It seems that all freelance writers have their “specialty.†This is more or less the type of projects that they work on the most. For some, this is keyword articles, for others business plans or sales letters. One of the best paying specialties to consider is feature articles. If you can break into this area you are sure to increase your monthly income.
As you probably know, feature articles are used by magazines of all sizes. These are the articles that are featured in the magazine due to their depth, detail, and most of the time length. Early on in my freelance writing career I did not concentrate much on feature articles. After all, these gigs are difficult to tie down because there is a lot of competition for them.
After a few months I began to send out query letters to mid-size magazines that matched my expertise. Soon enough, I landed a couple of regular jobs and was on my way from there. Check out a feature of mine in Insight Magazine; this is just one of many that I have completed in the past few years.
The most difficult part of breaking into feature article market is getting that first job. Without a lot of samples this can be difficult, but if you send out enough queries you are sure to get a bite sooner rather than later. From there, you can begin to narrow down your targets and build your career. Your first gig may not pay great, but it is a start nonetheless.
As mentioned briefly above, feature articles can pay very well. This is not always the case, but bigger publications pay $1/word and up. I have never earned that much per word, but have been close a couple of times. Just like anything else within the freelance writing industry, your pay will increase as you become better known and more proficient at writing feature articles.
No matter what stage of your career you are at, attempt to break into feature article writing sooner rather than later.
As you know, there are many ways to make money online. With that in mind, every so often a new program comes along that shows extreme promise. Over the past month, TNX.net has been getting a lot of solid reviews from bloggers. And after taking a close look at what they have to offer, it is obvious why this is the case.
Being that I am more of a publisher than advertiser, let’s take a look at this side of things first. The main benefit of being a publisher with TNX.net is that you will have the ability to sell links on every page of your blog or website; not just the homepage. Obviously, this is a huge benefit to not only your readers, but also to advertisers.
Other benefits of being a publisher include:
1. Monthly payouts made via check, wire, or PayPal. With more options for payout, it is safe to say that more members will join. After all, not everybody loves PayPal.
2. TNX.net only charges a 12.5 percent commission. This is miniscule when compared to other text link brokers/services.
3. Link prices are automatically calculated based on page rank, link, site popularity, and other like factors.
4. For publishers with no technical skills, like myself, it is easy to use the service thanks to a “copy and paste†method for installing the code.
Now for the benefits that advertisers can take advantage of. First and foremost, the price to buy links is quite affordable. A point system is used in which one point will purchase one text link. To make this even better, you can purchase 1,000 points for a little more than one dollar. When you compare this to offers at other text link services, it is easy to see just how much money you will save.
Other benefits of becoming an advertiser include:
1. The ability to receive targeted traffic to your website or blog. Isn’t that what most webmasters are looking for?
2. Improve your ranking in the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, etc.
3. An easy to follow and simple to understand interface. Once again, if you do not have a lot of experience like myself, this will make your life much easier.
For more information on this service, which pretty much offers free text link ads, you don’t have to look much further than some of the more popular money making blogs. It seems that everybody has had their say on what TNX.net has to offer. And up to this point, I have yet to find too many negative comments!
Once or twice a day I usually receive an email from an aspiring freelance writer. In most cases, they all have a similar question based around what it takes to make a full-time income. I have said time after time that I really didn’t do anything special to get my career started. Generally speaking, it took a lot of patience, hard work, and maybe even some luck.
Outside of the basics of being able to write, there are three things that every aspiring freelance writer should have in common:
1. Dedication to your craft is very important. If you are going to be successful with your freelance writing career you need to stick with it, day in and day out. There are going to be times when you feel down and out, or want to give up because nothing is going your way. You must treat every client and every project with a high degree of respect. When you are dedicated to your work, it will pay off largely as time goes by.
2. Having the right attitude is essential to starting a successful freelance writing career. If you are not in the right frame of mind, you might as well save your time. The right attitude consists of taking pride in your work, not being afraid of failure, and staying positive at all times. It is not always easy to keep a good attitude, but to be a success this is crucial. If you are negative all the time and are simply working to make a buck, this will show through in your work. And guess what? When that happens, your clients will catch on and you will be out of a job.
3. You have to realize that freelance writing is a business. No, you are not shipping products or making sales calls all day, but this is a business nonetheless. By treating your freelance writing career as a business you will find it much easier to act professionally. Remember, there is a big difference between having a freelance writing business and writing as a hobby.
When I was starting out as a freelance writer, I hung my hat on the three points listed above. And even though I am no longer new to the industry, I still rely on dedication, a good attitude, and a professional approach to my career.
