Working online as a freelance writer can be a great way to make an income while maintaining your freedom and flexibility. However, it’s not something that you’ll find success with immediately; it takes time to develop your skills and client base. If you’re getting started, here is some advice for how to make a great impression on your first clients and help grow your reputation, as well as your paycheck!
Make money online: Get Started Through a Freelance Platform
The easiest way to get some of your first jobs is by joining a freelancing platform such as Upwork. There, you’ll be connected to job opportunities and can apply to quite a number of jobs for free! The key on these platforms is to gain a reputation by completing jobs successfully as clients can give feedback. The more positive feedback, the more likely others will want to hire you.
Get Experience as freelancer
When getting started, don’t look for the big pay just yet. You need to establish yourself as an experienced, expert writer in order to get the better paying jobs. When looking for your first jobs, you may need to be willing to earn a bit less in order to build your reputation. Later on, once you’ve gotten some better jobs, it’s definitely time to drop the poor-paying ones!
Make money online: Offer to Do Revisions
One way you’re sure to get great feedback is by offering to make changes to your work once it’s been submitted. By showing that you’re willing to learn from constructive feedback, you’ll assure yourself continued work from the client. This is important as you are beginning because many times, the feedback will help you grow as a writer.
Always Meet Deadlines
This may seem obvious, but in my experience, there are many writers out there who don’t meet deadlines. Don’t fall into this problematic behavior, because when working with a client, reliability and responsibility are as important as your ability to write well. What good is a great writer who is unpredictable and doesn’t meet deadlines? For many clients, this is a big turnoff that will lead to an ended contract.
Negotiate a Byline
Another important way to build your reputation and get to those more exciting and well-paying jobs is by building your portfolio. If possible, look out for jobs that offer a byline and prioritize applying for these jobs over other ones. Or, ask your client if it would be possible to negotiate a byline, even if it means dropping your pay a bit. Growing your portfolio so that you can show off work to potential clients is a great step on the road to becoming an established freelance writer.
Make money online: Know Your SEO
Learn a little bit about SEO. Even if you don’t plan to focus on copywriting or website content, many clients will expect you to have some idea of what SEO is. Take a look at this blog that will go through the basics of SEO content writing. This will increase your value as a writer and get you more jobs.
