improvement in your Alexa rating somewhat downplays the emphasis on aesthetics.
  
  
• Ugly or not, the badge is a source of pocket change. Take away the ads and you lose out on points that are convertible to either advertising credits or cash paid to you at the end of every month. That's right. The site pays you a tinsy winsy amount for advertising space, and rewards you for your regular blogging activities.
  
  Isn't this neat? Whenever you update your blog and visit other blog sites within the Adgitize network (via the badges), you get a thumb's up in the form of points.
   
  
• The owners of amateur-looking badges tend to stick to Adgitize rules when it comes to displaying the ads and making it easy for the network members to go blog hopping for points, credit or cash within the network. Some really good-looking badges lead to what Adgitize members would call as "dead-end" sites: blogs that don't display any ad blocks. Unless dead-end sites are of the niche that interest me, I don't want to waste my time on them either.
  
  
• Blog advertisers are enjoying the comfort zone. Perhaps they are unaware of the untapped potential of better badges or maybe they share this mentality: If a so-so badge is already achieving what an excellent badge normally does, why push it?

  

A Touch of Authenticity

As you can tell from the ad block labeled "Featured Blog Sites" to your right, I did sign up with Adgitize. There is so much room for improvement when it comes to ad quality and aesthetics... but it looks like the ugly ads are here to stay... and for reasons that I fully understand. 

Would you sign up with a network that sounds too good to be true? Maybe not. The going quality of the ads hint that there are human beings behind the blogs. I like this touch of authenticity. The individuals are probably good bloggers but not very creative designers. 

For all it's worth, give Adgitize a try. Your biggest challenge will be how to make some really awful "off" ads blend nicely on your theme - that is... if you care about aesthetics as much as I do.*

Teecup Limited posting update

Teecup Limited has been up and running in the blogosphere for 3 months. The site is just a few posts away from the target of 100. After then, entries will be published bi-weekly. This plan is essential to:

prevent blogger burnout
produce better content
make way for Vanilla, Munchkin and Cookie Boy's new blog
streamline the site

What does this mean? Good news for you actually: You can finally rest your eyes and allow the daily bombardment of freelancing and blogging tips to subside. If you do want to catch up on the posts that you missed, you could browse the Topics tab or check out the Blog Archives on the right.*

The Freelancers' Jargon - Frequently Used and Confused Terms

Whether you're a veteran in the field or yet a newbie learning the ropes of freelancing, you will notice some jargons thrown left and right. The funny thing is that the key terms used in freelancing sites themselves become sources of confusion, if not entertainment.

I'm not just talking about misspelling "public" as "pubic" or confusing "loose" with "lose." Below are 3 of the most frequently confused pairs:

Copyright vs. Copywrite

There's no such thing as a "copyrighter." However, there are copywriters.

There's no such thing as a "copywrite." However, copyrights do exist and misunderstanding the term is one of the critical booboos that many aspiring freelancers make.

Copyrights include an entity's rights (usually the author's) to distribute, copy and adapt a piece of work. A copywriter is somebody who writes copies with conversion in mind. Landing pages that try to get you to download an e-book, subscribe to a service or pay for a product are the works of a copywriter.

Unique vs. Original

To the "man of the street," the two terms are synonymous. In the freelancing world, they're not.  An original article is always unique, but not all unique pieces of work are necessarily original.

There are presently no metrics to gauge the originality of articles. Originality is a purely subjective measure of a piece of work. To clients and the general audience, something that stands out as novel, fresh and creative is original.

Meanwhile, uniqueness measures the percentage of work that is not considered to be duplicate content by the search engines. Most employers believe that your article is unique when it passes Copyscape. In addition to Copyscape, tools such as Dupe Cop and Jet Checker will tell you the percentage of duplicate content your write-up has. You then subtract the number from 100 to derive the percentage of uniqueness.

The unofficial percentage of duplicate content allowed is a maximum of 30 percent, but many clients now demand higher "standards." Don't be surprised if you're asked to submit articles that are at least 95 percent unique.

Plagiarism vs. Copyright Infringement 

Plagiarized work does not attribute the source, but did you know that you can still be guilty of copyright infringement even if you do cite your sources?

While plagiarism happens when you post something without source attribution, copyright infringement stems from the exercise of copyrights without proper authorization. A common example of copyright infringement is posting the lyrics of your favorite pop song or posting the text of your favorite book in toto in your blog. 

It's clear who the singer, song writer or author is in both cases... Yet, it's not clear whether you obtained their consent or even bothered to inform them that you distributed their work online.

What other jargons have you come across in freelancing sites? Did you consider some of the mistakes as common booboos or critical errors? Were you able to distinguish one from the other? Share them here and help me grow this list. *

3 Most Critical Booboos of Aspiring Freelance Writers

Mistakes are inevitable, but some are so critical to your freelancing career that a single booboo could make it harder for you to get clients and land well-paying stints.

There are some freelance web content writing essentials that you have to know. Some are learned along the way. Others need to be learned before you plunge head on.

This post will discuss 3 of the most critical booboos that could affect your freelancing career: ignoring copyrights, violating nondisclosure agreements and plagiarizing content.

Copyrights

Unless otherwise stated, majority of the projects assume that you are a ghost writer. As such, getting paid is tantamount to turning over the full copyrights to your client. You just can't:

10 Common Freelancer Booboos to Avoid

It's April Fools Day, folks! Time to back up your blog. As the occasion seems fitting, this month's theme will be about booboos.

Booboos? Editors call these "gremlins," data entry workers "typographical errors" and common folks "mistakes" "slip-ups" "botches" and a whole lot of things. 

I must admit that I've had my share on some of them. The rest I heard from freelancers who got burned rather badly and whined about their plight.

The good news is you can learn from our stupidity. Here are the 10 common freelancing mistakes you want to avoid: