Category: Freelance Writing

Often when we think about freelance writing we tend to only think about writing for the end consumer. There’s a huge market out there for B2B writing (business to business) though and it can be extremely rewarding.

So what is B2B writing and how can you make this a key part of your freelance writing business?

What Is B2B Writing?

B2B writing is when you produce content for your client that is going to be read by a business, or someone reading on behalf of a business. It might not be as prevalent in freelance writing, but there is a massive market for B2B Writing, and many of the biggest brands in the world hire freelance writers to produce their content. 

As with B2C writing (business to consumer), there are lots of different forms of B2B writing in lots of different industries. This means that no matter what your niche is, there’s going to be plenty of work out there for you in B2B writing and there are some big upsides!

Why B2B Writing?

So you’ve been doing B2C writing your whole career, why should you suddenly switch to B2B writing? 

One of the big reasons for making the switch is money. Working in B2B you have the potential to double your fee versus what you earn in B2C. Besides this, you can often find yourself working for some really big brands, which is great when you’re looking to market yourself. 

Of course, B2B writing offers its own challenges and you might have to adapt your writing style a little bit, but really, it’s much the same thing.

5 Tips to Help You Succeed with B2B Writing

Here are some simple tips you can follow when you land your first B2B writing jobs.

1. Businesses Are Humans Too

You might be selling your client’s services to a business, but the person at the other end of the computer is a human being. Even when they’re at work, humans like to be entertained, and they certainly don’t enjoy reading overly technical writing. 

If you’re writing about something technical, which you might well be in B2B writing, it’s tempting to get carried away with technical language and endless acronyms. The person reading your work may or may not have great technical knowledge, but it’s fairly certain that they’re going to prefer reading something that is written in plain English. 

In Everything That’s Wrong With Your Web Copy – And How To Fix It, John Kerrison advises “technical talk is all well and good, but it needs to be saved for when you’ve already generated interest.”

No matter how technical the subject your writing about is, there’s always a way to write it so that everyone can understand it and easily read it. You can assume that your readers all have high-level technical knowledge, but you’ll find that you’re losing a big chunk of your audience at the first hurdle.   

It’s quite easy to get carried away with the technical aspects of B2B writing, but in reality, your goal is exactly the same as when your writing for B2C. Keep things light and interesting and you’re sure to see better results than if you just churn out technical speech. 

2. Everyone’s Busy

This is another point that is as true in B2C writing as it is in B2B writing. Nobody wants to waste their time reading something that’s not going to answer their questions. As a consequence, it’s vitally important that you get straight to the point.

People need to be convinced early on in your writing that you’re going to answer their questions. If you can’t do this, then you’re going to have a lot of people who stop reading and look for their answer somewhere else. 

When you’re working in B2B writing that means when people leave your page, they’re probably going to go to your competitor’s page to find what they’re looking for. This makes it vitally important that you hook your reader early on, and convince them that you’re going to answer their question in a light, easy to read way. 

As Michael King says in 6 Ways To Improve Your B2B Copywriting Skills “your first 20-50 words need to surprise your reader, make them smile in agreement, or explain what value they stand to gain out of reading further.”

People’s time is valuable, so show them their time is valuable to you by getting to the point. You might enjoy writing creative fluff, but at the end of the day, it’s answering people’s questions and solving their pain points that are going to sell your product. 

The first 20-50 words of your article are vitally important when it comes to this, so make sure your first sentences are addressing questions about your keywords. This includes titles, so make sure your titles are laser-focused!

There’s still room to be creative, but you’ve got to do it in a way that convinces your reader to read on. 

Once you have your reader invested in your content then you can afford to get a little bit more creative and really express your style, but your number one goal at the beginning of your content is to get people to read on. 

3. You’re At Work But You’re Writing Doesn’t Have To Be

Just because you’re writing B2B copy doesn’t mean you’re writing all of sudden has to become rigid and joyless. You’ll find that some of the best B2B writing uses an extremely laid-back tone that many of us don’t associate with business communication. That’s because the person you’re talking to is a human!

Don’t be afraid to use all your writing skills and use the tone you want to use. Nobody sold anything by simply spouting technical information – it’s the art of your writing that’s going to do that. So, have confidence in your style and treat your reader like any human being you normally come into contact with.

You’re obviously highly knowledgeable about the subject you’re discussing, but the main thing you’re being paid for is your great writing ability. If your client simply wanted technical writing with no frills then they could have got an employee to do it. So use the skills you’re client has hired you for and wow the person at the other end of the computer!

4. Know Your Audience

Like any form of writing, it’s vitally important that you understand your audience when you’re writing for B2B. This starts with understanding the business you’re writing for and can take a fair amount of research. 

The better you can understand your client’s goals, values, products, and services, the better you can understand your audience. If you don’t get this stage of your research right, then you might well find that you’re writing fails before you even begin. 

Once you understand your client’s business, the best thing to do is put yourself in their prospective customers’ shoes. If you were them, what would your most pressing concerns be? What questions would you have? What would you like to know more about?

The more information you can put down on paper, the more you can tailor your writing to your audience. As Elise Dopson states in her article, 11 B2B Copywriting Tips To Take Your Content From Hero To Zero, “your copy–whether it’s a blog post or complex B2B white paper–should reflect your understanding of your industry, and of your customers’ needs and problems.”

Understanding your audience is important for all forms of writing, but it can be a little harder to do in B2B writing. If you’re going to have success as a freelance B2B writer though, you’re going to have to learn to understand who your audience is. 

5. Use Clear Calls To Action

No matter what you’re writing there is a reason for you writing it. It is important that you keep your goals in mind as you’re writing, and make them obvious to the reader. This means using clear calls to action (CTAs).

It’s easy to think that the objective of your writing is painfully obvious, but the truth is, readers have a mind of their own. If your goal is to get people clicking to a certain page or offer then make it obvious, then come back and make it even more obvious!

You can write the absolute best B2B copy, but if your calls to action are not clear then you won’t achieve the desired results. There’s so much noise on the internet that if you don’t get people following your calls to action while you have them hooked then they can easily become distracted and go elsewhere. 

Once you have your reader’s attention, make sure you use it to funnel them in the direction you want them to go. A big part of modern content writing is being able to control where you direct your reader’s attention and if you’re not using clear calls to action then you’re going to find this much more difficult to do. 

Conclusion

There are some subtle differences between B2B and B2C writing, but the concept is the same. You need to understand your audience, use your sparkling writing skills to appeal to them, and get them to take action. 

It seems like a very simple formula, and it in some ways it is, but it takes a lot of skill to do it well. If you’re a successful B2C writer then you certainly have the skills that are needed to succeed in B2B, but there are some steps you can take to get you started on the front foot. 

If you remember these things then you can avoid some of the mistakes many people make when writing for B2B:

1. Remember you’re talking to a human.
2. Accept that everyone is busy. 
3. Don’t be afraid to keep your casual tone. 
4. Understand your audience.
5. Use clear calls to action.

At the end of the day, writing is writing, so if you feel confident writing B2C then there should be absolutely nothing stopping you from writing B2B. You’ll need the same writing skills and the same planning and organizational skills, the rest is down to understanding your audience, and wowing them with your words. 

How To Lose Your Fear and Get Paid To Write

To many people, the idea of getting paid to write is quite appealing apart from one key issue. They’re afraid of what people will think of their writing. There’s plenty of us out there thinking – “yeah I’m a good writer, but am I like those people you see on America’s Got Talent where they think they’re really good but in reality they suck?”

The thought of your article being read by thousands of people and torn to shreds by a group of aggressive keyboard warriors is nothing short of terrifying. We’re here to tell you that there’s nothing to be terrified of though and if you think your writing is good enough to earn you money then it is. 

The thing is, every would-be writer has the same fears as you. We all think our writing is quite good but we just don’t know if everyone else will think the same thing. The simple answer is, not everyone is going to think you’re a good writer, there are some that will think your writing sucks. 

Even the most famous writers in the world have their critics, world-famous writer, Rudyard Kipling was once told “… you just don’t know how to use the English language” in response to a pitch he made to a newspaper. One editor even told H.G. Wells that The War of the Worlds “was an endless nightmare. I think the verdict was ‘oh don’t read that horrid book.”

If some of the most famous writers of all time get this kind of feedback then surely we cannot be too worried about what Joe Public thinks of our writing. There are going to be some people that don’t like it, but there are going to be plenty of people that really enjoy it. 

Whether or not we have legitimate reasons to worry if our work will be well received, there are plenty of things we can do to make the process easier. If you’re going to get paid to write then you want your writing to be as well-received as possible, so we’ve put together 7 steps that will help you get over your fear of having your writing read. 

How to Get Paid to Write

1. Just Write
2. Make Your Writing Digestible
3. Become An Expert
4. Post Frequently In Low-Pressure Forums
5. Seek Feedback From The Right People
6. Become a Critical Reader
7. Rely On Your Research

1. Just Write

Writing is one of those things where once you’ve started you can get completely lost in the process, so just start writing. You’ll find that once you get started and things start flowing you’ll be too busy to worry about what people will think of your writing. 

It’s the case with so many things, but it seems especially true of writing – starting is the hardest part. Before you start writing your brain has so many questions: how long will this take me, can I write 2,000 words on this subject, will people like this subject, will people agree with my ideas, do I know enough about this subject?

However, when you actually start writing, those questions disappear. You’re just in the flow and things seem to come naturally. You may worry about what people think about your writing before you start, and you may think about it again when you’re finished, but for that period where you’re writing, you can be worry free!

If you’re going to get paid to write then the place to start is by actually writing! Just sit down in a quiet place and get the process started. You’ll find that the more you get into it, the less you’ll worry about whether people like your writing and the more you’ll enjoy the process. 

Need some topic ideas? Why not check out our Guide To Freelance Writing Topics?

2. Make Your Writing Digestible

Most of the people you’ll write for aren’t looking to read War and Peace. Depending on what kind of medium you’re writing for, you’re going to want to make your writing as easy to consume as possible.  

The internet has had a big change on the way we consume information, and writers have had to adapt to keep up with this. One of the big things you have to take into account is the formatting. When you view a webpage, the last thing you want to see is a massive block of text, and your readers are the same. 

You really have to be aware of the fact that information is so easily available in today’s world. If people don’t like the way your article is formatted then they will simply go and get the information they need from somewhere else. That means understanding what the modern consumer wants. 

What the modern consumer wants is convenience. First of all, they want to know that your article is going to cover the topic they are interested in, and they want to feel like they’re going to be entertained. How do you take care of these two issues? Well, you’ve got to get your title just right. It needs to be snappy, to the point, and entice the reader into reading on. 

Human attention spans really aren’t all that long, so once you’ve captured your audience’s attention, you’ve got to focus on keeping them with you. Don’t get carried away with fancy words when simple ones will do, and make sure your text is broken down into manageable chunks.

It’s nice to show off the complexities of your writing some times, but in many cases, the most successful writing is very simple. It might seem like a simple point, but you’ve got to tailor your writing to your consumer. 

3. Become An Expert

It’s hard to overstate the benefits of selecting some writing niches. Everything becomes so much easier when you have a few key subjects to focus your writing on. Not only does it make marketing yourself much easier, but it also makes writing itself much easier. 

The best way to feel confident in your writing is to know that you completely understand everything you’re writing about. If you have a few niche subjects that you focus on, it’s possible to become an expert in those subjects and then you can build your confidence writing in those subjects. 

