Whenever someone speaks of a part time flexible job, they quickly mention freelancing. However, not a lot of people understand what freelancing is and how people can start a career. Through this guide, we will aim to solve this problem for you. Our goal will be to make sure that all your questions related to freelancing and content writing are solved. We will also make sure to let mention you the different options you have in terms of freelance content writing. As a freelance content writer, you have to make sure that the content you write must be grammatically correct. It will surely increase your credibility in freelance platforms.
Freelancing is not writing
Freelancing has nothing to do with writing. That is a common misconception. If you are a freelancer, you could be doing anything. You could be a freelance makeup artist. You could be a freelance guitarist. You could be a freelance graphics designer or video producer. This means that you are working on a number on things when you speak of freelancing. Freelance is a type of job. When you are a full time worker at a company, this means that you are dedicating majority of your work hours to that company. When you are a part time worker, you are only spending some of your time at the company. With freelancing, you don’t need to be at an office at a particular number of hours. Likewise, there is no mention that how long you will be working with a company. You could just work on one project or you could work repeatedly. It is your and your employer’s choice completely. Likewise, your job will be about a lot deadlines. If someone needs a task done and they have given you the deadline for a week, they don’t care at what time and where you get that job done. They just want that work done by the end of that date. On the other hand, for a full time job, you will be required to be present at your desk most of the time regardless of your deadlines. That is the main difference in freelancing and other forms of jobs.
What are some of the options in freelancing?
While multiple types of professions can be freelance, this term is usually used to refer to works related to digital media. This means that this involves photography, graphics design, video production, editing, writing, proofreading, re-writing and more. You can explore your options in each of these fields depending on the resources you have and your interests of course. However, it is important to note that each of these fields is extensive as well. When you speak of a freelance writer, you can assume that the writer’s job is not to simply create content. The writer must coordinate with the employer’s marketing team. You could be a Search Engine Optimization consultant. You could be a social media marketing expert. Freelancing has its options open for you depending upon your interests.
Here is a quick tip. There is a website called Fiverr. This website is a hub for a lot of freelancers. This means that you can sign up as a freelancer, create an offer and let employers find you. You can find in depth guides on how you can create a Fiverr profile that will actually help you get projects. However, there is a whole list of freelance jobs that people offer on that website. If you have no idea where to start, just open that website. Look at what other people are doing and what you should be doing.
What are some of the options in freelance content writing?
Remember that when we speak of content writing, we are mainly focusing on jobs that as related to online content writing. Here, your content will be used online. The most common types of content writers you will find are web content writers. What these content writers do is to create blog posts for content that people search for on Google. You can read more about search engine optimization and why people want to hire other people to write for their websites. Websites that publish content have a lot of traffic coming in. Website owners can attract other businesses to market their products on their website. This is one of the top ways to earn money online. If you are just starting off, it is recommended that you don’t worry about creating a website. It is not easy to create a website presence. Start with writing. You will eventually grow up there. As a web content writer, you will be writing about general content. There are a lot of niches you can write in. And again, there are options that you must explore to understand what you prefer the most. The most common types of niches include health, nutrition, fashion and lifestyle.
Web content is just one of the different types of content that is required by businesses. A lot of people work in academic writing. It is not the best thing to do in content writing but it is not the worse if you have expertise in a particular subject. However, it must be noted that hiring an academic writer to do an assignment for you is considered plagiarism in organizations. This means that it is unethical. What academic writers do is to create academic assignments, reports and content that can be used in academia. You can find jobs in that.
Other types of writers include copywriters, resume writers and news writers. Copywriting has to do with digital marketing. So if you are someone who is interested in getting into online marketing, this could be a great place to start. Copywriters write content that would sell. This means that you will be writing about and website content for businesses. Remember that it will take a lot of creativity to create such a type of content. You will need to learn about the basics of copywriting before getting started. You can check out bloggers like Neil Patel to learn more and more tactics on such work. Resume writers, as the term indicates, write professional resumes for people who want to get their resumes created. News writers are more towards journalistic work. They create engaging content that goes into the niches of news, entertainment and related.
Where to begin as a freelance content writer?
If you don’t know where to begin, remember that it is not just about making money. Nobody will pay you if you don’t deliver what it is that is required of you as a freelance content writer. The first thing you need to do is to pick a niche. Read as much as possible on it. Make sure that you have done your research on the topic. You will of course learn more about the subject as time progresses but it is important that you know where your interest resides. Plus, it is much more rewarding to grow an expertise in one particular field than to write about 100 things but have no knowledge in any of them.
The next thing you need to do is to find a platform where you can start getting people to hire you. This could be official Facebook freelancer groups or platforms like Fiverr and Freelancer. These platforms will let you connect with people who are looking for services. There, you can either post your own offers or you can respond to the offers posted by employers. Either way, you should be able to connect with people who did like to hire you. As a freelance content writer, you will almost always be asked to share a sample of your work. If you are just starting out in the field, you don’t own a portfolio. However, you need the job. The best way to go about this is to either write a couple of writing pieces that you can share with the employer or to ask the employer to give you a sample topic to write. This sample may be paid or unpaid. Either way, you should be willing to write. Your portfolio will build as time progresses. And as you write for free, it will show employers that you are willing to put in effort. Take any project you can possibly get your hands on.
Likewise, learning is a curve. Make sure that you are constantly learning on how to write as you write. If you have picked a niche, read as much possible about it. Learn about the different writing tips. Like mentioned before, you will need to do your research. However, that is not a one step process. You will learn as the time progresses and as you take on the job and constantly research on it.
What are some of the mistakes to avoid?
As a freelance content writer, what you need to realize is that the amount of money you will be making 3 years from now will be much more than you will be making at the start. And this is keeping in mind that the number of works you are working is still the same. This is because people start off small in every field. Don’t give up just because it is difficult in the start.
A lot of freelance content writers sacrifice quality for the sake of quantity. Remember that businesses need content that create leads not just today but also 10 years from now. All over the web, user experience is the ultimate goal. If you sacrifice quality for quantity, it is not going to work out in the future for you sadly.
