Written By: Roy Daniel D'Silva
The
freelance market has grown by leaps and bounds since the past decade, and it is
not something that will deplete or decrease in the long run. As long as
companies require projects done quickly on a no-strings-attached basis, and the
difference in global economies exists, freelancers will continue racking up
their hours after work. Due to the immense demand, more and more people are now
freelancing or consulting, and one of the simplest and most popular services is
content writing.
However,
one complain that is oft heard aloud is that a typical freelance content
writing gig does not pay much, which is as much as a misconception as it is
true. The fact is that though not every project you will come across will be
something that allows you enough money to buy a ticket to the moon or even pay
your monthly expenses in one go, there are some projects that are worth a
considerable amount of money, and here are some tips on how you can get your
hands on them.
Contact the Companies
Everyone
who has a domain name and online business needs content; they just do not know
it. However, if you contact and convince them that they require content for
their websites and other online media, there is quite a chance that they will
hire you for their content requirements, at a price that is considerably higher
than the so called market rates, and that is because you have a ‘connection’
with them now.
Of
course, this would require a bit of cold calling, and other activities that
might not actually give you any returns, but since you are in the online
business, you can solve this with a single e-mail shot off to the people
concerned. The thumb rule of a sales pitch is that only 10% of the people you
approach will reply, and less than 1% of those people will actually commission
you for anything major.
If
you are a freelancer or a very small content writing firm, your best bet would
be to contact local businesses and companies, because there is a fair chance
that the bigger fish is already gobbled up by digital agencies that had first
approached them as advertisement agencies. Also, you would require a lot of
hobnobbing with the bigger fish to finally bag the contract, which again would
take a lot of your resources, and you are never sure whether you will get that
gig or not.
Begin Networking with
People in the Business
If
you are fresh out of college and decided to ‘freelance’ for a while, you need
to take a deep, hard look at whether you still want to continue with that
decision. Freelancing is not as simple as it looks, and even people with five
years of experience in the content writing business find it difficult to get a
foothold in the consulting business. This is the reason that they should never
let go of their professional network, as that is another good way of actually
getting a big content writing gig.
People
in your professional network know you and have seen your work, and therefore
would be able and willing to pay you the amount that the work is actually
worth. You will not be some consultant that has come out of the cold; you will be an acquaintance or peer who has worked with them
earlier.
Do Not Get Off the 'Bid for Work' Websites
Bid-for-work websites like Elance, Freelancer and Odesk have become somewhat of a dark, dirty secret for freelance writers, but that is not the right way to look at it. There are a healthy number of freelancers who depend on these sites for their bread and butter, and apart from some crazy clients who want content for pennies and dimes, a large percentage of the total work assignments there are decently priced. In fact, if you do stick around with a particular client, there is every chance that they will hike the price per article, or reward you with a bonus. So don't pull yourself out of bid-for-work websites just yet. If you are just starting out and have no experience or published work to show, bid-for-work sites are again your best bet.
Roy Daniel Dsilva is an entertainment blogger who reviews Bollywood and Hollywood movies over at www.filmystan.com. You can contact him for writing projects related to anything at filmystan@gmail.com
Do Not Get Off the 'Bid for Work' Websites
Bid-for-work websites like Elance, Freelancer and Odesk have become somewhat of a dark, dirty secret for freelance writers, but that is not the right way to look at it. There are a healthy number of freelancers who depend on these sites for their bread and butter, and apart from some crazy clients who want content for pennies and dimes, a large percentage of the total work assignments there are decently priced. In fact, if you do stick around with a particular client, there is every chance that they will hike the price per article, or reward you with a bonus. So don't pull yourself out of bid-for-work websites just yet. If you are just starting out and have no experience or published work to show, bid-for-work sites are again your best bet.
Roy Daniel Dsilva is an entertainment blogger who reviews Bollywood and Hollywood movies over at www.filmystan.com. You can contact him for writing projects related to anything at filmystan@gmail.com
Hi Roy
ReplyDeletemany thanks for this helpful article!
Abhinav
Thank you so much,this is really a nice information to me..I'm so happy to hear about this information or find this awesome post..So thanks a lot..!!
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