As Miranda Brookins says in her article, The Advantages of a Niche Business, “Being recognized as an expert lends credibility to your brand and motivates customers to do business with you.” The more you can establish yourself as an expert, the more confidence you will have in yourself, but more importantly, the more confidence your clients will have in you.

It’s a horrible feeling if you’re constantly worried that what you’re writing is not factually correct. The best way to get over this lack of confidence is to gradually build your knowledge in certain subjects. For us, we started out in the niche of tennis, and it allowed us to build our confidence because we knew we had a huge amount of knowledge in that subject. 

You might not have a niche that jumps out at you at the moment, but if you put a little thought into it you’re bound to find a subject that you’re passionate about and can become an expert in. When you do this, you’ll find you become much more confident in your writing, and it will be much easier to create content. 

4. Post Frequently In Low-Pressure Forums

A lot of the pressure that we put on ourselves when we’re writing is based on what we think other people will think of our writing. So why don’t we take other people out of the equation and build our confidence in a less pressurized forum?

This is one of the reasons we recommend new freelance writers start their own website. It’s a great way to do something productive that will benefit you in the future, whilst pratcicing your writing in a less pressurized environment. When you start out with your website, you can write your blog, safe in the knowledge that, at least in the beginning, not many people are going to be reading it. 

Having your own website means you control how your writing is presented and allows you to just write for yourself. There’s no need to worry about what people are going to say about your content, and you can just relax and do your thing. The other nice thing about this is that you can edit what you’ve written at any time. You can go back in a year and change the whole article if you wish. 

Medium is another great forum where you can post without too much pressure, and it’s a great way to just practice. The more you practice, the more you’ll feel comfortable writing, and before you know it, you won’t worry about what people say. 

Once you get over your fear of writing, you’ve taken a big step towards getting paid to write. If you worry about what people might think of your writing then practice by posting to low-pressure forums where your work isn’t going to be widely read. 

5. Seek Feedback From The Right People

Another big change that has come about in the modern age is that everyone has a platform to voice their opinions. This means that no matter how good your content is, there’s a chance you’re going to get some criticism for it. 

If you look at some great products on Facebook, there’s always someone who has to find some ridiculous criticism of it, and the same thing can happen with your writing. The trick to dealing with criticism is taking feedback from the people that count. Rather than focusing on negative feedback from a single source, Impraise recommends getting “Feedback from different sources gives you more perspective and helps you form a more holistic view”

Having said that, the best people you can get feedback from are your clients and potential clients. At the end of the day, you want to get paid to write, so you need to cater to the people that are going to be paying you. Whenever you’re dealing with a client always try and get as much feedback as you can. 

It can be difficult to ignore criticism of your writing that comes from the wrong sources, believe me, I know. But if you take every single criticism to heart then you’re just going to lose confidence in your writing ability. 

The best way to get over this problem is to seek feedback from the people that really matter. If you’re working with the right clients then they will give you constructive feedback that you can use to improve your freelance writing. 

6. Become a Critical Reader

I find one of the best ways to improve my own writing is to read lots of content and constantly evaluate what I read. If you can learn to analyze everything you read, dissecting the things you like and dislike, then you’ll find you can improve your own writing without having to do much work. 

The more you read, and realize that your writing is as good as much of the writing out there on the internet, the more confidence you will have in your writing. It’s not something that happens overnight, your writing is a never-ending quest, but you will soon find your confidence growing. 

If you want to get paid to write then you’ve got to see writing as a part of your life. Just like you have to make your niche a part of your life, you need to see writing in general as a big part of your life. This means being a critical reader and analyzing everything you read. 

Find some quality content in your niche and read it regularly. Discover what the trends are, the styles of writing, the tone, and incorporate what you like into your own writing. This is another easy way to prove to yourself that you’re ready to get over the fear and get paid to write. 

7. Rely on Your Research

One of the easiest ways to boost your confidence in your writing is to double the effort you put into your research. If you know that your research is absolutely top-draw then you’re not going to worry that people are going to find holes in your work. 

I always remember a saying my Dad used to say to me when I was playing tennis, “perfect planning prevents piss poor performance,” and it rings true for freelance writing. If you go into your writing knowing that you’ve done everything you can with your research, then you’re going to be a lot more confident about the result. It’s easy to skip the research step, but if you do, you’re going to know, and your readers are going to know. 

If you’re going to grow your confidence and get paid to write then you have to take your research seriously. You might not have perfect grammar or perfect spelling, but those are easy fixes in today’s world. If you don’t do your research though, there’s no technology that’s going to bail you out. 

Conclusion

Building confidence in your writing is something that’s completely in your hands. There are many steps you can take to build your confidence and give you the belief that you can get paid to write. 

The only thing that is holding you back in this situation is you, you just have to make your mind up that you’re going to get over your fear of writing and actually start the process. If you follow our 7 steps, you can gradually build your confidence and increase your chances of getting paid to write. 

1. Just write
2. Make your writing digestible
3. Become an expert
4. Post frequently in low-pressure forums
5. Seek feedback from the right people
6. Become a critical reader
7. Rely on your research

If you can use these techniques to build your confidence and improve your writing, then you will soon find that you’ll have plenty of opportunities to get paid to write. A fear of writing is nothing unusual, but you have to take steps to overcome it if you’re going to be successful as a freelance writer. 

In Need Of Ideas for Freelance Writing Topics?

So, first thing’s first,  you’re probably wondering about the title here. Well, all will be revealed with time! As you probably did guess though, we’re here to talk about freelance writing topics, and most importantly, what you can do when the idea well appears to have run dry.

When you’re struggling to think of topic ideas it can be pretty frustrating, but there’s a big plus side to this. At least it means you’re getting work and the demand is there for your excellent writing! In the grand scheme of things, struggling to think of something to write about is not a bad problem to have. 

Even if we’re not writers, we’ve all been in that position where you’re banging your head against a brick wall trying to work out what to write about (we all went to school). Unfortunately, from time to time as freelance writers we might feel like we’ve been transported back to Mr. Robertson’s 9th grade English class as we’re forced to figure out what to write about!

There’s no need for PTSD to start kicking in though because there are plenty of ways to get around this and come up with tons of interesting freelance writing topics to write about.  No matter how much you’ve written about a topic there’s always a new angle you can find, you just need a little push in the right direction. 

To help you out in your quest, we’ve put together our 7 key steps to coming up with new freelance writing topics. Ensuring you can keep the great content rolling.

1. Use Your Day To Day Life

Hopefully, you’ve taken the first step in your freelance writing career and selected a few niche topics to focus on. I’m even more hopeful that these are niches you’re passionate about and enjoy working on, because if so, this process is going to be much easier. 

The thing is, when you’re writing about topics that you enjoy and have a personal interest in, it’s easy to incorporate them into your everyday life. You can relate the things you see back to your niche subject, and consequently, the things you do and see in your day-to-day life become topics you can use in your writing. 

If you’ve always got your eyes open, your ears peeled, and your niche on your mind, then your life can provide many of the content ideas you need. For instance, in my niche of tennis, I found I was always making mistakes on the most important points, so I decided to research the best ways to approach big points and write about it. 

It doesn’t even have to be tennis specific. Say I see something on the news about people having less spending money than ten years ago. Boom, I’ve got an article, “How The Squeeze on Take Home Pay Might Affect Tennis”.

No matter what you do, you’re exposed to so many stories in your day-to-day life that some of them have to relate to your niche in some way. Learn to focus on how the things you see and hear on a day to day basis might affect your niche, and you’ll find there’s a wealth of content to tap into.

2. Borrow From Other People

If you’re not finding content ideas in your own life then it’s time to start looking at what other people are seeing in theirs. No matter what niche you’re in, there are bound to be plenty of people out there who are writing about it, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with borrowing some of their ideas. 

You may be thinking this is like stealing but that’s not the case. As long as you’re taking the ideas that are out there, rewriting them, and putting your own spin on them, then that’s absolutely fine. Just because Bob has written an article on why John Deere tractors are better than Massey Ferguson tractors doesn’t mean you can’t too! 

In fact, borrowing ideas from your competitors is an excellent way to understand what content works well and what content doesn’t work well before you’ve even written it. Here’s how you do it!

So I typed my query, “why John Deere tractors are better than Massey Ferguson” into Google and selected the first result that came up. It’s not actually an article but a forum (chance for a nice article in there). Anyway, next I go to neilpatel.com and put the domain of the first result that came up, tractorbynet.com into the search. 

If you scroll down to Top SEO Pages, you can see which pages bring in the most amount of traffic for that website. Click the view all button on one of the pages and you will see which keywords that page ranks for, and how many visitors those keywords bring in. 

When I do this, I can see that TractorByNet is getting around 3,768 visitors a month from the keyword field leveling and that term only has a difficulty rating of 22, which means it’s pretty easy to rank for! I might even write an article about field leveling at that rate!

This technique works for any niche and is a brilliant way of discovering freelance writing topics. Not only does it give you ideas for what to write, but it also shows you what is popular. 

3. Take Your Research a Step Further

Have you ever been researching something and you’ve gone down a certain root of investigation and found a treasure trove of content ideas? Well, that can often be the case when you do some good digging!

Why not take a previous article you have written, take your research to the next level for that article and see what you dig up. You’ll often find that you not only have the potential to vastly improve the original article, but you also discover some great writing topics. 

I once did this with an article that touched on betting in tennis. The original article included betting as a bit of a side-note, but when I went back through the article and did a little bit more research on the betting aspect of it, I realized there were a whole series of articles to be written on betting in tennis. 

Even if you put in a crazy amount of research for an article you will find that new information comes to light with time. When you revisit an old article you might find that there’s lots of new research out there, and lots of potential for new freelance writing topics. 

4. Use a Title Generator

So, I told you I would tell you the story behind the quirky title I picked for this article and I didn’t lie! Clearly, “The Mayan’s Lost Guide To Freelance Writing Topics” is a bit of a fanciful title for this article, and I must admit for the purposes of this piece I got it from a title generator. 

I simply went to Tweak Your Biz and put my keywords – freelance writing topics – into the generator and before I knew it I had hundreds of topic ideas. Now, not all of these function as adequate titles (this one being point in case) but they will stimulate your mind and give you some new ideas. 

Sometimes it’s just a tiny thing that can get your creative juices going and a title generator can be that tiny thing. It’s not fancy or complicated, but it’s a fun way to get some ideas for things to write about. 

If you’re really struggling for ideas don’t beat yourself up about it. Relax, take a step back and try and find a fun way to stimulate your ideas like this one. 

5. Get Personal

Humans love stories! Even more so, they love personal stories. Why do you think we have so many reality TV shows? Well, you don’t have to go to reality TV star levels, but you can make some good content out of your personal experiences. 

Let’s go back to our John Deere vs Massey Ferguson tractor debate. Now, I know absolutely nothing about tractors, but I do have a personal story that I can use to create a story and weigh in on this debate. 

I went to university in the same town where John Deere has its headquarters, so I know about the great work that Deere does within the community. I can’t use that to say John Deere tractors are better, but I could use that to write something like “Why I’ll Always Fly The John Deere Flag”. 

Again, it’s not complicated, but it’s a different angle that can give you some new ideas. We always underestimate the value of our own stories, when in reality there are tons of people who would be interested in them. Use your stories to satisfy the human love for storytelling. 

