By Terez Howard

I have a secret to share with you. After years of studying online writing, I decided to become a “professional blogger.” And you know what? I made that title up.

I was in an interview once, and I was asked what it took to be a professional blogger. I was thinking, I made that title up to tell people who I am without having to explain who I am. Now you want me to explain it?

The writer, the blogger, the candlestick maker

When you introduce yourself to someone, you say, “Hi. My name is (insert name).” The stranger always gets around to asking, “So, what do you do?” That’s your opportunity to give your title. If you’re like my husband, you say that you are a teacher and a professional violinist. If you’re my niece, you say that you are a dental hygienist. But, when you’re a freelancing jack-of-all-trades, what do you call yourself?

You have to give yourself some type of title. Please don’t call yourself a freelancing jack-of-all-trades. I will give you three reasons why you need a definite title:

1. Your title is part of your brand. It automatically gives people a mental image of what you do. A blogger blogs, and a marketing specialist markets. It is a snapshot of your work.
2. Your title can open doors. When you tell someone what you do, it can be an opportunity for a super short sales pitch. For instance, my husband and I took a visit to an insurance agent who asked me what I did. When I explained my work, he said that he wished he knew me a few months ago because he was looking for a writer. I am confident that he will remember me if he needs a writer in the future.
3. Your title makes you feel like you have a real job. When you blog online, some tend to get the idea you are practicing some sort of hobby to pass time. They don’t realize you are building a business and get paid in dollars and cents. Some of my friends still seem to not understand that I actually work from home. I have a job, and here is my title. Even if they never get it, I can feel like I am a member of the workforce. It’s a boost.

Choosing your title

Yes. You get to choose what to be called if you work from home as a freelancer. It is an easy, simple way to build your brand. Pick the right title, the one that tells people exactly what you do.

Be as specific as possible. If you blog about travel, then call yourself a freelance travel blogger. If you write press releases, then you are a press release writer. If you want to blog about and review screenplays, call yourself a screenplay blogger. That’s right. Even if you don’t have all the references, testimonials and samples to prove it, choose the title that will best describe who you want to be.

If you need to make a change in the process, do so.If you see that your type of blogging is evolving and that you are beginning to become someone other than the person that your title embodies, gently transition to your new title.

If you just happen to do more than your title says, don’t stress over it. Yes, I call myself a professional blogger. But I also write for a magazine, edit, build websites and create online content. I still call myself a professional blogger. However, if I find that the scale tips more toward another niche, I’m not afraid to make a change.

In the end, you are who you say you are. By the way, who are you, and why should I care?

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Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She has written informative pieces for newspapers, online magazines and blogs, both big and small. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas. You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger.

Thanks, Terez!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

By Terez Howard

If you’re on Jon Morrow’s e-mail list, then you probably received his message about getting rid of nice writing. He pointed to Jennifer Greshem’s post Why I Fired My Father (And Maybe You Should Too) and how this woman openly talked about her personal life.

Jon spoke about the blogging world being overrun with nice, helpful information. He said it is boring. And I have to agree with him to an extent. Type in a simple phrase, like how to grow long hair, and you will be inundated with content. Most of it will be junk, some will contain nuggets of truth and a few will be entirely well-written and thoroughly helpful articles.

Is it really mean?

I read Jennifer’s post, and I didn’t think it was mean at all. She professionally explained her story, why she made the decisions she did and how others can learn from her. She was not mean; she was real.

Now, my husband calls me mean. When I told him about this post, he said, “You’re not just mean, Terez. You pride yourself in being mean.” I suppose that’s true. But to correct him, I said that you can call it whatever you want. I prefer to call it real.

In my personal life, I have an “I don’t care what people think” attitude. I will speak my mind, and if it happens to hurt your feelings, so be it.

I think this was really Jon’s point. There’s no need to hide behind a curtain of niceness if you feel strongly about a subject. Your strong emotions will get traffic and will get people talking. Look at the multitude of comments on Jennifer’s post.

3 ways to be mean the right way

I really examined Jennifer’s so-called mean post. I noticed something particularly interesting, besides her unvarnished honesty. Several times, she referred to expert sources. She wrote a blend of journalism and blogging. I found this intriguing.

With my journalism background (I worked and interned at a newspaper for seven years), I saw this to be an integral part of real, not mean, blogging. If you have an opinion that goes against the norm, back it up with expert sources. It makes your case more believable, more acceptable.

Secondly, Jennifer also wasn’t general. She called people by their names, and she told brief but poignant stories. She did not rant or expel suppressed emotions. She gave solid reasons for the choices made.

So, when you’re keepin’ it real, you cannot just settle to write in circles. It’s like taking a controversial topic, like the food industry’s general lack of telling us where the things we eat come from. (Can you tell I’m still hyped up about Food Inc.?) You could say it’s wrong. It’s bad. It causes diseases. But if you don’t go beyond the surface, like Robert Kenner did, nobody is going to believe you.

Lastly, like Jennifer, you help people. Yes, Jon said that helpful writing is boring. But that’s what Jennifer did. In the end, she was helping people. That means that your posts have to have some kind of purpose, a call to action that motivates them to do something.

Can you handle being real?

Jon said that Jennifer did get some hate e-mails and some people who disagreed with her. That goes with the territory. You have to expect that people might not like when you write even nice things. One anonymous commenter criticized an analogy I made about being creative, like a child. I didn’t expect anyone to hate on that topic, but that’s what happened.

When you put yourself out there, especially when you take up something big, something real, people will exercise their free right to talk back. You have to be able to stand the heat. You also have to be like Jennifer and stand nearly 200 comments, loads of traffic, countless e-mails and a single blog post going viral. I could stand that.

How do you make your blogging real, or mean, whatever you call it?

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Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She has written informative pieces for newspapers, online magazines and blogs, both big and small. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas. You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger.

Thanks, Terez!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!