How would you describe yourself? Are you a writer who loves to write or someone who wants to get into writing? If you love writing, then you should consider becoming a freelancer. There are many ways to start as a freelance writer.
Freelancing has become a common way to earn extra income. In fact, according to Inavero & Upwork Statistics, 48% of businesses hire new freelancers in a year. Freelance writers can choose their own hours, work from anywhere, and even set their own rates.
You can start as a freelance copywriter, proofreader, editor, or blogger. The key to success is finding clients who value your services. Once you’ve built a portfolio of samples, you’ll be able to charge higher prices.
How Do Freelance Writers Earn?
As a freelancer, you’ll earn money based on the number of hours you spend working on projects. This means you could make $50 per hour if you’re working 40 hours a week or $25 per hour if you’re only working 20 hours a week.
If you want to increase your earnings, it’s essential to find clients who value your work, and your work should be extremely good at the same time.
If you want to earn money from writing online, you should start by building up a portfolio of articles and blog posts that you can share on social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
This will give you experience and show people what you can do. So, you can charge separately per each article you write and make a decent living.
9 Steps To Become A Freelance Writer
So what are the steps to becoming a successful freelance writer? Let’s take a look!
Step #1: Choose Your Niche
Once you’ve decided what type of writing you want to do, you need to determine your target market. If you’re planning to write for magazines, you should focus on specific niches within that industry.
Otherwise, you might write for an audience who doesn’t care about your subject matter. That would be a waste of time and effort.
You could also try to diversify by writing for multiple niches. However, if you’re only starting, it’s best to pick one niche and stick to it.
Step #2: Write A Few Articles To Showcase
Once you’ve got your foot in the door, you should start building up a portfolio of work. This could include guest posts, blog posts, eBooks, white papers, and anything else you can think of.
You may find yourself doing more than writing, so consider taking classes to learn how to write better or develop your digital marketing skills.
It’s important to note that if you want to become a successful freelancer, you must be able to market yourself well. That means being able to sell yourself, your services, and your expertise.
As an added benefit, writing articles forces you to learn about new topics, so you gain knowledge along the way.
Once you’ve built enough clout, you can start taking on clients.
Wait… there’s more.
Step #3: Keep An Eye On Quality
So you’ve written your first set of articles to showcase in your portfolio, and now you need to publish them. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll spend hours agonizing over every word before hitting publish.
You might be tempted to skip this step because you think it doesn’t matter. But if you want to build a business around your blog, it matters.
Indeed, you don’t need a perfect piece of writing to succeed – but you do need something worth reading. If you don’t write enough quality content, no one will find it worthy.
And if no one finds your content worthy, then you won’t get any clients from it.
So how do you know if your writing is good enough? Well, that’s where the proofreading comes in.
Proofread everything you write. Before publishing, go back over each sentence and paragraph and ask whether it makes sense. Is there a better way to say it? Are there spelling errors? Did I miss any important words?
If you spot any mistakes, fix them immediately. If you don’t, you could lose potential clients.
After proofing, you should also check your grammar. Grammarly is a free tool that checks your work for common grammatical problems.
Once you’ve got all those steps down, you’ll be ready to publish your first blog post!
Step #4: Build A “Professional” Portfolio
It doesn’t matter if you’ve never written before or if you write for a living; you still need to build up your portfolio.
Your portfolio should showcase writing samples, ideally from articles you’ve written in the past. If you haven’t written anything yet, start small. Write blog posts or guest posts for blogs that you respect. Or publish a few articles on medium.
Make A Portfolio In Minutes Using Passionbits
Passionbits is an entirely free, easy-to-use portfolio builder. It allows you to create your very own websites with only a few clicks of the mouse. You don’t need programming skills or technical expertise to build your portfolio.
Take a sneak peek into the portfolio builder ↓
Best Uses
1. Manage your clients’ calls by integrating calendly
2. Get paid early by leveraging prepaid gigs
3. Create different versions of your portfolio easily
Remember, the only thing standing between you and success is yourself. You’re the only person stopping you from achieving your goals. What are you waiting for? Get your portfolio now!
Step #5: Find Out How Much It Costs To Hire Freelance Writers
Freelancing is a lucrative business, but it comes with its challenges. One of the biggest obstacles is finding clients willing to pay enough to cover the cost of hiring a freelancer.
You might think that writing for free would work, but it doesn’t. Most freelancers don’t do it because they know they won’t earn enough money.
So, where does that leave us? We need to find a middle ground between earning too little and paying too much.
Here are some tips to help you determine what it costs to pay freelancers.
1. Get Quotes From Several Different Writers.
What if you only get one quote? That means you will have to give up half of your income.
Instead, go to sites like Upwork, Fiverr, and PeoplePerHour.com. These platforms allow you to compare prices from multiple freelancers.
2. Don’t Forget To Include Taxes.
Some countries require you to charge sales tax. But others don’t. For example, if you live in California, you’ll need to add 7.25% to all payments.
3. Look At The Total Cost.
Don’t just focus on the hourly rate. Think about the total cost. Get what you give.
