When you decide on a new career as a freelance writer finding freelance writing opportunities and converting these to paid work is one of your main challenges.
Sometimes you may feel less than confident about rebranding yourself as a writer but the truth is that everyone spends so much time creating documents on the computer these days that you are bound to have at least basic writing skills.
That means it won’t be difficult to use these to find legitimate work at home jobs.
Create A Web Presence With Your Own Blog Or Website
One of the first things you should do is create at least a basic website with your name, contact details, resume, clips and links to your work. If you haven’t got any examples, then add a blog to your site and start posting some informative articles.
Finding Freelance Writing Opportunities
The next step in finding freelance writing projects is to create profiles on some of the major freelance job boards. These include Elance, Ifreelance, Rentacoder and Guru, and you may also find freelance writing jobs on other job boards designed for specialist niches.
Don’t neglect job search sites such as Indeed and Monster. These can also provide lucrative opportunities for freelance writing work.
Marketing Your Writing Skills
Once you have found a few writing opportunities that interest you, the next step is to craft a bid that will land you the job.
While there are no guarantees, use the following tips to give you a head start.
The most important aspect of crafting a successful bid for freelance writing opportunities is to address the issues outlined by the potential client. Get a piece of paper or open a computer file and make a note of the main points in the brief.
Then see how your experience matches what is required. That will form the body of your bid and you should address the most important points near the top.
The introduction to your bid will say briefly why you are the best person to do the job and how much you will charge. The end of the bid will let the potential client know when you are available and the best way to contact you.
It’s very similar to the application letter you would write for a job, but with more practical information.
If you have done your job right you will soon land lots of freelance writing projects and you will be able to hone your bidding skills as you see which bid letters are most successful.
