Freelancing online isn't easy. Quite a bit of thought and planning goes into it, and it is a long-term process. But a well-built freelancing career means a lot. It can get you not only permanent writing jobs earning you high amounts of money, but also jobs in newspapers as citizen freelance journalists. Here are some tips to earn high amount of money writing online.
1. Keep These Resources Ready for Reference
If you wish to get a great freelancing job, then here some resources you should check out. These invaluable links are updated daily with new freelancing jobs. You should be able to find great writing opportunities through them. Subscribe to their RSS/Atom feeds.
Freelancing/Blogging Job Boards
PoeWar Writing Job RSS Feed: Updated daily with new writing jobs
Blogger Jobs: A great resource for blogging jobs.
Writers Weekly: Another great resource for writing projects
Problogger Job Boards: Gives feeds for blog network jobs, co-blogging, corporate/business blogging, podcasting, etc.
About Freelance Writing: Freelancing articles as well as occasional job posts.
MediaBistro: Freelance marketplace and various other types of jobs
Freelance Switch Job Board: good place for freelance writing opportunities
SunOasis Jobs: Freelancing links, also check out the SunOasis Writing job postings
WriterFind
JournalismJobs Listings
Freelancing Sites
Here are major freelancing sites that also cover other types of freelance projects like programming, SEO work, etc.
Constant Content: Has customers for all sorts of articles; high paying, where you get to choose the price per article.
Indeed.com: Job search site
Craiglist: Largest classifieds ad network
BizReef: One of my favorites
iFreelance
Guru.com
Elance: One of the largest freelancing sites
AllFreelancingJobs
2. Find One Appropriate Client
Take up more opportunities based on your qualification. Such projects pay you the best.
Make a list of clients who you can work with and pin down to the one that has highest budget and long-term need for content. Your research should include the budget details of the client, website and contact information, how much need the client has, etc. You can find this out by looking at the history of the client from whichever freelancing site he advertises on. For instance, in Constant Content, you will be able to see the number of articles a particular customer purchased.
If you learn about the client and his business, your negotiation becomes very easy.
3. Always Remain in Hunt for Better Opportunities
I needn't stress this point more. Your ultimate aim should be to land the best job. The best job not only means the one with highest pay or longest term, but also means the popularity and prestige of the clients.
A newspaper freelancing job, like this one I landed, even if it is not pay-based, will be a great opportunity, since it gives exposure that will decide your future in freelancing world.
4. Learn and Build Your Website SEO Copywriting Skills
Since you are concentrating on online freelancing, most of your articles will appear in some websites. The ultimate aim of this content is to attract search engine bots to index them and give high rankings. Another major need is making the consumers pay to purchase the products you promote. For these, you should have the basic skills of SEO and advertisement copywriting.
Check out CopyBlogger, one of the largest copywriting sites out there. Also, check out my sidebar Copywriting topic that has a few articles on it.
When you advertise your skills, you can mention how knowledgeable you are in copywriting. In Constant Content, you have a new feature called keyword analysis. This analyzes the content you submit and shows the most used keywords in order. Intelligent clients purchase content with optimum keyword density.
5. Start a Blog/Website and Show Yourself Off
A website/blog is extremely important for a freelancer. It is where you record all your progress as a freelancer. The website should include your price quote, testimonials, and the kind of projects you undertake, so that new clients can always contact and make deals with you.
6. Importance of Testimonials
In my recent post on freelancing negotiation skills, I mentioned the importance of this. Testimonials can really help you earn higher pay faster. Also, if you have a popular client for whom you wrote one or two articles, a testimonial from him can be worth a million dollar. So, be in the lookout for testimonials always. Try to get both positive and negative comments; positive ones should go to your blog's testimonials section, and negative ones should go inside you to make your writing better.
You can find short-term writing gigs from such forums as the DigitalPoint. Use them more to increase your popularity as a freelancer than to earn some bucks. If you get any good offer from any popular client, make sure that you receive a paragraph of testimonial from the client to display on your website, because such jobs are very short-term and may include writing only one or two articles.
7. Ignore Clients Who Pay Mean Rates
Last month in Constant Content, I got an offer for an article, which I put up for USD 100 for full rights. I got an offer within a few days of submission that requested the full rights of the article for only 40 dollars. At that time, I was in a greater need for money that I sent a message back with a separate price offer of 58 dollars. The client approved it and the article was sold. Normally, this wouldn't happen.
Two days ago, I received a similar deal from a customer, who wanted usage rights of an article (I had set USD 15) for 5 dollars. I readily rejected the offer and didn't message the customer back at all. My advice is: just ignore the clients who are mean enough to pay you such low rates. You are working for a living, not alms.
8. Hunt for Clients
Another way to find the best offers is hunting for clients in business/career networks like LinkedIn. Grow your profile in these networks by connecting not only to your clients, but also to other writing enthusiasts and freelancers who can read, evaluate, and remark about your writing skills. A great reach on these networks can land you high paying jobs.
9. Raise Your Rates Slowly and Steadily
You should have a fixed rate normally. However, you can charge higher or lower dependent on the difficulty, project volume/job period, size of clients, etc. This rate should steadily increase as you grow higher with more testimonials and experience.
Conclusion
With those tips, you can steadily earn very high on freelancing jobs. If you have comments, please share. Also, subscribe to the feed and let me know.