6. Keep Up With the News

I’ve already alluded to this one earlier on in the article, but the news can be a great source of inspiration. The news (should) show us the things that are important in people’s lives, so surely it’s something we can borrow from. 

If you’ve completely hit a wall then why not go out and buy a newspaper? If you can flick through the entire paper and not come up with one freelance writing topic then I’d be amazed! 

The other thing about the news is that it’s wonderfully diverse. It covers everything from the most serious events to someone making a hole in his roof so he can fit a massive Christmas tree in his house. No matter what your niche is you’ll be able to find something relevant you can write about. 

I don’t want to sound like that boring person that goes around telling little children they should watch the news, but as writers, we can take a lot of inspiration from what’s going on in the world. 

When you’re in a funk and can’t think of anything to write about, check out the news, and you never know what you might find!

7. Expand Your Niche

Sometimes you get to the point where you’ve covered all you can cover about a topic. Especially if you have quite a specific niche, there are going to be times where you simply can’t find anything else to write about. When this happens you need to look for ways to expand your niche. 

Take this website for example. There are only so many things that can be said about freelance writing. Eventually, I’m going to have to find a way to expand the niche a little bit. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just normal! 

Of course, if you’re writing in a very broad niche, then this point might not be so helpful to you, but it can still have some benefit. Whatever your niche is, it’s sure to have some niches that intersect, so why not look into them? The chances are, if you have specialist knowledge in kayaks, you’ll be able to learn everything there is to know about canoes pretty quickly! 

We recommend that freelance writers choose a niche so that they can specialize, but don’t let your specialization hold you back. Don’t be afraid to look for niches that intersect with your niche and venture into it. If it doesn’t work out then you’ll soon know. 

Looking for inspiration in other niches is an easy way to change up what you’re doing and refresh the mind. Once you start doing a bit of research into a new topic you might find you get some good ideas for your main niche. 

Conclusion

Sometimes you’re going to struggle to think of freelance writing topics but there are plenty of ways to get fresh inspiration. Most of the time we find that taking a step back from the computer is the best way to replenish the tank and there are plenty of fun ways to do that!

If you’ve hit a wall with your freelance writing topics then why not try some of these steps:

1. Use your daily life.
2. Borrow from other people.
3. Take your research a step further.
4. Use a title generator.
5. Get personal.
6. Keep up with the news.
7. Expand your niche.

You’re bound to find some fresh content ideas from some of these methods, and you might just have a bit of fun doing them!

How To Become a Freelance Editor

The freelance writing industry isn’t limited to writing, there are plenty of other opportunities out there. For those people with a keen eye for detail and a great grasp of grammar then working as a freelance editor is also an option. Not only is this an excellent option for writers to expand their portfolio, but it also offers the ability to specialize.

What is a Freelance Editor?

A freelance editor is someone who works on a self-employed basis to meet the editing needs of their clients. A freelance editor will make sure that their client’s work is ready for publication, checking it for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and general flow.

Editing is needed on a whole variety of writing, whether it be websites, magazines, books, or many other publications. While writers will do their best to ensure everything is perfectly written, there are always things that slip between the cracks, and this is where the editor comes in.

Of course, the difficulty for the editor is they are the last line of defense between those pesky errors making it into the final publication, so they must have super attention to detail and a methodical approach. Where the freelance writer might be able to get away with the odd mistake, the freelance editor doesn’t have such leeway.

What Skills Will You Need To Become a Freelance Editor?

Just like freelance writing, there are no specific qualifications you will need to become a freelance editor. That being said, you will need to show you have an excellent grasp of the English language, with strong spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Unfortunately, when it comes to freelance editing, you just can’t hide any mistakes. Even if your mistake evades the consciousness of your client, someone out there is bound to notice it in a document that’s going to be read many thousands of times.

To combat this, most freelance editors will normally be extremely organized, with great attention to detail. When it comes to combing through hundreds of pages to find a single grammar mistake you’ve got to be on the ball, and the best way to do this is to be organized and follow routines (we’ve got some great tips when it comes to organization for freelancers).

So, to become a freelance editor you don’t need any official qualifications, but you do need some solid language skills. It can be a painstaking job poring through documents to find a single error, but it’s an important one and if you can do it well then you will be nicely rewarded.

Here are our 7 key points for making sure you know exactly how to become a freelance editor.

1. Understand That It’s a Business

Before you start off in any freelance venture you have to understand that it’s a business. You may be in it to do editing, but you will find you have to do much more than that. It’s important that you’re aware of the bigger picture of what being a freelancer entails and are ready for the challenges ahead.

Becoming a freelance editor means becoming a one-man team. As business.com says, “from sales, to marketing, to accounting, IT and innovation, there are a number of roles you assume as owner of a new business.” All of these are on top of editing! Now, of course, this makes things more complicated, but it also allows for some of the biggest positives to being a freelancer – you answer to nobody but yourself!

However, if you enter into a freelance editing career without careful planning and don’t address all of your business’ needs, then you’re going to find it much more difficult to be successful. In our article, “7 Ways To Start Ahead of the Competition,” we say that planning and understanding your strengths and weaknesses is key, and it’s true. You might be the best editor out there, but if you can’t get your other business practices in order then you’re going to find it difficult to get the jobs you need.

The best way to avoid this is to always be aware of the fact that you’re running a business. The reality is you won’t be spending 100% of your time doing editing. If you split your time wisely though, you will be able to spend plenty of time editing, but most importantly, you will get paid handsomely to do it.

2. Figure Out What Your Time Is Worth

Part of running a business is figuring out how much your services are worth. This can be a difficult thing to do when it comes to freelancing, but it’s something you’ve got to be on top of. Of course, you can just pick out a figure that you want to make per hour, but we find it’s much more effective to dive into things a bit more deeply.

The first part of this equation is going to be your expenses. When you’re just starting out as a freelance editor it can be hard to know what your expenses might be, but just make your best guess. Find out exactly what you need to make to cover your expenses and use this as your base.

Once you know your expenses you can then work out what you want to earn per month, week, and hour. For us, we find the hourly rate is most useful because it allows us to easily work out how long a job might take us and therefore how much we need to charge. An important thing to remember here though is not all your time is going to be spent editing.

Say you get a job that’s going to take you 30 hours. There will be the time you spend coordinating with the client, perhaps some research, and the main editing time that adds up to 30 hours.

However, if you’re dedicating 30 hours in a week the chances are you’re going to spend the remaining hours in that week working on other tasks such as your marketing, bookkeeping, and networking – jobs that you’re not going to get paid for.

So, you’ve got to remember that not 100% of your time is going to be spent working for the client, and factor that in when you’re evaluating how much your time is worth. Being a freelance editor means you have much more to deal with than just editing and you have to factor that into your equations.

Once you’ve come up with a figure, make sure to check it against what other people in the market are offering, but, at the same time, don’t let it sway your decision too much. As long as you’re in the right ballpark then you have the opportunity to use your great marketing skills to make it work.

Obviously, you’re not tied to any decision you make here, but it’s always a good first step to understand what you need to make as a freelance writer. With time, you will get a much better feel for what you can earn, but make sure you give this question some serious thought before you begin.

3. Invest In Yourself

Depending on your level of experience it might be a good idea to refresh your skills a little bit. If you’re considering a career as a freelance editor then I assume you already have great English language skills and an eye for detail, but it’s always worth adding to those skills.

As we mentioned earlier, as an editor, you’re the last line of defense against something embarrassing potentially being published so you have to be on top of your game at all times. Letting errors slip through is an easy way to sour your relationships with your clients, so you’ve got to feel confident in your skills.

If you’re new to editing then we definitely recommend taking some editing courses. Groups like the Society For Editors and Proofreaders offer very comprehensive courses at reasonable prices, money that will come back to you through your improved work.

Even if you’re a more experienced editor it might still be worth taking a little refresher course just to make sure you’re up to date with everything. These things might cost a little bit of money up front, but they’re certainly worth it in the long run.

It’s easy to get bogged down as a freelancer with all the things you have to do, but sometimes it’s a good option to simply take a step back and work on your skills.

4. Marketing

Ahhh, the forgotten part of being a freelancer. You may be an editor at heart, but I assure you, you’re going to have to spend a lot of time on marketing. At the end of the day, if you don’t get jobs then you’re not going to make any money, and marketing is going to be key to this in one form or another.

Luckily, there’s tons of information out there that can really help you with marketing (check out Marketing Yourself as a Freelancer). In the past, much of a freelancer’s marketing would be word of mouth, but today, the internet has opened everything up. To be successful as a freelance editor, you’ve got to be able to make the most of all these new marketing platforms and bring them together with a strong marketing plan.

In our opinion, your website is always going to be the centerpiece of your marketing efforts. While you will use all platforms to market yourself, the idea is to use them to drive people to your website. Once you’ve got people to your website, you’re in complete control of how you portray yourself.

If you’re worried about setting your own website up then let us put your mind at ease, it’s really not as hard as it sounds! You can set up a website that looks professional without having to spend too much money and you don’t need to be a tech whizz to do it. Once you’ve got your website set up it will grow with you and be crucial to your marketing efforts.

What you choose to put on your website is up to you, but the best place to start is probably a bit of a bio and a portfolio. Put some of your past work up there and show the documents before your editing and after.

It’s probably a bit easier to come up with content to put on your website as a freelance writer than it is a freelance editor, but still, there are plenty of things you can put on your website. Invest some time into your website at the beginning of your career and it will help you earn jobs for years and years to come!

5. Communicate

Being able to communicate with your clients is extremely important when it comes to “how to become a freelance editor.” If you can nail this part of freelance editing then you’re going to find that you get a lot of repeat work, and trust us, repeat work is a wonderful thing!

Being an editor, you need to make sure that your client’s vision is accurately expressed through the piece of content that you’re editing. That document needs to be accurate, well written, have the correct voice, and be error-free, and you’re the person who makes sure this has all been taken care of.

The only way that you can understand your client’s vision for their content though is through good communication. You need to learn to ask the right questions and really get a good handle on what it is that your client wants. If you don’t understand what it is your client wants then your job becomes much more difficult.

This communication needs to be ongoing throughout the project for the best results, so it’s important to keep regular contact with your client throughout. The more you understand what your client wants, the better you can meet their needs.

As someone who has used the services of freelancers in the past, I know that one of the biggest worries is finding someone who will get the work done in a punctual and professional manner. One of the ways you can assure your clients that you are going to do this is through good communication.

If you can nail the communication part of this job then you’re going to make your life much easier, and we guarantee you’ll see some glowing feedback for your troubles.

6. Network

There are tons and tons of people out there who need editing services so why not get out there and talk to some of these people? There are bound to be lots of business networking events in your local area that you can attend and you never know who you’re going to meet at these things.

Even if you don’t find people who are looking for editing services, if you make the right impression then they’re likely to recommend you to people they know who are looking for editors. As Susan Ward says in her article What is Business Networking and What are the Benefits? “You need to meet and communicate with potential clients and business partners on a regular basis to maintain your business relationships. Attending business luncheons and other networking events raises your personal profile and can help keep you front and center in the minds of the right people.” We often get a bit carried away with digital networking these days, but the power of a face to face interaction cannot be underestimated.

Once you’ve made a personal connection with someone the chances are they might remember you next time someone they know is looking for an editor and guess what? You might just pick up some work!

