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Becoming A Freelance Writer: 5 Steps To Creating Your Freelance Career
If you know your way with words, becoming a freelance writer is a career path for you.
10:22 03 November 2021
You won’t be limited to a location, you can collaborate with international clients, and all you need is a laptop and an internet connection.
If you’re a beginner at this, check out Brybe Freelancer Marketplace, a relatively new marketplace for freelancers where there’s low competition, but prosperous clients.
However, before you start creating multiple accounts on popular platforms for freelance work, make sure that you’re off to a good start.
Here are some guidelines to help you out:
1. Choose The Type Of Writer You Want To Become
If you think there's only one type of writer out there in the online world, you're quite mistaken. Here are the most common types of freelance writers.
- Article writer - you’ll be responsible for writing articles. This is a job most writers choose for themselves, as it gives them the space to be creative and improve their writing skills.
- Blogger - blog posts are long-form content that can convert regular website visitors into leads or potential customers. Bloggers write blog posts either for themselves or for other bloggers.
- Copywriter - if you have a passion for marketing, a copywriter is the job for you. You’ll create different types of content for promotional purposes - landing pages, email newsletter, website content, guest post, etc.
- Social media writer - social media is one of the most effective ways to reach a new audience and connect with current customers. You’ll be able to use multiple platforms to establish relationships with your potential customers.
- Technical writer - this work is one of the most challenging ones, but also one that pays a lot. As a technical writer, you’ll be responsible for simplifying tech content for the users to understand.
Which one of these fits with your lifestyle? Choose wisely.
2. Choose Your Niche
Choosing your niche is essential to build a lasting career as a writer. You’ll become an expert in your niche and you’ll build yourself a reputation. Plus, you’ll increase your chances of getting hired by professionals.
Here are some of the most popular niches to choose from for your career:
- Personal finance
- Marketing
- Travel
- Health
- Food
- Fitness
- Cannabis
- Education
If you can’t find your preferred niche on this list, do research on your own and find the one that suits you the best.
3. Learn New Digital Skills
Learning how to write for the online world is essential if you want to become a freelance writer. That will involve learning new skills, like SEO writing, basics of SEO, keyword research, keyword frequency, and density, etc.
As a writer, you’ll write about people, but first and foremost, you write about search engines. That’s why you need to learn how to optimize your content for the search engines, all while trying not to sound too robotic. It can be a difficult challenge to overcome, but not impossible.
There are plenty of free resources where you can learn how to become a better SEO writer, starting with tutorials on YouTube and Udemy.
4. Write Your Samples
Here’s the most important part of your writing journey. Write a few samples in order to prove yourself as a writer. Choose a few topics, do your research and write your articles. You can publish them on Medium, or have them in your Google Drive.
Regardless, the clients will be able to see what they’ll get for their money by reading your samples. This will be proof of your skills as well.
5. Start Pitching Your Offer
Last, but not least - reach out to your ideal clients. To do that, you can create a profile on multiple platforms, including Brybe Freelancer Marketplace, and connect with clients right there. You need to master the art of writing proposals, and that may take a while. Also, negotiating is one skill that you’ll definitely need as a freelance writer.
Hopefully, with the right approach and your persistence, you’ll end up working for the right clients.