What does freelance writing mean to you? For most, this career is mainly involved around writing for a wide variety of clients. Of course, there are other tasks that you will have to take care of in order to keep your business running smooth. For instance, you must pay taxes on time, keep good accounting records, and much more.
But what happens when your freelance writing clients want more than words? In other words, they ask you to write for them, but then spring additional tasks on you as well. If this does not sound familiar to you, you have been lucky thus far. While most freelance writing clients will never ask you to do extra work, there are some that do not operate this way.
One of the extras that I have come across time after time is being asked to post articles after I write them. In other words, a client wants me to write an article for them, and then post it with special instructions to their static website or blog. Is this a big deal? Not really; it usually only takes a few minutes per article. But with that being said, it can be time consuming if you have several clients asking you to do the same.
Is it alright to ask for more money if a freelance writing client wants you to do more than write? This is a tough spot because you want to get paid for your time and work, but on the same token you do not want to put the client off. If you are lucky, the client will ask you to do additional tasks, and then offer you some extra money to do so. As of right now, I upload articles for several clients, and each one has offered to pay me accordingly.
If you are not comfortable with these additional tasks, there is nothing wrong with saying no. The fact of the matter is that your job is to write, and you may not want to get involved in any other way. But before you turn down non-writing work, you should consider what you are doing. You may miss out on some additional income, or worse yet, put a client off by not working with them in this manner.Â
Jumping into the freelance writing world can be scary. But if you think about it, this holds true no matter what career path you choose. The only difference is that when you are a freelancer you do not have any set income. And that leads me to the number one fear that all freelance writers share: not making enough money.
Starting out as a freelance writer can be scary as far as earning enough money to survive is concerned. After all, you more than likely have financial responsibilities, and quite possibly a family to support. To get past this fear, make sure you have enough money in the bank to help you along early on. If you have at least three months of living expenses saved, you will have plenty of time to jump start your freelance writing career. Even though this is not required, it will definitely help to make the leap less stressful.
Fear number two: not being able to find clients. This goes along with fear number one, because if you cannot find clients you cannot make money. Luckily, there are three options to consider when searching for work. 1. Use bidding sites such as GetAFreelancer. 2. Market yourself to people who may need your service. You can do this through cold calling, email, and by setting up your own website. 3. Search freelance writing job boards everyday. If you rely on all three of these options you should be able to find some work early on in your career. And all you need is a few little jobs to put the wheels in motion.
Fear number three: not making it. A lot of people are afraid to try a career in freelance writing because they think that failing is a bad thing. Of course, nobody wants to fail, but you have to chase your dream career if you are ever going to realize your potential. The bottom line is that until you take the risk, you will never know if you have what it takes to make it as a freelance writer. Forget fear, and go for the gusto!
If you can learn to get past these three fears, you will find that the early days of your freelance writing career are less stressful and hopefully more successful.Â
For many freelance writers, keyword article writing is where they start. Generally speaking, these articles are pretty easy to understand. They are articles based around a “keyword†as to help with search engine rankings. Since more and more people are hoping to make money online, more and more keyword articles are going to be needed.
The question is: does writing these articles make you a freelance writer? To me, the answer is a resounding YES. Some will tell you that you are doing nothing more than wasting your time with keyword articles; the reason being that you will not get paid a lot of money. But in my opinion, just because you are not earning $1/word from a national publication does not make the writing any less important.
What type of money can keyword article writing bring in? From my experience, this can differ greatly. Early in my career, I was writing these short pieces for as little as $3 an article. While this would be a time waster for me right now, back then I was happy to be generating income; no matter what it was from. I still write keyword articles from time to time, and I usually earn anywhere from $15 to $20 for 400 words or so. Again, this may not seem like a lot, but look at it this way. If a client orders a batch of 20 articles at $20 each, that is a $400 project. Five of these projects a month and you are earning $2,000. Not bad, right?
All in all, keyword article writing is far from copywriting. But with that being said, it is a viable way to make money. There are tens of thousands of webmasters who are willing to pay writers a decent rate to produce a high quantity of keyword articles. Don’t overlook this income stream if you are interested in becoming a freelance writer.
