How To Become a Freelance Writer With No Or Little Experience?

If you are reading this article, you might be willing to learn how to become a freelance writer. These days freelancing has become one of the best ways to make money online. If you are a freelance writer, you can earn money by writing just sitting at home. But still, there are many things you need to consider before and after starting a freelance writing career. 

 

Hence, considering all these things, I will discuss freelance writing in this article. We will understand the best ways to become a freelance writer. Also, there will be some crucial tips that will help you become a high-paying and successful content writer. 

 

So, let's start understanding how to start a career as a freelance writer.  

What Are Freelance Writers?

Freelance writers are self-employed professionals who work with clients directly. They handle multiple clients and work on short-term and long-term writing projects. And after or before completion of the task, they charge their freelance writing fee. 

 

Hence, you will be called a freelance writer when you work sitting at home. And you also have captured clients who offer you content writing jobs on a freelance basis. You can work with successful freelance writers, bloggers, digital marketing agencies, publishers, SaaS, and tech companies. Also, when you are at the peak of your content writing career, you can open your content writing agency. 

 

It is because I'm also a freelance content writer, and it has been a year since I have been working as a self-employed freelance writer. During this time, I have tested many freelance and job listing sites. Hence, keep reading this article as there will be many more things to discuss.  

How To Become a Freelance Writer? Learn These Simple & Actionable Ways 

#1. Learn Content Writing

It is your first step to becoming a freelance content writer. And here, you need to learn content writing from various sources. You can even look for content writing courses by yourself. Or taking free courses from HubSpot can also be a great idea. I pursued a content marketing course at HubSpot as it was free and offered a certificate. You can consider this certificate and also complete SEMRush's SEO course. YouTube is also an excellent resource to learn content writing. 

Many good channels offer an excellent guide on how to write SEO-friendly content. You can even learn their copywriting, landing page content, and white papers. But to learn all these things, you must make a learning mindset and consume as many resources as you can. Because during the freelance writing career, most of the time, you will be busy. And all your clients will be expecting the best work every time.  

#2. Get An Internship Or Entry-Level Job.

Some people may tell you to find job opportunities on the freelance marketplace. But I will not recommend this; please do not directly jump to freelance writing. It is because I have gone through a bitter experience on Fiverr. After starting my freelance writing career, I started sign-in on freelance marketplaces like Fiverr. I also got many writing projects, but one day I met with a writing project from Spain. He hired me and asked me to write an article for his SaaS product.

I was super excited as it was the project I got after many months. I worked and delivered, but he asked me to revise the content. I did, but still, the client was not satisfied and gave me a one-star rating out of five. It was a critical time for me, and I started finding other jobs. And I got hired for an entry-level job as a content writer. Hence, I recommend first looking for an internship or entry-level job. 

Because there your strength will be checked by allotting lots of work. You will learn crucial techniques and strategies to write compelling content. And within two or three months, you will be able to handle your clients independently.  Hence, if you wish to know how to become a freelance content writer, read this article. You should first get an internship and entry-level job, so you can polish your writing skills and also earn money. 

#3. Create Online Portfolio

Earlier, having a portfolio was not essential, but now it is. By creating your online portfolio, you can showcase your work. Also, it is easy to share and helps you convince your client. You can consider Blogger or WordPress to create a portfolio. If you do not have much budget to invest in hosting, Blogger will choose. But make sure you get a premium template and custom domain. 

Also, if you can spend a bit, then look for WordPress to host your portfolio. Many web hosting companies like Hostinger and Bluehost provide affordable website hosting services. Also, here you will be able to make a more professional-looking portfolio. Although it's up to you, you can create your portfolio on any CMS you wish to.  

#4. Discover Freelance Writing Opportunities

Now you are ready to get freelance writing job opportunities. Hence, sign up to Fiverr, Upwork, People Per Hour, and other freelance marketplaces. Optimize your freelance writing profile and use low, competitive keywords. You can also add some previously written articles and their links. 

However, finding clients on these freelance marketplaces is challenging, and it may take months. Hence, to get some projects, you can join facebook content writing groups. There you can find many people who offer freelance content writing work. However, the pay would not be too good, but for starting your freelance writing career, that's great. You can also register and create a freelance content writer profile on LinkedIn and Twitter. These two social media platforms are my personal favorite. 

Here you will get immense content writing job opportunities than any other freelance site. LinkedIn has the potential to help you find many freelance clients. You can also search for such companies on job listing sites like Indeed. But You must focus on LinkedIn because you will find many high-paying freelance writing projects here.  

