Experienced freelance writers make money writing dozens of articles for clients around the world. The following helpful tips for writing and selling articles will help budding writers find a firm foothold in the world of content writing. You can plan and prepare for your writing career and avoid a “trial and error” approach.
The important fact to keep in mind is that in order to sell your copywriting services, you must first be able to follow certain basic copywriting rules online.
Tips for writing articles
1. Writing formats: Become familiar with the different writing tasks that you may be asked to complete. For example, writers might be asked to work on grant presentations (requesting funding for upcoming projects, usually related to NGOs and charities), press releases (information about launching a new product or service), content from the website (home page, ‘about us and so on) or e-books.
The formats of each form of writing are different. There is a lot of information available on the Internet; Spend time reading about different types of writing.
2. Choice of English style: Articles are generally written in American, British or Australian English. Please understand that these are all different variants of the English language. Clients can request that articles be written for a local or international audience. There will be subtle differences in both spelling and language.
For example, ‘neighbor’ is American English, while ‘neighbor’ is British English. Similarly, Americans say “counselor” while other countries spell the same word as “counselor.”
If you are unsure, ask your client for further clarification. Correct spelling is a crucial factor in getting good work assignments. A misspelled word can ruin the impression.
3. Investigate: Research skills are another vital factor that contributes to the crafting of a top-notch article. As a budding freelance writer, you may need to write articles on various genres and topics. These could include finance, banking, gardening, cooking, healthcare, business, home decor, parenting, among many others.
Obviously, we can’t be experts on every topic under the sun. Because, intensive research it will help you discover highlights and useful information.
For example, if you are asked to write an article on UK savings accounts, sit down and read four or five reliable websites for information. If you read about ‘CD ladders’ (bank deposits), find out more about CD ladders and how they work.
Your article should be able to provide solid, useful, and well-researched information to readers. Its objective is to gather information from various sources so that the reader has access to all information in one place.
A word about website choice: keep in mind that there are excellent websites and several mediocre and unreliable at the same time. Avoid collecting information from ‘forums’ etc. Stick to reputable, educational, or government websites. In this way, you can be sure of providing your customers with up-to-date and objective information.
Four. Job counting and keyword insertion: Keywords are important words and phrases that help an article or website attract traffic. They are based on the fact that all readers begin a search with a word or phrase.
For example, readers who want to travel to Paris can type “Paris Vacation” into the browser to start looking for great Paris vacation deals. Customers can often request the use of certain keywords to help their website gain visibility.
For example, a customer might ask you to write a 500 word article and use a specific keyword, for example three times in the article. You should be able to skillfully weave the keyword into the article without making it look artificial. Avoid just ‘filling it in’. Use the keyword in a way that sounds sensible and logical.
Ideally, keywords should be used in the title, first line, and last line (this is not a hard and fast rule, however). Pay attention to the required keywords and keyword count.
Please do not ‘fill in’ the article with superficial and useless information. In the world of freelance writing, this is known as “fluff.” As the name suggests, ‘fluff ‘refers to useless and irrelevant information which is simply written to complete the required word count.
Here’s an example to illustrate the point:
For. Everyone needs a bank account to manage their money. Banks offer customers several options to save money. Services and quality vary from bank to bank.
B. Opening a bank account is a great way to manage your money. Banks offer several options including deposits, savings plans, and investment portfolios to help you build a consolidated pool.
Option (b) is a more informative sentence compared to (a). Avoid skimping on research. Shallow and inadequate research equates to producing “fluffy” content.
5. Plagiarism issues: While creating content for clients, do not copy or paste information. All information on the Internet is protected by copyright and copying is illegal.. Read the information and then write it in your own words. That is exactly what you get paid for.
Images, diagrams and photographs are also associated with strict copyright.. Make sure to use legitimate, copyright-free images that are permitted use.
Taking unscrupulous shortcuts is likely to lead to a bad reputation and a bad reputation. You may also consider purchasing ‘Copyscape’ credits; a website that helps you check your work for plagiarism.
6. Deadlines: Deadlines are sacrosanct and writers must respect them implicitly. Examine the amount of work you need to do and assign it the required duration. Avoid promises that are difficult for you to keep. If you need four days to complete a job, tell your client honestly.
Delays and missed deadlines should be avoided because it will ruin your reputation with your client. He will end up giving you a bad review out of resentment and frustration.
7. Choose your clients carefullyRemember that there are thousands of clients looking for copywriting services. As in other fields of work, there are excellent clients. But not all are professionals. During the course of your writing career, you may come across stingy, demanding, rude, and unreasonable clients.
In my humble opinion, looking for good clients is much more important than looking for good projects. The simple reason is that a good project will come to an end, while a good client will provide regular work.
This is not to say that you shouldn’t consider any new client work. However, learn to be picky in your choice of clients. You are here to sell valuable writing skills. Behave with dignity and treat your work with respect. Not everyone can write, which is why your client wants your services first. Avoid selling your work short, this also hurts the prospects of other writers.
Clients are under the false impression that they can always cut a deal and pay cheap fees for good work.
8. Client-Writer Tag: The good news is that 96% of customers are really nice. They are here to look for good writers and they will be happy to pay for competent services. Ask your clients for feedback after completing a job. Be prepared to incorporate any requested changes / revisions (within reasonable limits). Establish a good relationship with customers. Make sure to respond to all inquiries within 24 hours. You will likely be contacted for other assignments.
9. Use your free time to build credibility and a good reputation.. Write to well-known websites that accept articles for submission. This will help you demonstrate your skills and reliability to your clients.
There are thousands (in fact millions) of websites that require the writing of content, images, articles, and blogs. Online writers can make a decent income writing for clients who want to create websites. Also, you can write for agents who sell your work to clients.
Freelance online writing is an interesting field that is both enjoyable and lucrative at the same time. All it takes is effort, diligence, and perseverance to make online writing a successful career.