Texts have always been an indispensable tool in advertising, marketing and sales. Do you want to write in a way that influences people? Are you willing to win over readers’ hearts?
We have prepared a guide that will help you start working as a freelance writer. You’ll find out about the steps you need to take to start your career, skills that come in handy and books that you should read to improve your skills. Have you ever felt inspired by how well an experienced college essay writer you’ve collaborated with handled writing tasks? This guide will help you reach the same level of professionalism.
Read on and build a great writing career!
How to Develop Freelance Writer Skills
Start Practicing
How to become a freelance writer? Of course, you must develop your skills. The best way to do this is to… just write! For example, start a blog. Write about things that interest you, be it fashion brands, sustainability or maybe study tips.
Find an Internship
One more way to practice is to get an online internship, preferably at a marketing company. Workplaces like this offer freelance writer jobs for people who want to create texts for marketing campaigns.
Finish Writing Courses
What is a freelance writer? It’s a person who doesn’t just write well. Their texts must be persuasive, for example, to motivate the reader to make a purchase. Therefore, be sure to familiarize yourself with the best practices of copywriting.
You can find amazing courses on Udemy, Coursera, edX or Class Central. When choosing a course, study its program to choose the one that suits you best.
Collect Your Certificates
So, now that you have taken the courses and received certificates, you have a competitive edge. Such achievements look especially attractive on a resume or LinkedIn profile of a freelance content writer.
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Create a Portfolio and Resume
You’ll need those to demonstrate your skills and experience and find clients. Add writing samples that you are proud of and that demonstrate your talents. Also, don’t forget about the certifications you’ve earned or the experience you’ve gained during your internship.
Search for a Freelance Writer Job Online
You can find job postings for writers on Fiverr or Upwork. On these platforms, you can create your profile and promote your services.
How to be a freelance writer? It’s about taking initiative. Write brands and companies yourself. This will help you find a job you will truly like.
Analyze the Target Audience
Commenting on texts, EssayHub editors often point out the same issue: the text doesn’t solve the problem of the audience. It is crucial to know for whom you write and to choose the right angle. To study your target audience:
- Talk to current and potential clients;
- Understand what demographics you work with;
- Analyze their needs and preferences;
- Get and interpret feedback.
Knowing these insights, you’ll be able to adapt your message accordingly.
Research New Topics
It is unlikely that you will be able to devote your entire career to one topic that you are good at. Interesting projects and tasks are found in different fields.
You may be interested in freelance nurse writer jobs today, but later you’re niche may evolve and include healthcare tech or medical education content. Therefore, don’t hesitate to research new topics and trends.
Work With Quality Sources
There are many excellent sources: articles and videos, scientific publications, blogs of experts, forums or comments under posts and videos. Use a combination of those to get the most relevant information and a balanced perspective.
Conduct Interviews to Find Stories
Interesting stories and cases are everywhere. Talk to people around you to find them. For an interview to go well:
- Clarify the focus of your interview with an interviewee;
- Help them get ready;
- Prepare a list of open questions that you want to ask;
- Be attentive to details.
Interviews will help you find material and also develop valuable skills. With time, those will turn into lucrative gigs and a decent freelance writer salary.
Write Coherently and Logically
A good writer knows how to combine separate facts into a logical story. They point out the problem, emphasize cause-and-effect relationships between events, reveal theses, select arguments and so on.
Nowadays, the attention span of people is extremely short, so it is important to avoid unnecessary details and create texts that are easily perceived.
Know Various Content Formats
There are many writing formats: articles, guides, webinars, social media posts, newsletters, podcast scripts and so on. A writer must understand what format will match the client’s needs.
Also, mention the formats you usually work with in your freelance writer resume.
Be Well-Read
As a freelance writer, you should constantly study brilliant cases and then use these observations in your work. The more logical and informative material you read, the better you write.
Handy Resources
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser
Creating a miracle with words is a science. Whatever you are writing—a post on a social network, an article or a book—your task is the same: find your style, work on your skills, and convince the reader.
There are a lot of exercises in this book: you will find examples from journalistic, artistic, commercial texts and nonfiction. Zinsser will give some great examples and explain how to build tension from the first word to the final point.
How to Be a Young Writer by Christopher Edge
A fascinating story about the basic skills of writing. Problematic questions, funny illustrations and clear instructions on what to avoid will help any beginner. Thanks to this book, you will build a logical plot and improve your individual style.
Advertising Secrets of the Written Word by Joseph Sugarman
Ads are the engine of trade. Over time, they become more refined and memorable. The author is one of the top American copywriters. He analyzes advertisements in detail, offers specific methods for creating unique and effective texts and demonstrates typical mistakes of beginners.
Hypnotic Writing by Joe Vitale
In this book, the author reveals what tools can be used to influence the perception of buyers and push them to action. Joe Vitale offers a clear and consistent method of writing email newsletters, sales posts, advertising publications and other texts. He calls this methodology hypnotic writing.
To Wrap It Up
Building a career as a freelance writer is an exciting journey. You’ll need to practice a lot to build your portfolio and find potential clients. But don’t stop there: learn, improve your style, research new niches and topics and use all the available tools, be it courses or books written by experts.
One more thing...
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