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Have you got a knack for writing?
Did you know that writing is one of the most sought-after skills online?
When I was back in the Philippines, I used to offer my services on sites like Odesk (now Upwork) both as a freelance writer and as a full-fledged website manager where I take care of the whole publishing and search engine optimization work to rank my clients’ websites on the search results to reach more potential customers for their business.
If you want to make money as a freelance writer, there are a lot of freelance websites that can help you get started on this rewarding career path.
Nowadays, there are a lot of Facebook Groups for Freelance writers.
You can join these groups, create a Facebook page branding yourself as a freelance writer.
You can also create a LinkedIn profile to promote yourself as a professional freelance writer and connect with entrepreneurs and business owners. I’ve hired a couple of freelance writers for local SEO write-ups myself on LinkedIn. So, feel free to connect with other entrepreneurs.
Finally, if you’re really serious about establishing a profitable freelance writer career online. I would urge you to create a blog or a website to build your brand online.
Not a lot of freelance writers actually have their own, professional looking websites or blogs. I would suggest that you invest in a domain name and a
A quick Google search for the keyword: “freelance writer” landed me to Elna Cain’s freelance writer website, which she named “Innovative Ink” carrying the domain name www.innovativeink.ca/ which looks and sounds more professional
- www.innovativeink.wordpress.com/
- www.innovativeink.wix.com, or
- www.innovativeink.freewebsites.com/.
I think you get the picture.
You might be thinking, “do I really need a website to get started?”.
The short answer is “no” but you can quickly differentiate yourself from the crowd if you work on establishing your own brand as a legit and reliable freelance writer by having your own website.
You can get a domain name of your choice cheaply with Namecheap.com and Bluehost can set you up with a web hosting account for as little as $5 a month. I personally use SiteGround because I like their malware scanner but Bluehost will fit your purpose, especially when you’re just starting out.
What I love about Bluehost is it’s simplicity so it’s really “newbie friendly”, you can install WordPress with their 1-click installation and you have a live site in matter of minutes.
After you install WordPress, you have to make it look good! To do that, you’ll need to have a decent looking WordPress theme.
You can pick free WordPress from the WordPress.org free themes directory, which you can access from your WordPress dashboard or you can get yourself a more professional and flexible premium theme if your budget allows for it. I get mine from StudioPress.
Either way, you need to get started! If you’re just investing on a domain name and a web-hosting account, your total start-up cost will be less than $70.00. for the whole year of hosting.
There are probably hundreds of thousands of freelance writers around the world but there are very few who actually have their own website and brand, thus giving them the unfair advantage!
Taking Elna Cain as an example, her blog brought her more than just freelance writing jobs. It has established her as an authority in the freelance writing niche that she now offers freelance writing courses like WriteTo1K to other would-be successful freelance writers.
Of course, establishing a website or blog of your own takes time, energy and effort but it will reward you thousands of times over so it’s just worth it but in order for you to make money write away as a freelance writer, you can take advantage of already established freelance websites like the ones below:
- Fiverr
- Upwork
- Freelancer
- Problogger Jobs (home-based job contract)
- LinkedIn Pro Finder
I have archived an extensive list of Freelance websites here.
You can promote your services on these freelance websites, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc. but if you’re serious to turn this into a successful career and business. You have to have a website and learn how to rank your website on the search engines and get exposures on social media through content marketing and search engine optimization.
You can also pay for traffic but it may not be an option when you’re just getting started.
Freelance websites, Facebook groups and connecting with prospective clients on LinkedIn can help you get your first couple of clients but long term, you will need to establish a marketing system that drives traffic to you.
Traffic of potential customers who are already searching for your writing services online.
This will be the key to a truly-successful freelance writing career that can help you ditch your 9 to 5 job!
Hope you’ve enjoyed reading and found value in this short article.
Below is a freelance writing resource that I recommend. I believe that Maggie’s course will help you in starting a profitable freelance writing career and business online. Maggie has been a successful freelance writer of 11 years, so she knows what she’s talking about.
Freelance Profit Academy for Freelance Writers by Maggie Linders
