by: David Drake
Before you move on further with the idea of starting a home based writing business, you should assess your skills. I don’t mean to discourage any of you, but I’ve known many people who got themselves in to the wrong business and lost all their savings, properties and the business itself, along the way. So make sure it won’t happen to you by evaluating whether writing is your greatest strength.
A small amount of time introspection can give a definite shape to your future.Once you are confident about your abilities, do some research online and offline. Find people who would outsource their writing jobs or assign projects to you. Do not jump start with this business. Start if off as a part time job, while you keep your full time job. If you are a home staying mom, start off the business on your own without involving partners or employees.
When you step in to the world of freelance writing, it is always better to have a safety net to fall on to. So don’t keep too much hopes and invest too much on equipments, office space etc initially. All you need to do is buy a reliable computer (maybe a used one) and good word processing software. To begin with, it is advisable to use free word processing software such as Open Office. A telephone connection with internet and a good printer are other essential equipment for the job. Once you start getting good work you could take up from there.
You may be skillful as any great writer out there, but you will need to keep out to date. With internet dominating home based businesses, there is an increasing demand for freelance writing; so search for new writing leads and develop your skills everyday. Try out different styles of writing and different assignments such as newsletter writing, magazine articles, blog posts, SEO articles, ghost writing e-books, proposals, resumes and the list goes on…
Market yourself everyday. There are websites that allows you to post advertisements promoting your services. Keep track of all such sites and the customers that you meet. A good rapport with customers is the key to any successful business. Remember that, most buyers tend to stick with the same writer if they become impressed with the work. So make sure you’d always deliver on time, be professional and keep to your word.
Continue working part-time for at least 6 months before moving on to full time writing. By then, you should have made a lot of contacts in the field and have sufficient number of buyers to compensate for a good income. If your projects are getting out of hand, recruit one or two people as part-time employees. However, before doing so, do a feasibility study to see if you can still make profit, increase business and keep up to the reputation you’ve built by having people working for you. If everything goes well, you might even be able to employ people on full time basis and start off a small company of your own.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Top 10 Freelance Writing Resources On The Internet
by: David Drake
RentACoder.com
If you are new to home based money making industry as a writer, RentACoder is probably a good place to start from because its procedures are quite straightforward. Signing up for this website is totally free but you will need to pay 15% of each project you win, as a service fee. Since the money is escrowed by your buyer before project inception, your payments are guaranteed if you do a quality service.
Scriptlance.com
There are many job postings at scriptlance, however; many of those projects never get rewarded. It is quite difficult for a beginner to start off at scriptlance because there is a lot of scamming going on in the bidding phase. However, if you are able to build a good reputation, you can be sure to have a lot of buyers awarding you projects on long term basis.
Guru.com
Guru is a professional freelance website which allows free membership as well as subscriptions known as Guru VENDOR. Although there are many job listings, many buyers choose to have Guru Vendors bid for their projects, so if you sign up with a basic account, you might not go too far with this website.
Elance.com
Elance too has two categories of membership; basic which is free of charge and professional which should be subscribed to. Upon sign up, you cannot bid on any project until you pass an evaluation test from the website. Elance too is a secured site as it facilitates payment escrow.
Craigslist.org
This is a biggest classified portal on the internet and so possibilities of finding work in here is endless. As a writer you could either search for freelance work or post an advertisement promoting your services, free of charge. The downside is that, according to website rules you cannot post too many ads as you will become suspended from the website.
Getacoder.com
This website operates quite similar to RentACoder with the exception of allowing free memberships as well as, premium memberships. Their commission per project is 10% of the project value plus a fixed charge of $5.00
The downfall however is that, if your account remains on zero balance for over 30 days, it will be frozen.
Gofreelance.com
This is a very professional website with a lot of professional and highly paid writing jobs on the offering. However, you will need to subscribe as a member to work. But the good news is that you can apply for a trial period of 7 days by paying only $2.95 thereby, you can have a taste of what you are getting in to before investing money on membership.
Essaywriters.net
If you are a professional writer, essaywriters.net is your perfect opportunity. Signing up for their service is easy however; you will only be able to take up projects once your application is accepted by the website within two weeks.
