3. Assess your skills
Writing is part science and part art. At the very least, you need a mastery of the mechanics of spelling, punctuation, and grammar. You can’t confuse “its” with “it’s”, you can’t have run-on sentences, and you can’t misuse commas.
There are plenty of sites that will help you brush up your rusty skills; just remember that time is money. The more you have to stop to look up grammatical rules or spelling, the lower your hourly rate gets.
Be realistic about how quickly you can write and how often you’ll have to stop to look things up.
Beyond those basic mechanics, here are some other skills you’ll need to be successfull.
Attention to detail: Sloppy mistakes cost you clients. And some content sites will ban you if you make too many errors.
You have to be able to spot misspellings, extra spaces after periods, missing commas, etc. And you have to care enough to proofread your article as many times as it takes to make sure you’ve caught them all.
Ability to follow directions: Most clients are very specific about what they want. You have to understand what a client is looking for and deliver exactly that.
One challenge is that everybody has their own rules of style, and they may even contradict each other.
For instance, one client may want straight quotes while another wants smart quotes. You have to be able to keep them straight. Making a separate template for each client helps, but you still have to be meticulous.
Ability to mimic style and voice: Some clients want articles that are formal and authoritative. Others want articles that are casual and intimate. You have to be able to read a client’s other materials and mimic the voice and style.