The other nice thing about networking is it gets you out doing something slightly different that is still beneficial for your business. It’s easy to spend all day every day stuck in your office sat behind a computer as a freelance editor, so doing some networking is a nice way to break that up.

It may get forgotten in the modern world, but face to face networking is still a thing, and it’s still a very effective way to market yourself.

7. Remember You’re an Editor

When you’re an editor, everything you write is going to be scrutinized to a higher standard than everyone else. This means when you’re writing things like bios, job pitches, and blogs, your work has to be absolutely spot on. If you make errors in a pitch, then the chances are, you’ve failed the first test, and there’s no coming back from that.

Make sure that whatever you write, you go over it as if it’s a piece of work for a client. You’re going to be held to a very high standard, but on the flip side, you’ve got a very high level of skills when it comes to editing, so it shouldn’t be too hard. Take the time to go over your work and make sure you don’t fail at the first hurdle!

Conclusion

If you find yourself wondering how to become a freelance editor, the answer is there is nothing stopping you. Like any job, you’re going to need some specific skills but you don’t need any qualifications, and as long as you have good grammar, spelling, and reading skills, there’s nothing to hold you back.

If you want to be a successful freelance editor then we recommend these simple steps to get your career off to the best possible start:

1. Understand that it’s a business.
2. Figure out what your time is worth.
3. Invest in yourself.
4. Market yourself.
5. Communicate with your clients.
6. Network.
7. Remember you’re an editor.

Going it alone as a freelance editor isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but the rewards are well worth the sacrifices. Getting to be your own boss is something that few people achieve, and freelance editing is a career that can allow you to do just that.

If you’ve got great language skills and an eye for detail then why not give it a go and see if you can make it as a freelance editor?

What Is a Ghostwriter?

Ghostwriting is a tricky subject in the writing industry. Many people question the ethics of it, and yet more are asking “what is a ghostwriter?” On the question of ethics, there’s no definite answer, you’ll have to make your own mind up on that one. When it comes to what is a ghostwriter though it’s actually quite simple.

A ghostwriter is someone who writes for a client but receives no credit on the published work. As such, they are a ghost, because they’ve written the work but there’s no evidence of them having done so. Although it sounds like a strange practice, ghostwriting is actually very common in the writing industry and there are some writers who earn a living solely through writing pieces that they receive no credit for.

As you might imagine, there are some distinct advantages and disadvantages to ghostwriting, and there are many writers who avoid this practice altogether. For Larry and myself, we’ve both dabbled in ghostwriting, however, there’s definitely a tradeoff between ghostwriting and the regular freelance writing we do and there is a balance to be struck.

So now that we’ve got the what is a ghostwriter question out of the way we thought we would run you through some of the pros and cons of taking these mysterious jobs, whether ghostwriting is right for you, and how to go about winning them!

Why Do People Employ Ghostwriters?

There are many reasons as to why people employ ghostwriters. In our experience, our clients have often had great knowledge of a niche, and a good platform, they’re just lacking the writing skills or time to turn that knowledge into useful information for their audience.

We sometimes assume that just because someone is an expert in their field and a very intelligent person then they automatically must be a good writer, but that’s not the case. Sometimes clients need a little help in turning their experiences into easily digestible content.

Other times the problem is time. If someone has a busy career in a certain field then they might not have time to squeeze in the writing they want to do. To overcome this problem they enlist the help of a ghostwriter, giving them time to focus on the jobs they’re good at and allow you to get paid for the things you’re good at.

Ghostwriting has been around for a very long time in all forms of writing. With the growth of the internet, the opportunities for ghostwriters have risen greatly though.

Advantages of Ghostwriting

Of course, there are some great benefits to ghostwriting. While it might also have some serious disadvantages, there are strong reasons why some writers swear by these jobs.

Here are some of the main advantages to ghostwriting that might convince you it’s the right gig for you.

1. Money

To offset the negative aspects, you’re likely to get more money from ghostwriting jobs than regular freelance writing jobs. Clearly, not getting any credit for your work is less than ideal, so to make up for it, you get more money!

Whatever problems there are in the world, most of them can be solved by money, and in many cases, that’s precisely the case with ghostwriting. One of the nice things about being a freelance writer is the ability to set your own prices, so we won’t tell you what to charge for your ghostwriting services, but we generally look to add 10 – 20% on to the price for ghostwriting work.

Adding 20% to your income is certainly not something to turn your nose up at, but you’ve got to remember that on the flipside you have the pesky no credit problem. At the end of the day, you have the option to be very flexible with your rates and that allows you to decide whether ghostwriting is worthwhile for you or not.

2. Build Connections

Although you won’t have your name at the end of your articles when you ghostwrite, it does give you the opportunity to build some very important connections within your industry. Ghostwriting often involves working very closely with the person you’re ghostwriting for, and this is a chance to really build bridges with someone high up in your industry.

If they’re in a position to pay for your ghostwriting services, then the chances are, they’ve got quite a good idea of how to make things work in your niche. Working closely with these people allows you to learn new things and pick up knowledge that can help you greatly in your career.

Not only will your client have some useful knowledge about your niche, but they’re also likely to know plenty of people in your niche. You might not get credit for your work in the form of your name being at the bottom of your article, but you can get credit another way.

Ghostwriting is an excellent way to get word of mouth recommendations from serious players within your niche. If you do great work for your client, they’re sure to spread the word that if you’re looking for someone to ghostwrite in their niche then you’re the guy. As we said in our article, “How To Become a Writer Without a Degree,” networking is a brilliant way to get new writing jobs. How better to do it than by doing work for some of the movers and shakers in your subject?

3. Recurring Work

Another great benefit of ghostwriting is the fact that they often tend to be long lasting gigs. Because clients who use your ghostwriting services are claiming your work as theirs, it’s much more authentic when they use you to write all of their content. This way, “their” voice stays constant throughout, rather than sounding like it has been written by a number of different authors.

I’m pretty sure that whatever industry you’re in, recurring work and specifically recurring pay are pretty much the Holy Grail! As a freelance writer, where you can never guarantee where the next job is coming from, recurring work is even more important.

If you have some solid recurring work in your arsenal then if you do go through a little lean spell where you’re not picking up too much work then you always have your recurring gig to fall back on. This is one reason why some people love ghostwriting so much, it can bring a little bit more certainty to an uncertain industry.

Disadvantages of Ghostwriting

1. It’s More Difficult to Build Your Brand

Building your brand it an important part of freelance writing. Your portfolio is going to make up a big part of your brand, and unfortunately, articles that you ghostwrite won’t contribute to this. This means that you could potentially write the best article you’ve ever written as a ghostwriter, but you’re not going to get the exposure for it.

If you already have a strong brand as a freelance writer then this isn’t such a problem, but if you’re just starting out in freelance writing it can be an issue. Building your portfolio is a key part of getting freelance writing jobs, and if you’re devoting all your time to ghostwriting then it can be much more difficult to do this.

The word ghost features in ghostwriting for a reason! The problem is, much of your success in this business will be based upon your ability to be highly visible so being a ghost is generally the last thing you want.

Of course, there are plenty of people who make ghostwriting work and earn a great living for it, but there’s definitely a balance to be struck. If you’ve got the time to build in some ghostwriting as well as working on your freelance writing brand then you’ve got the best of both worlds. For many people, this can be a difficult balance to achieve though.

2. It’s Hard to See Other People Take the Credit For Your Work

Remember those kids at school who would practically build a fort around their desk when they were taking an exam just so other kids couldn’t copy their work? Well, the chances are these people really aren’t going to like the idea of ghostwriting!

So, we weren’t all quite that secretive about our precious work, but naturally, everyone wants to receive credit for the work they do. Ghostwriting can be a little bit like doing someone else’s homework and seeing them get an A for your work, and lots of people aren’t comfortable with that.

Of course, when it comes to ghostwriting you get handsomely rewarded, but it can still be a bitter pill to swallow, particularly if your work becomes highly acclaimed.

This is one of those issues where we can’t really advise you on how you might feel. When we’ve done ghostwriting in the past, we’ve always seen it as a simple transaction, we sell the client our writing and they do with it what they want. However, if some of that work had turned into some kind of global phenomenon, then I’m sure we would have been pretty upset that our names weren’t on it.

3. The Question of Morals

Some people question whether it is right to pass someone else’s work off as your own. The reader thinks they’re reading a piece of work by one person when in fact it wasn’t written by them at all.

While the practice of ghostwriting can certainly be seen as misleading, we find there are certain scenarios where it is more acceptable than others.

Say you’re ghostwriting for someone whose niche is rainforest trekking. They’ve been on hundreds of treks around the world, they’ve carried out rainforest conservation research, and they’re a respected name in the niche. They give you strict parameters for the content, and provide you with the research you need to make a great article. All they want is your writing skills. Perhaps they’re not a great writer, or they just don’t have the time, either way, all they really want is your deft touch with the English language.

In this case, we would say that ghostwriting is fairly defensible. Your client has had the idea for the content and put in a lot of the hard work. You are something like an editor of their ideas rather than the sole creator of their content.

On the other hand, if your client simply says I want you to create some content on rainforest trekking then it is a bit more of a grey area. You’re the one coming up with all the ideas, doing the research, writing the content, and editing the work, but the audience is being led to believe it’s the work of the client.

Generally, when it comes to ghostwriting, we would much rather be working with the first scenario than the second. However, personally, I wouldn’t write the second scenario off completely.

Either way, this is a decision that you have to make for yourself!

How To Get Those Ghostwriting Jobs

We’ve covered the what is a ghostwriter part and what some of the advantages and disadvantages of ghostwriting are, but how do you go about getting these jobs?

The answer is – in much the same way as you go about getting regular freelance writing jobs.

In our article “How To Start Freelance Writing With No Experience,” we detailed 7 ways to jump ahead of the competition, and they’re as applicable to ghostwriting as they are other forms of writing.

For the full story on how to get your freelance writing career off to the best possible start check out the article, but for now, we’ll provide you with a quick run through of the points.

1. Work Harder

We’re firm believers that in order to get ahead of the competition you’ve got to work harder than the competition. Talent is a great thing to have but there’s a reason we have the saying “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”

The competition is fierce in this industry, so you’ve got to be willing to put in the hard yards. Continuing with the motivational quotes, “nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort” (Theodore Roosevelt).

You may have a limited amount of time to dedicate to freelance writing, but there’s nothing stopping you making the most of every second. Learn to maximize your productivity and get the absolute most out of your time (we’ve got some tips for this!)

This one’s all in your own hands!

2. Choose Your Writing Niche

You’ll notice we’ve mentioned niches a lot in this article already. That’s because the people who are successful in this industry generally have a niche in which they’ve become an expert.

Choosing a niche is going to make your freelance writing journey so much easier, we can’t begin to tell you. Follow the advice in our article, “7 Ways To Choose Your Niches and Start Ahead of the Competition” and start your career off on the right foot.

3. Build a Website

Unfortunately, being a freelance writer isn’t all about the writing. You’re going to have to do a lot of marketing too. We always find that the best way to do this is by building your own website. Not only does this make you look more professional but it also allows you to control how you advertise your work.

Once you’ve got a website up and running you can start to build a great portfolio that’s going to show off your best work. Building a website to showcase your portfolio might take a little bit of time to start off with, but it’s going to be a great money maker for you for years to come.

