If you are a freelance writer, you may be wondering how to take your career to the next level. And by that I mean, how to make more money. Sure, you may have aspirations of writing a novel, or a screenplay, or poems and short stories - I’m no different than you. However, I need something that is fun to put together and will help me make a good income while I work on my other creative writing projects. That is why I’ve adopted several internet marketing strategies that will help me earn the income I need.

As you read through my posts, you’ll notice that I have my hands dipped in several different pots. I write for clients. I write for publication. I make money on my blogs and Squidoo lenses. I am also going to be working on eBooks and a membership site. My blogs, lenses, eBooks, and membership website all fall into the category of internet marketing.

The thing is, internet marketing is a natural compliment to writing. If you’ve written things like reports, newsletters, website content, and SEO articls for your clients, you know what I mean. I bet at least some of your clients are internet marketers. I had been doing this work for several years and then finally started focusing on doing this kind of work for myself.

Here are some ideas of some internet marketing tasks you can do to help boost your income.

• Bum Marketing - Check out bummarketingmethod.com and take the free course.
• Make Squidoo lenses and promote affiliate program.
• Write and self publish your own eBook.
• Promote other people’s products on your websites or blogs (affiliate marketing)
• Visit the Warrior Forum for even more ideas.

At first, you may not make all that much money but hang in there. Over the long term, you may be able to replace your writing income with a salary that is considered residual. For example, once the website is set up and is making you money, it will continue to make you money over the long run.

Yes, I do believe that The Niche Blogger by Amy Bass is a program that works. Although, I am the first to admit that I haven’t made far enough progress to really be able to give you all some hard numbers. I still have my writing business to think about and I already have some blogs that I need to tend to.

So for now, I find that I need to revise my plan on The Niche Blogger and not start any more blogs until I have my current lineup under control. I started all but one before I became a member of The Niche Blogger and I don’t see the value of adding more blogs to my workload until the ones I DO have become profitable.

My revised plan is to sort of adapt the process and the method to include the blogs I already have. The subjects are too broad to be “niche” but they are in topics that have other benefits to my writing career. My food blogs give me credibility as a food writer. My Rebel Dieter blog is all about my weight loss journey. Stewards of the Earth is my blog about green living. I’ll be adding these links to my sidebar as soon as I have them set up to my standards.

Sure, making money with writing or your other online ventures is great. But I’ve also learned that having meaning behind your work is also important. Sometimes, necessity required us to take on work that we may not find enjoyable or fun. But I never advise taking on this kind of work unless you have a clear idea of what you really want out of your career.

Let me put things into perspective a bit. Have you always dreamed of writing novels but have been stuck writing keyword articles for the past few years? I’d say that the novel writing goal is something that is unfullfilled. It may be time to reconsider what you really want out of your writing.

You see, I was stuck in the same cycle. I knew I wanted to stop taking on as many projects for my clients but I kept taking them so I could get the money. I finally broke free and am only now trying to realize what my next project is. I think it’s time for me to write those novels and screenplays I’ve always wanted. How about you?

Do you find yourself starting sentences off with phrases like, “My dream is…?” I know how that is - I used to be like that. My first “dream” was to be a freelance writer. At one point, I realized that it was time to make my dream a reality.

My first year as a freelancer I made $60. My earnings went up for there and now I make a decent salary. I’ve realized that my “dream” came true not because I wished it, but because I took action. I wrote a business plan and put myself out there. The assignments started to trickle in until I had enough work to make a salary.

My next “dream” is to reach the six figure mark. But instead of letting myself “dream” too long, it’s time to take that and turn it into a goal with action steps.

Your assignment is to think about the dreams you have. Do you want to retire soon? Do you want to make six figures? Whatever it is, turn that dream or wish into a goal, give  yourself a timeline, and make it happen.  That’s what I do and it is such a wonderful feeling when you do what you set out to do.

My eating habits were terrible yesterday and I really felt it.  My energy level and concentration were both poor. I’ve been on a high protein diet because of my level of activity (some days, I exercise for three hours) and yesterday I said - forget it - I am not going to worry about protein that much.

By dinner time, I regretted it. The kitchen was a mess, I didn’t feel like cooking, andI hardly got anything done. Today is a lot better. I started the day by eating a carrot even though I didn’t feel hungry. I had a proper breakfast about thirty minutes later of cereal with walnuts, raisins, and skim milk. Then I went for a run and had some whole wheat pasta and freeze dried strawberries.

So why am I talking about this on a writing blog? Because - for the entire day I didn’t have enough energy to work on my projects due to my eating habits.  I did end up getting a few things done, but I had the whole day free aside from going to the gym - I should have been able to get more work done than I did.

