As freelance journalists we offer our services to businesses as independent contractors. Typically, we sign contracts with publications, clearly establishing the client/contractor relationship. Other publications operate on a less formal basis, and, as professionals, we know what’s expected of us. As independent contractors, we don’t expect to receive benefits such as health insurance or paid vacation. We know our tax obligations, and our clients are not responsible for deducting Social Security and income taxes. We choose to be independent for a plethora of reasons.

The Senate held a hearing last week focused on a bill that will create excessive paperwork requirements for businesses that use the services of independent contractors. The bill also will mandate inordinate penalties for failing to file the correct documents.

This bill, S.3254: Employee Misclassification Prevention Act , is intended to prevent businesses from intentionally misclassifying workers as contractors, rather than employees, for the purpose of skirting the responsibilities of an employer. However, its result will actually create an environment in which businesses will be deterred from using the services of an independent contractor, such as us.

If all publications are required to jump through the hoops of this legislation, some may be unwilling to use freelance services. Additionally, such high penalties could scare away clients — particularly those clients who are already teetering on the brink of using in-house work over freelance work.

Contact your Senators by phone, email or letter to let them know that this bill will stifle your freelance business.

Carrie Madren is an award-winning freelance journalist and storyteller based in Maryland and published in regional, national and international publications including Maryland Life magazine, E Magazine, The Ecologist, Grist.org, Mother Nature Network, Bay Weekly newspaper, Bay Journal News Service and more.

But with so many networking sites out there –Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace, Yammer, Orkut, Plaxo, Jaiku, Bebo, Ning, Hi5, Multiply, Meetup.com, FriendFeed, Friendster, Flixster – the savvy freelancer needs to be choosy. Time is precious, and it’s far too easy to spend so much time updating your Twitter feed that you might not get around to sending out that all-important story pitch.

So which should a freelancer choose? Three tips:

1)  Divide your time between “broad” sites – like Facebook, which has 500 million users – and “specialty” sites, like Geni.com, which serves a very specific, narrow niche (in this case, people interested in genealogy). Aim for a 50-50 mix. But don’t overdo it! You might consider joining as few as two sites — one broad, one niche.

2)  When using that “broad” site, try to zone in on how it can help you connect with sources and ideas inside your reporting area. It might help more than your niche site does. For example, if you’re an entertainment writer, a “broad” site like MySpace might connect you with emerging musicians far better than a niche music site known only by industry insiders. Similarly, broad sites like Twitter can give you new ideas for entertainment stories.

3)   Think about WHY you’re on a social media site. Are you looking for a job? If so, groups that encourage face-to-face meetings – like Meetup, BigTent, or CouchSurfing – would be more beneficial than nationwide sites without local filters or groups. Are you busy juggling work and family, and you’ve joined social media only because your mentor said you should? Then join something quick and easy, like a micro-blogging site, which won’t impose the time demands of building an entire Facebook page complete with photos, or require the hours you’d need to build a LinkedIn page with your resume, detailed job history and references.

SPJ’s Freelancer Directory can put your work at the fingertips of the country’s top editors and news directors. The directory enables independent journalists, who are members of the Society, to post information and links to work samples online for free. This same list is viewable by editors and news directors from around the world. They can search by state, specialty or both. All you have to do is post your best work and wait for the calls to come.

For SPJ members: If you are a current member of SPJ, visit the directory Web page with your username and password to complete the registration and submit your work samples.

For non-members: If you are not a current SPJ member, we encourage you to join today and let SPJ start working for you. For more information about SPJ membership, please contact Membership Coordinator Linda Hall at (317) 927-8000, ext. 203.

The Society of Professional Journalists works to improve and protect journalism. The organization is the nation’s most broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior.

Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.

The column describes the new “Wild West” of the Web, as Scott James puts it, where information and ideas are shared freely with a Napster attitude. Here in Florida The Palm Beach Post, Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald all share stories freely among their Web sites. It is a troubling trend for freelancers who make our living by the assignment.

I have a Google Alert set up on my name to help me monitor where it appears, although I am sure there are instances that slip by me. The lesson here for freelancers is to protect your ownership of your work. Today it is as important a job for you as your reporting, writing, broadcasting and photography itself.

Jeff Goodell, investigative journalist and author of “How to Cool the Planet,” headlines the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism’s “Covering the Green Economy” seminar June 28-30 in Phoenix.

