Freelance Writing Jobs For Beginners

Freelance writing can be a great work-from-home option. You can either do it as a side gig or full-time. Statistics estimate the demand for freelance writers to hit 50,000 in the next 5 years.

Freelance writers make an average of $70,000 annually or between $40 to $70 per hour. If you have a strong base of customers that love your work and keep coming back to you, you’ll earn even more (provided you can put in the hours or start charging higher rates over time).

There are many types of freelance writing, however. The top five types of freelance writing which are in high demand include:

1. Blogging (getting paid to blog for small businesses, large companies, influencers, entrepreneurs, and other bloggers)

2. Copywriting (the writing of sales pages, landing pages, and opt-in pages to ensure the page speaks to the readers with the ultimate aim to increase conversions)

3. Email marketing (writing emails with attractive subject lines that will increase open rates and click-through rates - especially important for sales launches, membership programs, subscription programs, and more)

4. Ecommerce writing (detailing the benefits of products, why one should buy them, and how they stand out when compared to their competitors)

5. Ghostwriting (producing content that is credited to someone else, such as a nonfiction book, a journal, a speech, an article, and more)

What Tools Do You Need To Become A Freelance Writer?

For starters, you will need:

1. A trusty laptop or a desktop computer - where you are able to type fast and access your work easily

2. A good chair - that supports your posture and your back throughout the long hours of sitting in front of a computer

3. A bank account - that allows you to receive payments (including international payments) - popular choices include Stripe, PayPal, Wise, and Remitly.

4. A Google Workspace - that allows you to organize all your work into proper folders

5. An email account - for work purposes only.

What Skills Do You Need To Become A Freelance Writer?

1. It goes without saying that you need to have a good grasp of the language you’re offering to write in. However, that alone is not enough.

2. Writers need to have good ethics - plagiarism is a big no. You’ll need to come up with authentic and original content in order to get onto Google’s (and your clients’) good sides.

3. You have to be highly resourceful, so you must be able to spend hours doing the necessary research and know exactly what it is you’re writing about.

4. You should have at least some knowledge of SEO - what it’s about and how you can optimize your content for SEO.

What Are The Top Freelance Writing Sites For Beginners?

The 5 most popular job sites and hiring boards for freelance writers are:

1. Solidgigs - A paid platform that offers you personalized and tailored jobs based on what you will enjoy writing about, versus other platforms that flood your inbox with all sorts of writing jobs, many of which you may not be interested in.

2. Flexjobs - A free platform that offers training and seminars on how to apply for jobs and how you should word your resume in order to get hired. Flexjobs also has a lot of job opportunities, though they do not appear in your inbox regularly so you will need to log in and check them manually.

3. iWriter - A site that is great for beginners. You are able to take on as many jobs as you want in order to build your portfolio as quickly as possible. Quality content matters to them, so upon applying, you’ll be required to fill out and write two prompts of 250 words each.

4. Indeed - Easily one of the largest job sites in the world, Indeed spans many different countries and allows you to apply for jobs from anywhere in the world. The employers will have to mark their preferences clearly as to what countries they prefer their applicants to be from. There are many, many employers looking to hire new talent at lower rates, but hey, this is a way up.

5. Writers Weekly - A well-respected hiring site that has been around since 1997. They regularly post job opportunities and openings for writers and editors.

Wrapping Up

Job boards and hiring platforms are great places to start honing your skills, but remember to always stay consistent and not take rejections personally. Avoid content mills - job posts that require you to write 2-3 full-length articles or blog posts in order to ‘assess your skills. Many times they take your work and you never hear from them again, or they hire you and pay you peanuts to churn out tons of content every week.

A good thing to remember is to always read the hiring terms and conditions carefully. If you love writing and reading, then proofreading will be a great add-on - you’ll be able to apply for more jobs and get hired more quickly.

Kristy is a successful funnel builder, marketing strategist, and blogger.She shares online freelancing jobs tips and ideas on her blog at https://kristyting.com