As any successful freelance writer will tell you, building up a consistent and reliable income takes time, patience and discipline. For most freelancers, finding enough work is by far the most difficult part of the battle, but the following tips should help you to find your first freelancing gig.
1. Participate in Forums
Forums with an active community can be good places for freelancers to find out more about the best clients and websites to work for. Some forums, such as the one at wahm.com, provide a wealth of useful information including reviews of freelance marketplaces, content mills and more.
Writers use forums and freelance writing blogs to share their stories and provide an abundance of useful tips and advice. For anyone just starting out with freelance writing, these resources give you the opportunity to become part of a community of freelancers and learn from experienced and successful writers.
2. Have Your Own Website
Setting up your own blog or website doesn’t have to be particularly difficult or time-consuming, and it doesn’t cost much either. Your website will act as an important platform where you can advertise your skills, display client testimonials and connect with clients directly.
You’ll need to have a website with its own domain name ideally, since this will make your freelancing business look much more professional, and it will stand out more among the search engine results as well.
You can also have an accompanying blog where you showcase some of your best work and provide news updates for your potential and future clients.
3. Get Referrals
Once you have successfully completed your very first job, you should never be afraid to ask your client for a referral.
Online freelancing platforms usually provide freelancer ratings and customer reviews, giving you the opportunity to build up your reputation and become a known name in the freelance writing community.
Even if you have not yet found a client, there may be other referrals and testimonials you can get from related work experiences that you’ve had.
Once you have established your reputation, clients will start coming to you, rather than you having to constantly hunt them down yourself.
4. Email Potential Clients
Don’t be afraid to email potential clients directly.
As someone just starting out as a freelance writer, consider the reasons why you chose this career in the first place. Perhaps you were inspired by a certain blog or website which you have regularly and thought to yourself that you can do something similar.
Make a list of your favourite blogs and websites and email them directly to ask them if they would like you on their team. You will need to be prepared to provide some samples of your work, or more likely, write a small piece specifically for the particular client.
You might not get paid for such samples, but it will give you a chance to showcase your skills.
5. Price Your Work Fairly
When you first start trawling through the freelancing websites, forums and content mills, you will find that the market is full of clients which pay extraordinarily low rates, and this can be very discouraging.
However, any client seeking any semblance of quality should also be prepared to pay a reasonable amount. Nonetheless, learning how to price your work to begin with can be tough. As someone just starting out, it is important that you charge a low yet still reasonable rate.
You might not earn much to begin with, but at this stage it is just as much about building up your portfolio and reputation as it is about earning.
6. Use Social Media
For any business or Internet freelancer, social media has become an invaluable resource and one which is usually every bit as important as having your own website.
You should set up social networking profiles with all of the largest social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is particularly useful for freelancers, since it is orientated towards professional rather than personal use. LinkedIn also provides freelance job listings, and it will be home to your professional online profile.
Other social media websites are also useful for providing news updates and keeping in touch with private clients.
7. Use Freelancing Marketplaces
There are several major online freelancing marketplaces where clients from around the world seek to outsource work over the Internet. Among the most popular are elance.com, freelancer.com, guru.com and peopleperhour.com.
Freelancers use these websites to browse through job offers (most of which are for one-time projects) and send proposals to potential clients.
Unfortunately, these marketplaces tend to be dominated by clients expecting work for absurdly low rates, but there are exceptions and regularly checking back to see if there is anything which suits you may well land you your first writing job within days.
8. Scour Online Job Boards
Freelance writing jobs aren’t only posted on online marketplaces, in forums or on social networks. There are also popular online bulletin boards where clients and freelancers collaborate directly.
One of the most popular of such resources is Craigslist. Unfortunately, finding clients in this way can be risky due to the fact that there is no middleman to help resolve things like payment disputes.
However, online job boards can still be a good place to get a feel for the market and seek out private clients without having to rely solely a particular online marketplace.
9. Determine Your Niche
Some freelancers are prepared to write about absolutely anything, even if it involves writing on subjects with which they have no experience or interest in. However, this kind of writing is not likely to pay very well, and neither will it help you reach out to the best clients.
In order to really succeed in freelance writing, you will need to narrow your focus and specify your skills. Determine a small range of subjects which you enjoy writing about and have plenty of knowledge on. This will show potential clients that you are a master in your niche rather than a Jack of all trades.
10. Don’t Expect Quick Results
Freelance writing is not and never will be a quick way to make money, in spite of what some people might try to tell you.
You cannot reasonably expect to build up a full-time income and quit your day job within a few weeks or even months.
That being said, many freelancers do make a very respectable full-time income, but it takes time and patience.
To build up your income, you should always dedicate some time every week to seeking out new clients, because the more sources of income you have, the more secure your career will be.
11. Try Writing on Speculation
A few websites provide a platform where writers can write about almost any subject they like, price their articles themselves and put them up for sale. While a lot of writers are understandably nervous about writing on speculation, doing so can make you a useful passive income.
Even if it takes a year or more for an article to sell, many writers will tell you what a great feeling it is to suddenly make some money out of the blue in such a manner. Writing on speculation also gives you the opportunity to showcase your skills, build up your portfolio and attract new clients.
12. Try Content Mills
Content mills rarely pay very well, and work tends to be unreliable. In spite of this, content mills are usually quite easy to get started with, and joining several will help to ensure that you always have work to do.
One of the most successful content mills is Demand Studios, and they pay up to $25 per article. With such websites, you will be able to choose from a list of titles and article subjects and submit your work to them.
Other content mills, such as infobarrel.com and suite101.com allow you to write and publish any article you want and get paid by pay-per-click advertising programs.