Being a professional freelance writer/blogger is the best job in the world; at least from where I sit (which is wherever I want by the way.) But before you can start blogging for the big bucks, you need to know what you are up against. Remember, there are over 70 million blogs online. And guess what? I would venture to guess that a very small number of them allow their owners to make a decent living. With that being said, there is no reason that you cannot turn your blog into a money making machine.
For beginning bloggers, the first thing that you need to know is that content is king. I know that saying is a bit “played out,†but it is true. If you do not update your blog on a regular basis it is not going to reach its fullest potential. Remember, people visit your blog for what you have to say. If they read a few good posts and then find that you slacked off for two weeks, they are going to forget about you. Even if you only have the chance to shoot off a couple hundred words, it is better than nothing.
In addition to blogging on a regular basis, you also want to make sure that your posts are of high quality. There is an ever growing debate between bloggers over what is better, “quantity or quality.†My personal take is that you need both. Maybe I am a bit off base with this, but if you offer both you will have a much better chance of succeeding. And that is what you want, right?
So at this point you know that you need to write often, and that your entries should be of the highest quality possible. The next step is to not get frustrated. I have had some blogs begin making money within a few days, whereas others have taken a year or longer. There is no way of saying how things will work out, so exercise a high degree of patience. In other words, concentrate on making posts and let the traffic and money follow in suit. Trust me; it will come sooner or later if you continue to write.
You may also want to consider whether or not you want to attempt to monetize your blog from day one. Some people feel that waiting for traffic is best, while others prefer to get their income streams in place right away. Personally, I like to wait just a bit to see what direction my blog is moving. This will then allow you to put the proper income streams in the right place.
For instance, if you have a blog with more Google Adsense ads than posts, your readers are going to think that you are after nothing more than money. I am sure some bloggers will disagree, but in my experience content comes first, then traffic, then monetization.
The majority of people start blogs to make money, but then give up within a few weeks when nothing happens. Do not become one of these people! You do have what it takes if you put your mind to it, stay patient, and continue posting.
Now that you have a better idea of where to find freelance writing and blogging jobs (see the last post), you must now know how to win these coveted positions.
I recently ran a test experiment of sorts at freelancewriting.com. Since I was a bit behind with some articles, I wanted to find an experienced writer to crank out a couple pages for me; not a huge project by any means. So I posted the job, with a detailed description, and waited for the responses to roll in. Within five hours or so I was barraged with more than 30 emails. As you can imagine, I had a hard time sifting through all of these to find the best writer.
So what was the point of this experiment? Outside of actually wanting to find a writer, I also wanted to see what type of competition was out there. The bottom line is that if you want to move to the top of a buyers list, your email better stick out.
Here is what I looked for when going through the emails.
1. First off, anybody who made a typo in the subject line was immediately out of the running. It is this attention to detail that buyers are going to notice first.
2. Upon opening each email I began to look at sentence structure, grammar, etc. As soon as I noticed a mistake, no matter how small, I deleted the message.
3. Finally, I took a close look at what the remaining writers had to offer. Are they experienced? Did they follow my directions? These, among many others, are questions that I asked myself.
As you can see, if you can put together an error free email you will be able to move onto the final round with most buyers. From there, your past work and current skills will determine whether or not you get hired.
The point is that you need to take each email you send very seriously. If you make even one mistake, you may miss out on a great job that could have netted a big paycheck. And remember, spell check is not enough. You need to read and reread each message to check for typos, grammar mistakes, and anything else that may raise a red flag!
Time and time again people ask me how I find regular freelance writing and blogging jobs. While there is no hard and fast rule for seeking the best positions, there are several options that anybody can look into.
Two of my favorite places to hunt down freelance writing gigs are:
1. freelancewriting.com
2. getafreelancer.com
At freelancewriting.com, buyers post jobs ranging from business plan writing to keyword articles. Make sure that you search both the “high paying†and “low paying†boards so that you do not miss out on anything. While you will find a lot of tire kickers on this site, a few good jobs do sneak into the picture on a regular basis.
Getafreelancer.com (GAF) is quite similar to elance.com; just not as popular. The main reason that I like GAF is that you do not have to pay anything to bid on jobs. In fact, the only time that you are forced to pay is if you win a job. Even then, you are only charged 10 percent of the total winning bid. For example, if you win a project worth $100, GAF will charge you $10 and you will net $90. This may seem like a lot, but it is actually a great deal once you begin to win more and more projects.
Check out my GAF page at http://www.getafreelancer.com/users/180681.html. Although some of the contact information is out of date, it does not really matter at this point. Since joining I have won 18 projects, and on all of them I have received perfect “10 of 10†feedback from the buyer. Getting good feedback is essential if you want to get repeat jobs. Now that I am established I usually get a couple requests to bid each week from interested buyers.
Are you thinking that 17 projects won is not worth the time? Before you do, keep in mind that a lot of these jobs have turned into regular clients. In fact, one of my biggest clients found me through GAF. Over the last year alone I have done over $5,000 worth of work for them.
Blogging jobs are often times more difficult to find. But with that being said, they are not impossible to land. Although I guest blog for three companies right now, all of them were referrals from different clients of mine. If you are interested in a blogging job, check out http://jobs.problogger.net. This is a great place to find some of the top blogging jobs with the top blogging networks.
As you can imagine, this does not even scratch the surface as far as to what is available in the freelance writing and blogging industries. Simply put, this is where I started to find jobs, and still do from time to time.
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