Article Writing Jobs Online – Avoid These Pitfalls
If you’re new to online content writing, it’s easy to fall for several of the main traps and tricks that marketers use to take advantage of writers. Article writing jobs online can be a great way to earn supplemental to full-time income, as long as you’re careful about who you decide to write for.
In general, it’s wise to avoid the following:
Paying for Access to Work
It’s not necessarily a bad idea to pay for a background check, to pay for advertising, or to pay a small fee for access to a list of jobs. But in general, avoid work at home programs that want money from you in order to allow you to participate. It makes good sense to pay to run an ad that’s specific to your business and what you’re offering. But, it’s unwise to pay a site just to gain access to work that they’re telling you is available on the other side of the paywall.
Writing for Disreputable Companies
Before you contract to write articles online for a company or agency, spend some time researching them carefully. Google the name. Google the email address that you are receiving mail from, or the name of the individual who is sending you an introductory email. This may allow you to learn some basic information about the agency and what they offer. Learn about their overall online reputation. If they’re completely anonymous, ask some questions. If they have a poor reputation online with other writers, it may be time to pass.
Writing for Private Clients without a Contract
Often, web content writer jobs for private clients can provide you with excellent pay. You’ll find that when you take on private clients, you gain access to ongoing assignments at higher rates. They’re often willing to pay you on a regular schedule, either weekly, monthly, or after each batch of work is completed. However, when you first begin to work with a private client, it makes good sense to insist on a basic contract. Use this to decide on the scope of work, and ask them for a deposit. I typically ask for 50% down, with the remaining 50% due upon delivery.
Providing Too Much Information
As you establish yourself as an online web writer, it’s important to know when to share information and when to keep it to yourself. Unlike in a traditional office, the people that you’re “working” with around the virtual water cooler aren’t just your colleagues, they’re also your competition. It makes good sense to be polite and to share information when it’s prudent. It also doesn’t make sense to spoon feed other writers information about when particular clients have large amounts of work, where to find work, or how to go about it. If you plan to do this, it makes far more sense to consider starting a writing team of your own and taking a percentage of each job off the top.
Article Writing Jobs Online – Avoid Giving Out Free Samples
As you apply for jobs, you’ll find that you get asked over and over for samples of your work. The best way to handle these requests is to set up a page on your website for samples and a portfolio. Then you can direct these clients to these pages instead of producing a custom sample each time. Whenever possible, avoid giving out free samples, as the time you’re spending creating them is time that you’re not getting paid for. If you feel like you must create a sample, go ahead, but take the time to make it into a PDF and put it up on your website.
As you search for article writing jobs online, it makes good sense to keep these tips in mind. They’ll help you sort out the wheat from the chaff. Then, you can find high-quality online content writing jobs, apply for them, and continually increase your family’s income.
How to Find Freelance Writing Jobs
While it can be tempting to work for content mills repeatedly, it’s often best to use them as a means to make ends meet while you search for higher paying freelance writing jobs. Ideally, you’ll be building a life where you don’t ever have to use the word “job” again, and instead you’ll be building a career writing for clients, self-publishing, flipping websites, or affiliate marketing.
If you’re just getting started, those days may be a little bit in the future and you’ll need to know how to find freelance writing jobs to pay the bills in the meantime.
First, you can start with this list of resources which I’ll be maintaining and updating for you on an ongoing basis. There are numerous content brokers and content mills on said list, which are a good way to get your feet wet and start writing content from home. There are certainly higher rates available, but if you live in a low cost of living area, you’ll find that the rate that they pay is better than most part time jobs.
As you begin your content writing career, work to build a website and a list of samples. You’ll need content that has your name on it and that you have the right to publish and link to, so anything that you’ve signed the rights to away won’t work for this purpose. If there are specific topics that you’d like to write about or are well versed in, it may be worth writing short posts or articles about them with your byline and publishing them on your own site, so that you have them to use as you show off your writing ability to potential clients.
You’ll also want to draw up a writing resume and add to it regularly so that it’s available to share with potential clients. Spend some time fleshing out your LinkedIn profile, as well. All of this prep work will make it easy to apply when you find freelance writing jobs that are a good match for your skills and interests.
Freelance Writing Job Boards:
Real Ways to Earn Money Online
Before you apply for freelance writing jobs, be sure that you read through the entire ad completely. Sometimes the company will have very precise requirements for a writer, or they’ll want you to send samples in a specific manner.
One newer online scam to avoid is job “ads” that require you to search for a specific company, then submit the results via a website’s form. These are not job ads but are an effort to game search engines, so save your writing power and energy for actual applications.
Freelance Writing Jobs: Types of Content You Can Write from Home
If you’ve been pondering working online from home as a freelance writer, the various types of content that can be produced can seem slightly overwhelming at first. There are numerous types of online nonfiction content that a writer can create, and it makes sense to have a basic idea of what you’d like to specialize in before you get started so that you can market yourself appropriately.
SEO Content: This content typically consists of short articles that webmasters purchase to publish around the internet linking back to their main websites. Sometimes they aim for hyper local content, other times they’re just seeking basic information about the product or service that the websites they’re building are about.
Product Review Lists: This content is often longer and tends to be a summary of the reviews available for a type of product online. For example, the Top X Baby Strollers of 2018. Webmasters then use these articles to build affiliate sites, making a commission each time the products are sold from someone clicking on their link in the article.
Web Content Pages: General pages of content that will go inside a website. These can be location themed, subject based, or broken up by some other category.
Blog Posts: These often take a more personal tone and may include the writer’s personal experience with a situation.
Product Descriptions: Short pieces of content that describe an item and will be used on a website or in a product catalog. Many online retailers order these descriptions in bulk from freelancers, often through brokers.
Newsletters: Email newsletter content for a webmaster to send out to their mailing list on a regular basis.
Social Media Posts: Text content designed for Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
Short Reports: In depth reports about a topic, often designed to be used as a giveaway for an individual to sign up for the marketer’s newsletter or mailing list. Often these are around 1,500-2000 words and may include pictures or graphics.
Ebooks: Longer pieces of content, up to 50,000 words, usually ghostwritten for marketers who will then resell them as their own at a premium rate. These may require quite a bit of time and research to produce.
This list only includes content writing, without touching on copywriting, fiction writing, or other types of writing that an individual may want to break into, such as creating their own websites, PLR content, or selling books for Kindle.
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