Getafreelancer.com
You will find quite a lot of writing related freelance opportunities at getafreelancer. Membership is free and here’s how it works. Getafreelancer allow new users to make only 15 bids per month. For each month a writer remains a member at the website, 1 point is added. So if your membership is 1 year old, you will get the chance to bid on 27 (15 + 12) projects per month.
Freelancewriting.com
This is a supermarket of freelance writing jobs. What this website does is to obtain feeds from top freelance websites and display all relevant jobs. So if you don’t have time to spare on several websites, this will be your ideal shopping place.
RentACoder.com
If you are new to home based money making industry as a writer, RentACoder is probably a good place to start from because its procedures are quite straightforward. Signing up for this website is totally free but you will need to pay 15% of each project you win, as a service fee. Since the money is escrowed by your buyer before project inception, your payments are guaranteed if you do a quality service.
Scriptlance.com
There are many job postings at scriptlance, however; many of those projects never get rewarded. It is quite difficult for a beginner to start off at scriptlance because there is a lot of scamming going on in the bidding phase. However, if you are able to build a good reputation, you can be sure to have a lot of buyers awarding you projects on long term basis.
Guru.com
Guru is a professional freelance website which allows free membership as well as subscriptions known as Guru VENDOR. Although there are many job listings, many buyers choose to have Guru Vendors bid for their projects, so if you sign up with a basic account, you might not go too far with this website.
Elance.com
Elance too has two categories of membership; basic which is free of charge and professional which should be subscribed to. Upon sign up, you cannot bid on any project until you pass an evaluation test from the website. Elance too is a secured site as it facilitates payment escrow.
Craigslist.org
This is a biggest classified portal on the internet and so possibilities of finding work in here is endless. As a writer you could either search for freelance work or post an advertisement promoting your services, free of charge. The downside is that, according to website rules you cannot post too many ads as you will become suspended from the website.
Getacoder.com
This website operates quite similar to RentACoder with the exception of allowing free memberships as well as, premium memberships. Their commission per project is 10% of the project value plus a fixed charge of $5.00
The downfall however is that, if your account remains on zero balance for over 30 days, it will be frozen.
Gofreelance.com
This is a very professional website with a lot of professional and highly paid writing jobs on the offering. However, you will need to subscribe as a member to work. But the good news is that you can apply for a trial period of 7 days by paying only $2.95 thereby, you can have a taste of what you are getting in to before investing money on membership.
Essaywriters.net
If you are a professional writer, essaywriters.net is your perfect opportunity. Signing up for their service is easy however; you will only be able to take up projects once your application is accepted by the website within two weeks.
Getafreelancer.com
You will find quite a lot of writing related freelance opportunities at getafreelancer. Membership is free and here’s how it works. Getafreelancer allow new users to make only 15 bids per month. For each month a writer remains a member at the website, 1 point is added. So if your membership is 1 year old, you will get the chance to bid on 27 (15 + 12) projects per month.
Freelancewriting.com
This is a supermarket of freelance writing jobs. What this website does is to obtain feeds from top freelance websites and display all relevant jobs. So if you don’t have time to spare on several websites, this will be your ideal shopping place.
Getting Started In Online Freelance Writing
by: David Drake
The online market is as robust as it has ever been. And this time around, unlike the late 90's, companies are actually putting money in their web sites.
In 2004 Google had 4.28 billion pages in its database .The real figure of the number of web pages on the internet is predicted to be closer to 14 billion pages. Can you estimate how many writers would be needed to write this colossal amount of information?
On the Internet “Content is king”. The whole internet economy functions on content. There are informational websites, websites selling products , news portals, blogs , forums and the basis of all of them are words….that’s where writers come in.
As of March 2007, approximately 1,114,274,426 people worldwide use the Internet, according to Internet World Statistics. This number is expected to grow much more. As of 2006 only 15.6 % of the world population had access to the internet.
Fasten your seat belts: You are at the right place at the right time! The future of freelance writing is on the Internet and in company Websites.
The best thing that ever happened to freelance writers may be the demise of the typewriter. As typewriters died - and computer keyboards and the Internet thrived - a world of opportunity opened for people who write for a living, says Peter Bowerman, an Atlanta-based author of The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Freelance Writer in Six Months or Less.
Back in 1991 a published author once remarked that you could expect an average 70 rejections when you could write something and send it for publishing, whether you are a newbie or a seasoned pro.
