There are now millions of websites online. Most of them don't last long. They are put up in the hope of capturing leads or sales or distributing information, but the problem with most websites is that they are not built around fundamental business principles and practices. Those that do stay around for longer are generally run by professional businesses and managed by webmasters who utilise online writing with keen interest in the quality of their business and website content.
On the internet two things determine the success of most enterprises. The first is traffic. Without visitors a website is simply pointless. The second is content or online writing. This is where you - the freelance writer- come in.
As a freelance writer involved in online writing there are three key factors that influence your success.
First, and most obviously, your online writing abilities are crucial. Webmasters are honestly crying out for freelance writers who have the ability to write with flair and creativity and who know how to research a topic thoroughly. It's a sad fact that most online freelance writers are very amateur. The fact that your article appears on a website and not in a glossy magazine in no way diminishes the fact that the article must be of the highest quality. There are just too many online freelance writers who just dive into a subject without much thought and preparation.
Your abilities as an online freelance writer must demonstrate that you can get to the heart of a topic and express your research and opinion in a manner that will demand reader attention. As an online freelance writer there is nothing more important. The longer that a reader spends on a website the more chance there is for a webmaster to build a relationship with the reader and convert them into a lead or sale. We all know how easy it is to click away from a website and once that happens a potential customer may never return!
Second, as an online freelance writer, you absolutely must write unique and original work. Webmasters are striving to get maximum exposure for their content and to a large extent their exposure is determined by the rank that their sites receive from the search engines. Google, Yahoo and MSN are very, very smart. They can spot duplicate online writing quickly and they are not shy in penalising webmasters for falling into this kind of error.
Third, and also related integrally to online writing's unique platform, you must be aware that your online writing needs to reflect adequate keyword density. This is perhaps the biggest difference between online writing and offline. Again, this comes back to the search engines. Millions of people are searching for information on the internet at any given time and the words that they enter into the search engines determine the pages that the search engines display.
In most cases webmasters will specify the keywords they are targeting for a particular article, so keyword research isn't a large component of online writing. However, creating the right keyword density in an article is paramount.
Succeeding at online writing isn't hard, but it takes dedication to improving and showcasing your online writing ability. Also, as an online freelance writer your commitment to unique and original work and your skill with creating keyword density are essential to your success.
Freelance Online Writing Jobs
The fact that the Internet is a medium that relies on fresh and relevant content to keep people coming back has seen the creation of a secondary market which is solely about the creation of new content. The explosive growth of the Internet and the attendant growth of Internet related commerce have created an unprecedented demand for written content. It is rare for webmasters to go about each day creating this content themselves; they simply don't have the time. What you will find is that they source the content from elsewhere and are happy to pay for it.
Like the stock exchange which facilitates transaction between buyers and sellers of shares, similar types of exchanges are now coming into vogue for the online content market. Webmasters know that they can go to a central resource, create a job description, and then have freelance writers bid to do that work. It works like a dutch auction with the lowest bidder usually, though not always, winning the bid and securing the job.
The two major outsourcing online auction sites are:
elance.com and
guru.com
The buyers at these auction sites aren't really after top quality writing (except in the case of copy for web sales pages). They want fast content and they want to procure it as cheaply as possible. This can sometimes make for a low priced and unpredictable market.
There are therefore a few rules that you need to observe to ensure that you can consistently profit from your writing:
1.Keep it simple
To be self sufficient as an online freelance writer you need to develop a system of getting buyers in your virtual door and out as fast as possible. This means belonging to one auction bidding site (either Elance or Guru) to keep life streamlined and simple. The great thing about doing this is all your accounts, job records, customers emails and work history are stored in a central location. This removes a lot of administrative overhead from your operation and allows you to concentrate on bidding and creating content.
2.Be consistent and relatively fast
You need to process books and articles as fast as you can and keep your practices to a single standard that your customers can recognise and come back for again and again.
3.Always raise your prices a little bit over time
NEVER give return customers discounts. You also need to be able to ask them for more money than they are willing to pay you if they ask for a second draft.
The writing market is slanted in favour of the buyer so you need to give yourself every edge at your disposal.
Both James Finnila & Scott Salter are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
James Finnila has sinced written about articles on various topics from Writing, Small Business and Your Online Business. James Finnila is a successful online business owner and article writer. To find out more about online writing how to become a successful online freelance writer go to
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