You read articles all the time about freelance writers who have earned $30,000, $40,000, or even $60,000 a year doing what they love. In fact, it’s success stories like those that partly inspired you to try your hand in the freelance writing business yourself. Perhaps you earn a few bucks here and there working with writing agencies or you have a few clients, but your income is nowhere near what you’d hoped it would be. Close to giving up on the idea altogether, you can’t help but wonder how they do it. [Read more…]
Authors, Here Are Tips for Marketing Your Writing Online
Congratulations, you’ve completed your first novel! It’s finally time to shop for an agent or, if you’re not into the traditional publishing route, to self-publish. Whichever path you choose to introduce your master opus to the masses, you’re going to face a tremendous challenge at your next step. Your work will be competing for the attention of agents, publishers, and readers against a pool of talented authors and limited publishing opportunities. For the self-publisher, there’s the challenge of connecting with an audience beyond your immediate circle of friends and supporters. For the traditionalist, the difficulty lies in convincing professionals with deep constraints to take a chance on a new author. [Read more…]
4 Tips for Becoming a Successful Freelance Writer
Anyone who has solid writing skills, a laptop, a healthy work ethic, and a plan has the ability to be a freelance writer. That’s great news, isn’t it? Being a freelance writer means that you can have a side gig with the option to turn it into a full-time job. It’s flexible, can be fun, and with the right opportunities, can even be lucrative. If you’re still reading this, we can assume that you’ve got the computer, the work ethic, and the skills. Now you just need to get a few tips before getting started on your plan. [Read more…]
3 Most Common Reasons People Start Freelance Writing
The internet is the most common place that people turn to as a source of information. There is a blog or article for just about any subject you can think of. From stamp collecting to science experiments, you’ll find a source of writing out there talking about exactly what you want to find out more about. Some writing out there is all about sharing personal experiences, while others are non-biased news sources. Behind a lot of this writing are the freelance writers who are paid to create it. [Read more…]
Things You Need to Have a Productive Morning as a Freelance Writer
If you’ve been working at home as a freelance writer for long enough, you know that the key to a productive workday starts with a good morning. Developing routines and getting organized at the beginning of the day creates the opportunity to write compelling content that meets the needs of your target audience and/or clients. To do this, however, there are a few essential things you’ll need to get your day off to the right start. [Read more…]
Freelance Writing For a Variety of Passions and Expertise
Freelance writing has grown exponentially in availability, need and variety with the expansion of the Internet at large in the recent several years. To be a published writer a few short decades ago, one had to be employed by a publication or news outlet. Now, anyone with a technological device connected to the Internet can be a writer, whether on their personal blog site for the simple means of self-expression, or a larger paid publication site for compensation. Students are some of the population that can benefit greatly from being a freelance writer, as it can be done on your own time, from anywhere, and with a wide variety of experience and expertise needs. [Read more…]
Best Ways to Market Yourself as a Freelancer
Being a freelance writer offers flexibility, a chance to learn new things, and it’s a great way to make extra money. The freelancing world requires time and commitment, and if you’re new to this world, you may wonder how to land high paying jobs and begin making a name for yourself. The best way to be successful in this type of work is learning how to market yourself. Clients look for individuals with talent, experience, and reliability, so you need to have ways to showcase that you have what it takes. [Read more…]
How to Quickly Increase Your Rates as a Freelance Writer
There are two major camps when it comes to freelancing. The first camp gets the best jobs, great clients, and earn a great living. The second camp gets the leftovers and seems to be fighting a race to the bottom. Penny pinching clients, vague assignments, and impossible work hours are the norm.
If you’re like most people in the world, you want to be in the first camp while doing work you care about. Normal advice will tell you that it takes years to accomplish those kinds of results. I disagree.
In this article, you’ll learn practical ways to earn more money as a freelancer without having to spend 10 years in the trenches. There’s just one prerequisite, you have to be able to deliver. [Read more…]
How to Find a Great Image for Every Article You Publish
Did you know that 6.7 million people blog on blogging sites? Are you looking for how to stand out from the crowd by having beautiful images?