#5. Get Your First Client.

The journey of becoming a freelance writer is full of ups and downs. But when you get your first lead and convert them, it gives you unlimited pleasure. Hence, whichever platform you choose, make sure you get your first and regular client. Your first client is precious and can be your permanent client as well. You need to discover the prospect in the niche you write. And they send your pitch to contain a service description, relevant links, and pricing.

These are some key things that your service pitch should contain. Also, remember that charging a high fee can be profitable, but think about whether you provide that value. Moreover, you can charge less at the start if the client is ready to provide you with regular work. But do not go too accessible in terms of deciding charges. If you are starting, charging $5-$10 for every 1000words article can be acceptable. 

But when you gain some experience and have steady work, you can increase your freelance writing charges. You can keep $15-$25 for writing every 1000 words article. You can charge more for writing copies for landing pages, social posts, and whitepapers.  

#6. Keep Exploring Clients 

Most freelance content writers have a bad habit: they pause the search to find prospects when they have good projects to work on. But you do not need to do it, and you have to keep exploring the next prospects even if you have several projects to work on. You must spend 15 to 20 minutes exploring content writing opportunities. And when you have a lot of work, you can allot some work to other writers at decent rates. 

So, you can also make a profit from the different amounts. Many successful freelance writers do this, making over $1500 every month. Also, it is one of the essential steps and tips if you want to know how to become a freelance writer. Because if you do not follow this thing someday, you may have to suffer in getting even a single writing project. 

Also, it is a bad habit if you rely on only one freelance writing client. You are self-employed and working as a freelancer; you have to manage excel, funds, investments, and expenditures by yourself. And your single client has a limited budget to offer you. Hence, consider working with two or more clients at a time and also charge decent fees.  

#7. Keep Updating Freelance Writing Skills.

You are a business owner and offer professional-level freelance content writing services. Because of this, you have survived and survived in this competitive industry. Hence, whenever you get free time, make sure you learn some unique skills. For example, if you write articles and blogs, you can write product descriptions.

You can even learn to write ebooks and email copies. Learning social media copies is also a great way to expand your content writing skill. Here also, most of the content writers make mistakes. Because they have set the limit, they will write only articles and blogs. And it can limit your content marketing skills and earnings. Hence, during your starting years, you must work on a vast range of content writing projects. 

I have personally worked on writing product descriptions, landing page content, social posts, emails, service page content, copywriting and blogs, and article writing. When you work on a vast range of content writing projects, you will feel confident. And whenever a new lead reaches you will be able to handle them professionally. Also, you will have many ideas about standard content writing charges for a particular niche.  

Tips To Become a Freelance Writer

#1. Work On Your Freelance Writing Skills

You are a self-employed content writer and working as a freelance content writer. Hence, here you can not take a risk and offer the best work to your client. Also, your freelance writing charges must justify their value for the client. Hence, keep learning new things about content writing and make your services most reliable and accessible for clients.  

#2. Get Advance From Clients.

You have learned how to become a freelance content writer with no experience. And now you need to know a bit about finance and charges. Many fake clients ask writers to write free copy or articles. But after getting a piece of write-up, they ghost the writer and never come again. 

Hence, when you pitch to clients or clients pitch you, make sure you offer them your portfolio. And if they need some free pieces, ask them to pay for a writing sample. As you will use your precious time to provide the best value content. Also, when you crack the writing, deal with your client. You must make sure you get at least 50% of the service package advance.  

#3. You Must Try LinkedIn & Twitter.

LinkedIn is one of the best places to generate B2B leads, even freelancers. There you can find many average paying to high-paying content writing clients. You can also quickly get advance payments from the clients who meet you on LinkedIn. 

The best thing I like about LinkedIn is that you can directly work with co-founders and founders of companies. Hence, there is less risk and direct content to the upper level of business. You can also try other freelance marketplaces to maximize your chances of getting leads.  

Conclusion

Hence, in this how to become a freelance writer, we discussed the top five steps. We discussed all these points in-depth with analysis and shared a few tips. Now I hope you have a clear idea of becoming a freelance content writer. As we covered all these things in detail, you also know how to start as a freelance writer.

 

Thus, please share it and comment here with your precious thoughts if you liked this article. If you want to read more excellent articles on making money online and personal finance. You can check out our other articles on how to make money online as well. 

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