Using traditional methods such as direct mail, cold calling, networking… all took a lot of time and drastically reduced the income. The Internet made the freelancer’s life much easier. You can communicate with your client sitting in your pajamas.
Most of the freelance writers who make great money at it these days have diversified their client bases away from print media and toward the world of ecommerce. As a result, when you’re just getting started, the best place to collect a writing paycheck is online.
The freelance industry is literally booming. Sixty billion dollars of work is now outsourced to specialists worldwide. According to the US Department of Labor, “35 million Americans class themselves as independent professionals.”
In the past three years, companies have increased their outsourcing by 22%. A survey conducted predicted that companies using freelance services will more than double from 20% to 50%. Being part of a $120 billion industry won’t be bad!
Freelance writing is a competitive field as it is today. There are many people joining hands from around the globe and this means, services given away for competitive prices. Employers or buyers (as they are commonly known) prefer outsourcing their writing jobs because it is a way of reducing the employee tax they ought to bear and other responsibilities they’d have towards formal employees.
Here's a prediction.With the ways things are moving the freelance industry will only increase in size and scope. Keep on the lookout where you can make your mark!
The online market is as robust as it has ever been. And this time around, unlike the late 90's, companies are actually putting money in their web sites.
In 2004 Google had 4.28 billion pages in its database .The real figure of the number of web pages on the internet is predicted to be closer to 14 billion pages. Can you estimate how many writers would be needed to write this colossal amount of information?
On the Internet “Content is king”. The whole internet economy functions on content. There are informational websites, websites selling products , news portals, blogs , forums and the basis of all of them are words….that’s where writers come in.
As of March 2007, approximately 1,114,274,426 people worldwide use the Internet, according to Internet World Statistics. This number is expected to grow much more. As of 2006 only 15.6 % of the world population had access to the internet.
Fasten your seat belts: You are at the right place at the right time! The future of freelance writing is on the Internet and in company Websites.
The best thing that ever happened to freelance writers may be the demise of the typewriter. As typewriters died - and computer keyboards and the Internet thrived - a world of opportunity opened for people who write for a living, says Peter Bowerman, an Atlanta-based author of The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Freelance Writer in Six Months or Less.
Back in 1991 a published author once remarked that you could expect an average 70 rejections when you could write something and send it for publishing, whether you are a newbie or a seasoned pro.
Using traditional methods such as direct mail, cold calling, networking… all took a lot of time and drastically reduced the income. The Internet made the freelancer’s life much easier. You can communicate with your client sitting in your pajamas.
Most of the freelance writers who make great money at it these days have diversified their client bases away from print media and toward the world of ecommerce. As a result, when you’re just getting started, the best place to collect a writing paycheck is online.
The freelance industry is literally booming. Sixty billion dollars of work is now outsourced to specialists worldwide. According to the US Department of Labor, “35 million Americans class themselves as independent professionals.”
In the past three years, companies have increased their outsourcing by 22%. A survey conducted predicted that companies using freelance services will more than double from 20% to 50%. Being part of a $120 billion industry won’t be bad!
Freelance writing is a competitive field as it is today. There are many people joining hands from around the globe and this means, services given away for competitive prices. Employers or buyers (as they are commonly known) prefer outsourcing their writing jobs because it is a way of reducing the employee tax they ought to bear and other responsibilities they’d have towards formal employees.
Here's a prediction.With the ways things are moving the freelance industry will only increase in size and scope. Keep on the lookout where you can make your mark!
7 Ways To Get Paid To Write Online
by: David Drake
More and more people tend to earn at home nowadays. However, the catch is that stay-at-home jobs don’t work with many fields. If you are a good writer, then you are among the lucky lot and we are about to discover how it is so.
Usually freelance writing work is available through various resources through freelance exchange websites such as rentacoder.com, scriptlance.com etc. There are also a number of sites for classified advertisements where these work can be easily found; e.g. craigslist.com. If you search through such sites, you will understand that you have many options.
? Blog writing and reviewing is one popular option open to writers. Many freelance exchange websites have openings for this kind of projects with an increasing trend. The task at hand could either be to write on a given topic which will become a blog or to make comments on already written blogs with a back link to the buyer’s account, so as to increase search engine rankings to a particular site.
