The path to success in an internet based industry requires an intimate knowledge of SEO. As a freelance writer, being familiar with SEO is an asset you can’t afford to be without.
As with any industry, SEO has its own terminology and while exploring SEO strategies, these terms will be constantly encountered. Learning all of these might be difficult but is ultimately crucial. Below are listed twelve SEO related terms that you should learn. [Read more…]
If you’ve clicked on this article, you probably either already have an unpaid invoice lingering around, or have had to deal with an unpaid invoice before.
No matter if you are a freelancer, small contractor, or large business owner, unpaid invoices are an aggravating inevitability. While the whole point of an invoice is to streamline the payment process and make it easier to get paid on time, clients always seem to find a way to miss the due date. [Read more…]
As a freelance professional, the most important tool in your marketing arsenal is your website. This is the first step to project your intentions to potential customers. If you configure it correctly, you can generate a lot of interest, converting prospective customers into paying ones, and your freelance business can flourish.
Shockingly, studies have revealed that countless small businesses do not maximise the benefits of their website. Are you interested in capitalising your business presence online? Implement these 10 vital elements now, and you’ll achieve the desired results.
Is your freelance website working to your advantage? Check. Click To TweetAs freelance writers, we spend a great deal of time quickly researching topics we’re unfamiliar with and then producing articulate web content that makes it sound like you know what you’re talking about. A brief scan of several other informative websites often gives you background information and inspiration to write what your clients have asked for. You wind up putting together and submitting an article to your client and begin the process over again with a new topic and don’t think about it again. [Read more…]
While we are undeniably living in the age of the self, with focus on the individual in every aspect of our social and professional lives, it seems that the business sector is slowly rediscovering the strength that lies in numbers. Inspired by the way grassroots efforts work, crowdsourcing is the name of the game across industries lately – but what could it mean for you as a freelance writer?
You’ve heard of people who ditched their corporate posts to do freelance work. And now you’ve decided to join them and become a freelance writer. You read advice on how to start but you find yourself getting confused. You search for jobs on online job boards. But competition is stiff. What’s more, most clients ask for a portfolio, which you don’t have. [Read more…]
Interest in the crypto industry continues to grow. Hundreds of companies all over the world are trying to either raise funds using crypto technology or getting ready to start offering crypto-related services. The rise in the crypto market means that people are constantly looking for information.
Writing about cryptocurrency and related services is different from other types of technical or fundamental writing. In order to write about the cryptocurrency industry, there are some things that you have to keep in mind. Here are some tips that will help you write excellent cryptocurrency articles. [Read more…]
Most freelance writers aim for a target hourly rate to hit their financial and career goals, using that rate as a basis for the work they charge. For example, a writer might expect to produce one article per hour and charge $40 per article in order to make an average rate of $40 per hour. Given the salary they used to receive, this may be more or less than they were hoping for.
This is a simplified example, but it can be applied to most types of freelance work. The biggest problem with this straightforward approach is that it might give you a false sense of security about your hourly rate, or worse, cause you to calculate a rate that’s far too low to reach your goals.
So how can you figure out what you’re really making per hour? [Read more…]
Freelancing is a dream opportunity for any writer and most other professionals. You’ll get to set your own hours, choose your own clients, and have the thrill of potentially unlimited income. But starting a freelancing career from scratch is intimidating – especially if you’ve never done it before.
While working, you might be entirely self-reliant, but that doesn’t mean you have to build your freelance business alone. In fact, it’s better for you to rely on external resources for writers that can help you overcome your initial apprehensions and build the best possible career for yourself. [Read more…]
If you have always considered a life as a writer but you’re not sure where to start, you may want to consider freelancing. Freelance writers can make up to $100,000 per year or more, provided they connect with the highest-paying clients and have a strategy for developing their freelance writing career.
Why is freelance writing needed?
Freelance writing is needed by both publishers and business sites or blogs due to the sheer amount of content it takes to keep their sites high in the rankings, as well as to draw in views from their target audience. People will pay for high-value content and they are often on the lookout for skilled writers.
But where do you start if you are just beginning your career as a freelance writer? While there is no exact technique or procedure that you should follow every time in order to achieve success as a freelancer or ghostwriter, there are some basic tenets that are important to keep in mind. We hope this article will help you get started.
First, no one started out as Ernest Hemingway the first time they wrote an essay. The same is true of freelance writing. In that way, it is no different than any other professional. You have to prove yourself first. You can do this in a number of ways but the main thing you have to do is to convince the publishers that you have what they need: great content.