4. Guest Blogging

At the beginning of your ghostwriting career, you might find it difficult to get well-paid work because you don’t have a portfolio of work to show clients. A great way to get the ball rolling when it comes to building a writing portfolio is by writing guest blogs.

You may not get paid for these pieces of work, but they can get you lots of exposure and look really good in your portfolio. Check out our article, “How to Build a Writing Portfolio in 7 Easy Steps” for some advice on how to find guest posting gigs in your niche.

Of course, we all want to get paid for our work, but when that’s not a possibility, guest posting is a great option. These gigs might not earn you money today, but they will certainly contribute to your success in the future.

5. Keep An Eye On The Jobs Boards

There are always ghostwriting jobs out there, you just have to be alert. While we find jobs boards like Blogging Pro and Freelance Writing aren’t the perfect way to get jobs, they’re certainly worth keeping your eye on.

There are tons of jobs on these boards and they’re completely free, so set up reminders and remember to check back on these sites every once in a while. There are tons of different ways to pick up jobs as a ghostwriter, so make sure you’re using every one to your advantage.

6. Always Keep Pitching

Pitching is how you get jobs, it’s that simple. Like many things in life, pitching is a numbers game. Not every pitch you send is going to land you the job, but if you keep going, eventually you will get the work.

Make sure you’re sending out high-quality pitches, but always remember that volume is important too. Many times when people are struggling to get enough work we ask if they’re sending out enough high-quality pitches, and generally the answer is no.

7. Don’t Give Up

Being a freelance writer is not an easy thing and there are bound to be plenty of ups and downs in your journey. It can be tempting to give it up sometimes but the worst thing you can do is give up just when you’re on the verge of something great.

Make sure you’re evaluating your career in a sensible way, but don’t give up on your dreams too early!

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, ghostwriting is an excellent opportunity for freelance writers to boost their revenues. However, for all the positive aspects of ghostwriting, there are also some serious drawbacks.

When you consider taking on a ghostwriting job you have to take a few factors into consideration. If you find ghostwriting morally acceptable and can handle not getting credit for your work then the equation becomes quite simple. Is the extra pay worth giving up the exposure for?

The major negative to ghostwriting is that you’re not going to get credit for your writing and this means you don’t get the exposure. Building a brand is a big part of freelance writing and if you spend a lot of your time doing ghostwriting work this is going to be much more difficult.

That being said, if you’ve got plenty of recurring ghostwriting work then you don’t have to worry about getting more work! Whichever way you look at it, there are tradeoffs to doing ghostwriting work, and at the end of the day, it’s a decision only you can make for yourself.  

7 Steps To Building Your Writing Portfolio

It always seems like an inescapable loop when it comes to securing jobs. Everyone wants someone with experience, but you need a job to get experience. So how do you break the loop when it comes to freelance writing and show that you’ve got what it takes to get the job done? The answer is by building a great writing portfolio that showcases all the wonderful skills you’ve got!

Running your own blog and writing guest posts are excellent ways to start building a portfolio. You might not get paid for these pieces of work, but they are great building blocks to begin your career with. Choose your niches, sit down and write some quality content, and follow our 7 steps to building the perfect writing portfolio.

We absolutely love freelance writing. It’s a wonderful career where you can indulge in your passions whilst making a great living. When you’re starting out though, freelance writing can be a scary proposition. You’re starting out on your own with only yourself to rely on. You’ve got so many questions running through your head, not least, “where do I start?”

Well, building yourself a writing portfolio is certainly one of the best places to start your freelance writing career, and we’ve got 7 top tips to bear in mind when you start on this path. If you can build a strong writing portfolio and most importantly, get people reading it, then you’ve got an excellent shot at making this gig work.

Always remember that when it comes to freelance writing, marketing is as much a part of your job as writing. This means that it’s not enough to simply make a great writing portfolio, you’ve got to actually get people to it and get them reading it.

So, without further ado, here’s our guide to creating the perfect portfolio and getting those all-important potential clients reading your work.

1. Choose Your Niche

There’s one place we recommend everyone starts when it comes to how to build a writing portfolio and that is choosing your niches. You want to be a professional writer and that means specializing. Not only is this going to help you out with the quality of your work, but it’s also going to make marketing yourself much easier.

Make a list of the things your passionate about, and narrow it down to a few niche subjects that you think you would enjoy writing about. You don’t need to be supremely knowledgeable about these subjects, but you will find your life is much easier if you have an interest in them.

Lawrence and I were very lucky when it came to choosing our niche because we had one stand-out subject. We’ve both spent the majority of our lives playing tennis to a high level, so we had a professional level of knowledge on the subject.

You may not have a subject that jumps out at you in the same way, so we’ve put together our 7 point guide on how to choose a niche and start ahead of the competition!

This step is really simple. Pick a few niches and commit to them, if you find you’re not suited to them, then you can move your focus to another subject, but it’s important to find a few niche subjects to build your portfolio around.

I speak from experience when it comes to this step because I once got a gig writing regular posts on a subject I found so boring that I could simply fall asleep while writing. I can’t promise you that you’ll never get bored writing about your chosen niches, but I can promise you if you’re passionate about them you’re life is going to be much easier.

2. Think About the Medium

Before you start thinking about building your writing portfolio it’s important to think about how you’re going to showcase it. There’s no point writing a great portfolio if nobody ever sees it, so you want to find the best way to present your hard work.

In our opinion, there’s no better way to do this than by creating your own website. This way might take a little bit more effort up front than some other mediums, but the rewards are far greater.

The main reason we recommend having your own personal website is it gives you complete control over how you present yourself and your writing portfolio. Not only does it look more professional than other methods, but it also has a personal touch that allows you to distinguish yourself from the competition.

Once you have your website set up as your cornerstone, you can easily use your other marketing platforms (social media, jobs boards, email marketing) to point people to your website.

Remember that you want to market yourself as a niche writer and build your website around that. Prospective clients want to know that you’re an expert in whatever subject they’re looking to hire for so really use your website to showcase this.

If you get this step sorted out at the beginning of your career then it can be a great source of income for years to come. It doesn’t take a huge amount of technical knowledge, you just need to buy a domain and set it up on WordPress. There’s tons of technical support if you do get stuck, and really, the effort is totally worth the reward.

3. Start Blogging

In a recent article, we said that one of the hardest things to do in freelance writing is to actually start writing. It might seem like an easy step to overcome, but in reality, it’s not an easy one to take. Until you actually start writing, a freelance writing career can seem like a bit of a dream, but when you take that first step it all of a sudden becomes real.

There is nothing to fear about writing your first pieces of work though. Once you’ve set up your own website you have the perfect forum to write your first articles with absolutely no pressure. Take as much time as you like because there’s nobody pressurizing you to meet a deadline. Make your first article something you’re proud of and give yourself that little confidence boost you needed!

As you can tell, we loved writing a blog so much that we made this one! The great thing about keeping a blog is that you can do everything at your own pace and best of all, all this work contributes towards your writing portfolio.

You might be thinking “that’s all well and good but I need to make some money” and you would be right. In the short term, you’re not going to see any money for these articles. What you’re doing though is building the foundations that will earn you your money in the future. If you build a great writing portfolio and learn how to market yourself effectively, your website and your blog, are going to be one of your big money makers.

There are lots of ways to start building a writing portfolio, but blogging is one of our favorite because there’s no pressure, but it’s still very fruitful. Writing for your own website gives you a great opportunity to practice your skills whilst still building for your future.

4. Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is another excellent way to start building your writing portfolio whilst easing you into the industry. Not many of these opportunities will be paid, but they represent a wonderful opportunity to get your work read by a big audience and pad our your portfolio.

Thanks to the internet, there are literally thousands of opportunities out there for guest blogs, so there should be nothing stopping you. Here’s how to find all the guest blogging opportunities you could possibly want!

All you need to do is type into google your niche + write for us, and you will find plenty of opportunities for guest posts. Every website will have slightly different guidelines for your posts, but they’re generally pretty straight forward and can put your work in front of a large audience.

Here are the guidelines for the first website on our search. They’re all pretty straight forward and mean you have a good opportunity to test your skills.

If you were to get one of your articles posted on a website such as Journal of the Civil War Era this would be an excellent addition to your writing portfolio (assuming your niche is American History!)

Most guest posts allow you to write an author bio at the end of the article which gives a little background info about the author. The best thing here is you get to put your website! So not only have you got your name out there in your niche, had your article read by thousands of potential clients, but you’ve also got some exposure for your website.

Once your article has been posted you can then use your website to link to the original article and include it in your writing portfolio. These guest posts can really make your portfolio stand out and impress potential clients so look to take every opportunity you can to do some guest blogging!

5. Start Pitching

If you’ve gone through steps 1,2,3, and 4, then it’s likely that you’ve built up a decent body of work and it’s time to start doing some pitching! If you ask us, this is one of the most fun parts of being a freelance writer because it calls on you to use some creativity.

No matter what your niche is, there’s someone out there who’s running a website about it. This means there’s plenty of opportunities to pitch for work. Now, you might think that cold pitching random website owners isn’t your idea of fun, but, it’s actually a great way to pick up work and you can make a big difference to someone’s website.

We love leveraging our SEO skills in a cold pitch to earn new freelance writing jobs, but every writer is going to have different skills that they can use to get great new gigs.

(If you’re looking at boosting your SEO skills then take a look at Larry’s Guide to SEO in Freelance Writing)

Whatever expert skills you’ve got you should use them to show website owners how you can make a difference to their website. We’ve detailed our favorite pitch in Freelance Writing Jobs For Beginners – 7 Ways To Win Work, so check it out and see how you can fill in your skills to get great writing jobs.

At this point, you are moving on to getting paid work, so make sure everything you do is professional. Treat your pitches with the same care that you do your writing and really show potential clients what they’re going to get.

Like any cold pitch, you’re going to go through a fair few rejections, but that’s just part of this job. Eventually, you’re going to get a positive result and you can turn this into a long-term, recurring job.

6. Prioritize

Once you’ve built up a good body of work you will have the opportunity to be a bit more selective about what you show in your writing portfolio. While you obviously want to keep all of your blog articles live, you don’t necessarily need to link to every article you’ve written in your portfolio.

This is why we would recommend a portfolio page that is separate to your blog, this way you can keep adjusting what you show in your portfolio. With your writing portfolio, you really want to show the very best highlights of your writing. Imagine what you would want to see if you were looking for someone to write for your website and tailor your portfolio as such.

How large you make your portfolio is up to you, but remember there is such a thing as too much choice. We tend to keep our portfolio to around 12 articles, showcasing the variety of our writing, but we really try to focus on the great feedback we’ve had from our work.

If we’ve had particularly good feedback from an article, or lots of comments, or ranked highly on Google, then we will tend to put those in our writing portfolio. Clients look for good writing, but they also want to know that your writing can engage their audience. By including feedback and comments from your articles you show prospective clients that you’ve got the whole package.

Make sure to keep updating your writing portfolio as you want to show that your knowledge of your subject is up to date. You may have a great article from five years ago and it’s fine to put that in your portfolio, but if every piece in your portfolio is from five years ago it’s going to lead your potential client to ask some questions. Namely, “what has he been doing for the past five years?”

Your writing portfolio needs to showcase your great writing, but it also needs to show how you can engage your audience. Focus on articles that have received great feedback and make sure you have some recent articles in there.

