Online Businesses

How To Start A Freelance Writing Business | Content Creator

Creative Work From Home

If you find yourself at home a lot lately and have always wanted to start a business that you can run in pajamas, one of the best jobs is freelance writing or becoming a freelance writer. Thousands of people write content from home and make a decent living. You need a good PC, reliable internet, and some word processing software programs—knowledge of freelance writer websites like Writerbay, Grammarly, etc. There are plenty of jobs for writers in almost every field, and you can choose a specialty that you feel comfortable with.

Freelance Writing Business

Writing as a profession is not easy. It requires commitment and long hours, and the competition is intense. Plus, most writing jobs do not pay all that well. The reason is that several sizeable commercial writing companies, most of which run from outside North America, undertake writing assignments for less than $10 per project. The quality of writing, however, can be substandard. Given the inexpensive competition, you’ll need to write full-time at least six days a week if you want to make money as a writer. Working PT will not cut it. Here are some tips if you are still interested in setting up a freelance writing business.

Why Become A Freelance Writer

Work at your pace.
Choose from a variety of writing styles
Choose from a broad range of topics.
Almost no startup cost is needed.
Flexible workspace.

What Skills Does A Freelance Writer Need?

Solid understanding of the English language and grammar
Research skills
Become a good editor and a dependable proofreader.
Knowledge of different formats of writing like APA, AMA, Chicago, etc
Recognize when your research is not accurate, and a revision is required.
Be punctual and reply promptly to emails.
Understanding search engine optimization (SEO).
Ability to use WordPress.
Graphic design knowledge.
Photography.
Marketing via social media.

Here are some more resources

Freelance Writer For Hire

You’ll need good writing skills to become a writer and make a living. All businesses, academics, college students, and other professionals will expect a near-perfect article free of grammatical errors and typos. Many writing jobs do require that you have a background in English. You’ll need to practice writing on many different topics to hone your writing skills.

Here are a few online courses to get you started

Freelance Writer Resume

A resume is often required by companies when applying for a writing job. You’ll want to have a concise resume detailing your education and experience. Your resume should be free of typos and grammatical errors. There are many free templates available online that you can use to create your resume.

Is There Competition In Freelance Writing?

The internet has empowered anyone to become a freelance writer if they so desire- but rest assured, most writers who bid for the same jobs are average at best. However, there are also quite a few good writers, so competition to capture a good job can be intense. A writing job on craigslist will attract 50-100 applicants.

The first thing that the employer will see is your email application. So make sure it is free of typos, is concise, and contains complete sentences. No one wants to read about your awards, prizes, and dreams. The employer wants to know your writing ability, how fast, and how much money it will cost.

How Else Can I Improve My Freelance Writing Business?

Understand SEO
Be familiar with social media platforms.
Have experience networking
Know how to work the back end of WordPress
Have basic photography skills
Be able to create sketches or draw images to enhance the writing.

Writer Working On His Computer Sips On Wine

Freelance Writer Business Plan

Before you open a freelance writing business, you should consider drafting a business plan as it will provide you with an insight into what is required and the difficulties you may face. The plan should contain the following:

What are your startup costs?
What type of writing will you do?
How much will you charge for your services?
Where will you search for writing jobs?
Is there much competition for writing assignments?
What equipment will I need?
Should I quit my daytime job?

Check out these links below.

Here are some handy business plan services available online:

Some business plan templates that you should consider include:

How Much Do Freelance Writers Make?

In general, the majority of potential clients are looking for affordable writers. You’re paid at the very least $1 for 100 words or $10 for 1,000 words. Some companies may pay $12-$20 per hour. However, most people pay 1 cent per word but do not expect anything much higher when you’re starting out. If the job is completed early, then you may get a tip of $10-$20. Your average writers probably make $300-$400 a week. Writing jobs advertising rates of $50 or $100 per hour are often scams.

If you are just beginning, the amount you will earn will not be significant, so do not quit your full-time job just yet. It can take months or a few years to develop clientele who regularly offer you well-paid writing assignments. To get paid after a writing job, you will need to have Paypal or Venmo.

Aside from referrals and word of mouth or old acquaintances, the next best place to find work is the internet, but where exactly?

Freelance sites; several websites offer freelance writing opportunities.
Writer market resources; writing to magazines, newspapers, and blog sites is another alternative.
Network; social networking sites like Twitter and LinkedIn are perfect for scouting for jobs.
General freelance websites, Upwork, guru.com, and freelancer.com, all have the working capacity to connect you to prospective clients.
Referrals; landing the first client might require patience, but it can also be a turning point as referrals tend to be more stable than scouting.

Freelance Writing Business Pros

Work from home
Flexible hours
Can write on many topics
Minimal overhead
You can even write on holidays if you have a PC and Wi-Fi connection.

Freelance Writing Business Con’s?

Intense competition
Freelance writers are not well paid, and their income is inconsistent.
You’ll have to put in long hours.
It can take months or years to build up clients.
Some clients may not pay or disappear after the project is submitted.
You’ll need to be very disciplined and dedicated because the job is demanding, and you must meet deadlines.
There is no online writing job that is permanent. Most are for a one-time write-up, and a few last for a month.
Unpaid work; money is a great incentive to work. The more you get paid, the more your passion grows. Avoid free jobs as much as possible to keep the drive alive.
Plagiarised work; with the emergence of plagiarism checkers, taking credit for another person’s work might land you in some serious trouble. It will also reduce your credibility with clients.
Missing deadlines; time is money is not just a saying but a reality. Missing submission deadlines can disappoint clients. So doing will not get you the referrals needed to grow your business.

Finally, this journey starts with one step. Take that step today. Write about something that interests you.