The end result? I’ve realized that what you eat and whether or not you exercise really does affect productivity at work.

Are you skeptical when you hear claims of people making a good living online, whether it’s through writing, blogging, and internet marketing? If you’re skeptical - that’s perfectly normal. But if you’re negative, well - this will hurt your ability to succeed. If you believe that your life is a struggle and that you “can’t” make enough money to have enough money and pay off your debts well then you’re right. You won’t because you said that you can’t.

Sounds harsh, but it’s a really good lesson. If you believe that you WILL succeed and you don’t give up, you actually stand a chance. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that your belief in your ability to build a successful business online will help you greatly. I won’t say having a good attitude guarantees your success because nothing is guaranteed but it helps a lot.

However, if you have a negative attitude you are nearly guaranteeing your own failure.

Understand I am not pitching naivety. Claims of “make a six figure income in two weeks or your money back” just don’t fly. You need to take the time to build your business no matter what it is - writing, blogging, affiliate marketing, etc. And, there are a lot of great resources - some free, some that you need to buy, that can help.

My first year in writing I only made $60. It grew from there and I was patient enough to give it a chance. I knew I’d succeed, even though people often told me to “get a real job”. Sometimes, I look back at that time with fondness and happiness. I did accomplish what I set out to do AND I was filled with excitement at the possibilities.

A few weeks ago I had this idea that I was going to learn Joomla and make a portfolio site. I spend a few nights on the project and finally managed to upload a template with a giant pink bee on it. One look at the bee and I thought - why am I bothering? I know wordpress. I can put together a nice clean site using that platform. Why am I wasting my time?

Last night, I started announcing to people that my site is up and running. It’s a combination portfolio and blog. So far I have my intro post, links to my profiles, and a poem on the site. I am currently having technical difficulties with the theme but hope to have that resolved soon.

When I first became a freelance writer, I had trouble telling people what I did for a living. I simply didn’t have the confidence to say it because I really wasn’t making money. I made only $60 my first year as a freelance writer and I guess it didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere.

If I could go back in time, I would call myself a freelance writer with pride because it has nothing to do with money. An unemployed engineer is still an engineer. A writer that doesn’t have money coming in is still a writer. I look at that year as my first as a writer but at the time, I didn’t see it that way. Here are some tips that can help you.

Fake it. When people ask what you do, smile and say you’re a writer, even if you don’t quite believe it. Eventually you’ll gain more confidence.

Get a business card. Business cards advertise what you do to others. If you don’t have the guts to say you’re a writer and you are having trouble faking a sense of confidence, just hand them your card. For extra points, say what you do with confidence AND hand them a business card.

FREE Business Cards

Practice makes perfect. If confidence is what you need, become more experienced as a writer. Start a blog and post on it every day. Apply for jobs. Write articles and submit them to places like Bukisa to build up your portfolio. The more writing you do, the more you’ll feel like a writer.

I’ve been focusing a lot lately on revenue sharing writing sites like eHow and Bukisa. These are sites where your success is essentially determined by how many reads your articles gets. eHow I believe bases their revenue on advertising but they are a bit hush hush on exactly how it’s calculated. Bukisa gives you a certain amount of money per 1000 page views.

Either way, the more traffic you get, the more money you make.

The first step to getting traffic is to  make sure you research and use keywords. The second is to take extra steps to promote your articles. Each article I write is centered around a keyword. As for promotion - I use a variety of methods but one of my favorites is through microblogging .

Microblogging sites such as twitter and plurk are essential. When you publish a new article, just write a quick update to those sites to give people the opportunity to click. This is one of the simplest social networking tools out there.

I wrote an article at my blog that gives more details on what microblogging is and how to utilize it for business.

A friend of mine on plurk.com, LindaN , asked today what our New Year’s promises were. I never heard it asked quite that way before. It’s a poetic and beautiful expression of something that we’ve managed to turn into something to stress out about.

How many of us “resolve” to lose weight? The gyms will be crammed from now until the end of January. And then people will stop going. We “resolve” to give up chocolate, candy, all sweets in general. Seriously - that won’t happen.

But what happens if I take that “resolution” and turn it into a promise? I promise to be nice to my body this year and eat healthy foods and exercise. Suddenly it’s not a stressful event anymore. It’s something doable.

I always abhored the word “resolutions”. I chose to call them my New Year’s Goals. But I think “promises” is much better. It’s gentler.

So how can I apply this to my writing career? Here are some things I promise:

• To work on one creative writing project each day or do a creative writing exercise
• To send queries to magazines that interest me
•  To focus on food and travel writing

What are your New Year’s Promises? I’d love to hear them!