In this post we cover how to get started as a freelancer writer (and make money)!
Are you happy with your current job but not making the money you want? Do you wish you had a little extra set aside each month to enjoy the small things in life? This can be accomplished in a few hours per week if you can sit down and write high quality content. It will not take long at all, once you have figured out the best route for you. If you’re looking for a career change, freelance writing might be just what you’re looking for. Today we’ll be going through the steps on how to get started as freelance writer.
How to Get Started as a Freelance Writer (and Make Money)
Is Freelance Writing Expensive to get Into?
Starting a new career in freelance writing can be done relatively cheap. All you need is a laptop, an internet connection and a desire to succeed. Most platforms that you can make a decent career on have little to no costs to get started. The biggest cost in getting started into freelance writing is time. This career may take some time to get into, and when you are first starting out, there may be some extra work just to get your name out there.
What Are the Steps You Have to Take?
The first step to a freelance writing career is determining whether or not you have the desire to sit down and do what it takes. Working from home is not for everyone, especially if you get easily distracted. You will need to have time to set aside each day, week or month depending on what you are expecting to get out of it. The more time you spend writing the more money you can ultimately make. Some people out there do it for a couple extra dollars per week and there are some people making 6 figure annual incomes.
The next step to success is looking at yourself and figuring out what your strengths are. Are you an expert in a certain niche? The more expertise you have at a certain topic, the faster you will be able to write a well structured and informative piece. Are you efficient at researching an entirely new topic and putting what you have learned into a well designed article? Are you great describing products and creating great product landing pages?
Knowing what your strengths are will help you decide what the best path moving forward will be. Sometimes looking at what other people have done can really help. Ask other freelance writers how they got into it, ask them what the start of their career was like? What were some of the biggest obstacles to a career in freelancing? How did they overcome these obstacles, or did they? Sometimes people do try to get into freelance writing and fail. Find out what caused the failure and come up with a solution to this problem.
What’s the Best Way to Get Started?
Well that all depends on what you are looking for. Are you looking to write on your own blog? Are you looking at writing for a major magazine? Or maybe writing for a content mill such as Upwork? A simple web search can help you determine which route is best with your particular skillset. There are many websites in which people offer up to 100 dollars or more for every article you write. These contracts can be very hard to find especially when you are new and do not have a name for yourself yet.
There are also content mills in which jobs are posted by potential clients and you put in a bid to get the job. Often, but not always, these jobs will go to lowest bidder making it a little harder to make a good living, but it is a good way to get into the industry. Good reviews of your work can be very beneficial. Jobs on these types of sites can pay hourly or per contract. You will often see anywhere from half of a cent to five cents per word on these jobs.
The hardest way to get into the industry seems to be to create your own web based business. This method involves creating your own site, marketing it, and pitching to potential clients. This means you will have to find a catchy domain name, create the site, create your content. Then you will have to find ways to advertise it such as on google ads or Facebook ads, but these can be expensive if you are not already making money. It can be very time consuming if you have never done this before, however, it has the highest earnings potential.
Getting Paid for Your Work
Would you like to get paid? That will be the next step. The most well known universal method of online payment is Paypal. It can be setup for free in the matter of a few minutes. You just need an email address along with a bank account to attach to it. Paypal has some of the most reasonable rates in the online payment processing industry.
Other ways of payment include payment processors such as square which are available for a fee as well. Another way that will work is through internet e-transfers. Through sites like Upwork, you will be able to link your bank account directly to the site for payment. Whatever method you choose they will all have their benefits and drawbacks. Some are cheaper but take longer, some don’t cost anything at first but can be more of a hassle.
Build Your Portfolio
The next step into the freelance industry is getting your portfolio ready. This entails writing a couple articles for your potential clients to see. It is not recommended to directly send the content you have written for another client as samples. With this in mind, your best bet is to write one or two short pieces that you can use as samples. This way, every time you try to sell your writing ability to a new client, they get your best samples and you know what you’re sending them.
Sometimes rather than samples, potential clients may choose to do small paid test runs. These also have their advantages and disadvantages. You can get paid to do your sample which is nice, but then you should avoid using it as a sample for another potential client unless you send a link to your original client’s site.
