Exact Match

Exact match tells you how many people search for the exact keyword. For example, if the keyword is “red scarf”, then exact match tells you the number of people who have searched for that exact term. People who searched for “scarf red” wouldn’t be counted as in an exact match for “red scarf”. Neither would searches for “warm red scarf”. Neither would the searches “red” and “scarf”.

Phrase Match

If you looked at the number of searches for “red scarf” under phrase match, you would find there is more than under exact match. This is because other searches are included beyond those who typed in “red scarf” exactly. For example, people who searched for “warm red scarf” and “red scarf woolly” would be counted alongside the people who typed just “red scarf”.

Providing the phrase “red scarf” appears somewhere within the search term, then it is added to the number of searches for “red scarf” under phrase match. This wouldn’t include “scarf red” or “red colorful scarf”.

Broad Match

If you looked at the number of searches for “red scarf” under broad match, you would find there are even more than under phrase match. This is because broad match includes all searches that include the words “red” and “scarf”, no matter what the order they’re in or what words come around or between them.

For example, “red colorful scarf” would be counted as a search for “red scarf” under broad match. “Scarf red” would also be counted as a search under broad match.

* * *

That should give you a basic idea of the three different match types and how they can be used.

It should be apparent that broad match may sometimes be misleading, as some searches may be included which have nothing to do with the subject you’re interested in. For example, someone may have searched for “blue scarf and red t-shirt” and yet that would appear as a search for “red scarf” under broad match. This is important to know, as broad match is the default setting.

For people new to keyword research, I recommend sticking to phrase match or exact match, as they give the best indication of people who are searching for thing you’re interested in.

To use myself as an example, I started freelancing by using Elance. I knew there were many other methods of getting clients, but as I understood Elance, I didn’t try them.

There was a sense that Elance was known, and that the other methods were unknown. Because I didn’t explore the unknown, I didn’t know what sort of deal I was getting with Elance. And if Elance went offline, my freelancing career may well have ended there and then.

Rather than just bid on Elance, you can explore other bidding sites. Or you could explore sites like Demand Studios, Constant Content, and Text Broker. You can check freelancing forums and job boards. You can create your own website. You can even cold call companies.

If you have more methods to get work, your income will become higher and more stable, and your freelancing career will become more solid and sustainable. You will know which methods create the most income and will have alternatives if any particular method dries up and disappears.

The potential mistake here is almost identical to those who rely too heavily on a few clients for their income. If one of those clients goes away, then it can leave a big dent in their income. You must always have a backup plan at the very least. Ideally, no client should be so important that you are scared of losing them.

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut. It’s easy to get absorbed in what you’re doing, and to forget to step back and see the bigger picture. People who work for a company only have set-out tasks that they need to perform. A freelancer doesn’t have the luxury.

A freelancer must occasionally access their entrepreneurial spirit. Whether your future as a freelancer is a success or failure is almost entirely in your control.

All freelancers inevitably hit stumbling blocks at some point in their career. Those who have thought ahead can hop over them, or in some cases side step them completely. For those who don’t, it may mean returning to the 9-to-5 grind.

Why Should I Bother Finding My Voice At All?

In my last post, I decided that finding your voice means writing in a style that is distinctive in a consistent way, so that your writing is recognizable as your own.

Given that that is the case, why should you bother?

Distinctive Means Entertaining

One thing that can be said for a distinctive voice is that it is often also an entertaining voice. These people often aren’t entertaining because they’re necessarily trying to be, but because of the way they put things.

A great example of an entertaining voice is Charlie Cox, who commentates on the MotoGP in the UK. Just last week he was describing the gravel as “the kitty litter”. It’s his unique way of describing things that makes his commentary so enjoyable.

• “He’s got such bad luck that if he fell in a bucket of boobs, he’d still come up sucking his thumb.”
• “That track looks like it has as much grip as the front step of my pub at 11 o’clock at night.”
• “He’s got the absolute ducks’ guts of motorbikes.”
• “He’s gone through the field like a pig through hot strawberries.”

Charlie Cox may be an extreme example, and he may come up with these wacky sayings beforehand, but I think my point is clear. By being distinctive, you become more entertaining to read.