? Writing for SEO is another popular method. Many website owners are interested in getting a high rank in SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) as it will be advantageous for increasing web traffic and their sales. Therefore, website owners will provide writers with sets of keywords to be included in the article. The writer should be skilled enough to meaningfully use these contents without harming the flow and the originality of the article.
? Writing Newsletters is another method. Various institutes now outsource their newsletter writing through many websites. The writer is given specific topics to be written in standard or specific newsletter formats. This work can be considered relatively easy due to the nature of the work. In most cases, you will be given a newsletter template where your job will be to fill in the content according to the given format.
? Writing auto-responders is an ideal job for creative freelance writers. It is usually a very simple task requiring high creativity. Your task as a freelance writer in here is to come up with attractive auto responders with plenty of creative thought.
? Content writing for websites is a highly paid job because it is the writing that turns visitors in to buyers. So if you are a writer with high language skills and if you have a very good creative mind, this job is for you.
? Ghost writers are those who get paid the most. Whenever you are expected to become a ghost writer, it has to do something with publishing the content be it an e-book, research paper or a single article. As a ghost writer, you are expected to come up with the general outline of your project. Once everything is discussed, the writer will start on the project.
? However, if you want to retain your copyrights and take credit for what you do, you still have the choice to do that with websites such as associatedcontent.com. It’s a place where you can simply publish your article and get paid for the number of page hits you receive. In other words, the more popular your articles become more money you will earn!
More and more people tend to earn at home nowadays. However, the catch is that stay-at-home jobs don’t work with many fields. If you are a good writer, then you are among the lucky lot and we are about to discover how it is so.
Usually freelance writing work is available through various resources through freelance exchange websites such as rentacoder.com, scriptlance.com etc. There are also a number of sites for classified advertisements where these work can be easily found; e.g. craigslist.com. If you search through such sites, you will understand that you have many options.
? Blog writing and reviewing is one popular option open to writers. Many freelance exchange websites have openings for this kind of projects with an increasing trend. The task at hand could either be to write on a given topic which will become a blog or to make comments on already written blogs with a back link to the buyer’s account, so as to increase search engine rankings to a particular site.
? Writing for SEO is another popular method. Many website owners are interested in getting a high rank in SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) as it will be advantageous for increasing web traffic and their sales. Therefore, website owners will provide writers with sets of keywords to be included in the article. The writer should be skilled enough to meaningfully use these contents without harming the flow and the originality of the article.
? Writing Newsletters is another method. Various institutes now outsource their newsletter writing through many websites. The writer is given specific topics to be written in standard or specific newsletter formats. This work can be considered relatively easy due to the nature of the work. In most cases, you will be given a newsletter template where your job will be to fill in the content according to the given format.
? Writing auto-responders is an ideal job for creative freelance writers. It is usually a very simple task requiring high creativity. Your task as a freelance writer in here is to come up with attractive auto responders with plenty of creative thought.
? Content writing for websites is a highly paid job because it is the writing that turns visitors in to buyers. So if you are a writer with high language skills and if you have a very good creative mind, this job is for you.
? Ghost writers are those who get paid the most. Whenever you are expected to become a ghost writer, it has to do something with publishing the content be it an e-book, research paper or a single article. As a ghost writer, you are expected to come up with the general outline of your project. Once everything is discussed, the writer will start on the project.
? However, if you want to retain your copyrights and take credit for what you do, you still have the choice to do that with websites such as associatedcontent.com. It’s a place where you can simply publish your article and get paid for the number of page hits you receive. In other words, the more popular your articles become more money you will earn!
Opportunity Spotting : Freelance Writing Is Booming.
by: David Drake
The word freelance was first coined by Sir Walter Scott, a renowned Scottish historical novelist and poet when he wrote his novel Ivanhoe to refer to a medieval mercenary warrior. In 1903 the word was officially recognized by etymologists and made it to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Simply put, a freelancer is a person who is self employed. Freelancers seek out different projects which vary in their size, scope and variety. In case of freelancing writing, projects may include article writing, book writing, ebook writing, Technical reports, editing, proofreading, white papers, direct mail, copywriting, newsletters, Ezine writing… and much more.
