In my last post, I boldly claimed that I knew blogging like the back of my hand. Now I can just imagine the looks I’d have gotten from people who treat their blogs like a business and continuously do so much to make it productive that they can point out ten things that I’m not doing right in this blog with just a glance. The good thing is that so can I. Apart from setting up a blog, updating it regularly, using similar templates for my blog and portfolio blog to give it a sense of connection, I haven’t done anything at all. There is no interactiveness here, nothing to tell about the author and absolutely nothing to sell. To begin with I’ll point out five things that I know I’m doing wrong. Five is all my ego can take at the moment!

1. No ‘About Me’ page – There should be one. A picture of the writer is great to associate with the blog but what is the writer like? A page about the writer and/or blog is as important as the blog itself. So why haven’t I one? Because I haven’t quite worked out how to add a page in blogspot when clearly it doesn’t let us put up separate pages like wordpress.

2. No pictures with my posts – This is something I need to work on. Sadly, Flickr is blocked in UAE (which is where I am) so I need to find other sources. I know there are several other sources. I could make an entire blog post out of it. Suffice it to say, I’m lacking in this area because I had this idea to make my own illustrations for posts. The only thing stopping me is that I don’t know how to make illustrations. It’s in my ‘things to learn’ list.

3. I’m not selling my services through this blog – Yep, it’s the biggest mistake a freelance writer could make. Any potential client coming by my blog has no idea what kind of writing I do or what services I offer. Do I write web content? or blogs? Or do I write for print media? What kind of different writings can I do? No one going through this blog would know.

4. No blogroll – I don’t spread link love. Another faux pas, one that is in the works. I subscribe to countless freelancing blogs. And every week they come up with some really great posts and articles about the business of freelancing. Yet I read them, hoard them but don’t share them.

5. No promotion of my blog – I haven’t done any promotion of ‘The Base’. I have possibly one reader which is the witty Sal, and he probably stumbled upon my blog through one of the comments I made on some freelancing blog. Him finding my blog can be chalked off as a fluke because the number of writing blogs I’ve commented on can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

I also don’t use any of the social networking sites to promote my blog except for linkedin. I use Facebook, Digg, Del.icio.us, Stumble Upon and Twitter as well. I’m on a couple of forums too yet the promotion hasn’t happened. And its not like I don’t know how to promote. I do. Had I stayed back home I would have been working for a major local marketing firm. My internships were all in marketing departments and I was lucky to intern in firms that believed in sucking the intern’s brain dry through work. Promotion of my blog is one of the things that will happen in its time.

If I know what I’m not doing right with my blog, then why have I not fixed it yet? Because I’m a firm believer in everything having its own time. It will possibly seem a weird philosophy to most but I like to plan and move things forward in stages. I want to enjoy the process of doing things. I enjoy seeing the progress my changes make. I have given myself six months to develop my blog the way I want it to. In the meantime I will be learning more and more things that will help me. Too much, too soon is not something I want. I don’t want success soon. I don’t want big bucks soon. I want to improve and progress as a writer.

All this does not mean that I don’t have big plans for myself. I most certainly do. My plans are so big that when I accomplish them all, I’ll be super woman! With a different costume of course and a laptop as my super power. Patience and hard work is the name of the game called success.

Have anything to add to my list of ‘things I’m doing right?’ What did you do wrong when you started out?

The title says it all. I’m a new freelance writer with barely enough experience. How I gain experience, build my portfolio and find work that pays (and pays well) will all be written about. I promise not to leave out a single detail. No matter how embarrassing or stupid my mistakes and experiences, they will all be written about.

• How much did I make off my first article?
  

• What lofty ideals did I enter freelancing with?

• What standards did I give up in order to find work?

• Oh and I’ll even tell how long it took me to put up this website. It’s an embarrassingly long time, which is why it’ll make for a good (horror) story about a lazy and scared freelance writer.

Will I update everyday? Rarely. I’ve been blogging long enough to know my habits. A couple of times a week is all I can promise. Will all my posts be about my journey as a freelance writer? Not at all! I’ll be talking about everything and anything that strikes my fancy. But I will make an effort to incorporate the topic of writing in it. So be prepared for a post about ColdPlay and stay tuned to see how I bring in the business of writing in it.

Will my posts be any good? Won’t you let me know?