This specialized reporting institute on the intersection between business and the environment is available to 20 journalists, who will receive all-expenses-paid fellowships. The deadline to apply for a fellowship is April 26.

The seminar’s other speakers include Susanne Rust, co-author of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Pulitzer-finalist investigation into toxic goods; award-winning environmental reporter Craig Pittman of the St. Petersburg Times; green-transportation expert Jim Motavalli; investigative reporter Russ Choma; and Pulitzer-winning journalist Irene Virag. Check out the full agenda.

Through the generous support of the McCormick Foundation, fellowships cover the full cost of training, lodging, materials and most meals. In addition, fellows receive a $450 stipend to help offset travel and other costs.

This three-day seminar, combined with two follow-up Webinars, will help attendees track stimulus money earmarked for green efforts, cover the growing industry of eco-friendly cars and follow trends in food sustainability. We’ll also host sessions that dig into how to quantify sustainability in a variety of industries including health care, construction, solar, water and coal.

Free Webinars on personal finance, financial statements and being an entrepreneur

Learn in only an hour a day without leaving your desk with these free Webinars:

• “Finding Personal Finance Angles on Any Beat” May 10-14
• “Unlocking Financial Statements” July 19-23
• “How to Be an Entrepreneur as a Business Journalist” Aug. 9-13

Sign up for all our free training at BusinessJournalism.org.

Free “Investigative Business Journalism” workshops with top reporters-turned-profs Alec Klein and Gary Cohn

• May 7 in Portland, Ore.: Join Pulitzer winner Gary Cohn and former Washington Post investigative reporter Alec Klein in this daylong workshop, “Investigative Business Journalism on a Beat,” as they walk you through the steps to successful investigative business stories. These two top reporters-turned-journalism-professors will take you through the investigative story from start to finish: refining and pitching an idea, developing and interviewing sources, plumbing public documents, and organizing and presenting the story effectively in multimedia. Come with an idea for an investigative project, and leave with a story pitch to take back to your editors. The emphasis will be on pursuing investigations while still covering your beat.
• June 9 in Las Vegas: Come an afternoon early for the Investigative Reporters and Editors annual conference and polish your investigative business reporting skills with Alec Klein in this condensed version of “Investigative Business Journalism on a Beat.”

Both free workshops are sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism, but you must sign up at BusinessJournalism.org. Space is limited.

Questions? E-mail Linda Austin, Reynolds Center executive director, or call her at 602-496-9187.

Note that this is a labor of love and requires quick turnaround; perhaps you have a blog post that you could expand into a column.

Send me your ideas, at michaelATmffitzgeraldDOTcom.

The top gainer was The Atlantic, which is now up 23 percent for the year. MIN quoted its publisher, Jay Lauf, as saying that “the Darwinian shakeout we’ve been seeing on the print side is leaving the strong survivors in a healthy place.”

What do you think: are magazines that survived last year now in good shape? Or is this cluster of survivors just in a part of the desert where some water still remains?

Are you a journalist with a Web site or blog? Before search engines can list your site among their search rankings they must locate it, and there are ways you can write your content to help search engines do that and list your site higher among their rankings. This is called search engine optimization. It’s not much different from writing news stories in ways to attract readers, although yes I understand the idea of writing for a search engine is a bummer.

Think of it this way. Readers never will find your content unless search engines do, right?

Yesterday I spent some time researching SEO practices as a means of improving my own blogging. Here’s what I found out.

• Fundamentally SEO is about keywords. Think about the keywords readers will use in locating your content. Search engines analyze content beginning at the top, so place special emphasis on your headline, subhead and first graf. Notice how I included the keywords “search engine optimization” and “SEO” here in my first graf, even though it seems a little cluttered.
• Write clearly. Search engines don’t understand double meanings, and they have no sense of humor. Replace pronouns and adjectives with keywords.
• Write short. Search engines give most weight to a site’s first 500 words. So if you want to write longer consider breaking up your content among multiple pages. That way search engines will analyze all your content rather than just the first 500 words.
• Search engines reward sites with fresh content. So update regularly.
• They reward sites with links. So link often.
• But don’t sacrifice quality for SEO. Search engines — and readers — respond to quality content. Don’t overstuff your content with keywords and links. Search engines can recognize deceptive tactics, and they can ban your site from their rankings.

Want more information?

• The Society of Professional Journalists offers a comprehensive Digital Media Handbook.
• This blog called Save the Media penned by a 20-year newspaper veteran now working on a communications Ph.D. offers some helpful tips.