When I set out to make money writing online, I did it because I wanted the freedom of being my own boss, working from home, and doing something I already loved to do to begin with. I only had one problem: I had no idea how to start. In fact, it took me a good five years before I had enough steady work to keep me financially stable and continually improve my standard of living.
In this article, I’ll provide you with some of the things I found in my quest to live an independent life and do something I love for a living: writing.
1. Pick a niche
When you say, “I want to make money writing online,” there are so many options available that it can actually be quite confusing. There’s blogging, copywriting, SEO writing, branding, article writing, ghostwriting, technical writing, and more. I’ve done each and every one of these things throughout my freelance career, and it’s safe to say that most people will eventually end up diversifying to develop a more complete portfolio and client base. However, it is extremely important to ensure that you have a niche when starting out.
I didn’t have a niche when I started, which means I was applying for every type of job I could find. However, later when I developed a niche, I found that it was much easier to get a job. My particular niche is in branding and marketing writing; This includes writing promotional copy, such as brochures, scripts, advertisements, and more, as well as creating taglines, taglines, business names, and product names.
I found that I enjoyed writing short texts much more than writing long articles or writing entire books. Eventually I got to the point where I could charge a lot more money for small projects that didn’t take a lot of time because I built up my reputation in that particular niche.
When you’re starting out, decide what you want to do. If you want to write articles about things that interest you, build your portfolio in that direction and focus on getting those kinds of jobs. If you want to write screenplays, build your portfolio in that direction. Just make sure you’re not one of those “I’ll do it all” people because being selective is better: riches are in niches.
2. Offer of jobs every day
Of course, to make money writing online you have to find a job, and that’s the biggest problem most people face, so I’ll give you a list of the sites I use every day:
*elance: Elance is my number one resource and that is why it is at the top of this list. It is the absolute best place to get writing jobs online. If you’ve never been on Elance, it’s pretty simple: people need work done, so they post what they need and provide a budget ($500-$1,000, say) and then people just like you submit proposals for that job.
One of the main reasons freelancers don’t get the volume of work I get from Elance is because they don’t bid every day. They work a few days a week and bid for a few jobs. If you really want to be successful, you need to bid every day because new jobs are posted every day.
*Guru: Guru is my second in line. I have memberships on both sites. I don’t get as many jobs on Guru as I do on Elance, but I bid for both every day. Doing this ensures that I have a steady stream of customers and income on a daily basis. Without this constant stream of projects, you will never be able to live comfortably in your home.
When it comes to making money writing online, it doesn’t matter if you are new to the writing game and only have a little idea of what you are doing, the only way you are going to make money is to start bidding for jobs and get constant customers. As your portfolio improves and diversifies, you want to start increasing your prices. Over time, you’ll increase your Guru and Elance member rankings, clients will start coming to you because of referrals, and within six months, you’ll have the steady work you need to succeed and truly earn a living writing online. .
3. Stay away from mass writing jobs
Many people recommend that you write for sites that will pay you around $2-$10 per 300-500 word article. At first this sounds great: they’ll say put out 20 items a day and you’re making $200 a day.
This is the worst thing you can do. First of all, the money is not worth it. Writing is a creative field and your creativity can’t just spawn ideas like an assembly line. I tried these types of jobs for a while and they burned me out and made me hate my job. Unfortunately, many people who want to make money writing online think that this is the only option available. It’s not. As a writer, you should be able to earn $200 for an hour’s worth of work.