Time to Write
So now you have landed your first contract, great, what now? Now it’s time to write your first article. This can sometimes be the most time consuming part of freelancing. Are you knowledgeable on the topic? Do you have to do research first? Do you want to write longer pieces like eBooks and informative articles? Or are you more of a 500 word short article writer?
Whatever the case may be, you must dedicate the time to sit down and write. If this is your first contract on a content mill like Upwork, it is best to get it done as soon as possible. On these sites you will be reviewed based on things such as communication, quality, and meeting deadlines. These reviews will essentially be what future potential clients will have to judge your work skills on.
The Importance of Communication with Potential Clients
Communication is always very important to make sure you know exactly what the client is looking for. You wouldn’t want to spend a couple of hours researching a topic and writing an article that your client is not happy with. Their businesses will depend on the articles that you are writing to help drive traffic to their website.
How Important is Quality?
Quality is another important aspect of the industry. There is a lot of competition in this field which makes landing contracts that much more meaningful. When you are done writing the article, take the time to re-read what you have written to make sure it flows properly. Even with spell check, sometimes you will have put a word in a text, but it does not make sense, so always re-read.
If someone is paying you really good money to write quality content and all they get is a bunch of broken sentences, and writing that does not flow, they will not be too happy. With that in mind, it is in your best interest to do a little research if you are not too familiar with a topic, write your piece, re-read it, edit it. Another thing to try and avoid is false content. Do not make stuff up as you go just to get words into an article, facts can easily be checked.
Meet Your Deadlines
Another key aspect of freelance writing is deadlines. Deadlines are put in place by your customer and they are there for a reason. your job as a freelance writer is to help a business owner get information out to potential readers. Again, all these things are interconnected to make your journey to freelance writing a success story.
Deadlines and communication go hand in hand. A buyer is not going to be very happy if they are paying for work and the work is not coming in on time. Sometimes your client has a couple of days to look over your work and send it to a final editing team but sometimes your client is just a small web based business owner that needs the info on their site right away. So always make your deadlines.
Submit Your Work For Review and Payment
Being able to take constructive criticism is another big part of freelance writing. Everyone’s style of writing is different and makes for the occasional conflict. The best thing you can do there is submit your work to your client, let them read it and give you feedback. If it is not up to the standards they require you may have to rework it. This may include rewriting some of it, rephrasing a portion of it or totally scrapping and restarting.
Always remember that the person who is paying for the product is the one who has the final say. So, if you do get negative feedback after initially submitting it, the best thing for you to do is listen to them and give them what they want or you risk negative feedback in your career as well. That said, if you do get negative feedback, do not let it make you give up all together. Just because one client isn’t happy with your work doesn’t mean the next one won’t like your work.
Things to Avoid
Just like anything else out there, there are always things you can avoid. If you are using a content mill like Upwork, it is not recommended to venture outside the site. If you get a message from someone asking to take payment outside of the Upwork platform there is no guarantee you will ever see compensation for the work you have you completed. These platforms have mediators that will help either the writer or the buyer in the case of a dispute, but only if everything is done through the site. There are also people that will ask you to send money upfront, this is a huge red flag. You should never have to pay a buyer an upfront fee to start writing for them.
Conclusion
So, let’s recap. Now you have an idea of how to get started as a freelance writer. First requirement is the desire to succeed in a new business. Then once you have determined that you are ready for a career in freelancing, you must figure your strengths and weaknesses. Then you create a portfolio of a couple of great, well written articles for your potential clients to review.
Take a look at the type of platform you’re interested in writing for whether it be directly for a publication or would you like to try out a content mill first? Land your first paid written contract and get it done in a timely manner while communicating with the client. Always make sure you take the time to double check your work before submitting it to your client and make sure you are inside your deadline. Do not let constructive criticism end your dream. Rework when you have to.
Now you have a good understanding as to the procedure, so it’s time to get out there and get it done. And remember, once you see that first little bit of income in your bank account, you know what to do.
We hope you enjoyed this post on how to get started as a freelance writer. Just keep doing it, and let us know your feedback in the comments below!
