10 Ways to Make Money as a Freelance Content writer
Freelancing as a content writer can be both lucrative and flexible, allowing you to choose your projects and set your own hours. When you’re working for yourself, rather than an employer, you have complete control over your income and the types of work you do – so what are some ways you can make money through freelancing? Here are 10 ideas to get you started.
1) What is freelance writing?
Content writing is freelance writing that involves creating content for blogs, websites, marketing campaigns and more. As someone who writes content professionally, you can offer these services by reaching out to local businesses and agencies. You’ll work with a client one-on-one to create content for their specific needs based on your expertise and credentials. Because of its flexibility and creativity, freelance writing is an attractive career option for those trying to make money on their own terms.
2) Starting out
You don’t need to quit your day job. If you’re an exceptional writer and have experience under your belt, you can start freelancing for fun and profit by contributing content for one of these sites. While it won’t make you rich, it will give you valuable exposure and experience writing (and earning) money online. These two content mills pay between $0.05-$0.08 per word, so expect to earn in that range if you decide to freelance for them: Contently
3) Marketplaces & sign up processes
Signing up for sites like Upwork, Elance and Fiverr is relatively easy. Sites will generally provide clear instructions on what they are looking for and they take care of billing and payments. And unlike some of their competitors in the freelancing industry, these sites feature content writing as one of their service offerings.
4) Landing page tips
One of my favorite things about freelancing is that you’re in charge. As your own boss, you get to set your rates, your working hours and most importantly, how you want to do business. Whether it’s digital work (web design, app development) or physical work (painting or building), there are several ways for new freelancers to start making money quickly.
5) SEO tips
In order to make money from content writing, you’ll need an understanding of SEO best practices. There are lots of different schools of thought on how to optimize your content for search engines, but one thing is clear: it’s an incredibly lucrative field for freelancers who can pull it off. Check out sites like Moz and Hub Spot to learn more about SEO before you start taking clients.
6) Building a portfolio on free sites (this can be its own blog article!)
Your portfolio should ideally be a site in its own right—something you’ve built, designed, and hosted yourself. However, if you don’t have that capability yet, there are tons of free sites where you can create your portfolio. My favorite is Behance.
7) Finding clients
You need some sort of hook to get potential clients’ attention, whether it’s through networking, social media or just old-fashioned word of mouth. If you don’t have any friends who know anyone who needs your services, try using social media platforms that cater specifically to businesses and start building up relationships with potential employers.
8) Writing content for your own business (this can be its own blog article!)
One common way of making money through freelancing is through content writing. This includes writing posts for your own company website and other business-related sites. If you have experience in SEO or SEM, you can also help your business rank higher in search results for potential customers. (Search engine optimization can be broken down into three core strategies: on-page optimization, content marketing, and off-page optimization.) You can learn more about SEO from our free SEO guide .
9) Getting past writer’s block (this can be its own blog article!)
No matter how much experience you have, writer’s block is probably going to happen at some point during your freelance career. Recognizing what causes it and how to avoid it can save you a lot of time, stress, and money.
10) Common mistakes and how to avoid them!
If you’re unfamiliar with what freelancing is, you may be surprised to learn that it isn’t just sitting at home watching TV for 8 hours a day. In fact, doing so will almost guarantee that you don’t get any work and won’t earn much money. As always, I highly recommend researching your career field before getting started—but even more so with freelancing because there are many common pitfalls and mistakes.
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