I was thinking about becoming a content/freelance writer since I got laid off from my job last week. Whats steps do I need to take to become successful at it? Can I earn decent money fairly quickly from the beginning? I think I can make decent cash from this as I am a pretty decent writer. I know some of you guys do this for a living, so I wanted to get some advice before I started this journey.
Any full time content writers here? What kinda income can I expect?
- Thread starter Tre81
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I'm not full time, but you can make decent money at it depending on your method and how fast you are at it. When I'm really focused and don't have any distractions, with a fairly easy topic that I'm familiar with I can make about $20.00 - $30.00 per hour or more.
My recommendation is to not invest all of your time into content writing though. I primarily do it just to fund other start up projects. I think the best solution is to use it in that manner. Reinvest the money into a longer-term investment that will generate more income. I primarily do ecommerce sites and I have sites that I spend about 30 minutes on per week making well more than I ever could within a week of hard work doing content writing. I'm just a penny pincher and would rather not start up new projects with money i've made from other projects unless I just have to.
My recommendation is to not invest all of your time into content writing though. I primarily do it just to fund other start up projects. I think the best solution is to use it in that manner. Reinvest the money into a longer-term investment that will generate more income. I primarily do ecommerce sites and I have sites that I spend about 30 minutes on per week making well more than I ever could within a week of hard work doing content writing. I'm just a penny pincher and would rather not start up new projects with money i've made from other projects unless I just have to.
You could either write for others (may be a good idea when you are first starting out),
then get money to set up your hosting/domain and write for yourself (promoting aff
products, etc)
then once you get enough traffic and sites up, pay others to write your stuff
then get money to set up your hosting/domain and write for yourself (promoting aff
products, etc)
then once you get enough traffic and sites up, pay others to write your stuff
It really boils down to: Your rate x how much you can write in an hour x how many hours you have to devote to writing. My rate is $0.01/word, I can produce about 2,000 words/hour on most topics, and I write for 3-4 hours a day. So that's $60-$80/day or more. This assumes that you always have projects to work on and never have a lack of orders. To increase the money you make, increase one or more of the variables above. Simple really.
^^^^^Sounds pretty reasonable I suppose. Any sites or forums that I need to know about that will help me get started? I'm kinda clueless as how to get my first client, rates, and all the other nuances of this business.
Buy/Sell/Trade forum.
Offer up some review copies to people with +10iTrader or xxx number of posts or something like that, churn out a quality product in an appropriate amount of time and then charge.
Remember for everyone that is going have you write content for them, time = money. Give accurate time estimates for turnaround.
From what I see most Indian/oversea writers charge $1/100 words. For this price you often get sketchy content quality. Since you are from Florida and I assume your English is pretty decent, you could potentially charge more.
You can go to BuySellTrade section of this forum, start your thread offering content writing services. Stress that you from America and English is first-language. To get first customers, you will have to offer free review copies, so people would want to try you out. If you do a good job the people who got free copies will post a review.
Set your rate low at first, maybe similar to oversea writers. If you start getting good reviews and will start to have a lot of customers, you can justify raising your price.
However, while you are doing that, dedicate sometime every day to learn about Affiliate marketing. Maybe register at Clickbank and stuff. Learn how to make basic site with Wordpress and start promoting something. Start learning search engine optimization. Put some of the money you make towards affiliate marketing.
just my 2 cents
You're on the only forum you need.
It's not too hard to strike up some business here. Since you're new, you'll need to do two things: Give away review copies and lower your rate so it's competitive. You're a native English writer, so you could easily set your rate to $1.50 or more and be justified, but it would be better to lower your rate at first just to get some business and experience. Giving away review copies (at least 3 for you) lets people tell others that you're a decent writer. Your reviewers will sell your service better than you will.
It really depends on the quality you can provide. You might have to work for peanuts at the beginning simply because you don't have any testimonials or references and no experience. Once you have a good set of clients and great positive reviews you can start quoting a higher price.
I started out writing content for less than 1 cent a word, and now I charge anywhere between 2 cents - 10 cents a word depending on the genre, the volume, the quality and the TAT required. A year back I partnered with 3 other content writers, and the 4 of us earn around $1000-$1500 each just writing content.
The key is to build a profile and target a niche. If you provide amazing quality, you can take up small volumes and earn a decent amount, if your quality isn't that great you can provide content at extremely low rates and attract people who focus on quantity and not quality.
Atlantis - A content writing and translation firm
I started out writing content for less than 1 cent a word, and now I charge anywhere between 2 cents - 10 cents a word depending on the genre, the volume, the quality and the TAT required. A year back I partnered with 3 other content writers, and the 4 of us earn around $1000-$1500 each just writing content.
The key is to build a profile and target a niche. If you provide amazing quality, you can take up small volumes and earn a decent amount, if your quality isn't that great you can provide content at extremely low rates and attract people who focus on quantity and not quality.
Atlantis - A content writing and translation firm
Content writing is a great way to make some extra money. You can have a loyal group of customers if you deliver on time all the time, provide unique content and your copy is error free.
Be realistic on when you can deliver and never take on too much. A bad reputation can kill your business.
Be realistic on when you can deliver and never take on too much. A bad reputation can kill your business.
Oh, here are three places that pay for good, unique content:
Associated Content
Textbrokers
ConstantContent
Now, bear in mind that they don't pay much, and it won't make you a millionaire. But you can make some extra money to fund other projects, pay a bill, or whatever.
It won't hurt to sign up and try and they don't charge you for signing up.
Associated Content
Textbrokers
ConstantContent
Now, bear in mind that they don't pay much, and it won't make you a millionaire. But you can make some extra money to fund other projects, pay a bill, or whatever.
It won't hurt to sign up and try and they don't charge you for signing up.