How to Be a Freelance Writer Online

Have you ever wanted to be a freelance writer, but didn’t know where to start? In the days before the Web, becoming visible and prominent as a writer in the freelance industry was difficult. Now, with new online writing communities springing up every day, all you need is patience and real, honest hard work to get your foot in the door! Here are steps to get you started in being a freelance writer online.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. First, decide where your writing style fits in best! This is important to decide early on, because although there are many places that can provide a great foundation for your freelance writing, there are also other places that are either scams or could actually hurt you in the long run. For example, if you know how to do a lot of things, eHow can provide a great foundation for you as a freelance writer. If you like computers and technology and want the most freedom in your writing, then creating a blog may be your best bet. Take the time to research now what would work the best for you so you don’t waste time hopping from one writing idea to the next!

2. Next, carve out a specific, unique niche for yourself in writing. Although your personality in writing can shine through no matter what you write about, ultimately your topics make a huge impact on whether or not you will garner any success online as a freelance writer. For instance, if you decide to start up a blog on something broad like how to lose weight, you are just one of a million other people who’ve probably wrote about identical posts. Instead, if you wrote a blog about acai berries and their health and weight loss benefits, you may gain a larger following since it’s more specific and is not common information.

3. After you’ve found things to talk about and where you’d like to publish them, take the time to understand any earning potential you may have at these web sites. Some may pay you residual income on ads that are placed on your articles, while others will just pay you upfront. It’s also vital to understand the terms of use for your work. Many web sites will claim copyrights on your work, so you cannot republish them anywhere else on the Web. Others allow more flexibility and allow you to retain the copyrights to your work as a freelance writer so you can re-post them wherever you’d like.

4. After you’ve chosen your topics and a venue to publish your writing, make sure to backup everything you write on your computer. This is vital, considering how fast things on the Web move. One day, you could be a successful writer for a web site making thousands, and the next minute the site closes down and takes everything you’ve written with it. If you’ve made a backup however, then you save yourself from a panic attack!

[dfager]

on 9/3/2009 never thought of the backing up, thanks

[Mindee94]

on 8/30/2009 Excellent tips and reminders to get up and on the way. Thanks! ~Mindee~