If you are dealing with an individual blogger or website owner, the same is true. So, when you are applying for work with a website or blog, first read the website or blog thoroughly and get a feel for the voice they are trying to capture. Remember, as a blogger or ghostwriter, there should not be much difference between the way the original blogger sounds and the way you sound. So try to capture the tone and style of the blog before you submit a sample piece.
Paying dues also refers to the fact that you will not make a large amount of money just starting out. Be honest if you are a noob, but show your natural talent to get your first gigs. You may even have to write a few free at the onset. Then, as you get more publishers to trust you, you can increase your rate.
Blog owners and website owners are looking for specialization. This is because their websites and blogs are specialized in a specific niche area. So you need to have a good knowledge base of the material that you are writing about. If you want to write about gardening, for example, make sure you have a general knowledge base about how to tend to gardens, how to select plants or seeds, and how to maintain a garden. You can learn more as you go but your basic knowledge in the area you are choosing to specialize in should be broad.
Not only is it important for a freelance writer to understand what their best writing skills and expertise are in, it should also be provided through outsourced writing platforms as well. Take a look at Bid4papers which specializes in essay writing. The more they know about their target audience (students) and how to provide them with the best value possible, the better the writers they can bring in, while also building a quality service and business model in the process.
This is not a job interview, but it is similar. Whenever I submit content to a new client for the first time, I always pull my “best card” from the deck. By that, I mean that I think about what experience I have had (either writing or life experience) that could add real value to my posts for a specific website or client, then use that “card.” For example, if I want to write for a media or news publisher, I might tell them about my Radio-TV degree and the fact that I worked for commercial radio for 12 years. If I am writing for a restaurant, I should talk about how I love good food and offer some tips on how to bring in customers to a restaurant. Anything you can use to differentiate yourself from your competition is fair game.
Another strategy you can use to getting jobs as a freelance writer is to apply several places. You never known which publisher might take to your work so it’s a good idea to put your work out there to several. However, it’s important to remember that, if you submit an original piece that has not been published yet, you can only sell full rights to one of them. So you should usually go with the one who pays the best rate, then withdraw your sample from the others.
You also should decide how much money you need to make to support yourself and go for publishers that can pay your rate.
Publishers do not know where or if you are publishing your work, so they depend on you to be straightforward with them about which ones are sold, published, or unpublished. Usually, publishers just want to get a feel for your style and ability so they can see if it is a good fit for their website or publication. So any sample of previous work will work, but make sure it is relevant to their topic. They are also looking for knowledge in their industry.
Once you do land a great job following the above principles, make sure you follow up on your promise to provide great content. Publishers want content that entertains and informs. People read blogs for information, not for a sales ad. If you make your content too sales-oriented, you will lose your target audience. The whole idea of a blog is to step away from the sales copy that is on your website about your brand and offer something free for your potential customers that has value.
Then, if they like the information they got from you, they may return to do business with you later. So, while the goal of a blog is to lead customers to a website, this fact cannot be obvious and sales copy should be left at the door. Writing for a blog requires empathy for the reader, an understanding of what they value, and an ability to make the reader feel comfortable with a brand or website. It’s not about sales, even if that is the goal.
So, freelance writers should be able to be a number of things for their clients. They should be able to capture the voice of the site or blog, provide valuable information that leads the reader to the client’s website, but to do it in a subtle way so that it is not like sales copy. This requires a unique skill but it is one that can be developed with practice.
Unlike in the real world where you can show potential clients your work in person, you deal with online clients in a virtual environment. So you need something to show them what you can do. You can create a digital online portfolio such as a blog or a sample copy of your work to illustrate your ability to do ghostwriting. Putting your portfolio on high-profile sites such as Upwork or Freelancer.com might be a way to gain exposure.
Other things you can do to draw attention to your freelance ability is to create Amazon Kindle shorts (short articles or eBooks) for people to download or create your own website displaying your work. It’s also important to make sure you have a professional photo and bio that can easily be seen when browsing through a freelance writer directory.
You should also think about whether you want to write for publishers or websites. There is a difference in their expectations and format, so you should get to know what they want before submitting content.
Being a freelance or ghostwriter also requires that you are willing to give up your rights to some content. While most magazines and some online publications will give you credit and a byline for your work, most websites or blogs do not. Ghostwriting involves getting paid for posing as the author or individual who has hired you to write the copy because they either do not have the time or the skills to do it. There are also many online courses dedicated to how to become a better writer and building a business and brand around your expertise.
You do get paid but you do not get credit as a ghostwriter. You are also not allowed to share the fact that you wrote this copy with anyone.
As a freelancer, which is a broader term for a professional writer who is not employed by a particular publisher exclusively, you have more options than simply ghostwriting. So look into doing some of the following to get your career going:
All of these things should help you. But the best thing you can do after you’ve researched it is just to get started.
