10 Steps to Starting Your Career as a Freelance Writer

Are you looking for a part-time online job to supplement your income? Are you not satisfied with your current baring office job and want to start a profitable business and work from home? If you think that you can write and write well, then freelance writing is definitely the job for you. Let us consider the following daily life examples to see why freelance writing is the best job available-

Paula is a home-maker and a caring mom. After her husband James goes to work and their children go to school, Paula gets a lot of free time. Paula decided to do something productive and stated writing a blog on parenting. It has been six months now and she has started writing freelance articles for some publishing houses. The best part she is earning enough money to pay the rent of their house and hopes to make it a full time business.

Abdul is a student of English literature. Almost a year ago, he was nearly broke and was looking for some part time job to pay his bills. He started writing freelance articles and now he has more than enough money to pay his bills. He has stopped asking for money from his parents and is saving too.

Frank was fond of reading. He loved reading articles, biographies, memoirs, short stories and what not. Secretly he also had a desire to be a writer. He adopted a pen name and writing articles on whatever he wanted. Soon he was popular among fellow readers and now he is quite busy meeting deadlines of freelance gigs.

The major benefit that freelance writing offers is the time. You can be almost as flexible you want. You can work in the morning, at noon, in the evening or even at night. It also offers you to choose your work station. You may be working on the terrace, in the garden, on your bed, precisely any where you feel like. Another benefit that freelance writing provides as a business is low investment and lower risk. All you need is a laptop or desktop with internet connections and good communication skills. There is always a chance to shift gears from part time to full time or vice verse as you feel necessary.

Following are the ten steps that will help you start off your career as a freelance writer. This is not a money making scheme, but if used properly can definitely earn you sufficient money to pay your bills. Like every thing else in life, if you work hard you can definitely be the next six figure earning freelance writer.

10 Steps to start off your career as a freelance writer

• Get yourself a website –

As this business thrives on the internet, it is necessary for you to have your own website. For part timers even free websites will work initially, but to improve your image and brand name, sooner or later you must get your own domain name. In your website you must upload your portfolio, education details, work experience, your sample works, your contact details, etc.

If you have already worked with some clients, then you must upload their good responses about your work on your website.

• Register yourself to professional networking sites and freelance work bidding sites –

The next step should be to find more and more work as per your requirements. To do so, get registered to popular networking sites like oDesk, Linkedin, etc. and freelance bidding sites like Elance and GetAFreelancer. This will help you to get connected with your prospective clients.

• Write articles and submit them –

Write articles on popular topics and submit them to free websites like articlegeeks and associatedcontent to make them available to large reader base. Use links in the articles to popularize your website and blog and to enhance your sites search engine ranking.

• Prepare a Blog –

Blog is the in-thing right now. Most successful freelancers regularly update their blogs. Use blogs to keep contact with your followers and to keep them informed about your current successful projects.

• Write, Write and Write –

Writing is what writers do, so write. Write everyday on any topic that you like. Each word you write adds to your experience. Make writing a daily routine.

• Read a lot –

Every good writer must be a better reader. You should read more to learn new writing styles, to enrich your vocabulary and to enrich your knowledge base, because freelance writers may be required to submit articles on almost anything under the sun.

• Work seriously –

Whether a part time or full time writer you must work seriously to deliver the work to your clients because its their money that is put on the line. If you can make them satisfied more work will definitely come to you. But if you fail, it will be a bad impression on your brand.

• Don’t under / over rate yourself –

Always ask for a reasonable rate. Too high a rate will scare off your clients. If you charge too low for your services, they will doubt your efficiency. Think of yourself in your clients’ pair of shoes to decide the reasonable rate.

• Testimonials work miracles –

If possible get testimonials from the clients you have worked with to upload on your blog and website, with a link back to their sites. Faith is one of the factors that brings a client to a professional.

• Over confidence kills –

Always check your articles for silly typos or grammatical errors before submitting it to the clients. Such errors are considered highly unprofessional. Always try to get the facts double checked if writing anything based on facts.

Always remember that the client is the god. Try to do the job in a way that is loved by the client. Always make an extra effort to make the article best to read.