If you want to be a freelance writer online please do not sign up for a PAID service that promises to get you writing jobs. If you want to be a freelance writer, treat your job hunt just as you would if you were looking for any other type of job. When you look for a job do you usually pay people money so you can apply? No, you don’t. The nature of a job is that you get paid.
I’m not going to name any names as to who I am talking about, but I will tell you who I am not talking about. There are some great paid job boards out there and when it comes to those, go for it. If you want to pay for a job board, I have heard great things about Freelance Switch. For $7 a month you can view and apply for as many jobs as you want. I can’t personally vouch because I haven’t tried them, but I’ve never heard a bad thing about them.
That being said, the types of paid job services I’m talking about are just that: services. They promise to have hundreds of clients just dying to pay you $25 an article. By next week you’ll have enough money saved for this and next Christmas.
The truth is, no one listed on any of those sites is going to pay you $25 for an article. It’s just not going to happen. In fact, for most freelance writers online, $3-$5 an article is a good start. The good news is, if you are able to forge strong working relationships with people who continually need articles, your rates should go up and you should be kept pretty busy. The trick is finding people who need writers.
It’s not as difficult as you might think. The sites have helped me find some great writing gigs and build long-term relationships. Most of them have both a free and paid option, but I have done just fine with the free option thus far. The list is short, but these sites are busy. If you are reliable and can provide quality copy, you should be able to land some gigs are start building some relationships.
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Get a Freelancer
This site just plain kicks a$$. You can sign up for free, choose the types of jobs you’d like to view and apply. There are always a ton of jobs and you can have updates e-mailed to you. I generally get 10 or 12 updates a day with at least that many jobs listed in each. They’re not all great and you may scoff at some of the pay rates, but there are plenty of golden nuggets to be found here.
As a free member, you can apply to 18 jobs in each 30-day period and there are a few jobs only available to gold members. For $12.50 a month you can become a gold member and apply to as many jobs as you want including gold jobs. I have had no issues being a free member. The key here is to look for projects looking for long-term writers. That way you can spend less time applying and more time accepting assignments and writing. -
Problogger Job Board
Just subscribe to this in your feed reader and watch the jobs roll in. Here you’ll find a lot of different jobs mostly aimed at bloggers. Blogging networks often place ads here and that is a great way to get a long-term gig. In fact, as I was researching this article I actually ended up applying to one of the listings here. Good stuff!
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Accentuate Writers Forum
This forum is not specifically for job-hunting, but it is specifically for writers. It’s a great place to network and is very active with over 700 members. If you want to go straight to the jobs, head straight for “Paying Writing Jobs” or “Freelance Bidding Sites.” Also, if you are considering signing up for a paid opportunity, check out the scam section to see if anyone has any negative feedback about it. You could spend days on this site and not run out of great information to read.
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Elance
Elance also has a varied list of job types and it is a very active site. You pay nothing to sign up or bid, but you will pay a percentage of the total job payout once it is complete. I have only used Elance a few times, but have found it very user friendly and a lot of people find all their work on this site alone.
And that’s it. As I said, it’s a short list, but it really is all you need to get going. Just remember to stick to deadlines, always be professional and provide quality content.
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