The truth is that anything you or I write has probably been said before by someone somewhere on the internet. Part of what makes one person’s explanation superior is the manner in which they said it. This is, I believe, why finding your voice can be so important. If you try to force yourself to be entertaining, it can sound fake and sometimes outright embarrassing. When you’ve found your voice, you’ll be entertaining without it being in any way forced.

Of course, some people are naturally more entertaining than others. If you’re not the life and soul of the party, that isn’t necessarily a problem…

Distinctive Means Trustworthy

As previously mentioned, when someone has found their voice, their writing seems natural and unforced. They’re being themselves. I would say that this is probably the biggest advantage of finding your voice.

Being entertaining is a bonus, but when someone believes that you’re being entirely open and honest, you create a huge amount of trust. Finding your voice can make you appear entirely genuine, as you are always consistent about how you state things.

Trust isn’t solely created by finding your voice, but I believe that finding your voice can make you appear far more trustworthy.

How Do I Find My Voice?

I don’t think there is any shortcut or an easy way to find your voice. It’s a matter of continuing to write and write and write. Over time, it develops naturally, of its own accord.

Maybe others have a different idea, but that’s what I think it boils down to.

If it wasn’t for the many respectable writers who keep bringing it up, this would normally be reason enough to dismiss the concept. But they do keep bringing it up. So against the advice of my internal bullshit detector, I’m going to consider the phrase.

My Objection

My problem with “finding your voice” is that it means many different things to many different people.

Is it “found” when a writer can communicate clearly? Or when their writing flows with ease? Is there an actual moment in time when it is “found”?

Ultimately, there is no answer.

Let’s say that you “find your voice” when your writing becomes individual and distinctive. I think that is a good place to start. It is achieved when readers feel that there is a real flesh-and-blood human behind the words, with arms, legs, a personality, and everything.

What Is A Written Voice?

In face-to-face communication, every person has a distinctive-sounding voice, their own accent. While a reader, reading your written words, may assume that you have a particular accent given the words and phrases that you use, they cannot know for certain. The fact is that the sound of your voice isn’t communicated in writing.

So what makes someone’s writing distinctive?

It’s the words they choose. It’s the way they use punctuation. It’s not the message itself, but the way that they communicate that message.

There are thousands of ways to say the same thing with written language. Person X’s writing is recognizable because of the way they communicate their message.

When Is This Voice Found?

You could say that all writers have already found their voices. However, that is completely unhelpful.

I think a writer finds their voice when there is a consistency to their writing.

New writers are unsure how to communicate their message. This often means that there is nothing consistently distinctive in their writing, no features that make their writing recognizable.

It’s not that there is nothing distinctive in their writing, but that the distinctive features aren’t used often enough and consistently enough to be recognized as part of a “voice”. The writings of an established writer will have common characteristics and traits that make it recognizable.

What Does This All Mean?

To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure. Does it really help for your writing to be distinctive? I cover this in my next post: Why Should I “Find My Voice”?

However, whenever someone tries to improve a particular facet of their writing, they are in grave danger of forgetting the fundamentals of good writing. Well, I’ve found that to be the case with myself, at least.

I don’t think this is an error that only idiots make. I imagine that even the best writers must constantly remind themselves of the fundamentals.

What Are The Fundamentals Of Good Writing?

To answer this question, one must remember what writing is really about. It is about communication. It is about communicating an idea to someone else using words.

It seems so simple and obvious when you state it — and it is — but in the midst of crafting a supposedly masterful sentence, it is easy to lose sight of it.

There are many potential pitfalls:

• You may make your writing “impressive” at the expense of clarity.
• You might assume that because a sentence is clear to you, it’ll be clear to everyone else.
• The meaning you associate with a particular word may be idiosyncratic, when you believe it to be common.

And the list goes on. While the need for clarity in writing is simple to understand, the skill required to communicate clearly is surprisingly high.

How To Avoid The Pitfalls

Ultimately, I don’t think there is a way to permanently avoid these pitfalls. The only solution is constant vigilance. You shouldn’t be able to write a single sentence without questioning the clarity of what you have written.

Clarity is the gold standard of writing. Never forget it.

• When you have several quick points to be made one after the other.
• When you want to give several reasons to justify a single argument.
• I cannot think of another point, but I want to use another bullet.