Step #6: Choose A Platform Where You Can Find Clients
There are plenty of platforms where you can find clients, and if you do your research correctly, you’ll find yourself working from home.
1. Upwork – This site connects freelancers with businesses who need help finding writers and designers. It’s free to sign up, and it pays well.
2. Guru – This site helps you connect with professionals and businesses who need your skills. It’s similar to Upwork, so you can expect to earn around $10 per hour.
3. PeoplePerHour – This site is similar to Upwork, and it offers a variety of different types of jobs.
So now that you picked a platform let’s talk about the next step.
Step #7: Leverage Social Media Channels
You can start by creating a profile on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. The most important thing here is to keep up with your industry.
Once you do that, you should start building relationships with influencers who write about similar topics. They may help you gain exposure and earn some freebies along the way.
Also, try to establish yourself as a thought leader in your niche. If you can consistently produce quality content, you’ll attract followers from every corner of the web.
So how do you find influencers? Look at your favorite blogs, magazines, ebooks, podcasts, and YouTube videos. Then follow their authors and ask if you can guest post.
Once you have a good rapport with someone, offer to write a guest post for them in exchange for mentioning your name and a link to your portfolio.
Step #8: Build Relationships With Potential Clients
It may seem obvious that building relationships with potential clients would be the most crucial step toward being hired by them. However, it’s often overlooked when freelancers think about how to find work.
But it’s vital to remember that you’re competing with thousands of writers already established within their niche. If you succeed, you’ve got to build connections with those who can help you do so. As long as you do so respectfully, you can leverage your connections for the business.
And if you want to be able to charge higher rates than your peers, you’d better start now.
Step #9: Be Consistent!
I know, I know, consistency is boring. But if you want to build a stable income from writing, you must be consistent.
You see, writing consistently is much easier when you have a steady stream of work. If you’ve got a constant source of clients, you’ll always have something to write about.
However, starting up a client base is essential if you’re looking to break into freelancing.
That means finding out who needs your services and pitching yourself to them.
Once you have a regular flow of work, you can focus on improving your craft and building your brand.
It doesn’t matter how good you are at writing – if no one knows you exist, you won’t have any work to do.
So if you’d like to build a career around writing, get cracking on building your network and starting to build a portfolio of work.
Again, be consistent!
Tools You Need To Become A Successful Freelance Writer
There are tons of resources available for aspiring freelance writers and copywriters. But not all these resources will help you succeed. Most of them won’t even teach you how to do anything.
That’s why I created this list of essential tools for freelancers. These tools will help you write better, build a strong authority, get clients, and earn money from your work.
1. Grammarly For An Editing Assistant
Grammarly is an online grammar checker that helps you proofread your work before publishing it. It checks your writing for common mistakes such as spelling errors, grammatical problems, and more.
2. Passionbits For Making A Writing Portfolio
Passionbit’s portfolio builder helps you create your professional-looking website without coding skills or design experience. You can quickly build beautiful websites using drag & drop elements, customize text, add multiple pages, and more.
3. LinkedIn For Networking With Potential Clients
LinkedIn helps professionals connect. You can create your professional profile, search for jobs or people you can target (Potential Clients), send messages and invitations, and more.
4. Taskade For Managing Projects
Taskade helps you manage projects by organizing your tasks into folders and subfolders. You can create as many subfolders as you like, then drag and drop files or pictures into them.
5. Zcal.co For Booking Client Calls
Zcal is an online meeting scheduling tool for entrepreneurs and small business owners. With it, you can easily organize meetings, create agendas, send invitations, share calendars, and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can You Become A Freelance Writer With No Experience?
Yes, you can start writing anytime using platforms such as Fiverr and Upwork while building your reputation through quality work. Once you have enough credibility and a professional portfolio, you can move off these sites and write directly for clients.
- How Much Does A Beginner Freelance Writer Make?
Beginner freelance writers earn anywhere from $5-$50 per article, depending on where they live and what kind of writing experience they have. The average salary for a freelance writer is about $20 per hour, but some freelancers equipped with high writing skills charge up to $100 per hour.
- Is Freelance Writing A Good Career?
Freelance writing is a great career because you can work from anywhere at any time and don’t need a degree to start working. However, it is essential to be able to write well and to have the ability to meet deadlines. If you cannot do these things, then freelancing may not be for you.
Takeaway!
In conclusion, if you want to become a freelance writer, plenty of online resources can help you along the way. However, the best advice I can offer is to keep your eyes peeled for opportunities.
There are many websites where you can post articles and submit them to editors looking for content. There are also plenty of forums where you can ask questions and receive feedback from experienced writers.
Finally, there are lots of writing contests available to aspiring authors, which means that if you write well, you could win a bundle of cash.
Don’t worry too much about whether or not you have previous experience; you can always use that as a selling point. Just make sure that you keep your eye on the prize and continue to hone your craft.
That’s what will set you apart from the pack, and it’s what will guarantee that you’re able to build a career as a freelance writer someday.
Don’t have a writing portfolio yet? Make one for free!
