The need for quality content is growing, as is the need for professional writers. But if we are talking about freelance, then it’s not enough just to be able to express our thoughts. You will need at least ten more important skills to become a truly successful online freelance writer. In this article, we have listed more than ten secrets that in-demand specialists know. We recommend learning a new one or making sure that you’ve got all of the.
13 Secrets of Successful Online Freelance Writers
1. Track the Results of Your Customers
This is a very significant indicator of the professionalism of a freelance writer. When a writer works for a company that hired him for a full-time job, it’s easy to keep track of the results from your articles, see the entire marketing strategy, and generally be part of the team. But with freelance, everything is different. This makes it impossible for such a close and daily interaction.
However, it is still important to track the results. Therefore, successful authors follow their publications, analyze questions and comments, or ask a business owner a direct question about the effectiveness of a particular material.
2. Your Work Should Be Your Best Advertising
First, you work for your portfolio, and then your portfolio begins to work for you. Successful authors write each of their articles so that it can take its rightful place in a portfolio or resume. And at a certain stage, marketing efforts for a personal promotion already become superfluous – customers themselves see your level and offer cooperation. The whole secret is only in painstaking and daily work.
3. Dive into the Business You Are Writing for
To make the content useful for the business, it is necessary to study the business itself thoroughly. A professional writer always asks a lot of questions about business, company, products, services, customers, unique offers, successful and unsuccessful experiences, to form the most accurate marketing message. It’s wrong to write for the sake of volumes and keywords – it is important that the created content covers the specific needs of the business with which the freelance writer works.
4. Take the Responsibility for Your Words
Modern people do not often go to libraries but look for information on the Internet, and very often they trust what they read. The principle of medical practice applies here – do no harm. Just as a doctor should not harm a patient, so a writer should not harm a reader. A person who seeks advice or a solution to his problem online will listen to most existing opinions, and it may be likely that your opinion will be most correct from the point of view of the reader. It is important that it be truly reliable, researched and give real value, but not harm.
5. Become the Best Time-Manager Ever
Yes, freelance is about time management in the first place. Procrastinators have no chance here. The ability to manage your time freely is a huge advantage, but also a huge responsibility. This can lead to success, or to a standstill. Therefore, successful freelance writers always plan their work and personal time in such a way as to remain productive, inspired and able to restore energy.
6. Develop a Strategy of Coping with Your Finances
One more truth about freelancing is that not all customers pay for your work on time. For someone, “next week” and “next month” is about the same thing. And you need to eat something and pay your bills now. Therefore, in addition to time management skills, it is necessary to have money management skills.
Related: How Do You Make Ends Meet on a Bad Month?
Successful freelance writers (in this context, those who have worked with different customers and have been in different situations) know that you always need to have a reserve money fund in case of delay in payment.
7. Experience Is More Important Than Money
If you are a beginner, remember this secret, or even write it in your notebook. The opportunity to learn and gain experience for even small money is a great gift from your customers. What seems insurmountable today, and is a source of stress, tomorrow will become a source of invaluable experience that you can demonstrate to your new customer, of course.
8. Keep Your Portfolio Always Updated and Accessible
When you need to quickly impress, it’s best to just send a link to the portfolio. Instead of a thousand words.
Read: Everything You Need to Know About Online Portfolios
Therefore, a link to it should always be at your fingertips, and the portfolio itself should contain the latest and best publications.
9. Occupy Your Niche in the Market
Successful freelance writers, as a rule, position themselves as specialists in one particular field. For example, someone ideally writes marketing or selling texts, some does an excellent job with technical material, others translate from different languages like the specialists from The Word Point translation service.
To become successful, it is important to find your niche, your best skill, and greatest interest, and improve as a writer and as an industry specialist at the same time.
10. Do Not Be Afraid of Competition
Do not be afraid, but remember that it exists. If you suddenly start to forget about it, just browse the profiles of writers in Linkedin, but not for the purpose of comparing yourself with someone more successful and envy someone’s achievements, and not for the purpose of mocking the mistakes of newcomers, but for the purpose of remembering that you need to constantly develop and grow in order not to be flunked out of the market.
11. Every New Project Should Be One More Step Out of the Comfort Zone
And since we are talking about development, then successful freelance writers are those who are not afraid of obviously complex projects. Even if they have already reached a sufficient level of earnings, and have enough orders to not worry about tomorrow, a new or potentially complex project is always synonymous with cool growth opportunities. And vice versa, a freelancer who does not use these opportunities, gradually loses its attractiveness against the background of competitors.
12. You Can Not Meet Everyone’s Needs
Getting rejected is normal. This is as normal and even as good as if you had received approval from a potential customer. Successful freelancers take this calmly, and always ask for feedback on what exactly was wrong with the test article, for example. And after analyzing the mistakes, they calmly go on looking for new clients.
13. You Will Be Criticized Very Often – Be Prepared for It
Criticism is also normal. Each has his own unique vision. Successful freelance writers are able to adequately perceive criticism, of course, provided that the criticism is also adequate. And if this is not so, then see the previous paragraph – you can not please everyone.
About the author
Based in Chicago, Ava T. Jones is best known for her contributions to translation and writing. She is currently working as a freelance writer for The Word Point the translation agency. She entered the writing world to explore her passion for contrastive linguistics, adaptation and lexicography. Ava also enjoys skiing, social media management and vegan parties.
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