People around the world are stepping into the world of freelance as they create their own personal blogs or web pages. It can be difficult to stay relevant and continue to find work in the changing world of freelance.
Here are five tips you can make use of for maintaining your competitiveness in the tough freelance market:
1. Continue to Develop Skills
Even if you have a degree in English, journalism, or a similar field, it is always worthwhile to continue development and improvement of your skills. You can look for online or in-person courses that discuss search engine optimization, marketing, and other skills that will make you more valuable as a freelance writer.
If you work for a specific company that gives assignments on the same general topics, you may also want to study those subjects. You can also review work of other freelancers to learn their skills and strengths.
2. Work on Your Grammar
Although there are a lot of people out there who consider themselves freelance writers, many of these writers don’t have the strong grammar skills that are key in writing concise and clear sentences. If your grammar isn’t quite up to par, you need to step up in your game: Consider reading writing tips online, taking courses, and furthering your education by studying mechanics of English grammar. This is a common problem among millennials, since many of them were raised on shortened and slang text used in text messaging and emailing.
3. Focus on One Area at a Time
Instead of trying to be an expert in a lot of different subjects, it may be worthwhile to become an expert in a couple of specific topics. When a project manager has a more specialized assignment to give, he or she will often seek a freelance writer who knows the subject matter. These jobs also tend to pay more, so while you may not produce as much content, you can often earn a similar if not higher paycheck.
4. Spend Time on Research
When you are performing research, you typically aren’t being paid for that time since you probably earn money per word. However, higher quality content is much more valuable in the freelance world. Therefore, you should consider the time you spend researching a topic as part of the creative process. Even if you consider yourself an expert in the subject, it is still worthwhile to perform a simple web search and make sure that the area hasn’t changed drastically over time.
The state of freelance writing infographic reveals that the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) average hourly rate is between $40 and $99 per hour. Deeper insights through thorough research will help you in getting you there.
5. Self-Promotion
Most freelance writers won’t get a byline, since they tend to write content to go on web pages, blogs, and other resources of companies. Since this is rare in the freelance world, it is important to promote yourself in other ways. Maintain a portfolio and make sure to keep it updated with recent work that you have completed. This makes it easier to draw on your best work when applying for jobs. You can also keep an active presence on social media to generate awareness about your brand.
Freelance writing is a great career option for those who enjoy producing relevant content. Those who want to pursue this path should continue working to improve their skills each day.