Freelancing At Christmas

The festive season – be it Christmas, Xmas, The Holidays, Hannukah, Yule or some other appropriately-named period – is a great time to be a freelancer. The vast majority of businesses invest in extra advertising, which means there’s a lot of writing, design and associated work to be done.

That said, the time to produce content is right now. And you’re already late.

Potential clients need their seasonal articles, designs, adverts and whatever else on a short time-scale. They need to get it out on the web as soon as possible, to get their visitors into the mood for Santa, stockings and – inevitably – buying things.

If you’re thinking of creating some Christmas content so that you’re ahead of clients’ demand, here’s a few ideas:

• Try heading over to the article directories and doing a quick search of currently popular topics. They can give you some inspiration.
• The holiday period is time of spirituality: how about some articles on the history of each religion’s beliefs, the way different people celebrate (which leads nicely into the decorations and other practical matters) or even how one can combine differing beliefs in a relationship.
• We also try to be more tolerant and think of others at this time of year. That’s a big subject – taking the time to visit a lonely person, special charity work, the homeless, the helpless, the poor, the hungry, the victims of war… a lot of content there. (You could even write some for free for a charity web site.)
• Or you can target the other end of the spectrum – commercialism. Decorations, presents, new gadgets, crazy presents, geek presents, sports presents, eco presents, books, clothes, music, cheap ideas, unique ideas, making your own gifts… it’s an almost endless list.
• The ideas can come from indirect means, too. For example, on one site I saw today, the focus is on winter sports. Not very Christmassy, you might think – but extrapolate that a little: winter sports are concerned with health. Health is associated with eating. Maybe some healthy holiday recipes or tips would go down well.
• Whatever you decide to do, keep your content gathered in one place. Keep all the URLs and references safely listed in a big document. Put your complete articles up in the best places to make some profit – directories, marketplaces, web pages, whatever – or look through the bidding sites for jobs they fit. Ten minutes’ rewriting and you can sell them to someone (or more than one person if you chop them up into little bits).

Personally, I don’t celebrate Christmas. I believe that every day I wake up is a day to celebrate: the birds are singing, the sun’s shining and I’m fortunate enough to not only be breathing, but to have a roof over my head and something to eat.

But it’s a great time to be a freelancer.

How about you? Have you started your seasonal work yet?