Blogging isn’t just about creating original and new content for the internet and ranking in the search results, it’s also about providing value to your audience and giving them a nice experience while on your site as well.
As a freelancer writer, the option to just focus on writing text and articles is often key, but images also play an importance role in this overall process as well. Images provide better finalized work, engagement and reading for site visitors, and of course better value and content for the site owners and brands that are buying it.
In this article, discover the secrets to finding a great image for your blog articles every time. Read on to discover these secrets so you’ll ensure you can have a successful blog and not a flop.
3 Reasons Why Freelance Writers Should Always Include Article Images
When is the last time you read an article online that was just straight text and no images in it? It probably wasn’t any time recently. Nearly all articles have some type of visuals and the best ones are using them to break apart content, use visuals as examples and even to create original infographics to bring data to life.
With all of this in mind, as a freelancer, you should always consider adding images to the content you are writing for your clients. Here are a few reasons why.
1 – It’s Extremely Fast, Easy and Free to Find Images
For the most part, the writing process is what’s going to take the most time. When looking for images for your content, there are so many free resources and royalty free images available, it’s just a matter of knowing where to look and spending a few minutes to get the job done.
2 – Added Value to the End Client and Better Content
When an article is sent to the client for review, a doc full of words and content is always great. However, what’s even better is having a document full of content and visuals as well. This way the client can post everything right to the site, while making it easier to read and visually appealing for all site visitors.
There are also plenty of images that you can use with royalty free rights to help you create better content for your own or client sites. Be sure to check out a site like Stock Photo Secrets to not only find some of the best sites out there for images, but also how you can start using free image editing software to create and modify your own images.
3 – Ability to Upsell and Earn More Per Article
As simple as it is to find and add a few images to your article content, this little addition can go a long way–and not just in the form of better engagement and content being easier to read. It’s also a service that freelancers can offer to upsell their services and earn more per completed article as well.
Now that you have a better understanding on why images should always be a requirement when creating content online, now let’s walk through a few tips and resources to make the image finding process even easier.
Article Images Searching Tips
When you’re searching for high-quality images, don’t use a super long search and don’t use a one-word search either. Instead, use a 2-3 word phrase to find an image. Consider related images as well when using your search term. Avoid pictures that seem like they’re from a stock photo site, and ensure they go with your brand.
Plan out what you want your images to convey to your audience. Visit the top websites in your niche to see what images they choose and that are successful.
Ensure the image you choose will look good no matter if your audience is on their computer, phone, or tablet. When you save your images, experiment with the different types to see what works best. PNG is great for illustration and color, GIF is great for animation, and JPEG loses quality even though it’s good for images.
1. Take Your Own Photos
In order to find an image and think, I really really really like this image, it’s best to take your own photos. You’ll firstly have your own unique images that can be SEO friendly. Not only can you save money, but you don’t have to worry about copyright infringement.
You can even create color palette on images to make it more fun and colorful.
2. Pixabay
Pixabay has free images for blogging you can find. Whether you’re looking for serious or crazy images, Pixabay has you covered. You just click on any image to see a pop-up box with several image sizes available. You can then download and save images, plus it’s easy to use.
3. Bigstock
You can either search on Bigstock through their on-site search box or use their home page footer. You can also use autocomplete for quick searches. You can easily find images that are popular or aren’t popular yet. If you create an account, you can choose a free image every week.
It has a subscription model where you can receive a certain amount of downloads for a monthly fee. You can try out their 7-day free trial to see how you like their image choices.
If you are going to be doing any type of infographic creation, you will likely find a great selection of vectors and images that can be used within your artwork. The important thing to remember during the image selection and infographic process, is to make sure you are using high-quality content visuals, while also focusing your effort on bullet-points and key words and phrases — meaning, you shouldn’t have a lot of text.
