Just about 15 days ago I wrote a post detailing the link that I received from the freelance writing section of about.com. You are probably wondering what this has done for this blog, right? Even though I have not kept extremely close tabs on the results, I have noticed several benefits related to receiving this link.
First and foremost, I have received just about 200 visits from about.com since being linked to. This is not a huge traffic referrer, but obviously it is better than nothing; after all, it woks out to just about 13 visitors a day.
I am not quite sure if the about.com link has anything to do with the increase in my RSS readership, but I would say that it didn’t hurt. My current number of subscribers is ranging anywhere from 55 to 65. In late September, this number was closer to 40. Even though this is far from where I want to be, an increase of this percentage is always a good thing; no matter if it was related to the incoming link or not.
Unfortunately, getting a top level link from a site like about.com is not easy to do. I got lucky that the freelance writing guru for them decided that my freelance writing income was worth talking about. Hopefully as this blog continues to grow, more and more links from top of the line blogs and sites will begin to roll in. And if I am really lucky, about.com may include me in future stories!
I seem to be asked the same questions regarding freelance writing time and time again. The most common is: what kind of money do freelance writers earn? If you have any interest in freelance writing income, you will want to check out my posts on how much money I have made in the last few months. This will show you that I usually earn between $4,500 and $6,000 per month. But guess what? Things were not always this way. There have been months when I earned more, and early on, months when I earned less.
At this time, I have pretty much settled into a freelance writing income of approximately $5,000/month. I always say that my goal is $4,500/month because that will give me an annual income of $54,000. Why am I happy settling for that amount? Well, there is no easy answer to that question.
In the past, when I was concentrating solely on freelance writing, I was earning in excess of $6,500/month, and in some cases up to $9,000. Obviously, this was a great time for me because I was making more money than I ever thought possible. But at the same time, I was working my fingers to the bone and becoming stressed out over too many deadlines.
Earlier this year I decided to cut back on my freelance writing workload, and devote more of my time to developing blogs and other online businesses. This meant that I would lose a couple thousands of dollars of income per month, but so far I am more than happy with the decision. Being able to complete all of my freelance writing projects in an average of four hours per day has opened up plenty of time for other work, such as this blog. My hope is that my internet based projects eventually make up the couple thousand dollars that I am losing by cutting back my freelance writing workload.
With all of that being said, I still never answered your question, right? Just how much money can you make with a career in freelance writing? From my experience, this ranges from $0 to $9,000/month. I usually find my freelance writing income in the middle of that range. But remember, I am not the only full-time freelance writer. There are many who put my income to shame!Â
There have been a lot of factors that have contributed to my freelance writing success. In many cases, it was the small details that have helped me to succeed along the way. Too many aspiring freelance writers get caught up in the large details that are on the surface, and in turn forget about the minor tasks that need to be taken care of in an efficient manner.
Here are five rarely thought of freelance writing tips. They are sure to help no matter what stage of your career you may be in.
1. First and foremost, you do NOT have to be a great writer in order to succeed in this business. Believe it or not, I do not think of myself as a great writer. Do I have solid writing skills? Of course. But this does not mean that I am better than everybody else. As long as you have a good command of the English language and can follow what your clients want, you should be just fine.
2. Your marketing skills are almost as important as your writing skills. Even if you are a great writer, nobody will know that you exist unless you also learn how to market yourself. Take the time to try out different marketing techniques ranging from starting your own service related website to cold calling.
3. Hard work will pay off when it comes to freelance writing. How bad do you want to start a career in this field? For me, failing as a freelance writer was never an option. I had no other job at the time of starting, and I needed the money to pay the bills. If you have a sense of desperation, you will be able to turn your freelance writing career into a successful one.
4. Do not worry too much about money during the early days of your freelance writing career. Does this mean that you should work for less than what you are worth? Maybe, maybe not. But when it comes down to it, you need to start somewhere; and for many, this is with low paying jobs. My first jobs only paid a dollar or so per article. I would never work for that rate now, but back then I was glad to have money coming in.
5. Guess what? Freelance writing can get boring. Even if you love writing, as I do, from time to time you are going to hit a wall. When this happens, it is always nice to have another project to work on. And that is why I have started several blogs over the past year or so. A blog combines what I like about freelance writing with other business related aspects.
Can you put these tips to good use? If you are a freelance writer, your answer should be yes. When it comes to freelance writing, the big things do not always mean the most.
