How to Become a Freelance Writer

Aim of article: An introduction to the world of freelance writing.

Google is always pushing towards rewarding high quality content at the expense of poorly written articles. They are continually improving their algorithms to differentiate the good and bad articles. Thanks to this, human written articles will always be in demand. Webmasters know that they need good content on their site if they want it to thrive.

What are the benefits of becoming a Writer?

Unlimited work – There are hundreds of thousands of articles being written everyday. There is ALWAYS more work waiting for you out there.

Make your own hours – Start whenever you want, stop whenever you want. Work a lot or work a little. It is all up to you.

Payment immediately – Most online money making methods require you to put in the work now and enjoy the benefits later. With article writing, you will get paid within the week.

Learn a useful skill – Content creation will always be a useful skill to have for as long as you are working online.

Writing at Freelance Sites

I define a freelance site as a place where you can provide or purchase a wide variety of services that range beyond just articles. The price of each job will vary greatly and there is usually some client to writer interaction beforehand (so you are going to have to sell yourself, like you would in an interview). There are many advantages to these sites. You can negotiate your price, for one. Also, you will have a lot of repeat customers from these sites. Often, writing for freelance sites will provide you with the highest paying jobs…but you will have to work to get there. The disadvantage of these sites are that they are difficult to get going as a writer in the beginning. To succeed on freelancing sites, you really have to work for peanuts in the beginning. You are not going to attract higher paying clients until your account has several positive reviews. Until then, you are going to have to accept jobs at $1-$3 per article. You can try freelance sites like Odesk.com and Elance.com.

Writing at Content Exclusive Sites

I define a content exclusive site as one whose specific intent is to match clients with writers. These sites are less personal. You will not have to spend time selling yourself to a potential client or bidding for jobs. The price of these articles are set, which is a good thing short term but a bad thing long term (no room for improvement). It is more difficult to find long term clients on these sites but on the other hand, you will not have to commit to large projects like you would have to on a freelance site. Some of these sites may require their writers to “prove” themselves before they are given access to the higher paying work. Usually, this means writing 10 or so low paying articles and maintaining a high quality throughout. A few sites to check out are iWriter.com and TextBroker.com.

Can I Make a lot of Money Writing Articles?

Yes, but it takes time. It is common for experienced writers to get to the point where they are making $20+ per hour. To get to this level, you will have to be able to improve your speed, content quality and build a list of repeat customers. You will gain speed and improve the quality of your writing as you gain experience. Ideal, you should try to get to the point where you are writing 2+ articles per hour. You can start gaining repeat customers by keeping your quality high and building up your reputation.

Whether you are looking for a full time job, a source of supplemental income or just some quick cash, freelance writing can be the solution you are looking for. It takes some time but if you keep working on it, you can get to the point where you are making a healthy income from it.