Tips for making more money as a freelance writer.
The freelance writing means there are now a lot of jobs that can be done from anywhere or at anytime. Writers may have been around for many years, but technology means they can work from home or a place of their choosing and sell their content. However, being successful as an online freelancer takes more than a will to succeed. There is tons of competition out there, challenges in standing out, and it can be very difficult to earn a consistent income writing. Therefore, this article aims to provide some tips to help you make money online.
1. Develop a niche.
It's tempting to think as a content writer that you can write about everything. However, prospective clients looking for content want it to be written by an expert, not a generalist. Even blogs and other “smaller” websites need expert writing. In fact, SEO and google often penalize general type content – on the other hand expert content can rank. Therefore, it's a good idea to develop a niche to focus your content on. In fact, some writers can master several niches for different sites or clients.
The reality is the more you write on a particular niche, the better you will get at writing that type of content, and that enables you to charge more for an article and sell more. When thinking about which niche or niches to write about, think about what you know and your fields of work. For example, a tip is that f you have experience as a marketing manager, then you could write articles on digital marketing or social media. It really is true to say, you should write about what you know.
2. Stick to a formula.
Another critical key to success is to have a formula for writing content. If the style of your content is haphazard, then the results are also likely to be. Prospective clients will also be looking for a specific form of content, so by writing in that style you increase your chances of making sales. The cost of your content also needs to be following a formula.
Having a formula though isn't just about increasing your ability to make sales. It's also a matter of making it easier for you to write content. The point is if you have a formula to follow it becomes easier to plan each new piece of content and you don't have to spend so much time coming up with titles and word counts. In fact, you can even have several formulas based on different word counts or price points to sell to clients.
3. Pay attention to trends and search terms.
Of course, in an ideal world, you would cover the subjects you want to write about and that you are also good at (your niche). However, prospective clients may not share the same passion for the topic you choose. As the topic of this content is tips to make more money, you need to write content that you can sell. This tip in effect means your niche needs to be something that a company or people actually want to buy!
Therefore, you want to pay attention to the trends of popular topics. So, this could be trends on Google or even social media trends on Twitter or Facebook. So if you are in online marketing, and that is your niche, keep up on the latest trends on the topic. If you are a freelance writer in a medical field niche, read the latest developments in your field and write on it. Stay relevant!
They could also be trends on the site you are writing for the point is you want to write articles that people are currently searching for. Of course, this should be within the niches you specialize in, rather than topics totally at random.
4. Search terms - follow when writing, but do not focus on them
Be mindful of search terms. While the concept of “keywords” is no longer relevant in todays days and age when it comes to SEO, the fact is you still need to write about what people actually search for. For example, if your niche is so abstract in that maybe only a tiny minuscule of people search for it, it may be harder to sell that content. Then again, if you can find the write client (which can be hard), but if you find one that very focused/specilized conbtent may go for a higher price.
The point here is freelance writing also needs to involve knowing something about search terms, trends, and keywords. Find some that are relevant for your niche and skillset. Then write about them. Or if your niche is som specialized, then you may even consider not just “cranking” out content but rather do a few articles then try to find a buyer; so focus more on marketing.
5. Write similar articles.
It's crucial to pay attention to the pieces you sell. Remember the key to success for any freelancer is repeat business, so you want your clients to buy more than one article from you. Therefore, when you have sold an article on a specific topic, you want to write another piece of content on a similar topic; not the exact same thing, but something close or that can build on that issue.
There is a good chance; the client will buy that one too. Or maybe that topic will be in demand at another related competitor of the client. Even if they don't though the topic may be of interest to others, think about creating content on the same subject, but also a related topic. For example, if you sold an article on digital marketing, you could write one on traditional marketing techniques, social media marketing or email marketing.
6. Sign up for multiple platforms to find client(s) – and keep those clients
As we have noted, there are ways to find clients. They can be content aggregators such as Constant Content or Upwork. Or use a service such as Craigslist. Or reach out to bloggers or news sites. There are millions of websites – most of them need a recurring source of content.
Keep looking at these freelance sites to find clients, market yourself and skills, and tell clients how you can help them. Once you get a client, an important tip is to keep them! It is easier to keep a current client than to continue to “pound the pavement” in finding a new one.
7. Write a lot.
There are a range of different methods that can be used to increase sales. However, there is no alternative to writing articles. It's also accurate to say that you can't test techniques via one-off pieces.
The only way to decide if your strategy is working is determined by writing a lot of new content. Once you have a decent batch of articles, you can see how many of them are selling and which topic areas are working better for you. Each site is different, and there will be an element of trial and error involved, but there is a formula for success.
The digital world has opened up online freelancing to so many more people. However, this can create the idea that anyone can be a freelancer. There is a particular art though to selling articles, and the tips above will hopefully help you find some more success. This piece of content has hopefully provided some useful pointers. Remember to develop a niche, stick to a formula, pay attention to trends and search terms, write similar articles and write a lot of articles.
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