Today online freelance writers are in high demand for marketing campaigns, blog pages, landings, and many other text formats, so it has become an ideal extra job for those who need to generate extra income and have writing skills. However, that is the easy way to earn extra income from home.
If you have thought about becoming a freelance writer to generate some money in addition to your regular salary at your regular job, we want to show you the steps to follow to start working as a freelance writer and earn income to invest in the future.
Types of writing
Before you start working as a freelance writer, it is important to know that there are multiple types of writing on the web requested by employers, that is why you need to know what type of writing you are prepared to do, and although most do not require any type of certification or previous college studies, there are some that involve greater skill.
Here are the types of writing that are requested on the web platforms of extra jobs:
- Blog writing: Simple writing on varied topics such as travel, gastronomy, personal experiences, products and more. This writing does not require too much skill, unless you need to use a copywriting language, which refers to the use of words with an action purpose for the reader.
- Writing for ads or social media: this type of writing must go hand in hand with the copywriting and marketing strategy, which involves selling a product or attracting the reader’s attention to refer to a specific action, such as subscribing to a newsletter, buying a product, or reading information from a website.
- Ghostwriting: The ghostwriters, as their name indicates, are people who write various types of texts without being recognized or mentioned in their work. Usually, this type of writing is used for journalistic, literary or autobiographical works. People are willing to pay you to act as ghostwriter of content they will publish under their name.
- Tutorial writing: this type of writing involves the creation of web articles that help readers solve a problem of any kind or create something, most of these tutorials are technological, mechanical, or even gastronomic, with the writing of recipes and cooking instructions.
- Journalistic writing: journalistic writing is sought in newspapers or digital magazines, in which specialized journalists are hired to write chronicles, reports or reviews. For this type of writing, you require a degree in journalism.
How to apply as a freelance writer?
To start working as a freelance writer, it is ideal that you choose the type of writing you are dedicated to, or in which you have experience to include it in your digital resume when creating a profile on the online platforms of extra jobs, such as Fiverr, Upwork or Freelancer. Here you will have to add all your skills and the topics you specialize in when writing (if you have any preferences). In addition, you must add your hourly pay rate, on average freelance writers charge $15 to $16 per hour, but this varies and depends on what clients are willing to pay and the nature of the project.
Once you have created your complete profile with all the details, you can start applying to the different job offers that employers publish on these websites, or sometimes you can create a post promoting your services and the type of writing you offer and then be contacted by clients. In any case, you should keep in mind that it will not always be easy to start and that it can take time for clients to choose you to carry out a project, since there is a lot of competition in this field.
Work schedules and earning expectations
The working hours of freelance writers are quite flexible, as you will have total freedom to apply or choose the jobs you are going to do, so you can plan the hours you will dedicate to this job. Freelance writers typically work between 4 and 5 hours per day, two or three times a week at the most, but remember that all this depends on how quickly they can work and the deadline for projects.
When it comes to earning expectations, as we mentioned earlier freelance writers usually charge $15 to $16 per hour, this means they could earn an average of $1,000 to $1,500 per month depending on the number of hours they work, and it could even be much more. It is a great amount considering that it is an extra job that is done from home and in your spare time, so it represents a great source of extra income to invest as you want for your future.
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