4. iStockPhoto
iStockPhoto has credit packs and subscription plans available. It has a large range of filters you can choose to find the right managed stock photography. You can also find flash and audio animations, as well as video. When you click on an image thumbnail, a large photo will pop out.
5. Flickr
Flickr is great for high-quality nice images of real-life such as nature or landscape. You can also choose graphic works for abstract concepts.
Tips for Finding a Great Image
Now that you read this guide, you can find a great image for your blogging needs while also potentially increasing your profits and revenue in the process.
Would you like to learn more about bringing your business to life? Check out our other articles on Freelance Writing Gigs.
The Complete Guide to Creating a Writing Portfolio: Everything to Know
It is predicted that by 2027, the majority of the US workforce will be freelancers.
Just let that sink in for a second. In less than ten years’ time, more people will be in freelance than in traditional employment.
If you’re a freelance writer, it will become increasingly important to ensure you remain visible in a crowded market. That’s why creating a writing portfolio is vital. With more money pouring into this space, there will also be a lot more freelancers and competitors to fight against. However, for those who are willing to put in the time, work and effort… the potential for higher earnings and revenue is also there.
Read on as take a look at how to put together a writing portfolio that will make you stand out from the crowd.
Know Your Niches
With so much competition out there, one of the best ways to get ahead is to get a strong track record for writing in specific niches.
That way you can market yourself to people needing content in that niche. Your portfolio should give examples of how well you can write on that specific topic.
A perfect example of this would be social media marketing vs. ecommerce and online shops. They are both focused towards promotion and end users converting to buyers, but they are also two completely different styles of writing. Social media marketing is more about engagment and interest, while ecommerce is more product focused and informational.
You don’t need to limit yourself to just one niche, but don’t go overboard. The more niches you offer, the more diluted your expertise can appear.
Less Is More
By the same token, don’t fill your portfolio with every piece you’ve ever written. It’s all about quality, not quantity.
There are two things you need to keep in mind when selecting the pieces you’ll include. Firstly, choose those pieces that show off your writing skills the most, and are solidly within the niche that you’re targeting.
Secondly, select those pieces that you’ve done for well-known clients. If you’ve had work published by big names, this is going to make you stand out from the crowd, so make sure you put that work front and center. Try not to include work that is too out of date.
Write a Strong Bio
If a client finds two portfolios that both have great writing in the desired niche, then how do they choose?
One deciding factor might be your bio. Clients will want to know a little about the writer that will be working for them. This is your chance to sell yourself although you shouldn’t go over the top.
Explain what you do and how you do it, and remember that this is a chance to show off your writing skills. Include your experience, especially in the niches that you’re targeting. If you’ve worked for any big-name clients, be sure to drop their names in.
In addition to comparing two portfolios or resumes side by side, there is also an advantage for any freelancer that has a strong social media profile as well. Not only does social media bring legitimacy to individuals over those who don’t have it, it also shows another enhanced skill that might be sought after by the client.
The better your personal bio, brand and social media presense looks online, the more likely you are to stand out from the crowd.
Make Sure It Looks Good
You can have the best writing in the world, but if your portfolio looks a mess, no one is going to read it.
Make sure it looks clean and easy to read. Don’t include full articles on the page; instead, use snippets with links to the full articles.
There are plenty of online portfolio templates you can use to make sure that it looks as smart as possible. It’s worth making the effort to create a portfolio page that people want to visit.
And again, focusing on the social media aspect — make sure you are linking out to your portfolio and resume through your social profiles. Not only will this share your expertise and work with different audiences, it will also help potential clients find your work if they are looking your name up through Google or on different platforms.
Are You Creating a Writing Portfolio?
If you’re creating a writing portfolio or doing any type of freelance writing, you should definitely be implementing these recommendations and tips into your daily efforts. As more people enter into this space, it will be harder to find new work, while also keeping consistant buyers month after month.
To learn more about this process and how to become a better writer, be sure to check out the various writing resources throughout this site. There are hundreds of articles that cover a wide range of other topics related to creative writing, starting a freelance business and also a job board to help you find more work.
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