The Lady Programmer

Got a blog? I have really respect for bloggers who are able to “market” themselves as established bloggers in the community – even with their imperfect grammar they are able to speak their ideas to the reader very clearly. I also have respect for bloggers who write with perfect grammar without the impression that they very educated people in the field. Personally I like the combination of both and there are very few bloggers that can do this well. They are often the ones who can write very long definitive posts that make readers prod on. They can catch the reader’s interest with short sharp posts too.

Where am I?

I think my writing skills are more like the first group, and I largely blame it in my upbringing. My engineering course in the university exposed me to lesser English subjects than most other courses. My job experience demanded more of my technical skills in machine troubleshooting and programming than learning how to write better technical reports for my boss.

I left my engineering job just last year and started finding freelance opportunities with my skills. The first opportunity that I got is writing for others. I learned how to write in blogs and since I do this full time everyday, I get to improve my writing skills. Although my grammar still needs work (I still rely on Microsoft Word to automatically check my grammar because it saves me time) I believe that I am better than when I started. Previously a 400-word post was a very difficult task for me, but now I learned how to “divide and conquer”: write subtopics and write sentences that work around a main topic sentence which I have not been doing before.

Got Some Tips Today from a Mentor

photo credit: MikLav (SXC)

Copywriting Tips and Ideas is a good resource that I have found while I was looking out for some writing opportunities. It is only more than three months old, but it provides numerous posts that help people learn improve not only copywriting skills but how they can express themselves in writing. I strongly agree that bloggers should learn from SEO writing tips that Sarah provided in her blog, as there are more bloggers joining the blogosphere who still need to prove themselves and make good impressions – perhaps better writing skill might help them elevate to being respected bloggers in the community.

I found another opportunity that bloggers might want to know particularly those who like to earn some additional cash from their blogs. SocialSpark is an site that I have been looking for writing opportunities. I got this blog approved with them and now I am writing a first post about this one.

Writing paid posts is not something new to what I have been doing; I used to get to some paid posting opportunities and get to grab some jobs off them. I have earned quite an amount of money from the other blog that I am writing for another paid posting site. However, joining SocialSpark was an entirely new experience: it is a combination of a blossoming social network and a host of opportunities that are willing to pay for a quick buzz. The social network gives the advantage to promote one’s blog and the opportunities are out for participating bloggers to grab a posting slot. Promoting one’s blog is not limited to simply adding friends to one’s list, expecting others to take a peek. It is possible to exchange a post with other bloggers to help with the traffic.
I found several opportunities where this blog qualifies for some of the posted jobs. These opportunities are different from the one that I have seen in other paid posting sites. I am hoping I could get to write some posts out from the open opportunities, just like what I did before.

I’ve noticed that SocialSpark is active in making sure that bloggers observe these code of ethics:

• 100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure.

• 100% Transparency.

• 100% Real Opinions.

• 100% Search Engine Friendly.

After a couple of slot reservations and using my one request for a sponsored post, I finally stumbled on an opportunity to discuss SocialSpark. Believe me, I am actually getting paid for doing this one!