Content marketing has grown in popularity for every industry over the last few years. With expansive growth, comes the need for freelance content writers. For writers that are looking to create a side business or fully become a freelance writer, content writing is a legitimate path towards financial stability. But if you’ve never done it, how do you get started? We put together some simple steps you can follow to start your freelance content writer career this year!
Learn the key skills
Content writing is more than just putting a flow of pretty words together. It takes knowledge of grammar, SEO, HTML and even things as small as meta descriptions.
If you’re not well versed in the needs of content marketing, it’s time to start learning. There are a lot of free online courses for content writing that will fill the gap between your professional writing skills and content marketing.
For example, Moz’s Beginner’s Guide and Udemy offer content writing courses that can help. It’s worth taking the time to learn so you’re not stumbling around once you secure a job.
Put your skills into practice
At first, take any job you can get and listen closely to the feedback you receive from the hiring manager. Working with someone who has been in the content field for a while will give you great insight into what makes for a great piece of online content.
If you’re new to finding freelance work, consider reaching out to contacts in marketing or using online freelance platforms like Upwork.
Once you have a few jobs under your belt, finding more gigs will become much easier.
Build a portfolio
Another key component of being a content writer is having an online portfolio that showcases your skills.
At first, you might have writing jobs you’ve done that didn’t have anything to do with content marketing. That’s fine!
As you take on new jobs in content, you can continue to add to your portfolio. It’s even better if you’re able to track the stats of your content efforts so that potential clients know that your pieces perform.
Start looking for work
With a portfolio and a few jobs under your belt, you should begin consistently looking for work to fill your schedule. There are a few different ways you can find content writing jobs:
- Through content agencies like Copify or ContentFly
- Joining a company as an in-house writer
- Applying to freelance jobs and submitting yourself on job boards
- Emailing potential clients
Getting a steady stream of work doesn’t come easy. It takes time each day looking through what’s available on your various platforms and sending cold emails to potential clients.
If you already have contacts in the marketing industry, this can be easier. Ask them to put you in touch with the people at their company in charge of content marketing. Or reach out to fellow writers to see if they know of any companies searching for more hires.
Content writing is more popular than ever and the need for writers is there. If you put yourself out there, consistently produce great work, and are easy to work with, chances are you’ll have success paying your bills as a freelance content writer.
