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!