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becoming a freelance writer is one of the easiest and fast ways to make money online. The blogging industry is only growing bigger day by day and the needs of fresh and original content are only increasing.
So if you like playing with the words and looking to make money online then becoming a freelance writer is a perfect solution for you. This way you can express your thoughts on the different subject in front a large audience while also getting paid for it.
However, while freelance writing is one of the fastest and legit ways to start making money online, many people find it hard to make their first move in the industry.
Most of the people get stuck at the basic steps such as how to choose the perfect niche or where to find the freelancing jobs, so we have brought a complete guide for all the aspiring freelance writers consisting easy steps to become a freelance writer.
Easy steps to become a freelance writer
While many people think becoming a writer is all about finding a client and start writing whatever he wants to, the truth is that your freelancing career begins at the very moment you start thinking about becoming a freelance writer.
That’s why you have to take every step correctly from the beginning in order to start your freelance writing career smoothly and keep it going once you have started. wasting no more time lets start our guide of Easy steps to become a freelance writer.
Step 1. Choose The correct niche
The success of your freelancing career very much depends on the niche you choose to write in. Niche is basically the main subject you are going to write about.
The first step of the process is thinking what is the thing that interests you the most. Think what is the thing you can talk about endlessly or what is the subject that you can keep reading about without getting bored.
It could be anything from football to cricket, latest gadgets to latest mobiles and from movies to TV serials. Just keep in mind that you have to choose a subject which interests a large number of people and is something which you can write endlessly about.You can choose from 5 Awesome Niche to start blogging and start writing on any one.
For example, the effects of gravity may be a very large topic but do people want to read about it? No. Similarly, people would like to read about Christiano Ronaldo, but can you write hundreds of articles on him? No. So choose something that you can write about and it also interests people. For more information you can read The Ultimate guide to choosing a Niche.
Step 2. Know the basics
One big mistake most freelancers make is that they choose a topic and then just try to start writing about it. But what will you write if you yourself don’t have enough knowledge about it?
The second of the mentioned easy steps to become a freelance writer is that you should read a number of articles articles on the basics of your selected topic.
For example, if you are willing to write about football then you should first know all the basics rules of it. Then you should read about all the major football tournaments and if possible also read about some of the best football players from past and present. If was you my goal would have been reading at least 100 articles on the topic before moving to the next step.
Remember learning is a never ending process so the last thing you should do is bookmark at least 5 sites who post 3-5 or more articles on your selected topic every week. Once you have started writing you should check these sites every day and read new articles they publish. This will help you in keep updating your knowledge and will help you in keeping touch with the views of other people.
3. Learn the needs of your Customer
Doesn’t matter what niche you select or how good you write, if your articles are not according to the needs of customers then they will not buy it and you will not be making any money.
The first and probably the most important step of making your articles sellable is learning On Page SEO. More than 80% of the articles you will write will be targeted to rank in google or other search engines. So each one of your articles needs to be modified in a way that Search Engines can track and sort them correctly.
Learning on Page SEO will help you in writing articles that are search engine friendly and will help you in fulfilling a large part of your customer’s needs.
However, while On Page Seo is a big part of your customer’s need, It’s not the whole. Your articles also need to be interesting and informative enough for keeping the reader glued until the end. Keeping the flow of the article, avoiding pogo sticking, making the article interesting enough and keeping it informative are some of the things you should learn after learning On Page SEO.
4. Prepare Samples
Now you are almost ready to become a freelance writer, however, there is one more important thing you need to do before reaching out your customers and that is preparing samples.
Every customer you are going to reach out will first want to see your previous work before giving you any job. So you will need to prepare some written samples which you can show to your customer.
For it, choose a couple articles topics which you think are going to help you in showcasing your writing skills. After that do proper research on your topic and write articles on it.
Published article samples leave a better impression than non-published ones, so once you have a number of articles on your hand you should try to get them published on blogs that accept guest post.
For finding such blogs use any keyword related to your niche and search something like this in google – your keyword + Guest posting/publish your post or other such things.
Once you find such blogs submit your written posts and wait at least 1 week to see if they get published. Remember to submit one article to one site only.
Not all of your articles will get accepted, but that’s not a bad thing. Note down the links of the articles got published and save the articles which did not get published as word files to be used as raw samples. Ideally, you should have at least 5 published posts and 5 raw samples before moving on.
5. Reach out your clients
The 5th and the final step of our list of easy steps to become a freelance writer are reaching out your clients. There are hundreds of ways to do so but I am going to mention only 3, and even if you master any single one of them then you will have more than enough clients to keep your writing career going.
SEO Markets – Sites like SEO Clercks, Freelancer, Fiver and more are made solely for the purpose to help clients find freelancers and help freelancers in finding clients. All you have to do is set up your profile and start bidding on whatever writing projects come up. Keep in mind that your bid needs to reflect your writing experience and passion for the subject. This will help in attracting your client’s attention and you will stand out of the crowd resulting in more projects and more money.
Social Media – Believe it or not, social media especially Facebook, has turned out to be one of the best places to find clients. There are many content writing groups out there where you can meet new clients. So join a few such groups and post about your experience and what you can offer as a writer and you are sure to attract some clients from there.
Email Marketing – Last but not the least is email marketing. Go to google, find blogs of your selected niche and reach them out through their email/contact us form telling them that you are a content writer looking for work. Do remember to add links of your previous work and let them know why you are different than others. Remember to keep your message short and point to point.
Wrap Up
With the above-mentioned step, our list of easy steps to become a freelance writer is completed. Remember that like any other, doing freelancing is also a business where you will learn things with your experience so keep experimenting and try to learn what your client want from you and you will never have to look back.