7. Show More Than Just Your Writing

As we alluded to in the last paragraph, you want to try and show that your articles are more than just well written. You have to try and show that people engage with your content and that clients find you a pleasure to work with.

In our recent article, “Marketing Yourself as a Freelance Writer,” collecting testimonials came in at number three on our list of things you need to do! You’ll find that your clients are more than happy to give you some feedback on your work, so incorporate it into your writing portfolio.

Your writing says a lot about you, but it can’t possibly tell the whole story. As someone who runs my own website, I’d much rather work with a good writer who’s a pleasure to work with than a great writer who’s a pain in the butt to work with. If you can show that you’re a great writer who’s a pleasure to work with then you’ve got the winning ticket!

When you’re building your writing portfolio make sure that you have a wide focus. Of course, great quality writing is essential for your portfolio, but it’s not the be all and end all. Imagine what you would want from a freelance writer if you were a prospective client and market yourself accordingly.

Conclusion

It can be a vicious circle trying to build a writing portfolio. On the one hand you need a portfolio to get some work, on the other, you need some work to build a portfolio. You can break that circle though by following our 7 Step Guide For How to Build a Writing Portfolio.

1. Choose Your Niche
2. Think About the Medium
3. Start Blogging
4. Take Advantage of Guest Blogging
5. Start Pitching
6. Prioritize
7. Show More Than Just Your Writing

If you follow these 7 steps then you have great potential to build a writing portfolio that can earn you lucrative jobs for years to come. Sure, it takes a good amount of work in the short-term, but in the long run, you’re going to benefit enormously.

Your website, and consequently, your writing portfolio is something that will grow with you throughout your career, you just have to take a little bit of time now to get it set up. If you can build a body of work that you’re proud of and successfully get people viewing it, then you’ve got a great shot at making your freelance writing career a success.

7 Ways To Start As a Writer Without a Degree

If there’s one thing that seems to stop people from becoming freelance writers it’s the belief that you need a college degree, specifically in English or Journalism, to make the grade. Of course, when you become a freelance writer, you don’t have to take a test or fill out a form saying where you went to school, but nonetheless, this issue seems to be a big barrier to many people.

In reality, there is absolutely no need to have a college degree in order to become a freelance writer. Of course, there are plenty of skills you can pick up during a college degree that will help you in freelance writing. However, it’s also possible to pick up those skills in your day to day life, and the chances are, you’ve got what it takes. So, don’t let the fact that you don’t have a college degree stop you from becoming a freelance writer.

Instead of sending you off to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a college education, we’ve put together our 7 key skills for how to become a writer without a degree. Although many of these skills are honed in a college environment, they are more life skills than academic skills, and anyone can thrive in these areas.

Your success in freelance writing is going to come down to hard work and passion far more than it will your education, and that’s one of the things we love about this career. It is what you make of it, and if you put in the hard graft, you’re likely to see results.

1. Be Brave – Start Writing

This may seem like a simple step, but it can be one of the hardest for any would-be freelance writer. Freelance writing might seem like a great dream and you don’t want to start writing, just in case it shatters the illusion and you actually find out it’s really hard.

The thing is, you’re never going to know until you actually start writing. The hardest part about anything is getting started, and once you’ve banged out a few articles you’re sure to feel better about the prospect of freelance writing.

We love this article on lifehacker.com which states, “It’s that hump of ‘just start’ that is so hard to get over. Yet once we do, momentum takes over. We see immediate results from the work we’re doing and instead of looking for ways to avoid it, we look at ways to finish.”

Just Start

So, start out with a short list of topics that you’re passionate about and make yourself a target of writing five articles. Work your way through the articles and simply do your best. They don’t need to be articles that you’re going to sell, but do it for yourself, and show yourself you can write five articles and do a really good job!

You’ll soon discover there’s nothing to fear about writing, and the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Your articles don’t have to be Nobel Prize winning pieces, they just have to convey your passion for your subject and be grammatically sound (the internet offers plenty of help in this area!).

We find that when it comes to figuring out how to become a writer without a degree, the one thing that is normally holding you back is yourself. We all have fears, and even if you asked experienced writers, you’d probably find that many of them still fear having their writing torn to shreds by thousands of people. What they do though, and what you need to learn to do is push through that fear!

The internet is full of some pretty mediocre writing and there’s no reason why you can’t do a better job than many writers out there. You’ve got to take the first step though, and that means starting the writing process.

2. Be Curious – Question Everything

We find that one of the keys to being a successful writer is the ability to use critical thinking. This means engaging in thorough research for all your articles and most importantly questioning your sources. Whatever it is you’re writing, make sure you’re making it original by really taking your research to the next level.

No matter how obscure the subject you are writing about is, the chances are there are a lot of people out there who have already addressed it. This means that what your writing has to be original and have the ability to capture the attention of your audience. There’s no better way to do this than to offer your readers a superior experience through your research.

It’s easy to just skim the internet for a few key facts about your subject and fill the rest in with fancy words, everybody can do that. But, what you have the opportunity to do with each and every article, is to give your readers a new viewpoint and convince them with your superior research skills.

Fuel Your Curiosity

There’s no easier way to do this than by simply being curious about your topic. If you love the things you’re writing about then it’s likely you’re going to immerse yourself in those subjects. You’ll get to know all the best sources for information on the topic and you’ll be able to form highly eloquent arguments that are going to engage consumers.

At the end of the day, that’s what this job is all about – engaging the consumer. If you can show that your content is engaging and people want to read it then you’re going to be a success.

For more information on using critical thinking in your writing check out our article “7 Ways To Learn From Everything You Do”.

Curiosity is just another quality of a freelance writer that you don’t need a college degree to have. You’ve got to forget about “how to become a writer without a degree,” and focus on simply how to become a writer because there’s nothing in here you need a college degree to learn. You’re obviously curious about being a writer, so harness that curiosity and use it to make your content exceptional.

3. Be Savvy – Choose a Niche

Hopefully this is the first article you’ve read by us, because if not, you’ll be tired of us banging on about niches. We don’t keep talking about niches just to bore you though, they’re actually hugely important and choosing your writing niches is going to be a big step in your writing career.

(We could send you to virtually any of our articles for some more advice on choosing a niche, but here is one specifically about finding the perfect niche!)

There are an infinite number of subjects you could choose to write about as a freelance writer, but in order to make the most out of your skills, you need to select a few niches that you’re going to specialize in. There are lots of reasons for this, but the main one is you want to become an expert in your niche.

If you can pick a few niches where you have a passion for the subject, you can focus all your time on those subjects and gradually increase your level of knowledge. The more you know about your subject, the easier it’s going to be to write about it. This means you’ll write higher quality articles, but also, they’ll take you less time!

Earning good money through freelance writing is about quality first of all, but you’ll find you also need to have a focus on quantity. The chances are, you’re not going to make a full time living out of one article that takes you all week. That’s why choosing a few niches to focus on is an important first step when it comes to becoming a writer without a degree.

Not only will you produce better work when you choose your writing niches, but it also becomes much easier to market yourself. If you’re writing about hundreds of different topics, it’s much harder to market yourself than if you have a large body of work centered around a few select subjects.

The clients you’ll be working for want to know that they’re employing someone who is knowledgeable and authoritative in the given subject and the best way to show this is by having a strong portfolio of work in that subject.

It’s tempting to approach freelance writing by just applying for any job you see advertised. In the long run though, it’s much more effective to select a few niches and gradually build your reputation in those subjects.

You’ll produce better work and your reputation will grow much more quickly.

4. Be Proud – Market Yourself

When you do great work as a freelance writer, you’ve got to celebrate yourself! Shout it from the rooftops and make sure people see the work you’ve been doing. You’re only going to get work as a freelance writer if you get people reading your stuff, and that’s easier said than done. Freelance writing is as much about marketing as it is writing, so make sure you’re dedicating just as much energy to the marketing side of things.

Luckily, in today’s world, there are tons of ways to do this and you don’t have to invest lots of money to do it. Social media is one platform that is particularly effective when it comes to marketing and it’s completely free, so there’s no excuse not to use this to showcase the work you’ve been doing.

If you’re looking for a little bit of guidance on the marketing side and social media in particular then check out Larry’s article, “7 Social Media Hacks To Gain More Freelance Writing Gigs”. These are some pretty simple tricks you can use to help boost your profile and hopefully score some great writing jobs!

Marketing yourself as a freelance writer is a multipronged effort that is going to require you to engage in social media, do plenty of networking, apply for jobs, write pitches, and keep an updated website. None of these things are hard, but they’re things you need to stay on top of if you’re going to maximize your profitability as a freelance writer.

Show your work to as many potential clients as possible by engaging in all these marketing platforms. Self-celebration doesn’t come naturally to most people, but in order to get jobs, you’re going to need to show prospective clients that your writing rocks!

5. Be “Techy” – Build a Website

I like this title because it’s kind of misleading. You see, you don’t need to be techy to build your own website, it’s really not that hard and you certainly don’t need to be a tech genius to do it. So many writers choose to skip this step because they think it is going to be too much work (or something they’re not capable of). If you really want to be successful and become a writer without a degree though, your website is going to be vitally important.

That’s because your website is the perfect place to showcase all the great work you’ve done. If you’re starting out in the industry then simply create a blog and start practicing your writing. It gives you the opportunity to gain some invaluable experience as well as build your portfolio.

Even if you’re an established writer you should definitely look at starting your own website. Link to all the work you have done, and again, start posting your own blogs. Your own website shows that you are a professional and that you should be taken seriously, and, can earn you some great new gigs.

Use Your Marketing To Point People To Your Website

Use your other marketing efforts such as social media to point people towards your website and let your great writing do the rest of your work for you. The key is getting prospective clients to read your work and there’s no better way to do that than with a good website.

You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to create a world-leading website, it just has to show that you’re a professional with some great writing ability.

As Laurence Bradford says in her Forbes article, 3 Reasons Why You Need A Personal Website, “In this way, a website can function similarly to a resume. However, a personal website has the freedom to be much more extensive and engaging, since it allows for the inclusion of photos, work samples, and even testimonials.”

Buy a professional sounding domain name, Youtube a few videos on how to set up a WordPress site and before you know it you will have a great platform from which to market yourself. It sounds difficult, but it’s really not that hard.

6. Be a Sharer – Follow and be Followed

One of the best ways to help you on your quest to becoming a writer without a degree is to follow what other successful writers are doing. To do this, you’re going to have to do a little networking.

By joining and contributing to writing communities you can pick up some great contacts and tips that can give your freelance writing career a good boost. Get involved with these communities and find out what techniques other writers are finding successful.

You can pick up all kinds of strategies from these groups and you might even find you score the odd job out of them too! Share your journey with others and you’ll find there are plenty of people willing to help you with some insider knowledge.

As topresume.com says, “networking will help you develop and improve your skill set, stay on top of the latest trends in your industry, keep a pulse on the job market, meet prospective mentors, partners, and clients, and gain access to the necessary resources that will foster your career development.”

In the past, you’d probably have to physically go out and meet people to do this, but of course, in today’s world, you’re sure to find everything you need online. If you’re looking for active communities, Facebook and Reddit are particularly useful.

This may not be the most important point on the list, but, you never know what might come from conversing with other writers. They say it’s not about what you know, but who you know, so why not get out there and start to know some of the important people in the writing industry.

