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	<title>WordCount &#187; blog milestones</title>
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	<description>Freelancing in the Digital Age</description>
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		<title>WordCount blog: 2008 Q2 report</title>
		<link>http://michellerafter.com/2008/07/01/wordcount-blog-2008-q2-report/#utm_source=feed&#038;utm_medium=feed&#038;utm_campaign=feed</link>
		<comments>http://michellerafter.com/2008/07/01/wordcount-blog-2008-q2-report/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:00:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michelle V. Rafter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Freelancing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog milestones]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog stats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jane Boursaw]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paul Brusso]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Susan Johnston]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Writing Show]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WordCount]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WordCount Q2 report]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[The end of June marked the end of Q2 of writing this blog, which I officially launched in January to keep track of changes in the freelance writing and online news business. In the past three months, WordCount hit some major milestones. Here are a few: Best month ever &#8211; When I decided to write [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The end of June marked the end of Q2 of writing this blog, which I officially launched in January to keep track of changes in the freelance writing and online news business. In the past three months, <em><strong>WordCount</strong></em> hit some major milestones. Here are a few:</p>
<p><strong>Best month ever</strong> &#8211; When I decided to write <a href="http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/2008/04/30/wordcount-blogathon-a-post-a-day-for-the-month-of-may/">a post a day during the month of May</a> I thought it&#8217;d be a fun way to celebrate my birthday, which falls during that month. Little did I know my <a href="http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/2008/05/31/lessons-learned-from-may-blogathon/">blogathon</a> would make May my biggest month ever for unique visits, more than 3,000. It also helped me expand my circle of freelance acquaintances, which led to a couple posts about interesting things other freelancers are doing on their blogs, such as <a href="http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/2008/05/22/jane-boursaw-mild-mannered-freelancer-turned-entertainment-writer-maven/">Jane Boursaw</a>, who blogs at <a href="http://www.reellifewithjane.com/">Reel Life with Jane</a>. I also did my first stint guest blogging, writing <a href="http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/2008/06/04/making-life-work-as-a-writer-and-mom/">Making life work as a writer and mom</a>, for Susan Johnston&#8217;s <a href="http://www.urbanmusewriter.com/">Urban Muse</a> blog.</p>
<p><strong>Recognition</strong> &#8211; <em>WordCount</em> is getting more exposure. During the last quarter, I was interviewed by Paula Berinstein, producer of <a href="http://www.writingshow.com/">The Writing Show</a> podcast, about a post I did on <a href="http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/what-freelance-writers-should-know-about-podcasting/">writing short</a>.  When I interviewed Paul Brusso for an <a href="http://www.inctechnology.com/">IncTechnology.com</a> story on <a href="http://technology.inc.com/software/articles/200805/podcasting.html">how small businesses can create a podcast</a>, he taped the interview and turned it into a podcast. Earlier this week, I announced that I&#8217;d sold the rights to a <em>WordCount</em> post about <a href="http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/2008/02/05/asking-the-hard-question-top-10-interview-tips/">conducting tough interviews</a>. The essay will be included in <a href="http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/wordcount-post-included-in-the-new-writers-handbook-2008/">The New Writer&#8217;s Handbook 2008</a>, an anthology set to be published in August.</p>
<p><strong>Growing numbers</strong> &#8211; Visits to and comments on <em>WordCount</em> continue to rise. Unfortunately the same holds for spam. Since the beginning of the year, <em>WordCount</em> has received more than 10,400 unique visits and 216 comments. Still pretty low numbers by some estimations, but it&#8217;s enough to boost my <a href="http://www.technorati.com">Technorati</a> authority to 61 and put the blog eighth in <a href="http://www.google.com">Google</a> searches of the phrase &#8220;Word Count.&#8221; The site&#8217;s also attracted more than 1,600 spam comments &#8211; thank goodness for <a href="http://www.akismet.com">Askimet</a> for catching the vast majority of them.</p>
<p><strong>Indirect revenue</strong> &#8211; The amount of money I&#8217;ve made directly from my blog is still tiny. But the research I&#8217;ve done on <a href="http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/what-freelance-writers-should-know-about-podcasting/">podcasts</a>, social networks like <a href="http://www.linkedin.com">LinkedIn</a> and other <a href="http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/2008/03/12/10-top-web-tools-for-freelancers/">Web 2.0 topics and tools</a> for posts for this blog led me to successfully pitch stories on those subjects to several magazines and Websites. Total revenue from those stories: close to $2,000.</p>
<p>During the last quarter I also reached my <a href="http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/2008/06/27/lessons-learned-wordcounts-100th-blog-post/">100th blog post milestone</a>, reorganized my blogroll, updated my <a href="http://michellerafter.wordpress.com/clips/">clips</a> page and settled into a Monday through Friday blogging schedule.</p>
<p>Thanks for being part of the <em>WordCount</em> experience &#8211; happy reading!</p>
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