Do you have excellent writing skills and you want to get paid for writing? Then below is an in-depth guide on how to become a highly paid freelance writer from scratch; and make money. Yes! You can now earn a full time income by working part time as a writer on the internet. Gone are the days when writers are paid peanuts. A few years ago, a 16 year old boy with a passion for writing took to the computer; in a cyber café to put his writing skills to use.
He never knew what he was doing, neither did he know the potential of what he started. He just wrote for clients for little or no cost because he loves doing it. 365days later, this young boy was making a cool $5,000+ monthly working alone. Today, he has a team of six writers and should be making an estimated $10,000 monthly. Not bad for a young lad who started out as a novice. And for the records, that name of this young man is OniBalusi Bamidele; the publisher of WritersinCharge.com
Okay, that aside. Do you know how much I pay the writers (both in-house and independent contractors) to research and publish the information you read every day on this blog? Well, it is against my personal ethics to spit out figures but I sure spend a chunk of money daily / monthly to keep this blog up and running. Now the essence of the realistic illustrations above is to help open your eyes to the potential that lies on the internet especially for writers and this opportunity is increasing every day.
Owing to the increasing demand for high quality web content, there are now several thousands of freelance writers worldwide. But most of these professionals work for crumbs and are unable to make all of their living from freelance writing, which means only few freelance writers are making substantial income from the business.
Becoming a freelance writer is as easy as getting a PC and a reliable internet connection, registering with freelance outsourcing sites or content mills, and picking up writing assignments to handle. You can start that way, but if you continue on those platforms, you won’t get past the crumbs category.
If you want to leave the league of low-earning freelance writers for the high-paying gigs, here are some additional steps you should follow:
How to Become a Highly Paid Freelance Writer from Scratch in Less than 7 Days
1. Hone your skills
Most freelance writers never get to earn more than $3 an article because the quality of their writing doesn’t warrant more. If you want to earn more as a freelance writer, you must work on improving your skills and taking them to excellence. Only then will clients readily pay you premium rates.
Of course, everyone wants value for their money. No client will pay you $50 or more for a crappy article. Adopting the following measures will help you improve your writing skills:
7 Super-Fast Ways to Improve your Writing Skills
- Read books on writing such as The Elements of Style, The Yahoo Style Guide, Grammatically Correct, and so on.
- Read written pieces by bloggers you admire. You will learn a lot from how they use words.
- Read blogs such as DailyBlogTips, Hubspot, DailyWritingTips, WritersinCharge and Copyblogger. These blogs teach how to write compelling content.
- Write every day. The more you write (with improving your skills in mind), the better your writing skills will become.
- Write as you speak. Writing for the web should be conversational and lively, not formal.
- Use simple words. Don’t try to impress or baffle readers, or you will fail woefully.
- Learn from expert writers. Have your writing assessed by world-class writers, and let them tell you where you need to improve.
2. Up your prices
Sometimes, feeling reluctant to increase your rates may just be the reason why you are confined to the low-earners’ category. If you are confident that your writing skills are stellar, then you shouldn’t fret at the idea of asking your clients to pay more.
Granted, you will lose some of your clients, but you will retain some. Even if you lose all of them, it won’t take long before you start attracting those who will pay your worth. When you increase your prices (due to the increased quality of your writing), you will certainly have less work on your table, but more pay, and more free time you can use for other things.
3. Start your blog
Most clients now hire freelance writers for tasks that go beyond writing. Most gigs now include writing blog posts and publishing them, writing guest posts and publishing them on reputable blogs, responding to readers’ comments, and so on. And such “combo” gigs are usually very lucrative. The only way to prove you are competent to handle such gigs is to have your own functional and growing blog. The idea is, if you don’t have a blog, you can’t successfully manage blogs for other people.
So, if you really want to land the most lucrative freelance writing gigs, then start a blog of your own and grow it. Aside that it shows off your writing skills to potential clients, it proves your expertise in whatever niche you choose, it increases client confidence in your ability to manage and grow a blog, and it brings in additional income through alternative streams such as affiliate marketing.
4. Publish guest posts in authority sites
Because authority sites have a large audience, writing and publishing high quality posts on these sites will display your writing skills to potential clients who can contact you for writing assignments. Also, having your posts published on authority sites and blogs also boosts clients’ confidence in your writing skills, since such sites only accept well-written and very helpful content.
5. Check job boards
High-paying clients will never buy articles from content mills. And they will never hire writers from freelance outsourcing sites like Elance and Freelancer. Rather, they will advertise their writing projects and positions on reputable job boards such as the Problogger job board, the Freelance Switch Job Board, and so on.
These job boards are frequently updated with lucrative writing gigs and positions that are meant to be filled by skilled freelance writers. If you really have the high grade skills required for most gigs, you will earn much more as a freelance writer.
6. Pitch blog owners
You can also win freelance writing assignments by sending emails to blog owners, asking if they are interested in hiring your writing services.
In conclusion, I want you to know that by adopting the tips shared here, you will earn enough money as a freelance writer that will pay all your monthly bills.