Bullets give you the opportunity to make your point clearly and concisely.

Avoid The Dreaded Wall Of Text

I think one of the great advantages of bullets on the web is simply that they split up the text. It is an advantage that I believe many overlook.

From readability studies, it is well known that web readers are highly impatient. If they see an article which is one big block of text, it is highly likely that they shan’t read the article at all.

And why would they? They will probably find the information they’re looking for quicker by searching somewhere else.

Bullets offer hope for the reader. They allow the reader to clearly see what you’re saying without wade through a load of fluff.

While there are many things required to effectively grab your readers’ attention, I believe having bullets present is a considerable boost.

Make Your Content Easily Accessible

At the end of the day, people read articles in order to get something from them. This could be entertainment, a specific piece of information, or some perverse form of sexual satisfaction.

Whatever the reader desires, when you use bullets you are helping them to get what they want. You are giving them what they want while asking for less effort on their behalf. That is the key point.

Split Your Article Into Small, Digestible Chunks

People will read far more words when they are split into bullets. Not using bullets is a little bit like a restaurant serving all three courses of a meal at once. When their customers gaze over all the food they are going to eat, they may be put off eating altogether.

Bullets allow you to split your article into digestible chunks. It can turn an article into a rabbit hole that the reader slowly descends further and further down.

If you ask a reader to make a commitment to read your entire article, to take a huge leap, then they shall probably choose not to. But if you ask them to read just one more sentence (and then another sentence, and another) then they shall probably read to the end.

However, those who think they will escape the mean old world by freelancing are sorely mistaken. Clients will criticize your writing, sometimes constructively and sometimes not. Some clients can be straight-up manipulative. Of course, you can choose who you work for, but you cannot escape these situations altogether.

If you read writers’ blogs, you’ll understand why writers have a reputation as being introverted and sensitive. The truth is that many of us are. And it is mainly due to personal insecurities, undervaluing ourselves and and our services.

My First Freelance Job

During my very first job, I was asked to rewrite all five articles I’d written. While I remained professional, I will admit that I was somewhat annoyed. I had over delivered in the extreme, and my client still wasn’t happy.

After the job, I realized that I was quick to blame the client. I made myself annoyed. There was no reason to be annoyed.

It is easy to get precious about your writing. To write, you have to open yourself up. It can feel like you are investing part of yourself when you write an article, and thereby you can get personally attached to your writing. They are no longer only criticizing your writing, but also you as a person.

Of course, criticism doesn’t have to be a personal attack. You are not your writing.

You Must Learn Constantly

There are always lessons to learn. You cannot expect your clients to tell you exactly what they want, and I didn’t determine exactly what my first client wanted. It is better to be clear from the start than have to rewrite the entire project.

Criticism is actually an opportunity to grow as a writer, and therefore it should be welcomed. I now ask my clients for criticism at every possible opportunity. This helps me grow, ensures we are on the same page, and practically guarantees that both parties will be happy when the project is complete.

I’ve realized that to be a long-term freelance writer, I must enjoy the job itself. Money cannot be the primary focus. The cold-hearted pursuit of cash drains the pleasure from the most enjoyable of tasks. My primary goal must be to provide a knock-out solution to my clients.

With all that said, you should still set your boundaries — don’t let your clients walk all over you. A self-respecting writer will not only be a happier writer; they’ll have more demand for their services, and they’ll earn more money.

As it is, it isn’t of much use to me as a writer. The image I have in my head is of me bashing the keyboard like a mad ape and still producing work that make my clients heap praise upon me.

Clients will proclaim “Is it the Buddha?” “Is Jesus back?” “Did I just see an angel?” No. It’s the freelance writer they employed to write about portable toilets.

Surely, I can turn this vision into a reality, can’t I?

The Plot Thickens

The fact is that at present I’m a slow writer. I tend to research and edit as I write, and structure an article after I’ve written it. I’m meticulous, which produces high-quality articles, but I cannot help but feel that I could produce the same quality of work, if not better, in far less time. I think it’s just a question of how I approach article writing. At present, there is too much stop-start.

This train of thought led me to invent my own theorem — well, it’s probably not a theorem… but trivial grievances aside, I’ve called it the writing as if you’re giving a talk theorem.