Copyright © Lenin Nair 2008
1. Keep These Resources Ready for Reference
If you wish to get a great freelancing job, then here some resources you should check out. These invaluable links are updated daily with new freelancing jobs. You should be able to find great writing opportunities through them. Subscribe to their RSS/Atom feeds.
Freelancing/Blogging Job Boards
PoeWar Writing Job RSS Feed: Updated daily with new writing jobs
Blogger Jobs: A great resource for blogging jobs.
Writers Weekly: Another great resource for writing projects
Problogger Job Boards: Gives feeds for blog network jobs, co-blogging, corporate/business blogging, podcasting, etc.
About Freelance Writing: Freelancing articles as well as occasional job posts.
MediaBistro: Freelance marketplace and various other types of jobs
Freelance Switch Job Board: good place for freelance writing opportunities
SunOasis Jobs: Freelancing links, also check out the SunOasis Writing job postings
WriterFind
JournalismJobs Listings
Freelancing Sites
Here are major freelancing sites that also cover other types of freelance projects like programming, SEO work, etc.
Constant Content: Has customers for all sorts of articles; high paying, where you get to choose the price per article.
Indeed.com: Job search site
Craiglist: Largest classifieds ad network
BizReef: One of my favorites
iFreelance
Guru.com
Elance: One of the largest freelancing sites
AllFreelancingJobs
2. Find One Appropriate Client
Take up more opportunities based on your qualification. Such projects pay you the best.
Make a list of clients who you can work with and pin down to the one that has highest budget and long-term need for content. Your research should include the budget details of the client, website and contact information, how much need the client has, etc. You can find this out by looking at the history of the client from whichever freelancing site he advertises on. For instance, in Constant Content, you will be able to see the number of articles a particular customer purchased.
If you learn about the client and his business, your negotiation becomes very easy.
3. Always Remain in Hunt for Better Opportunities
I needn't stress this point more. Your ultimate aim should be to land the best job. The best job not only means the one with highest pay or longest term, but also means the popularity and prestige of the clients.
A newspaper freelancing job, like this one I landed, even if it is not pay-based, will be a great opportunity, since it gives exposure that will decide your future in freelancing world.
4. Learn and Build Your Website SEO Copywriting Skills
Since you are concentrating on online freelancing, most of your articles will appear in some websites. The ultimate aim of this content is to attract search engine bots to index them and give high rankings. Another major need is making the consumers pay to purchase the products you promote. For these, you should have the basic skills of SEO and advertisement copywriting.
Check out CopyBlogger, one of the largest copywriting sites out there. Also, check out my sidebar Copywriting topic that has a few articles on it.
When you advertise your skills, you can mention how knowledgeable you are in copywriting. In Constant Content, you have a new feature called keyword analysis. This analyzes the content you submit and shows the most used keywords in order. Intelligent clients purchase content with optimum keyword density.
5. Start a Blog/Website and Show Yourself Off
A website/blog is extremely important for a freelancer. It is where you record all your progress as a freelancer. The website should include your price quote, testimonials, and the kind of projects you undertake, so that new clients can always contact and make deals with you.
6. Importance of Testimonials
In my recent post on freelancing negotiation skills, I mentioned the importance of this. Testimonials can really help you earn higher pay faster. Also, if you have a popular client for whom you wrote one or two articles, a testimonial from him can be worth a million dollar. So, be in the lookout for testimonials always. Try to get both positive and negative comments; positive ones should go to your blog's testimonials section, and negative ones should go inside you to make your writing better.
You can find short-term writing gigs from such forums as the DigitalPoint. Use them more to increase your popularity as a freelancer than to earn some bucks. If you get any good offer from any popular client, make sure that you receive a paragraph of testimonial from the client to display on your website, because such jobs are very short-term and may include writing only one or two articles.
7. Ignore Clients Who Pay Mean Rates
Last month in Constant Content, I got an offer for an article, which I put up for USD 100 for full rights. I got an offer within a few days of submission that requested the full rights of the article for only 40 dollars. At that time, I was in a greater need for money that I sent a message back with a separate price offer of 58 dollars. The client approved it and the article was sold. Normally, this wouldn't happen.
Two days ago, I received a similar deal from a customer, who wanted usage rights of an article (I had set USD 15) for 5 dollars. I readily rejected the offer and didn't message the customer back at all. My advice is: just ignore the clients who are mean enough to pay you such low rates. You are working for a living, not alms.
8. Hunt for Clients
Another way to find the best offers is hunting for clients in business/career networks like LinkedIn. Grow your profile in these networks by connecting not only to your clients, but also to other writing enthusiasts and freelancers who can read, evaluate, and remark about your writing skills. A great reach on these networks can land you high paying jobs.
9. Raise Your Rates Slowly and Steadily
You should have a fixed rate normally. However, you can charge higher or lower dependent on the difficulty, project volume/job period, size of clients, etc. This rate should steadily increase as you grow higher with more testimonials and experience.
Conclusion
With those tips, you can steadily earn very high on freelancing jobs. If you have comments, please share. Also, subscribe to the feed and let me know.
Copyright © Lenin Nair 2008
Thanks for the link... and I post jobs 3 times a week... mwf... subscribe to the newsletter to get a notice... www.aboutfreelancewriting.com
ReplyDeleteAnne Wayman
Anne, thanks for the comment.
ReplyDeleteThat's an impressive list of useful links you supplied there. Thanks for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteI think I would be too afraid to lose payments on Constant Content... I am just starting out, but thanks for the encouragement!
ReplyDelete