If you’re looking for an easy way to make some extra cash, why not try your hand at freelance writing? There’s a whole world out there just waiting for the right writer to come along and tap into it. All you need is a computer, a printer, and the willingness to write. Sounds simple enough, right? It is, but the catch is that you’ll need to put in the time to get those first three clients to pay you back. In this article, we’ll teach you how to get your first couple of paying clients using only your laptop and Skype. We’ll tell you when and how to pitch your articles, and we’ll reveal to you the secrets that we used to land our first paying clients.
The Keys to Becoming a Successful Freelancer
If you want to be a successful freelance writer, you have to understand how to position yourself in a competitive market place. To do this, it’s important to find your niche. What are you passionate about? What do you enjoy writing about most? Keep in mind the kinds of articles that succeed in today’s market place. According to HubSpot’s 2016 State of the Industry Report, 49% of small businesses have less than three employees. If you’re looking for a way to make extra money to pay the bills, consider focusing on areas that attract this customer base.
This is especially important if you’re looking for freelance writing jobs. Think about the kinds of articles that succeed in today’s market place. These are generally stories about success, adventure, entrepreneurship, and the like. If you can fit these into your niche, you’ll be able to attract potential customers who are looking for just that type of content.
If you can’t think of a niche that suits you, consider taking a broad approach. Many small businesses that can afford to pay for content media engagement don’t know what to look for in a writer. That’s where you step in. You’re the expert. You know what words and phrases they’re searching for, and you can craft an article that will appeal to them.
How to Get Your First Client
Now, you won’t be able to publish your first article and expect to make a living from it. Not every article you write will be purchased by a business. Some articles are simply meant to be shared, and many blog posts and articles go uncovered. However, this is all subject to change. As you write more and more articles, you’ll start to build a reputation. When this happens, companies and businesses that are looking for specific content will come knocking. This is when you’ll want to be prepared to make a living from your writing. When this happens, you’ll want to focus on building a solid foundation. This means having published articles that are already earning you a decent amount of money. With this in mind, let’s get to the good stuff. How do you go about getting your first client?
Pitch Your Articles During “Low” Season
If you’ve been writing for a while and have a decent amount of published work under your belt, you’re in a prime position to start pitching your articles. Many businesses and blogs will be desperately seeking content during the “low season.” This is roughly between the months of November and April. If you can establish yourself as a reliable source of quality content during this time, you’ll be able to command some good prices. If you can secure three months of guaranteed income, you’ll be able to afford a down payment on a house, travel to Europe for a second honeymoon, or put yourself through school.
This is why it’s important to establish yourself as a reliable and consistent brand. The key to this is to create content that is extremely valuable. If you can establish yourself as an authoritative voice in your industry, you’ll be able to command higher prices and attract more paying clients. To do this, begin by looking at what your competitors are doing. What content are they creating that’s catching on?
Create Content That’s Relevant, Valuable, And Tasty
Relevance is probably the most important factor when it comes to attracting potential customers to your content. Your articles need to address a real pain point for the person reading it. You don’t want to pitch an article about the best espresso machine if your audience doesn’t have a need for espresso machines.
If you have an idea for an article, but you don’t know how to go about creating it, there are plenty of useful tools out there that can help. First, try brainstorming with a coworker or friend. It’s often helpful to bounce ideas off of someone else. Even if they don’t have the expertise you need to complete the project, they might have an idea or two that can help you move forward.
If you’ve never created content for the web, the first step is to familiarize yourself with the basic guidelines. Remember, writing for the web is not the same as writing for a newspaper. You have to take into consideration the different ways that people are consuming content now. These days, people use a variety of tools to browse the web, including phones, laptops, and tablets. Each one of these devices has a different screen size and shape. This means that the text that you create needs to be adjusted to fit the screen perfectly.
When creating content for the web, you must use a tool known as “compression.” This tool will help you squash all of your text and images so that they’re as compact as possible. When viewing content on a phone or tablet, you don’t want to have a lot of white space around the text and images. This will make the text and images difficult to read and could potentially cause problems when scrolling.
Use Keywords And Keyword Tools Properly
If you want to attract the right readers to your articles, you should use keywords in your headlines, subtitles, and descriptions. When you do this, you’re making it easier for the reader to find your content. When you use keywords in your content, it also helps the search engines understand what your article is about. This, in turn, will help them determine how relevant your content is to their audience.
To find the right keywords, you should try using a tool such as Google Keyword Planner. With this tool, you simply enter your targeted article and then choose the locations that you’ll be posting it to. From there, you’ll be able to set the frequency with which you want the keywords to appear elsewhere on the site. Remember: more is not always better. Using too many keywords can cause your content to be classified as “spam.” Choosing the right keywords is an art, and it takes some time to learn the right way to do it.
Make Sure Your Links Are Valuable
Once you’ve got your article written and submitted, it’s time to figure out where you should post it. When choosing this location, you need to make sure that the link back to your blog or website is valuable. As we mentioned above, relevance is key. When someone visits your site and then clicks on a link to an unrelated article, it can damage your reputation. Even if the article is good, it’s still considered poor quality marketing.
To avoid this, make sure that any link you put in your article is relevant and as valuable as possible. One way to do this is to look at the “compression ratio” of the link. Essentially, this is the ratio of words to hyperlinks. If you have a lot of text with few links, that’s a bad compression ratio. This means that your text is not as valuable as it could be because there are too many words without any links to support them. A high-quality link will have a compression ratio of about 1:1 or less. When this happens, your readers will experience an improvement in reading quality and value.
Writing While On The Go
If you’re an independent contractor or freelance writer, you’ll need to understand how to work remotely. Even if you don’t do this all of the time, it’s still important to be able to pull this off when needed. When you have a lot of content already written, you can take this opportunity to work remotely. Many people earn the bulk of their income from online sources, and this includes content creators. If you’re looking for ways to make extra cash, consider looking into this market.
No matter what kind of freelancer you are, independent contractors or otherwise, having a solid workspace is important. Even if you work remotely, you’ll still need a place to write. You may prefer to use a tool such as Wix or Squarespace to easily create a professional-looking website. Using these kinds of platforms is easy enough, and they allow you to focus on creating content without having to worry about the look and feel of your site.