05 Mar 11 How to Begin Your Freelance Writing Career
The growth of the Internet has translated into increase in demand for content producer, which means a lot of demand for writers. If you are a writer than you are born in the right time, as there is no dearth of writing assignment and you do not need to write a book or a play to live off your writing talent. And if you have not started yet then this article will help you start out, so start your journey.
Master the art of writing for web
Writing for web is remarkably different than writing for print, as the attention span of people on the web is pretty short. You need to write using bullet points, headings, subheadings, images, etc.
Master the art of writing headline
A headline is very important in increasing the open rate of your content. You may get the best ranking for all the keywords, but if you do not have an attractive headline, your article will not get read. You should know how to write killer headlines.
Learn a bit about keywords and SEO
A little knowledge of SEO and keywords is required for all online writers, as keywords are the basis on which the entire web is organized. You should educate yourself on these two.
Prepare a portfolio
Writing is an art, and you are an artist. And an artist who does not have anything to show cannot support his claim of producing a fantastic piece of art. You should, therefore, prepare a portfolio keeping everything that I talked above. This will be your asset that you will need to show your clients.
Write a cover letter
A cover letter is like a direct sales letter. It either persuades your prospective clients to see your portfolio, or it can bore them to death. Many a freelancing assignments are made or broken at this level only. So spend good deal of time in creating a killer cover letter that can literally pull your clients with hands and make them read your sample articles.
You should follow the above given suggestions to start a freelance career. You can add some more items to your preparation, but you should not remove any. Each one of them is important. Very important!
Tags: Attention Span, Attractive Headline, Bullet Points, Content Producer, Cover Letter, Dearth, Entire Web, Freelance Career, Freelance Writing Career, Freelancing, Headings, Journey, Killer Headlines, Little Knowledge, Master The Art, People On The Web, Prospective Clients, Right Time, Sample Articles, Web Writing
30 Aug 09 Freelance Writing Checklist Part -3
In the last two articles of the series, I shared things that you need to do to prepare yourself for the freelance writing career. In this article, I will tell you what you should do once your résumé is in place, you have written a good cover letter, and you have built your portfolio.
How much do you deserve?
This is going to be tricky. You have two big giants to tackle: The pay rate in the niche you have chosen to write and the amount paid to new writers like you. For this, you will have to do some research. Ask as many people as you want to ask, and go through as many project postings as you can and see the bid people have made there. This will give you an idea about how much your niche pays.
Visit freelance forums and blogs
Freelance forums and blogs are the goldmines of resources. Hence, you should consider being regular on one or more freelance forums and blogs.
What are the best practices?
Not knowing the best practices of the industry and not applying it are two different things. You should research and find out not only the rates, but the prevailing best practices of the industry as well. You also need to know the payment terms used by the genuine employers.
Find Jobs
This is what you were preparing for all along. Visit different blogs, freelance exchange websites and get yourself registered, if asked to, and start applying for the jobs that interest you.
Fill in all the details in the form, when registering into freelance exchanges. I would recommend uploading your image as well, and not any avatar or any funny picture. You should look professional, in the photograph. I prefer it this way because a photograph tells the prospective clients about you, and on the Internet, everyone prefers doing business with an idiot whom they know then any undercover genius about whom the clients have no clue.
Research your clients
To safeguard your interest, you need to do some research on the clients before you accept the job proposal sent to you. Not every client is created equal. Some are crooks as well.
Read, Read and Read
It comes at the end of everything, isn’t it? That is why it is important. You will have to read as much as you can: read about freelancing tips, read some authors from your field, read how things are changing, etc.
This brings us to the end of the Freelance Writing Checklist series. I wrote three articles in this series, links to which are provided below:
Freelance Writing Checklist part -1
Freelance Writing Checklist part -2
Freelance Writing Checklist part -3
Hope you liked the series, your views and reviews are welcome. You can either use the comment box to share or view or you can mail me on bikramksingh [at] gmail [dot] com. waiting to hear from you.
Tags: Avatar, Best Practices, Blogs, Cli, Clue, Cover Letter, Doing Business, Exchange Websites, Forums, Freelance Writing Career, Giants, Goldmines, Job, Niche, Photograph, Project Postings, Proposal, Prospective Clients, Two Different Things, Undercover Genius
22 Jul 09 Freelance Writing: Write Your Way to the Bank
Freelancing is not an easy job, not because you cannot write, but because there are too many writers vying for too few openings. This is a classical case of buyer’s market; hence, as the textbook says buyers will set the rule and will expect you to follow them. Everything said and done, you still have the power to decide and influence the buyers’ decisions provided you can highlight your talent, and tell your prospective employers how you can help them. Seeing the nature of this market, it is easier said than done.
In the real world, you will find it extremely difficult to make your voice heard midst all the chaos, but the good news is you can do it, and do it by doing what you know best. I mean, by writing.
Freelance writers have one big benefit over freelancers of other fields, and the benefit is his or her ability to write. Unlike other freelance professionals, who struggle to write promotional materials for themselves, freelance writers are cut out to do exactly that. If you are a freelancer, I feel it is needless to say that your ability to write is the sole reason for your existence then why not use this ability to seize clients’ attention?
The matter written in the body of your e-mail is the first point of contact between you and your prospective client, so make it as better as you can. The quality of this initial contact will increase the possibility of your getting hired, yet most of the freelance writers never take this seriously.
As a freelance writer, you need to understand that every word that you write is in itself an advertisement for you. Hence, choose your words with much caution when you are writing mails to your existing client or prospects. Before going through your samples that you have attached with your application, your prospective clients will read the cover letter or the mail that you have written, and the prospect will only decide to click the attachment link, if he or she is impressed with what and how you have written your e-mail.
If you are a freelance writer or aspire to be one, always remember to take every communication with your client seriously, and use every opportunity you get and show how well you can write. Unlike other freelance professionals, for you, promoting yourself is easy. You are cut out to do that!
Tags: Caution, Classical Case, Cover Letter, E Mail, Easy Job, Freelance Professionals, Freelance Writer, Freelance Writers, freelancer, Freelancers, Freelancing, Midst, Point Of Contact, Promotional Materials, Prospective Client, Prospective Clients, Prospective Employers, Prospects, S Market, Sole Reason
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