How To Find Freelance Writing Clients

You may think you are ready to jump right into getting gigs and making money, but there are more steps before that. Namely;

Choose your field of specialty; will you rather marketing or blog articles?
Choose your topics of interest; having a list of the subjects will make you seem more professional and focused.
Have a price range in mind; knowing your worth is excellent.
Keep sample topics; showing clients samples convinces them of your professionalism and confirms your ability.
Have a website or other social media profiles like LinkedIn

Writing Samples

Rest assured, you must submit samples whenever you apply for a writing job. You should have at least 6-12 excellent writing samples without typos or grammatical errors. Some companies may even ask you to write a sample article to assess your writing skills. If you want to have any chance of a job, the writing samples must be perfect. Write on a few topics you feel most comfortable with and run them through Grammarly before submitting them.

Image Editing

There is no question that images can enhance most types of writing. You are more likely to get a writing job if you can edit or even draw pictures. So make an effort and learn the basics of imaging editing to improve your writing skills. Hundreds of videos on Youtube offer basic tutorials on photoshop, Gimp, Picmonkey, Paint, or Canva.

While you can borrow third-party images from Shutterstock, it is essential to remember that Google does not rank such articles. To rank, the photos must be original.

Writing And Editing Apps

No matter how good a writer you are, we recommend you subscribe to Grammarly, Copyscape, Smalletools, or Hemingway. These programs can detect typos and grammar errors and even check for plagiarism. If you ever submit a plagiarized writing job, your employment will be terminated immediately.

Develop an Excel file or Google Sheets with the dates of all projects you receive, client information and email, deadline, length, and format. Update the file every day so that you do not delay any project.

Dragon Voice

If you are a slow typist or hate typing, invest in Dragon Voice. This software program will type for you as you speak. The downside is that it can take several months for the software to recognize your voice and accent. Google docs offer a voice app that can type as you speak, but it is only accurate for about 500 words. Once you have fine-tuned your Dragon Voice software, transcribing an entire page will take only a minute. But it would help if you still proofed it for errors as this software program is not 100% accurate.

Where Can I Find Freelance Writing Jobs?

There are not too many open forums where writing jobs are advertised. While the internet offers a slew of writing jobs, a great deal is scams and shams. Perhaps Fiverr’s most valued site, but this particular website has rigid rules. Fiverr also charges a 20% commission. The other downside to Fiverr is that they will only post one job/day for new signups, and if you miss that ad or ten people click on it, the job ad disappears. Even if you become a level 2 writer with Fiverr, the company will limit only ten ads in 24 hours, and you have no way of knowing when they will post the ads. In most cases, the ad has disappeared when you realize it.

Here are a few ideas about getting started finding writing jobs

Craigslist is the other site for writing jobs, but lately, nearly 70% of the jobs are scams or shams. The other way to find writing jobs is to reach out directly to drug companies, lawyers, hospitals, realtors, etc., inquiring if they have a writing job. Sadly, most never bother to reply.

AllFreelanceWriting.com
Fiverr
MediaBistro.com
WritersWeekly.com
Writers Market
JournalismJobs.com.
LinkedIn
Freelancer.com
Upwork (be careful about this site as it is notorious for not paying its writers)

What Kind Of Freelance Writer Am I?

Owners of websites depend on the writer for the following;

Help create content as per the business mission and concept.
Should produce content that keeps visitors attracted and addicted to the website.
Produce content that increases the search engine ranking for the website.

Features of a great article;

A captivating title.
Striking introduction.
An engaging concept
A closing to remember.

Blog post article writers; You’ll publish articles in print or online. This job requires a good knowledge of grammar formatting and the flow of ideas. It would help if you always aimed to write articles that will sell. You must deliver quality content.

Web content writers (SEO); Web content writers specialize in providing relevant content for the website, using the concept of search engine optimization(SEO) to improve the traffic on the website.

Medical writers communicate medical and health-related information in a simplified way to target an audience. The primary purpose here is clarity. Most people find it hard to understand doctors and their complex terms. It is your job to break it down to the simplest form possible.

Technical writers; This form of writing requires explanation, instruction, and direction to go about a particular subject. It is a detailed explanation of how things work in a specific field. It involves different characteristics of academic, creative, and business writing.

Marketing copywriters; this writer creates persuasive content to promote the sale of goods and services. It’s more of a two-in-one roll. On one end, a copywriter, and on the other, a marketer.

Bloggers; A Blog is short for a weblog. Blogging aims to sustain a connection with your audience. Clients are sure to keep coming back by producing relevant content.

Resume writers; This class of writers will create compelling documents that help people get hired—experience with human recourses and the needs of employers is fundamental when developing resumes.

Ghostwriters: These writers are employed to create speeches, journalistic works, or texts credited to another person as the author.

Business plan writers; Business ideas are similar to a business plan. It takes a business owner to create a picture, but a detail-oriented business plan writer can organize it into a manageable strategy. There is also software that can make writing a business plan easy to do;

Consider creating a website where you publish your writing. Many businesses will ask if you have a Linkedin profile where they can learn more about you.

Freelance Writer Equipment

Reliable PC $500
Printer & scanner $200
Wifi $100
Software programs
(Grammarly, Microsoft office,
Photoshop $700

Check out these few links to find helpful writing tools

Conclusion

Freelance writing may appear glamorous. It is anything but. Making a decent living requires hard work, constant hustle, and meeting deadlines. The competition is intense, and the pay is mediocre. But if you can work regularly, you will at least make ends meet. Finally, what is rarely mentioned is that sitting down on a chair writing for 6-8 hours a day can give you all sorts of joint and muscle pains. So take a break every few hours, go for a 30-minute walk and enjoy your life and the fact that you are creating your own schedule.