A Look at Current State of Industry
The freelance industry has literally boomed. $60 billion of work is now outsourced to specialists’ worldwide. According to the US Department of Labor “35 million Americans class themselves as independent professionals.”
In the past three years, companies have increased their outsourcing by 22%
A survey done predicted that companies using freelance services will more than double from 20% to 50%.
This trend is not a localized trend to be seen in USA or a few countries but is slowly becoming a global phenomenon.
Looking at it ,being part of a $120 billion industry won’t be bad!
But why exactly has freelance writing boomed?
Though there are many reasons behind this phenomenon ,two reasons which clearly stand out above the rest.
The explosion of the Internet
The Internet is a relatively new medium when you compare it to other mature mediums such as television and radio and is still in its Wild West days. Apart from being a huge information resource it is also a huge advertising medium where companies get their businesses from.
Shift in business practices:
Back in the good old 60’s and 70’s you could set up a successful business and could expect to reap profits for a long period of time. Businesses could afford full time employees in all areas. With hyper competition and large fluctuations in technology, businesses have adopted a different model. They only do the thing which they do best and outsource all other activities to specialists.
So rather than having a full time writer on the company’s payroll, it’s more efficient to find a writer who specializes in a particular type of writing. If a company needs articles written for their website they would post a bid on a website such as Elance.com for a web content writer, get it done and move on. Another time they need a good copywriter they would post a bid for a copywriter, get the job done and move on. The key point to understand is that companies now place more value on specialists - freelancers who are more skilled in a narrow focus of work.
For freelancers, this literally means a world of opportunity. You can work from home, doing interesting and rewarding work, working with customers all over the world. You can be paid directly into your bank account, and earn more than you ever dreamed possible in your 9-5 day job.
The word freelance was first coined by Sir Walter Scott, a renowned Scottish historical novelist and poet when he wrote his novel Ivanhoe to refer to a medieval mercenary warrior. In 1903 the word was officially recognized by etymologists and made it to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Simply put, a freelancer is a person who is self employed. Freelancers seek out different projects which vary in their size, scope and variety. In case of freelancing writing, projects may include article writing, book writing, ebook writing, Technical reports, editing, proofreading, white papers, direct mail, copywriting, newsletters, Ezine writing… and much more.
A Look at Current State of Industry
The freelance industry has literally boomed. $60 billion of work is now outsourced to specialists’ worldwide. According to the US Department of Labor “35 million Americans class themselves as independent professionals.”
In the past three years, companies have increased their outsourcing by 22%
A survey done predicted that companies using freelance services will more than double from 20% to 50%.
This trend is not a localized trend to be seen in USA or a few countries but is slowly becoming a global phenomenon.
Looking at it ,being part of a $120 billion industry won’t be bad!
But why exactly has freelance writing boomed?
Though there are many reasons behind this phenomenon ,two reasons which clearly stand out above the rest.
The explosion of the Internet
The Internet is a relatively new medium when you compare it to other mature mediums such as television and radio and is still in its Wild West days. Apart from being a huge information resource it is also a huge advertising medium where companies get their businesses from.
Shift in business practices:
Back in the good old 60’s and 70’s you could set up a successful business and could expect to reap profits for a long period of time. Businesses could afford full time employees in all areas. With hyper competition and large fluctuations in technology, businesses have adopted a different model. They only do the thing which they do best and outsource all other activities to specialists.
So rather than having a full time writer on the company’s payroll, it’s more efficient to find a writer who specializes in a particular type of writing. If a company needs articles written for their website they would post a bid on a website such as Elance.com for a web content writer, get it done and move on. Another time they need a good copywriter they would post a bid for a copywriter, get the job done and move on. The key point to understand is that companies now place more value on specialists - freelancers who are more skilled in a narrow focus of work.
For freelancers, this literally means a world of opportunity. You can work from home, doing interesting and rewarding work, working with customers all over the world. You can be paid directly into your bank account, and earn more than you ever dreamed possible in your 9-5 day job.
How To Find Freelance Writing Jobs Using Craigslist
by: David Drake
Craiglist is a massive portal for online classifieds and forums varying from job opportunities, housing, goods, services, and local activities plus just about everything else. While the site is active in 450 cities around the globe, it attracts over 9 billion hits per month.