Here are the basics:

1. Prepare Your Article — Research and plan your article. You prepare to write in the same manner that you would prepare to give a public speech.
2. Write The Article — You write the entire article in one go. If you are delivering a public speech, you cannot stop halfway and start all over again. You carry on regardless.
3. Finalizing — Now you can allow yourself to be meticulous. Revise, edit, and rewrite what you’ve written.

While this technique doesn’t guarantee a quality article after Step 2, you shall produce the bulk of the article quickly. The time spent tinkering and editing the article shall be far less. At least, that’s the theory.

It’s easy to spend hours considering what you’re going to write. I find the worst part of writing an article is getting started. I stare at a blank screen, and normally, after a few minutes of gazing, I end up writing the first thing that came into my head anyway.

I guess the general gist of this article is that perhaps I shouldn’t do that.

To be perfectly honest, I probably need to give the whole subject more thought. I’m sure there is a method out there for me, allowing me to produce higher-quality articles in less time, but it’s going to take some thought, experimentation, and practice to find it.

Writers who do not pay attention to their audience inevitably produce crap articles. They’re full of information that bores the reader, and obscure words that make even fancy-pants poets reach for their dictionary.

Understanding who your readers are, their mood, and what they want is critical to writing good web content… It is a critical skill for all writers.

How does it work?

You become Mr. or Mrs. Pleasant because you are forced to consider your audience’s perspective. You are constantly stepping in and out of other people’s shoes.

A quality web content writer will ask themselves many questions about their readers, such as…

What do they want?

Someone who is reaching for a magazine probably wants to relax and unwind, while someone searching for information on Google will probably be actively searching for something specific. Perhaps they’re looking for a musician called Mark Milan.

Where have they come from?

Someone who clicks on a PPC ad in Google probably doesn’t mind if you try to sell something to them. Perhaps the reader has come from your RSS feed, to be updated on your latest shenanigans.

How are they feeling?

If your readers are familiar with you, then they are likely to be far more receptive to what you write — it’s the difference between meeting a close friend and a complete stranger.

Maybe they’re desperate for a solution to a particular problem. The bloke has a big spot on his face and it’s driving the chicks away and hurting the poor lad’s pride.

Well, shucks! I’m feeling more empathetic already!

I know!

All this information can help you decide how to best service the reader, giving them what they want so you can get what you want. You can create a reputation by providing great content, include jokes and quips, or create a greased slide leading the reader to a destination.

Note: If you’re still an evil-hearted bastard after writing lots of web content, then I suspect it’s terminal.

Friendly working relationships make freelancing more fun for both you and your clients, and makes the whole process glide smoothly and effortlessly.

The key to good customer service is to get the information you need from your clients without them feeling like they’ve been interrogated by the Gestapo. Here is a quick list of information that will help you produce better content:

• The purpose of the articles (To sell an affiliate product? To drive traffic?)
• Where the articles will be posted (A blog? An article directory?)
• The style of writing required (Informative? Humorous? Cocky?)
• The target audience (Where have they come from? Where will they go? Who are they?)

In an ideal world, your clients would provide all this information for you, but back in the real world they rarely do. Most clients are paying you to do the work so they can spend their time on more profitable activities. They don’t want to waste their time with handholding, telling you how to do your job. So it is important to gain the most vital information, and then use your noggin to work out the rest for yourself.

With these things in mind, the first question to ask is this: Do you have some examples of the type of article you want? If your client provides a few examples, you sometimes can deduce all the information you need from them alone. Sometimes you will also need to ask what the purpose of the articles is. These two questions will always provide enough information to get started.

A great way to ensure that you’re producing articles that your clients will love is to immediately show them the first article you’ve written in order to get feedback. If you are at all unsure about what they want, this gives you an opportunity to sneak in a couple of extra questions under the radar.

Finally, upon the completion of the project, I inform my clients to let me know if they are in any way unhappy . This is makes sure that the project results in a win-win for both sides. Your client gets what they want, and you get a testimonial, some good feedback, and a possible long-term client.

Customer service can be daunting to a new freelance writer, but by simply following the advice in this article you’ll already be better than the vast majority of freelancers out there. Put your client first and look at things from their perspective. Understand their desires and fears and motivations, and then you’ll never have to seek work again — work will come to you.