Freelance Online Writing: The 3 Absolute Must Do's You Need To Succeed

By: Scott Salter

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.

Article Source: http://www.articleblender.com

Scott is a successful freelance writer who makes the bulk of his income by writing online. To learn how you can create a secondary income through pursuing freelance writing opportunities go to www.writingforincome.com

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