If you are in to freelance writing, Craiglist will be your perfect starting point. To begin with, login to craigslist.org – The first method to get about finding a job is by performing a search. For this you will need to select a country and/or a city that you would like to take the job from; e.g. London. Then you can browse through the ‘jobs’ category to find freelance writing jobs that suit you.
Once you spot interesting opportunities, you can follow its hyperlink to read through details of the job. On any given job posting, there will be a posting ID and a phone number, email address or other contact information. If you are interested in trying out the opportunity, simply go ahead and contact the relevant party.
Here’s another approach to performing a search. When you go to the city level (in some cases country level as well) you’ll see a search box on to your left hand side. Simply enter keywords such as “writing” or “editing” and select “jobs” from the dropdown to begin your search. You will see search results matching your keywords presented in chronological order. As you may already assume, finding a job this way can consume a lot of time as there will be thousands of listings. So one option you’ve got is to narrow down the search by selecting or deselecting parameters below the search field, which will produce more accurate results.
If not, your best deal is to post your own advertisement. To do this, simply navigate up to a city of your choice and use ‘post to classifieds’ link. Select the link ‘Service Offered’ and then, follow the link ‘writing/editing/translations’. Depending on the city or country you have chosen you, might be asked to select a specific geographical area; however your next step is to come up with a creative advertisement. Once you submit the advertisement, you will have to accept Craigslist terms of conditions. If you agree, you will be notified via email on how to publish your entry. Simply follow the guidelines and your advertisement will be published at the website for the coming 7 days, free of charge. However, make sure not to post too many ads as you may risk being suspended from the website. So if you are posting multiple advertisements, make sure to make them each unique and possibly use different email addresses too.
However, the most effective way of finding writing jobs on Craigslist is by subscribing for RSS feeds on writing jobs from each city. You will find the RSS feature at the bottom right corner of the website. So, with the help of a RSS feed aggregator, which you can find on Yahoo or Google for free, you can find the latest job listings delivered straight to you.
Craiglist is a massive portal for online classifieds and forums varying from job opportunities, housing, goods, services, and local activities plus just about everything else. While the site is active in 450 cities around the globe, it attracts over 9 billion hits per month.
If you are in to freelance writing, Craiglist will be your perfect starting point. To begin with, login to craigslist.org – The first method to get about finding a job is by performing a search. For this you will need to select a country and/or a city that you would like to take the job from; e.g. London. Then you can browse through the ‘jobs’ category to find freelance writing jobs that suit you.
Once you spot interesting opportunities, you can follow its hyperlink to read through details of the job. On any given job posting, there will be a posting ID and a phone number, email address or other contact information. If you are interested in trying out the opportunity, simply go ahead and contact the relevant party.
Here’s another approach to performing a search. When you go to the city level (in some cases country level as well) you’ll see a search box on to your left hand side. Simply enter keywords such as “writing” or “editing” and select “jobs” from the dropdown to begin your search. You will see search results matching your keywords presented in chronological order. As you may already assume, finding a job this way can consume a lot of time as there will be thousands of listings. So one option you’ve got is to narrow down the search by selecting or deselecting parameters below the search field, which will produce more accurate results.
If not, your best deal is to post your own advertisement. To do this, simply navigate up to a city of your choice and use ‘post to classifieds’ link. Select the link ‘Service Offered’ and then, follow the link ‘writing/editing/translations’. Depending on the city or country you have chosen you, might be asked to select a specific geographical area; however your next step is to come up with a creative advertisement. Once you submit the advertisement, you will have to accept Craigslist terms of conditions. If you agree, you will be notified via email on how to publish your entry. Simply follow the guidelines and your advertisement will be published at the website for the coming 7 days, free of charge. However, make sure not to post too many ads as you may risk being suspended from the website. So if you are posting multiple advertisements, make sure to make them each unique and possibly use different email addresses too.
However, the most effective way of finding writing jobs on Craigslist is by subscribing for RSS feeds on writing jobs from each city. You will find the RSS feature at the bottom right corner of the website. So, with the help of a RSS feed aggregator, which you can find on Yahoo or Google for free, you can find the latest job listings delivered straight to you.
Can You Really Make Six Figures As A Freelance Writer?
by: David Drake
Does $100,000 a year sound too ambitious? I hope not. Thousands of freelance writers have broken the 6-figure barrier and with some determination and a clear set of goals, it's very achievable.
