As a recovering English major, I can’t help but go back to the basics every so often. You know, the usual “Five W’s.” So here they are, in no particular order.
Who are you?
My name is Paul Bogan. I’m a freelance writer and photographer.
When did you start doing what you’re doing?
I’ve been writing… well, about as long as I’ve been able to write. What started as a hobby, or something incidental to jobs I’d been doing for larger companies, became a business in January of 2012.
Where are you?
A semi-undisclosed location in New Jersey.
How do you do what you do?
Very carefully.
No, really. Carefully. On the more personal side of my writing — both here, and on www.thefirst10000.com — I try to present a different take on some pretty well-trodden subjects (creativity and culture on one site, photography on the other). In the more business-oriented writing I do, I write clean copy that’s friendly to both readers and search engines (and if you’ve read some “SEO copy,” you know that’s nothing to take for granted). I vary my clients, partly to avoid conflicts of interest (I will not, for instance, work with two realtors simultaneously, or two restaurants), and partly because I believe that everything I do informs everything else I do.
Why you?
I started blogging in 2007, and then in earnest on this site in 2008. The site went mostly dark in 2010, and only recently (January, 2013) returned to active service. In the interim, I not only launched my business, but also a website on photography (www.thefirst10000.com) that has steadily grown since its launch in June of 2011.
I bring this up to underscore the fact that while I’m not an “early adopter,” I’ve been around this stuff long enough to know its ins and outs, and I’m constantly learning more to improve my craft and best practices. I’ve heard more than my share of snake oil pitches for quick cash, quick traffic, quick content generation, and quick everything else, and will help you to avoid those pitfalls.
More than anything, though, I know a good many things that don’t work because I’ve made — and owned — my own mistakes, and can help keep you from making them. That, and the fact that in an industry that’s now largely outsourced to the lowest bidder in Somewherestan, I’m a native speaker and writer of English.
What do you do?
- Content Strategy
- Blog Launch Consulting
- Website Content
- Blog Posts
- Product Descriptions
- News Articles
- E-Books
- Whitepapers
- Press Releases
- Speech writing and coaching
- Copy editing
Want to find out more? Contact me: thefirst10000 at gmail dot com
