Home > Blog > Blog > 7 Simple Tips to Grow Your Online Freelance Writing Income

7 Simple Tips to Grow Your Online Freelance Writing Income

Carol Tice

Are you wondering where the good-paying online writing gigs are hiding?

7 Simple Tips to Grow Your Online Freelance Writing Income. Makealivingwriting.com

I get this question from a lot of freelance writers. When I ask them what they’re doing, the answer is usually the same. They’re answering a lot of online job ads, and not doing much else.

Here are a few quick tips on how you can break the cycle of low online pay:

  1. Stop answering Craigslist ads that ask for free samples. Luke, it’s a trap!
  2. Stop answering ads that say you can write about any topic you want. These never pay well. Never ever.
  3. Find better ads. I like the kind where the employer has to pay to place the ad — say, like on LinkedIn. Or some professional association job boards.
  4. Look beyond ads. The vast majority of available work is never advertised. Start proactively marketing your writing business and tapping the submerged part of the iceberg.
  5. Get off Elance. And Guru, and all the rest. While the occasional gold nugget can be found in here, in general bidding sites put you in a race to the bottom. Unless you enjoy being the low-price leader, you want to get out of here.
  6. Understand that most revenue-sharing offers are a pipe dream. Have you got time to drive millions of eyeballs to your pages? If not, you will earn pennies. And waste oodles of your precious, precious time.
  7. Learn how to identify good-paying clients. Solid companies and publications that hire writers at professional rates are all around you. My starter tip: Look for companies that sell a real product or service in the real, offline world — ideally, ones that have been around since before the Internet.

3 Paid Advertising Options To Monetize Your Website

If you have a popular website, you have probably thought about using paid advertising on your site. Out of all the ways to monetize your website, paid advertising is one of the easiest options, since you just need to paste the code or however it is set up and you are...

10 Writer Websites That Kick Butt and Get Clients

10 Writer Websites That Kick Butt and Get Clients

Disclosure: Some of the links to writer websites below are affiliate links, which means at no extra cost to you, we may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Have you been wondering how to create a standout freelance writer website that would...