How to get started as a freelance writer?

If you are passionate about writing and creating valuable web content you should start offering your services as a freelance writer. There is a never ending demand in well-written online content and here are few guidelines that might help you reach your professional goals faster.

Always write for your potential readers instead of your client. This probably sounds strange so let me explain. In most cases you will get hired by a company that wants you to create ‘web content’ or ‘SEO optimized texts’ or something along those lines. Now, while it is true that the company offering you the job creates the requirements for the texts they expect you to write, it often makes sense for you to really ask yourself who you are actually going to write the content for – a marketing executive of a large company or a variety of potential readers? You usually don’t write texts for the person who gives you the job but for the people this one person tries to reach and in most cases those marketing executives don’t know what their potential readers are really looking for.

Always try to write short sentences that contain a lot of verbs (action words). Try to avoid long, complicated sentences that contain a lot of nouns. Especially on the web it is vital that you grab your readers’ attention by short, provocative questions. Once you have made them curious enough to read beyond the first few lines you can develop your story further.

Check the ‘readability’ of your text by reading it out loud to yourself. What does it sound like? You can also call up a friend or colleague of yours on the phone and read your texts to them. Ask them if they can follow your story. How much of the information in your text can they process this way? If your sentences are too long and complicated because they contain too many nouns you really should re-write the whole thing.

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That’s good advice on writing!
I also want to add that if you want to be a successful writer, you should build a self-brand. You need to know who you are and what you offer the marketplace. Consider the way you want people to describe you. How would you like people to (you hope) refer their friends and colleagues to you. Use everything available to publicize yourself. You can use free social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Instagram, and even resources like YouTube to discuss or demonstrate what you, uniquely, do. Join and become active in all the relevant professional organizations in your field. The key is to be consistent.

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