Possibly you would laugh and burst out if I told you some freelancers even make $400000 - $500000 per annum , so I would save my face and stick to $100000.
There are different kinds of freelance writing. You could write for magazines, write general articles, write direct marketing advertisements (More on this later), and e-books . The world of freelance writing is huge and many times confuses newcomers.
The purpose of this article is to show you how achieve a six figure target, primarily using the Internet. (Get ready to work, eat and live in your pajamas!)
The September 2007 issue of The Writer published an excellent article: "Secrets of Six-Figure Freelancers", which covered magazine freelance writers who are making six figures, with one making $260,000 per year. This proves that you can make a great income as any kind of freelance writer. The money is there, all you have to do is take it.
* An average writer on websites such as http://Guru.com and http://Elance.com charges between $15 - $35 per article. These articles take about an hour to write. How many can you write each day? Even with 4 hours of work you have crossed the $36000 per annum barrier.
* Web Copywriters charge a minimum of $250 to about $2000 for 3 -4 pages. You need 50, $2000 assignments to break the 6 figure mark. If you can prove yourself, raise your fees to $25000, there still are buyers for that price! Yep it’s true. That’s what the best copywriters charge! It's hard to find a seasoned copywriter who charges less than $8000 per project.
Freelance writing is not a get rich scheme. $100000 per year is a very realistic figure to reach in freelance writing. No, it does not happen quickly, but it does happen. And it does not happen to especially talented or lucky people as sometimes the mind can trick us into believing.
It happens to normal people who make it happen!
As opposed to what many people think, it does not take a genius or greatness to make a six figure income as a freelance writer. All it takes is
* A New mindset: Change in beliefs which hold you back and your negative ideas on making money.It is indeed a fact that many of us have a negative attitude towards money and it actually hinders us. For example many of us have this belief that "life is hard" and "money does not grow on trees". They are perspectives but not the reality !
* Dedication: What are you willing to do to achieve your goal? Earl Nightingale in his famous book The Strangest Secret states it clearly...” The only way to achieve financial abundance is to provide value to people “. Are you willing to provide good service to people?
* Treating it as a business: All the freelance writers making six figure incomes treat their writing as a serious home based business and employ sound principles which are common in all successful businesses. That’s the beginners secret to break the six figure mark. Treat it as a business.
Does $100,000 a year sound too ambitious? I hope not. Thousands of freelance writers have broken the 6-figure barrier and with some determination and a clear set of goals, it's very achievable.
Possibly you would laugh and burst out if I told you some freelancers even make $400000 - $500000 per annum , so I would save my face and stick to $100000.
There are different kinds of freelance writing. You could write for magazines, write general articles, write direct marketing advertisements (More on this later), and e-books . The world of freelance writing is huge and many times confuses newcomers.
The purpose of this article is to show you how achieve a six figure target, primarily using the Internet. (Get ready to work, eat and live in your pajamas!)
The September 2007 issue of The Writer published an excellent article: "Secrets of Six-Figure Freelancers", which covered magazine freelance writers who are making six figures, with one making $260,000 per year. This proves that you can make a great income as any kind of freelance writer. The money is there, all you have to do is take it.
* An average writer on websites such as http://Guru.com and http://Elance.com charges between $15 - $35 per article. These articles take about an hour to write. How many can you write each day? Even with 4 hours of work you have crossed the $36000 per annum barrier.
* Web Copywriters charge a minimum of $250 to about $2000 for 3 -4 pages. You need 50, $2000 assignments to break the 6 figure mark. If you can prove yourself, raise your fees to $25000, there still are buyers for that price! Yep it’s true. That’s what the best copywriters charge! It's hard to find a seasoned copywriter who charges less than $8000 per project.
Freelance writing is not a get rich scheme. $100000 per year is a very realistic figure to reach in freelance writing. No, it does not happen quickly, but it does happen. And it does not happen to especially talented or lucky people as sometimes the mind can trick us into believing.
It happens to normal people who make it happen!
As opposed to what many people think, it does not take a genius or greatness to make a six figure income as a freelance writer. All it takes is
* A New mindset: Change in beliefs which hold you back and your negative ideas on making money.It is indeed a fact that many of us have a negative attitude towards money and it actually hinders us. For example many of us have this belief that "life is hard" and "money does not grow on trees". They are perspectives but not the reality !
