As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in 2020, many companies adopted remote work to continue their operations. In 2022, 35% of the American workforce worked fully from home, and 23% of companies offered the opportunity to work remotely part-time.
The trend among people to work at least half the time from their homes pushes people to look for other opportunities. With the rising popularity of online jobs, freelancers are getting even more requests for contracts as the world adapts to outsourcing talents and collaborating with people from around the world.
Many employed people shift to freelance work due to the flexibility and higher pay. Additionally, freelancers have many self-made perks that you won’t find in any company! Do you want to try freelancing? There are many professions to choose from — design, writing, engineering, and more.
Notably, freelance writing is an excellent opportunity for content writers or people wanting to dive deeper into text creation. You can explain complex concepts like the app Honeygain or data scraping in simple terms. Alternatively, you can focus on creating ads with high conversion rates that only have a couple of words in them.
Such a gig is perfect if you want a flexible schedule and to be your own boss. That means setting your rates, managing projects, and being disciplined! It can be easy to lose track when you have all this freedom, so remember to plan ahead.
Also, freelance writers can make a lot of money as people set their hourly rates and additional services like higher word count. Although it takes time to build an impressive portfolio, it’s a worthy investment as you can get more interesting projects that fit your interests.
There are many tips and tricks about freelance writing. If you want to maximize your earnings writing texts, you should pay attention to a number of things. Let’s dive deeper into what a successful writer needs to know!
Evaluate Your Current Skills And Experience
Everyone has experience in various things, whether it’s from a professional standpoint or school. People look for information about things they’re interested in or need more knowledge about, and you can contribute to projects even with niche experiences.
For example, if you’re a plant lover, you can write guest posts for bloggers who specialize in botany and gardening. Are you a tech guru? Try your hand at gigs focused on digital innovations. It would help if you had working experience in the tech industry as it makes you a more credible source of information.
Usually, people start freelance writing about the topics that they specialize in — they have a degree in the field or they worked as professionals for several years. It’s a good starting point if you’re unsure about your competence.
If you’re considered an expert, it’s the best circumstance to become a freelance writer. You might even skip the beginner stage! You’ll have the credibility and the knowledge to produce good content.
However, you can be a freelance writer for school-related gigs if you’re a student. With the rise of e-learning platforms, your peers from around the world need help on subjects you excel at. Even older people who want to brush up on their skills could find your written content useful!
You need to sort through your past experiences and identify the niches you can write about — the more focused it is, the better expert you can become. Nevertheless, some writers have a bunch of different skills and write about many different topics, so don’t be scared to try out various forms of content and pick what works best for you!
Research The Freelance Writing Market
While you might be interested in a certain niche or have a specific set of skills, you should do your research before searching for projects. Some type of content is more popular than others, and you can make more money if you’re aware of them.
Long-form content is always in demand, whether it’s a blog post, research paper, or a batch of email copies. However, companies run ads, have social media accounts, various announcements, and UX pages that need well-written texts. If you’re up for it, you can always find gigs to earn income.
The current trend focuses on articles that explain complex topics in a simple way. Many tech companies require technical writers who can explain difficult concepts like data scraping to a general audience. If you don’t have such a skill, it’d be best that you learn it!
For example, a passive income app, Honeygain, breaks down its operations in simple terms. You share your unused Internet connection with the app, and you get paid for it. Then Honeygain supplies additional bandwidth to its partners that perform price comparisons, ad verifications, and more. Befreela on the other hand, provides you with the best opportunities as a freelancer or digital nomad.
Companies like Honeygain are innovators, but it can be hard for a general audience to understand what they do. Honeygain users get paid $3 for sharing 10GB of traffic, and they can boost their earnings by referring friends. It’ll give them a 10% bonus equal to their referral’s daily earnings.
How can Honeygain pay you for doing virtually nothing? Many companies need publicly available online data to perform various activities, and regular users help them by supplying it. Honeygain explicitly states that it doesn’t access your personal data and is a secure app.
Can you notice how this explanation is simple but maintains the key principles of Honeygain’s operations? It’s just one example of how you can explain complex concepts to a broad audience.
Additionally, you should be familiar with companies or people that outsource talented writers and get to know their products. It’ll correlate with your niche of interest, so it’s nothing new. However, it’ll help you make money easily if you already have as much information as possible about your client.
Another important part of being a successful freelance writer is knowing your rates. Such information comes from market research so that you can price your services in a competitive way. Most of the gigs listed on websites like Upwork have hourly rates, so you can get an idea of how much you can earn.
