Last Updated on September 6, 2018 by Jessica Adams

Right now, becoming a freelance writer is easier than it ever has been. In the past, a career as a writer has gotten itself a bad wrap. People will automatically assume that you’re a starving artist that never makes any money! And while that may have been true for some people at some points in their lives, that won’t always be the case for everyone. And it’s certainly not today. Because now, there are so many successful freelance writers making six-figures, and a ton of resources available to help anyone that wants to do it, to be successful. If you want to be a freelance writer and you’re willing to put the work in, here are the five key steps to success with your freelance writing.

 

5 Important Steps To Success

With Your Freelance Writing

 

 

---

Define Your Niche & Ideal Customer

So first, you’re going to want to decide what you’re going to write about and the kind of writer you want to be. Maybe you want to just write copy for businesses? Or maybe you only want to provide journalist style content to magazines? Or do you want to do a blend of both, alongside blogging, in one particular niche? Work it out, decide on the topics you want to write about, and then start to come up with an ideal customer profile so you know who will be buying your services and why.

 

Develop A Killer Website

Then, you’re going to want to pull together your writer website. This is the key to finding your success. You’ll want to buy a domain that suits your name, your niche, or your brand. Then, get a designer or find a template, that shows off your work, allows people to contact you, and allows you to write blog posts.

 

Create A Strategy To Market Yourself

Next, you have to market yourself so that you can get in front of your prospective customers. Here, you’ll want to work on SEO to help your website rank well in search results. But, you may also want to promote yourself on social media and create ads on Facebook to be able to increase your reach too.

 

Build Up Relationships With Customers

As you start to build up a client base, you’re then going to want to really build up relationships with them. Not only will some great B2B sales skills help you to get the business, but really nurturing those connections can help you to sell more in the future. You may even get recommendations from them too.

 

Do A Great Job Every Single Time

But if you really want to make this work, and you want to earn a lot of money as a freelance writer, you need to do a good job. There’s no doubt about it. If you overpromise and look like a great copywriter to work with, but then under deliver with awful work, you will lose business. And you will no grow. So invest in yourself. Practice your writing, take courses to get better, read more, and just make sure that you give each job everything you’ve got to make your work the best it can be.

 

---

This has been a guest contribution from Erin Dougherty, in the Small Biz “Mini-Post” Series. 1K words or less & open for Guest Posting!

 

Edited by Jessica Rose Adams