If you are trying to start freelance writing with no experience, it is advisable to check out these important tips every freelance writer should be aware of.

This is so that you can stand out from the rest of the crowd and find success in your chosen path, along with making a satisfying income from your freelance writing.

The world of freelance writing is an awesome one. You have the freedom to set your schedules, select clients, fix your rate and work from the convenience of your home. What else could you ask?

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Guidelines Every Freelance Writer Should Be Aware Of

1. Sending a Pitch Regularly

Your main concern as a freelancer is to find writing work and clients. The field is fairly competitive, so you need to send a pitch regularly to prospective clients.

• How to start freelance writing? No one is going to put a writing job worth $500 on Fiverr, so you need to make some efforts if you want to make those big bucks.
• You need to send a pitch regularly in order to generate stable income with big clients and develop lucrative long-term relationships with clients.

Visit About Us pages or look out for Write for Us, Contributor guidelines and approach the content strategist of niche websites.

• Tailor your pitch to suit the niche client needs, instead of sending a generic email.

Remember: To establish your credibility by offering references and samples of your work.

• Identify sites that you wish to write for by searching for, best blogs on …., to narrow it down.

See: 10 Reasons Why You Should Quit Your Job and Go Freelance

2. Networking with Peers – Freelance Writing Tips for Beginners

It is good for any business to build relationships with peers.

• It leads to referrals and more opportunities in the future.
• One of the most important freelance writing career tips is to join an online community of freelance writers and follow your role models or those whose work you admire. Check their work.
• Make appreciative comments on blogs in order to further personal connections.
• Connect with peers and clients on social media like LinkedIn, follow on Twitter, subscribe to their blogs etc.
• It is like a networking party, where you can meet prospective and existing clients, get more connections, your business increases with word of mouth and people start talking about you.

Tip: The secret to successful freelance writing is not about what you know but rather WHO you know, so start getting associated with other writers who can help you land a new gig.

3. Have a Blog Create your Portfolio

If you are planning to make money from part time freelance writing jobs from home, shine in your blog and attract the ideal, niche client to make money quickly as a freelance writer.

• The best way to display your talent is to post it on your blog especially for those who are looking for entry level freelance writing.
• Share interesting and well written content and use SEO tactics for getting posts indexed on search engines.

You can write on your niche subjects and also on any other related topics. You can also target your blog towards clients’ businesses.

• Use your writing samples for pitching and keep building your portfolio.
• Do guest posting on other blogs.

Note: This is a sample of what your freelance portfolio could look like:

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4. Finding Freelance Writing Niches

You can settle down on a single subject or just play the field in your freelance writing business.

• Write on topics that you are interested in.
• Settle for topics that bring in a better rate of pay.

Make sure that you know the specifics of a particular industry before writing a sample on it. Quality content is important.

• Go through your previous work experiences in order to narrow down your niche or settle on your passions.

You can also start as a generalist and then narrow down your niche later when you find what you love to write about and specialize under that umbrella.

5. Enrolling in a Course

A short course on freelance writing could help you achieve success faster if you are a new freelance writer.

• You will learn techniques for building your reputation, selecting a niche, set up your professional blog or website, create pages for attracting clients, etc.
• Tips on guest posting and using social media sites for marketing your writing services.
• You can learn online writing techniques, such as making it search engine friendly.
• Learn how and whom to pitch using templates.

6. Learn the Science of Freelance Writing

A freelance writer should be able to write on many topics and produce new content under pressure deadlines.

• Follow client guidelines with respect to keywords and other requirements.
• Follow the writing style required.
• Meet deadlines. This is important because you are a part of a chain of people involved in the work and you need to finish your part in time, otherwise your reputation as a writer will be jeopardy and this could kill your business.
• Create a portfolio with samples of your different styles, showing off your range of writing skills.
• Stay up to date on computer knowledge. It is your most important tool as a freelance writer. Get a reliable device and a good internet connection. Update virus protection systems, as you don’t want to send a work full of virus to your client.
• Be familiar with working in various writing styles and different programs, like Word, Google Docs, Microsoft Excel and so on.

Remember: To set up a good invoicing system using an excel workbook, with details of the client, your work, number of words, the fee. Keeping records is important for tax purposes also!

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7. Getting it Out There

It is not enough to be a good writer. You need to get your stuff out there into the real world!

• Use websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Freelanced, Contently, Pinterest etc. to promote and showcase your work.
• The idea is that you expose your work to the maximum number of potential clients and reach more people using free platforms.
• Write in different formats, a blog post, an article, a rewrite etc.

Tip: Try creating an email signature saying you are a professional writer, a blogger or a copywriter.

8. Editing Content

It will be value addition if you can also edit the content and proof read it before sending it to your clients.

• Whether you’ve written an academic paper or a creative piece or business documents, all require proofreading and editing.
• Make sure that your work is correct, clear and has all the facts right in order that you can establish authority on the subject.
• You need a good grasp of the English language and sentence construction along with a good vocabulary and proper word choices.
• Punctuation’s must be proper and the flow and tone of the article must follow the requirements of your client. Follow specific or special requirements of your client for each work.
• Check out any citations, references, figures, tables, etc.

9. Knowledge of Client Industry

You don’t necessarily have to be an expert in each client’s specific industry. However, you need to understand the mindset of their target customers in order to write content that will drive prospects towards your client’s page.

• Get some knowledge about the client’s industry and write out a draft first if you are not too sure about the content.
• Most writeups will also require a CTA or call to action, so that readers move on to the next stage in the marketing process. Check out such requirements.

If you don’t pay heed to such aspects, it will just result in plenty of back and forth revision requests and a thorough waste of time for both parties.

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10. Feedback and Criticism

Critical feedback is an absolute essential to succeed in freelance writing. You can even use negative feedback for improving yourself.

• Be respectful and don’t take offense at negative feedback. Take action and make the required improvements. You will find your client appreciating you for going the extra mile.
• Ask questions to your clients about ways to improve, what you have done right or what went wrong.

It’s not personal so don’t take things personally. They are just suggestions for improvement and it can help you towards success!

Wrap Up – Freelance Writing Career Tips

Most freelance writers usually have some other occupation and select their niche based on their former work experiences. As a freelance writer, you should have communicating abilities and a decent knowledge of grammar, spelling as well as punctuation.

The good news is that you can become a freelance writer even without prior experience in writing.

• Start a blog and showcase your work
• Start pitching to prospective clients
• Begin networking

Going through these tips for freelance writers should give you a headstart in your profession. All the best!