7. Be Open – Always Look For Opportunities To Improve

Feedback plays a massive part in freelance writing. Look to get feedback from all the work you do, but most importantly, learn from that feedback. No writers start out doing everything perfectly and you will be no different. The difference between the writers that become successful and the writers that don’t is learning from those mistakes.

It’s not always easy taking criticism over your work, but it’s just part and parcel of being a writer. I know when I first started out I really struggled with this aspect, but with time, you realize that negative feedback is actually one of the best ways to improve.

Everyone loves to get great feedback about their work, but sometimes it’s the negative feedback that can make the most positive impact on your career. Nevertheless, make sure you celebrate when you do get great feedback. Post a link to your website and social media pages, and most importantly, give yourself a pat on the back!

Being a writer can sometimes be a lonely place, the onus is on you for everything and there’s going to be no one else around to pat you on the back but yourself. Make sure you take the time to reward yourself when you do good work and use it to spur you on to the next big thing in your career.

Whether you’re getting positive or negative feedback, it’s important to always be open to advice. Analyze the feedback you’re receiving, digest it, and if you think it’s worthwhile, take it on board. Criticism might be hard to take, but at the end of the day, it’s free advice!

Conclusion

There’s absolutely no requirement for a college degree in order to become a writer, so to answer the question “how to become a writer without a degree” is simple. Simply start writing, start pitching (here’s our favorite pitch), and start marketing yourself.

If you follow these 7 steps, then you’re sure to put yourself on the right track to achieving success as a freelance writer. All that’s left is hard work and time.

1. Be Brave – Start Writing
2. Be Curious – Question Everything
3. Be Savvy – Choose a Niche
4. Be Proud – Market Yourself
5. Be “Techy” – Build a Website
6. Be a Sharer – Follow and be Followed
7. Be Open – Always Look for Opportunities to Improve

Whether you have a college degree or not, you can easily utilize these skills to get your freelance writing career off to the best possible start. They’re not skills that will necessarily come naturally to you, but with time they will become second nature and you can use them to leverage some excellent writing jobs.

Having a college degree is not something you can change in the short run, and really, there’s no need to change it. Instead, focus on the things that are within control and watch how they can make a big difference to your writing career!

Freelance writing is a brilliant career that gives you job satisfaction, a fantastic potential source of income and the freedom to spend your time how you see fit.

It’s a wonderful profession which is why we decided to build this website – to share some of the best freelance writing tips we’ve come across and have used in our own work as freelance writers.

If you’ve reached us, then the chances are you already know how to write and you want to either put your passion to work in order to create a flexible job for yourself or you are interested in enhancing your already established career as a freelance writer.

Either way, you’ll need to successfully convince companies you’re the right candidate to write for them, and in an ever increasingly competitive market, this is not always easy.

So How Do You Use Social Media To Separate Yourself As The Best Freelance Candidate?

What many would be freelance writers fail to see is that your job is just as much about marketing yourself as it is writing content. Thankfully, Social Media provides a ready-made platform for you to tell the world of your ingenious writing style – you just need to be able to leverage it!


Being an effective social media marketer is not easy, it requires patience and dedication as well as a thorough knowledge of what works and what doesn’t.


Our “7 Social Media Hacks to Gain more Freelance Writing Gigs”, will help you sell yourself and secure those all-important jobs!

The 7 social media hacks you can leverage to win more freelance writing jobs are;

1. Sharing
2. Sharing to Groups
3. Build Your Own Brand
4. Add People
5. Comment & Engage
6. Use Your Niche
7. Don’t Forget To Sell Yourself!
   

Share Your Content More than Once!

This is the easiest hack in marketing you will ever see! But as easy as it is, very few marketers do it. It’s simple;

..If you write an article for a company and they share it on their blog, go and find that blog and schedule it to be shared 6 times throughout the year on as many social media platforms as you can.

The key to this hack is writing a piece which has no ‘sell by date.’ By sell by date I mean the article you have written should not be old news in a couple of weeks. For example, if I write a news article for a tennis company wanting to drive traffic to their site, there would be little point of me sharing who won yesterday’s match, three months from now.

The story would be old news and I would look out of touch by sharing it on my social media platforms.

However, if I write a groundbreaking, earth-shattering masterpiece on how to hit a forehand like Roger Federer, then I need to share that content at least 6 times a year!

Why 6 times a year? Well, if I only share my Federer forehand article once, I am only going to reach the audience available that day.

There could be a legion of Federer fans somewhere in the world who lost all means of communication that day who would have loved my article and shared it to all of their friends. By sharing it only the once, I miss out on that opportunity.

For the sake of spending an extra two minutes scheduling content to be shared 6 times a year, you will triple the amount of attention you receive for the same amount of work input.

You may have witnessed this already when someone tags you in something you tagged them in a year ago! The big Social Media companies do it, and you should too! Maximize your work by re-sharing good content.

Sharing to Groups

Ever read a seemingly mundane and yawn-tastic piece of writing which has somehow clocked up a mouthwatering amount of shares?

It happens all the time and it’s often because of a company somewhere spending either time or money to have the content shared in specific channels for them.

You’d be amazed to find some companies have entire teams of ‘Social Media Technicians’ spending days sharing content to certain groups, in comments of influential profiles or in areas targeted to a certain demographic.

Now, there’s no need to go to this extent. However, if you spend ten minutes sharing your content into targeted groups on different social media channels, you will see a huge reward.

For example, let’s say I magically woke up with some sort of artistic ability, combined with a mean dexterity and an endless amount of time to spend my days’ knitting. I become so prolific at knitting that I decide to write about the hobby, giving tips and insight into my knitting talent and knowledge.

I write a blog, 7 hacks to master knitting in one night, and want to spread my teachings to all knitting enthusiasts…How do I share my experience with the knitting community?

With a simple search on Facebook for ‘knitting,’ look at the audience available to me!

In the first page alone I have 1.3 million knitting enthusiasts to share my expertise to.

You can just join the groups and share your content but to be even more successful, you should participate in the discussion and contribute to the community.

By networking, I might find a knitting company that would dearly love to have me as a freelance writer.  Alternatively, I might see an opportunity to share another of my articles that may solve a member’s issue.

Sharing to targeted niches is an exceptional Social Media strategy and one that can provide exponential exposure to your written work.

These groups are not just exclusive to Facebook, they’re on every channel, so do some exploring and find the best place to share content on your niche.

Don’t forget to make note of the articles that receive a lot of attention and add them to your portfolio!

Build Your Own Social Media

If you’re reading this, you were probably already thinking you need to do some social media work. ‘Build your own social media’ doesn’t seem like much of a hack does it!?

Building your own social media is not groundbreaking and you’ll find a lot, if not a majority of freelance writers have their own social media, advertising their writing skills and the niche they’re interested in.

But I’m not talking about building a ‘Hi, I’m Lawrence and I like to write’ kind of social media; I’m talking about building a social media presence that influences others in a certain niche.

For example, the niche my brother and I find the most success with is tennis. We run a company that sells tennis ball hoppers and other sports ball collectors and are heavily involved in the online tennis community, with a Facebook and Instagram following of close to 7,000 followers, a further 7,000 Twitter followers and consistent marketing on Reddit.

When we bid for freelance tennis jobs, we highlight this immediately and explain that we will share our content through our available social media channels.

Tennis companies, given the choice of taking on a freelance writer which displays a generic freelance writing social media or influential tennis related social media will pick us every time.

To build your social media, figure out your niche, research which social media is most prevalent and start to build a niche related presence which highlights and sells yourself as a freelance writer.

Add People

Having an idea of what you want to achieve when building your social media is one thing but knowing how to do it is often the hurdle most people struggle with.

Unfortunately, there’s not an all-encompassing hack that will magically grow your social media, it is instead a journey of consistent quality work that will build an audience.

However, there are some quick, easy tricks to help grow your social media following fast and one of them is simply adding friends, or subscribing to other people’s channels.

If you follow 100 people in your niche, you’d be amazed as to how many people follow you back. If you’re sharing interesting content on your niche, and you add someone interested in that niche, the chances are they’re going to check out this stranger who has just subscribed to their channel or requested to follow them.

If they like what they see, then guess what!? You’ve just gained a follower. It may not seem the easiest way of gaining followers, but you have to start somewhere and this is one easy way of getting going.

Comment and engage with others and with groups

Just as with adding or requesting to follow people, the same is true for engaging in niche related groups or commenting on other profiles.

By starting a conversation or engaging in other profiles, you put your name directly in front of them and the chances are, if they like what they see, they’ll follow you back.

Use Your Niche

Understanding your niche is vital when growing a strong social media platform. When one thinks of social media, they often think of the obvious, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube.

However, the most engaged individuals within a niche often use alternative sources for communication.

For example, in the tennis world, the most enthusiastic supporters are often found in online tennis forums dotted around various websites that sell tennis apparel and equipment.

Forums are free for anyone to post a topic of discussion to or comment on any discussion and are a great way of pointing audiences to your work.

By finding where everyone in your niche hangs out, you can push them to your social media channels, your blog, or the articles you’ve written for one of your freelance writing jobs.

If you haven’t already, check out Reddit and type in your niche; you’ll be amazed at the number of people involved in the conversation and the intensity of which they view and respond to information in your niche.

Network & Sell Yourself

Building a Social Media presence isn’t easy. If you don’t provide consistent noteworthy content, people won’t subscribe to your channel. Even if you provide consistently brilliant content specific to a group of people, there’s no guarantee it will take off for months or even years.

With such a difficult task ahead it’s easy to lose sight of the real reason you’re building an online social media presence in the first place and that is to win more freelance writing jobs.

No matter how many followers you have, how often you post or how many social media accounts you have, bear in mind that all of it is to enhance or serve as a portfolio for you to point to when bidding for freelance writing positions.

If you have 500 engaged followers on twitter that love your articles, show the prospective company screenshots of the comments and engagement your writing creates.

If you share a post 6 times over a year in targeted niche groups and your article goes viral with thousands of shares, make sure you put that right where potential employers can see it!

Always think about building your portfolio and leveraging it to your advantage.

In addition, make sure you network with the most engaged individuals in your niche; comment on their work and push them to look at yours. Try and start a conversation; you’ll often find they are a gateway to many more writing jobs.

Why Is Defining Your Freelance Writing Niches important?

Niche is such a buzzword when it comes to anything to do with the internet that you could be forgiven for thinking it was a meaningless piece of jargon. However, if you want to be a successful freelance writer then you dismiss niches at your peril. The word is so popular because it is so important! You have to choose your freelance writing niches and you have to do it now.

It’s not just freelance writing where choosing a niche is important. Forbes magazine says that “almost every thought-leader and hotshot CEO who made it big did so by focusing on one crucial aspect of their business: they embraced their niche.” I’m pretty sure life is not that simple, but clearly, choosing a great niche is important when it comes to business and freelance writing.

There are so many reasons why choosing your freelance writing niches is an important first step, but the most important one has to be your own sanity! Freelance writing is a great gig, but when you’re spending all day everyday writing about something you don’t care about it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.  Life is going to be so much easier if you’re writing about something you love!

If your own sanity is not reason enough for you to choose a niche then your success should be. By choosing a niche and building a great body of work in that niche you make it so much easier to advertise yourself. Once you establish yourself as an expert in your niche the job offers will start to pour in and suddenly you’re living the dream.

