One of the things I do to generate more income is offer writing services to others. I have a link on Fiverr and an account on Upwork; neither of those get me anywhere.
I’m a be me!
Every once in a while I go through a couple of the remaining forums I still belong to, posting my little bit of advertising for writing services. When I’m posting those articles, I always include a link to some article samples so people can see that I can write different ways on different topics. None of them are overly long, as it’s only supposed to be a sample.
I ended up getting a response from one guy on one of those forums. He wasn’t looking for a writer; he was looking to basically be a jerk. He wrote that he didn’t like my presentation and that no one would ever hire me as a writer if that’s all I could do.
What did I do after my brief thoughts of throttling him? I thanked him for his comment and moved on. I figured there was no reason to get into a back and forth with the guy because, after all, what would it have solved? My test articles are what they are, samples; there’s already a link to this blog, so there’s no reason to overdo it.
Now, what he could have been griping about is my website, and if that’s the case, well, then that’s only one person’s opinion of what they expect certain websites or blogs to look like. I’m known to look at websites and judge them on how well I think they look, but I keep it to myself, as I’m more interested in other writer’s content. I look for balance and readability more than whether I like how sites work… unless that’s the topic I’m going to write on.
There are things that put off many people; one of those things is a lack of balance from page to page. Another is multiple fonts on a webpage, along with lots of different colors, or content with lots of spelling mistakes. Or maybe the site only has words and nothing eye-popping or compelling… you get the picture.
The truth is there are many different websites, over 1.3 billion at this juncture if we include blogs (wow!). Many that look the same are template websites, and there’s hundreds of thousands of those now. There are also many websites on free platforms, although many of those are starting to go away.
With that being said, not every website is going to be pleasant for everyone; not every style is supposed to be the same either.This site looks like it does because I wanted it to look that way; many of you know how much I love red. 🙂
Every page is outlined the same, and the menu is in the same place on each page. I market a couple of my products on each page, which is fair since they’re my products. I’ve been thinking about cutting one of those products; we’ll see if I do.
Here’s the overall thing. If you’re paying for it or putting the work into it, you can have your website look like what you want it to be. You might need to think about something that’s not over the edge if you’re selling your words instead of products; if you’re selling products, you might want to think more color-centric or color-neutral (this site’s not any of those lol); that’s something to think about.
In any case, it is what it is, just like everyone else’s site. Your content is your content; your marketing is your marketing. If it’s not working for you, change it or not; as I like saying here and there, you do you Boo! lol
Everyone has an opinion; everyone’s not always right. How often are we supposed to bend to everyone else’s opinions? Give that some thought if you care. 😉
That situation only proves that you can’t I also experienced same thing. He gave a negative opinion about my sample then offered unreasonable price. Well, he’s the only person who told something like that about my work. LOL That situation only proves that we can’t really please everybody. As long as we know our capacity and how we work, everything will be fine.
.-= Francois Talens´s last blog ..Causes of Arthritis and Risk Factors =-.
We all have ideas about how a website should look. For instance, I have trouble with those using very light fonts, but that’s probably an “age” thing. Red is my favourite colour too, and it’s featured prominently on my site. Some people are likely to be put off, but not enough to stop coming, I hope!
Hey Debbie; you done traveling yet? lol Over all these years I’ve seen many different kinds of websites and blogs. The only ones I didn’t really like were those where, when you got to the site, there was all this stuff moving around or music would start playing. As for red being your favorite color… well, your hair was red for a long time after all! 😀
Your piece on opinions resonates deeply. In a world filled with diverse perspectives, understanding and respecting each other’s viewpoints is crucial. It’s like a call for empathy and open-mindedness. Thanks for highlighting the importance of healthy discourse in fostering understanding and growth. Well said!
Thanks Aadiv; I have good moments. lol I think it’s better to have opinions and open discussions instead of yelling, protesting, and harming others. True, opinions can go over the top sometimes, but if we’re prepared to recognize that everyone’s not going to agree with us then we can handle disagreements better.
When I was in high school you had to ‘apply’ to be in the AP English class.
I did and was turned down by the English teacher who said she didn’t think my writing was strong enough.
I was really aggravated by the rejection as I had won awards for my writing in both junior high and high school.
I held multiple positions on the school newspaper and was Editor-In-Chief, even managed to secure the same role during college.
What I learned then and have seen repeated multiple times is there are people that dislike and or hate or writing for one reason.
Because.
That is it, they just don’t like it…because.
No logic, no reason, it is arbitrary.
As for websites, well I have noticed that as my eyes have begun to age I dislike sites that make it hard for me to read because of font size or scheme.
Hey Josh! Yeah, dealing with “because” as the reason for anything never gets us anywhere. I have Spidey senses about things here and there, but I try to keep an open mind initially… until my beliefs and feelings have been confirmed.
With that said, I know the same feeling you did when a teacher rejected you and your writing. I was stuck with something like that for a couple of years because of some bad teachers. Finally in 10th grade the English teacher had the entire class write an essay while in class, and she saw that my writing was good and that I hadn’t been cheating or plagiarizing from encyclopedias and the like; you know how bigotry and racism can make people think such things. From that point on I started getting A’s instead of C’s; life’s been good ever since.
It’s all about authenticity, and your clients will appreciate the individuality that shines through. You appeal to some and not to others – that’s OK.
Exactly Valent. No one appeals to everyone, and it’s possible to be in a room with 100 people and no one might agree on anything. One has to be prepared for that, otherwise they’ll get depressed and won’t accomplish anything.
So many haters. So little time. Trolls are everywhere and we should all do what you do (although I wouldn’t even had bothered to reply.)
Cheers,
Mitch
Well, I replied, but I was nice about it. The guy wasn’t worth my time to fully respond, but I also didn’t want to look like a punk. lol
Hey Mitch,
Absolutely true! Opinions drive discussions, and it’s crucial to foster a culture of open dialogue. I believe respecting diverse perspectives is key. How do you navigate conversations when opinions differ significantly?
Thanks
Ramya
Ramya, I can tell you it’s not always an easy thing to do. When you have significant differences in opinion, the first thing to do is find out where the differences come from and what they’re actually addressing, something like trying to figure out whether a person has a moral dilemma, a “scientific” dilemma, a prejudicial dilemma, or maybe just a misunderstanding of the issue. Once that part has manifested itself, it’s up to the person who might be in charge to determine if there’s a way to merge different thoughts and opinions into something good or if something has to be eliminated to push forward.
However, when it comes to websites, if it’s your site you can do whatever you want to do, without anyone else having the right to dismiss it. 🙂