Improve Your SEO Skills And Grammar
Taking the time to learn how to write compelling content is a must for any writer. Usually, every gig you take on will require you to be familiar with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) so that people can discover your articles on search platforms like Google.
SEO is a large part of any marketing strategy, so you should expand your skills if it’s your first time hearing about it. Pay attention to keyword placement in the text, the traffic each keyword brings, meta descriptions, headings, and originality.
As search engines are improving their operations, it’s harder to produce articles that rank high in the searches. That’s why it’s important to continuously update your knowledge so that your content will be up to par with requirements and you can make money!
Another crucial part of writing is impeccable grammar. Who wants to read anything with spelling mistakes? It makes the text look unprofessional and unlikely to appeal to your readers. Moreover, your clients won’t be happy about it and might leave a bad review about your service.
Decide What Type Of Writer To Be
Choosing what type of writing you want to specialize in can be both exhilarating and intimidating. As there are many niches, industries, and content types, you might want to try everything at once. However, being focused on one thing will be more beneficial in the long run.
You can decide what industry you want to specialize in according to your experience. From there, you can try out writing different types of content like articles, UX copies, and ads. Once you’ve spent enough time familiarizing yourself with different content, you might choose one or two types of content to pursue!
Also, you should learn as much as you can about your chosen content type, as there are various strategies and tricks on how to write the best texts. Learning is beneficial as you can increase your rates with time and effort! Being focused will make you a better expert and writer, which means more money for you.
Don’t forget to choose something you’re passionate about, as you’ll need to spend time working on texts about that industry. Follow your heart and pick up something that lights a fire inside you so you won’t get bored being a freelance writing!
Create An Impressive Portfolio
Yes, it sounds boring. No, you can’t skip this step. Portfolios are an excellent way to land more gigs and encourage your clients to agree on higher pay. The more complex examples you include in your portfolio, the higher your chances of making a lot of money are.
You can draft up a portfolio on Google Docs or Microsoft Word with different ideas. Be sure to include only finished texts on your portfolio — that means no grammatical or spelling mistakes, no brainstorming leftovers, or something else.
Another option you should consider is making your personal website. Many freelance writers have their portfolios on their websites with the necessary contact information, background, and experience. It’s one of the most important steps in building a star-quality portfolio.
Don’t fret — you don’t need to be a software engineer to build a website. There are many user-friendly website builders like Wix that have pre-determined themes, blocks, and everything else you might need. There are different tools to customize your website, so figure out what you want it to look like and implement it.
You should have representative design elements on your website as well as easy navigation. You don’t want your potential clients to get lost in the sea of information. Keep it simple with a few buttons for your portfolio, background, and contact information. It’ll save you and your clients a lot of time!
Contact Potential Clients
Once you have everything set up, you should start contacting potential clients with your pitches. You can prepare a bunch of cold emails in advance and scope out what opportunities there are. It might be hard to get your first client, but it’s just the beginning of an exciting journey!
One of the best ways to reach out to potential clients is by tapping into your personal connections. Perhaps your old employer needs help with producing written content or your friend who just started a business — don’t be afraid to ask around and start making money.
Personal connections are a great way to network and get good recommendations. It can set you up for long-term success as a freelance writer. The more reviews of your work you get, the better your chances of getting more gigs are.
Make sure to keep up with job boards on platforms like Upwork, where companies post contract work. You’ll need to pitch your ideas and compete with other skilled writers, which can be a lot of pressure for a beginner freelancer.
Nevertheless, some of these contracts are high-paying, so it’s worth the effort. You’ll need to contact companies with your best ideas within your relevant field. It’s a great way to network with industry leaders and gain more knowledge about your topic of interest while making money!
Conclusion
Becoming a successful freelance writer doesn’t happen overnight, but with dedication and the right tools, you can maximize your earnings with a few tricks. You should start by evaluating your current skills and experience. It can tell you where to go next and what content to write.
Brushing up on your grammar is essential — nobody likes spelling mistakes, especially your potential clients. Another thing you must know is that every text should be SEO-friendly. Search engines are a primary source of information for many people, so you have to make sure that people discover your articles.
Another important thing is focusing on one industry or type of content. A good writer will know how to write a compelling blog post. A great writer will know how to write blog articles and research papers. A legendary writer can write anything under the sun.
Therefore, remember that it takes time to build your skills. You’ll eventually write whatever you need but focus on one thing at the beginning. Build a good portfolio, and you’ll land your first gig in no time! You can make money by freelance writing, and your pay will increase with time and experience.