Trying to figure out your niche isn’t always easy though, so we’ve put together 7 steps to put yourself ahead of your competition when choosing a niche. Follow these steps and be honest with yourself and you will make the first steps to ensure your freelance writing success.  

1. Think of Yourself as a Brand

When you think of McDonald’s, what do you think of? The chances are – burgers. That’s because McDonald’s serves 68 million happy customers a day, and most of those customers will have a burger. So you think of Mcdonalds, and you think of burgers.

The more important question is: when you think of burgers, what do you think of? In many cases, the answer is going to be McDonald’s. The equation works both ways because of McDonald’s unbelievable branding.

When it comes to your freelance writing career, you need to take a leaf out of McDonald’s playbook and make sure you become the go-to (brand) name in your niche. By focusing on a specific niche or niches, you can create a competitive advantage for yourself, that gets you more jobs, earns you more money, and reduces your workload.

Don’t let us limit your ambitions, but it may difficult to show that you have 68 million happy customers a day in your niche, but the principle is there. If you have a body of work that includes 100 top notch articles about competitive chess, this is going to be more useful than a 100 articles on anything from the vocabulary of parrots to the music of Art Garfunkle (unless they’re somehow linked).

Follow Mcdonalds and focus on a few things that you are good at – burgers, fries, and soft drinks. Hone your skills in these areas, so that you have every step of the process down to a tee and create a body of work that shows you are an expert in this field.

The better you get at writing about competitive chess, the more people are going to think competitive chess and then think of your name. You will jump to the top of listings, boost your earning potential and attract job offers without having to source them.

As The Writing Cooperative says, “you can’t do your branding properly until you have figured out some niche stuff. It’s also hard to do niche stuff without thinking about your brand.” Your niche and your brand are always going to be intertwined because that is your calling card.

Like McDonald’s calling card might say burgers, fries, and soft drinks, your calling card needs to say “Will Palmer – attracts 10,00 viewers to competitive chess blogs by making complex chess talk accessible to the average reader.

2. All Good Things Start With Brainstorming

The easiest things to write about are the things that we are passionate about and that we have a high level of knowledge about. You can take it from me, there’s nothing more painful than constantly having to churn out 2,000-word articles on something you just don’t care about out.

On the flip side, when you write about something you’re truly passionate about it can be an extremely enjoyable process. Time seems to fly by, the ideas flow and you know that this is what you were meant to do.

Maybe you’re sitting there thinking there’s nothing I’m passionate about that other people want to read about, but you would certainly be wrong. It’s a weird and wonderful world out there, and the internet is the embodiment of that. Up to 4.3k people a month ask Google “is bigfoot real” in the US alone, so the chances are that whatever you’re interested in there are other people out there searching for it too.

The best place to start out when you choose your freelance writing niches is with a good old-fashioned brainstorm. We love to do our brainstorming on a whiteboard, but the main thing is that you write it down! Think about your skills, your passions and anything that generally gets you excited, put them down on a piece of paper and start from there.

For me, this was quite an easy process to begin with. I’ve played tennis for 20 years and played college tennis, so I had a high-level of knowledge in this niche that could put me ahead of the vast majority of other writers. When you’re starting out in the freelance game, this is an invaluable boost.

While I’ve had a lot of success writing about tennis, I didn’t want to limit myself to that though, so I continued my brainstorming. I studied politics at university but didn’t feel like my passion for the subject was sufficient to keep on writing about it. So I kept on thinking back and remembered my love for creative writing in high school.

At the time, I certainly wasn’t an expert in creative writing to the same extent I was tennis, but I knew that the passion was there and I had the eagerness to learn. That’s the beauty about freelance writing. You don’t have to be an expert in something, you just have to have the will to become an expert in it.

Don’t get carried away with thinking you don’t have the expertise to write about a subject. Creative Revolt recounts a typical story where a financial advisor of 2 years worries about not having enough experience to freelance write in the financial sector.

The fact is, there are tons of people writing out there who probably have less expertise than you. What’s going to make the difference is how committed you are to continually learning your niche and how much research goes into your articles. As you often hear in sports, “hard work beats talent” and the same is true in writing.

Commit to your niche and commit to your articles and you will reap the rewards.

3. Research is Key

Once you’ve found a potential niche it is important to start to understand that topic. It’s not enough just to have a basic overview of the subject, you’ve got to know it inside out. That means research!

The most important part about any type of writing is that you’ve got to create great content and that means understanding what content people consume. There’s no point in writing about a specific aspect of your niche if only 2 people (you and your mom, because of course she will read what you put out) want to read about it. You’ve got to make sure your feeding people’s thirst for your niche and that means researching what they are thirsty for.

The simplest way to do this is to type your niche into google. Ranking number 1 on google is pretty difficult, so you know whatever comes up first is going to be a solid indication of what is popular. Analyze what’s there, think to yourself, what did they do well, what can I do better, what insights can I add.

Don’t just check out google and stop there though. Once you choose your freelance niches, you’ve got to incorporate them into your life. Everything you read or view, you can ask yourself “how does that affect my niche?” The world will give you plenty of content ideas, you’ve just got to be open to them!

A simple way of understanding how in demand your content ideas are is by doing some keyword research. This is simply finding out how many times your topic gets searched for across different search platforms. We use Moz for this, but you can just as easily use Google Keyword Planner. Just type in “competitive chess” and you’ll find out how many people search this term.

Owlcation cites 7 reasons why research is important as:

1. A tool for facilitating knowledge and building learning.
2. Means to understand various issues and increase public awareness.
3. An aid to business success.
4. A way to prove lies and support truths.
5. A means to find, gauge, and seize opportunities.
6. A seed to love reading, writing, analyzing, and sharing valuable information.
7. Nourishment and exercise for the mind.

Amazingly, Owlcation isn’t a website that is dedicated to writing, but their summary of why research is so important hits the nail on the end when it comes to freelance writing. If your research can lead you to complete these 7 steps, then you will be well on your way.

4. Evaluate Your Skills

It’s time to have an honest conversation with yourself! You’ve seen the competition in your niche, you know what they do well and what they don’t do well, so what are your strengths and weaknesses? How can you use those strengths to make an impact in your niche?

When I handed in the first draft of my Postgraduate dissertation I’ll always remember my advisor telling me “I absolutely love your writing” which was quickly followed  by “it’s possibly not best suited to academic writing though!” Seeing how I had just handed in a 20,000-word academic paper, I didn’t appreciate the compliment at the time, but now I do.

I now understand that my strengths lie in taking a subject, putting in academic research, but presenting the findings in a light-hearted, simple manner. I seek jobs that are looking for this kind of writing and use it to my benefit.

Like me, you’re going to have your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. What you’ve got to do is figure out which is which and then major in your strengths and minor in your weaknesses. The one thing they have in common is that you’ve got to continually work on both of them!

One of the worst mistakes you can make is taking your weaknesses and trying to bury them. They have a tendency of resurfacing when you least want them to and if you think they’re buried you won’t spot them when they do pop up. The best way to overcome this is by working on your weaknesses as much as you work on your strengths.

First thing’s first though, you’ve got to understand what your strengths and weaknesses are. Take out a pen and paper, be honest with yourself, and jot down the things you are good at and the things you’re not so good at.

5. Market Yourself as a Niche Writer

There’s no point in choosing a freelance writing niche if you don’t advertise yourself in that niche. We might all know that Mcdonalds sell burgers without them telling us, but if you don’t tell people you write about competitive chess then nobody is going to know.

Build up a body of work in your niche and then point people towards it. Make it your tagline

on job boards and your social media pages, make sure everybody knows what niches you are an expert in.

One of the best ways to build a body of work and get your name out there is by guest blogging. Sure, you won’t get paid for these blogs, but you will get your content read by a ton of people and start to create a name for yourself. If you can feature on some good websites in your niche then you can really sell this to prospective clients.

Finding guest blogging opportunities is easy. Simply type into google “competitive chess + guest blogs” or “competitive chess + write for us” or something similar and you will find tons of opportunities. Most people who run blogs are more than happy to give you exposure in return for some great content, so don’t be afraid to reach out to these people.

One of the key reasons for choosing a niche is the added ability to be able to market yourself. You’ve got to take that opportunity with both hands and push your marketing as far as it will go. Which brings us nicely to our next point!

6. Build your Own Website

There are so many reasons to do this and absolutely no good reasons not to. Not only is your own website a perfect platform to advertise from, but it also allows you to practice all kinds of skills. Most obviously, you can practice by writing and posting your own articles, but it also allows you to develop website building skills that may come in handy further down the line.

The main barrier to most people building a website is that they think it is going to be difficult, but I’m telling you, it’s really not that hard. Go to GoDaddy, buy a domain and set it up on their platform and they will literally hold your hand through every part of the setup. You can make a great website through their Word Press plugin, or, if you wanted to make your life even easier you could use a paid plugin like Leadpages. Either way, it’s not hard and if you can figure out freelance writing, you can figure out building a website.

You may want to start off freelance writing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a kickass website of your own that attracts tons of visitors. As you develop your own website you will come to appreciate what it takes to put together a good website, and better understand how to write for someone else’s website.

Most importantly though, this is a great way to market yourself. You can not only show that you write great articles, but that you fully understand the nuances of your niche. Rather than sending potential clients a bunch of articles you can simply send them to your website and they will immediately understand what you offer.

Much of your work is going to be posted on the internet, so why not cut out the middleman? Make your own website, make it great, and use it to market yourself.

7. Scale Up

One of the keys to being successful in this industry is scaling up. Like anything, things will start small, but there will soon be great potential to scale up. When you think things are starting to go well, that’s when you’ve got to double down. Increase your marketing efforts, research even more and take on bigger challenges.

You don’t have to limit  yourself to one niche or a few small niches, but remember that these are your bread and butter. When you do take on a new niche you’ve got to make sure you are prepared. You need to have as much passion for any new niche as you did your first niche and you’re going to have to research just as hard.

The opportunity for personal and financial growth are huge in freelance writing, you’ve just got to keep working hard and scaling things up.Once you’ve chosen your freelance writing niche you’ve taken the first big step towards making a success of your new career. It will be a long and sometimes difficult road, but as long as you can position yourself as an expert in your niche you’re going to make a success of it.

Once you’ve successfully demonstrated that you’re an expert in your niche, you will find that lots of opportunities present themselves for you to discover new niches. Whether you choose to pursue those opportunities is up to you, but you know you’ll always have your niche to fall back on.

Conclusion

Narrowing down your freelance writing niches is an important step in your journey. Without a well defined niche it’s easy to drift of into the freelancing unknown and get lost. By choosing a niche you give yourself an anchor and a stable base from which to develop.

Picking a niche is not difficult but it does take some deep thought and honesty. Take your time, and write out the things you are passionate about. No matter what your passion is, the chances are there will be a market for it. Once you’ve chosen a couple of niches you’re bound to feel a lot more confident about your freelance career.

If you follow these simple steps, you will put yourself ahead of the competition and start your career out on the right foot.

1. Think of yourself as a brand
2. All good things start with brainstorming
3. Research is key
4. Evaluate your skills
5. Market yourself as a niche writer
6. Build your own website
7. Scale Up

Choosing your freelance writing niches is a simple step, but it is one you can’t afford to skip. There aren’t really any wrong answers to this question, what matters is that you make a decision, choose a niche, and market yourself around it!

Have you chosen your niche yet? What did you come up with?