Have you thought about starting a career as a freelance writer, but you have questions about how to start.
Freelance writing gives you the opportunity to make money by writing content in many different ways. Whether your goal is to write your own blog or to write for the New York Times, the possibilities are endless.
Other pluses to freelancing are that your don't need a degree to do it and you can work right from your own home.
Below are seven tips that will help you get started on the path to becoming a freelance writer.
Like Writing
I know that this one might seem a bit obvious and you're probably wondering why I even put this tip here. Let me explain for a second.
If you intend to start writing full-time or just part-time the one thing that you will be doing all the time is writing for clients. It is important that writing is something you like and have a passion for because you want writing to feel like something you are looking forward to rather than something that you have to get done.
Build A Portfolio
A portfolio is one of the most important things that you can have as a freelance writer. Think of a portfolio as your credentials. If you were going to have someone fix your computer or your car I'm sure that you would ask for some kind of credentials showing that your property is in the right hands and will get fixed correctly.
A portfolio is a selection of your work that you will be showing to clients to land jobs with them. It is important that the pieces you use in your portfolio are the best quality as it will give the best representation of your work.
Write With Your Goal In Mind
When first starting out with freelancing, the fact is that you are going to have to start from the bottom. What is important is that you don't stay at the bottom.
Having a goal is necessary to climbing that long ladder to the top. This goal big or small will dictate what kind of content you will put out for everyone to see.
For example, say your goal is to write sports articles for ESPN, every piece of content should be written as if it was going to be seen by thousands of people on ESPN even if you are only going to be seen by five people on another site.
You need to always have the mindset of writing quality content over quantity.
Build A Network
A network like your portfolio is another important piece to the freelance writing puzzle.
A network is a group of like-minded individuals that share the same interests as you. These can range from your friends and family all the way to clients that you work for. These are the people that are going to vouch for you and act as references that you can use to help you get your foot in the door.
Start With Freelance Gig Sites
The first place that I would suggest you start if you have no experience is freelance gig sites. These site allow you to start building a portfolio that will help get your name our there to people.
Sites like Upwork and Freelancer fall into this type of website. You can find clients and pitch yourself for jobs. It is important that you pitch how your work will benefit the client so that you see more work from these sites.
Start Writing For Content Mills
Another way that you can get your foot in the door in the freelance writing industry is by writing for content mills. If your are wondering what a content mill is let me explain what they are.
Content Mills are sites like Textbroker or iWriter where content jobs are posted to a pool of writers. The topics can be anything that a company or site might need. These companies pay a fee and in turn the content mills pay a percentage to the writers that get the job.
The big drawback to sites like these are that payouts tend to be very low. With low payouts can come a high turnover as writers get burned out quickly due to producing content wages. I myself have used these sites and I have experienced the loss of motivation that comes with low pay.
To avoid losing motivation, this is where having a goal comes into play. By having a goal in place like we talked about above, you will understand that you are cutting your teeth and building up content that can be used in a portfolio for later and better jobs down the road.
Write Here At Steemit
Steemit as everyone knows is a unique website. You are able to post anything you want and people can upvote it and you get payouts in STEEM.
A majority of the content that is posted on Steemit is related to cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or STEEM itself, but any kind of content can thrive depending on what audience you build.
I like to think of Steemit as a platform where you can combine all the previous tips together. You have to consistently write to gain followers while honing your craft. You can think of build followers as building your network of like-minded people that will read your content and give you suggestions on how to make it better.