* Dedication: What are you willing to do to achieve your goal? Earl Nightingale in his famous book The Strangest Secret states it clearly...” The only way to achieve financial abundance is to provide value to people “. Are you willing to provide good service to people?
* Treating it as a business: All the freelance writers making six figure incomes treat their writing as a serious home based business and employ sound principles which are common in all successful businesses. That’s the beginners secret to break the six figure mark. Treat it as a business.
How to Write Articles Quickly
by: Valerie Dansereau
One of the best ways to promote your website or blog is through article marketing. Learning to write articles quickly is a skill you have to master to accomplish this.
Many website owners make article writing a lot more complicated than it has to be. When writing for websites, remember first of all that people online are scanning web pages, not reading every word, so there is no need to spend hours making every word perfect.
Your content isn’t going to be totally unique, no matter what you write about. Every topic you can think about has already been written about by someone else. Think about it – every newsworthy event is covered by CNN, NBC, ABC, etc. Every network and every newspaper are all covering the exact same event or topic, just in different words.
The fact is, there are no new topics. Your job is to take what’s already been written and improve on it by injecting your own comments and personality.
One way to do research quickly is by inputting the topic you want to write about into a search engine. Choose three or four matches and read these articles thoroughly, taking notes.
Or, other places for quick research include article directories, forums and yahoo answers. By reading what people are asking in yahoo answers, you will learn what information people are looking for.
Amazon.com provides some great tools for quick research. By choosing a few top-selling books on a given topic, you can research quickly by browsing a book’s table of contents, the back cover of the book and even an excerpt.
Once you have taken sufficient notes, it’s time to put your article together. Write an outline of the important points you want to make in your article. Then write the article without looking back at the other articles. This is nothing more than the same work you did in high school writing book reports. Most of us have written quite a few book reports in our lifetime, and in those days many of us put ourselves through the unnecessary stress of cutting it too close to deadlines. That means we already know how to write and research quickly!
Basically, we need to decide what we’re going to accomplish and when. If we intend to write an article a day, then we have to stay glued to our computer until we complete that task. If we want to get it done in half an hour or less, this is another goal to work toward. Practice will definitely lead to improvement.
Article marketing is one of the best forms of free advertising there is. Learning to write articles quickly is an easily learned skill that will help us get the most out of article marketing.
One of the best ways to promote your website or blog is through article marketing. Learning to write articles quickly is a skill you have to master to accomplish this.
Many website owners make article writing a lot more complicated than it has to be. When writing for websites, remember first of all that people online are scanning web pages, not reading every word, so there is no need to spend hours making every word perfect.
Your content isn’t going to be totally unique, no matter what you write about. Every topic you can think about has already been written about by someone else. Think about it – every newsworthy event is covered by CNN, NBC, ABC, etc. Every network and every newspaper are all covering the exact same event or topic, just in different words.
The fact is, there are no new topics. Your job is to take what’s already been written and improve on it by injecting your own comments and personality.
One way to do research quickly is by inputting the topic you want to write about into a search engine. Choose three or four matches and read these articles thoroughly, taking notes.
Or, other places for quick research include article directories, forums and yahoo answers. By reading what people are asking in yahoo answers, you will learn what information people are looking for.
Amazon.com provides some great tools for quick research. By choosing a few top-selling books on a given topic, you can research quickly by browsing a book’s table of contents, the back cover of the book and even an excerpt.
Once you have taken sufficient notes, it’s time to put your article together. Write an outline of the important points you want to make in your article. Then write the article without looking back at the other articles. This is nothing more than the same work you did in high school writing book reports. Most of us have written quite a few book reports in our lifetime, and in those days many of us put ourselves through the unnecessary stress of cutting it too close to deadlines. That means we already know how to write and research quickly!
Basically, we need to decide what we’re going to accomplish and when. If we intend to write an article a day, then we have to stay glued to our computer until we complete that task. If we want to get it done in half an hour or less, this is another goal to work toward. Practice will definitely lead to improvement.
Article marketing is one of the best forms of free advertising there is. Learning to write articles quickly is an easily learned skill that will help us get the most out of article marketing.
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