Freelance writing has surely become a major online job opportunity for many people. Are you an online writer trying to succeed, but you just don’t know how?
You need not worry anymore because I’ve got you covered in this post. In it, you’ll learn some of the best tricks you can employ to become a successful online writer
As many people resort to freelance writing, it’s becoming so competitive that you can easily miss opportunities if you aren’t very skilled.
Here are some of the best tricks you can use to succeed in your online freelancing career.
Establish an enabling working environment
Writing online works more like a regular job. So to increase your chances of productivity, you just have to create a conducive as well as a professional working environment.
Additionally, you also have to practice utmost self-discipline. This will help you work as per your plan and deadlines as well.
Create a Convincing Writing Portfolio
To show your writing ability to potential clients/employers. You need to have all your best writing samples in one place. Where you can simply send them through a link. That way, they’ll be able to see your writing prowess in different types of content.
Familiarize yourself with the best practices
Take some time to learn how successful writers go about their game. How they:
- Effectively apply for the writing jobs, get them, and communicate throughout the agreed period
- Confidently negotiate and fix their pay rates with their employers.
- Prepare, write, and present various types of content
Advertise your writing service
Currently, there are a variety of advertising avenues you can utilize. Depending on your budget, you can either choose to use the paid or free means to reach out to your potential clients.
The paid avenues include Bing Ads and Google Adwords. Whereas, free ones comprise social media platforms like Linked In, Twitter, and Facebook.
Do Proper Compensation Research
As an online writer, you encounter many opportunities including articles and blog posts, writing vacancies, newspaper correspondents,e and so on. Whichever the case, endeavor to find out what the compensation plan for the job will be. Ensure that whatever you charge is neither too high nor too low. This tells your client that you’re informed of what you’re doing.
Adequately apply for jobs
Establish a job application schedule that ensures you send enough writing job proposals, and pitches as well. This will significantly improve your chances of landing on jobs and your job flow.
Do proper application tracking
Maintain an accurate account of all your writing work proposals and pitches. You can either do it manually or use online tools such as submittable. This will make it much easier for you to do all the necessary follow-ups.
Find Out the Client’s Expectations
It’s important to exhaustively communicate with the client about what needs to be done, to lessen the number of possible revisions. Before, your work is finally accepted. If your work meets the client’s expectations, it shows how professional you’re and eliminates revisions as well. Although, you should give room for revisions whenever the need arises, to perfect the work.
Work Systematically
In case you like tackling the easy work first before the hard one, use that route. Otherwise,e if you don’t like the approach, you can do the direct opposite of it. In other words, you should work in a manner that allows you to enjoy what you do. In case you aren’t sure whether you’ll be able to submit the work as per the deadline, inform the client promptly. Make sure that you do not miss any deadlines too
Request and Use Feedback
Upon completion of any work, you should ask for feedback from the client. Thereafter, you can publish all positive ones on your blog. Constructive testimonials on your site can convince potential clients and work to your advantage.
Issue Your Invoices and Request For Timely Payments
After successful submission and approval of your work, you’re entitled to timely payment. Therefore, ensure you send your invoice in time and ask the client to make payments. This demonstrates your professionalism and integrity to them.
Join Freelancing Groups
These groups will help you to get well-paying clients, useful writing information, fruitful connections, a good reputation as well as feedback for your work. You can find these groups of freelancers on Linked In, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook,k and so on.
Final Thoughts
At the beginning of this post, you sought to know how to succeed as an online writer. Having handled that in detail, you now know. If you implement the tips in this post, your success won’t come as a surprise but as an achievement.
About the Author
Fredrick Musungu is an experienced content marketer and copywriter for hire. He has been helping B2B, B2C businesses, and individuals to earn more through persuasive and informative content. That converts readers into buyers and has been doing this for over three years.
His work has been featured in sites like Medium, Dot Writer, Linked In Pulse, Famio Services Ltd, and MpesaPay. He also helps aspiring freelance writers break into the business at Liberating Freelance. Download his free guide “What Is Online Writing?” and learn more.