Working from Home as a Freelance Writer

Discussion in 'Working Women' started by GurmeetPodwal, Jan 25, 2009.

  1. GurmeetPodwal

    GurmeetPodwal New IL'ite

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    Have a way with the English Language and a good computer set up @ home? Writing is a good option!

    I guess the title of this article says it all! If you are a good communicator and can write fairly well, you can look at writing as a good career option. In fact, you can specialize into a particular style of writing as you get into this profession. The best part is Internet has managed to be an excellent enabler and allows you to work at home as well as market your services online.

    Needless to say that there are likely to be many hurdles which you would face when keeping up with this profession which is already quite mature. However, there is nothing that tenacity and hard work cannot overcome so do be diligent.

    In order to start:

    1) You should have a simple bio data in place which lists all your educational and other activities. Try and emphasize on anything which has been related to the field of writing.

    2) Create a few samples of write ups such as a feature article, a simple letter and even some direct marketing content like brochures and flyers. In fact, it is a good idea to show these samples to another professional writer to get the level of finesse customers are likely to expect.

    In order to find writing jobs:

    Start looking online at various online job sites which advertise writing positions and projects. Some of the popular web sites which are worth registering on are:

    1. oDesk.com
    2. GetaFreelancer.com
    3. Elance work from home jobs
    All the above sites charge either a monthly subscription fees or fees for bidding on projects. But they are reputed sites and hence there is not much worry about getting cheated.

    Some tips which can help you get projects are:

    1) The basic process to get projects from these sites is to continue checking them every day and short listing projects which you feel you can do. Set a target and bid on them and try and make your bid sound as interesting as possible. Avoid posting the same bid comments for all projects as clients can recognize a canned response quite easily.

    2) Set up work hours. Working from home requires a lot of self discipline and you would need to start giving up hours on the couch to your new profession. Having a separate work space is also a good idea.

    3) Always try and upgrade yourself knowledge wise. If there is a new trend which you are not familiar with (let’s say SEO marketing...) then you should research it and get to know it better. In fact, many new writers start with SEO projects since they are easily available and do not require in-depth knowledge on any topic.

    4) At least initially, offer to write samples free of cost to prove your quality and skills. Once you have many projects and client feedback under your belt, you can show those as samples to your potential clients (instead of writing a sample specifically for them).

    5) Have patience. It is quite likely that you would have to bid on as many as thirty projects before you can land your first gig. You might find that several providers bid on a project and hence don’t get disheartened. Over time, you will figure out which projects give you the best chance of winning.

    6) Feedback from customers for your bids might not always be positive. Take it as a learning opportunity to better yourself and your writing abilities

    7) Last but not the least; don’t get distracted by get-rich-quick schemes. There are many online businesses which promise that they can teach you to write in such a way that you can earn a few hundred dollars per hour. Well, if that was the case, they would be earning those and not spending time teaching others such a valuable tip!

    As a writer myself, I can vouch for the fact that it is my love for writing which has given me both the opportunity to work from home as well as get a high level of job satisfaction. Personal lessons learnt include the fact that you get better with each subsequent article and each piece of work you do is like learning something new. So get started and see how words can help you do more than just communicate with each other!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 26, 2009
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  2. cheerful

    cheerful Bronze IL'ite

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    Gurmeet,
    Very informative post. I just wanted to add 2 more free site links here.

    Associated Content - associatedcontent.com - This is free. Pay is based on the quality of article. As a beginner anyone can start with wiring a product review of something that we have purchased, even a kids toy, or house hold items, a new dish detergent that you are trying , a vacum cleaner that you are using. take a picture and write a review on it.

    Helium.com is another site.
    Cheerful
     
  3. aarthilr

    aarthilr New IL'ite

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    Hi Cheerful,

    I had also been using Associatedcontent.com.Its really a good option.But it is very profitable when the content writer resides in the US, so that he gets paid for the article written and also gets paid depending on the number of views. For other countries, payment is made only based on the number of views for the article.

    hubpages.com is another site which I have not used but heard of. Here each wrier has a direct account with Google adsense and gets paid by them depending on the number of page views.

    Regards,
    Aarthi
     
  4. shakambari

    shakambari Platinum IL'ite

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    Hi folks,

    This is very interesting info.

    Thanx for sharing.
     
  5. bhartiahuja80

    bhartiahuja80 New IL'ite

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    Hi

    I had a look on these sites. I wnated to ask that what should be the minimum length of the article.

    Thanks
    Bharti



     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 25, 2009
  6. bhartiahuja80

    bhartiahuja80 New IL'ite

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    Hi Aarthi,

    I am on L2,(dependent visa). I have my SSN number. Cann u suggest me if i can work with this(associatedcontent) site.

    And how you get your payments?


    Thanks
    Bharti


     
  7. bhartiahuja80

    bhartiahuja80 New IL'ite

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    hello everybody

    Thanks for infroming about intersting sites
     

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