2007 was a year of changes for Freelance Writing Jobs. Originally, FWJ only offered listing of jobs available to freelance writers. Now it’s a resource for freelance writers and bloggers and features informative tips and articles in addition to gigs.
It’s hard to pinpoint the one thing I did this year to make FWJ such a success, because I made several changes all at once. In 2007 I made the long overdue switch from Blogger to WordPress. I also changed the format from being only job listings to offering informative articles and tips. I moved from sharing a domain with several other writers to hosting FWJ on my own domain and even unveiled a new design. If I had to choose however, I’d say focusing on my community is the one thing I did to make the biggest positive impact in 2007.
Besides featuring a daily listing of freelance writing and blogging jobs, I now post daily “round table” type discussions. I let my readers know I’m not an expert, but I can teach them what I learned and perhaps they can add their two cents to the mix so we could figure it out together. By making it easier for my readers to respond and discuss, Freelance Writing Jobs has evolved from a blog into a community. Instead of receiving a couple of comments a week, I have dozens of comments a day. The members of our community now visit several times a day to participate in the different discussions.
Freelance Writing Jobs is one of the most successful blogs for freelance writers today, not because of me, but because of my community. I owe my success in 2007 to the thousands of people who visit each day.
