Getting Started

Web content writers must determine the type of writing they want to perfect and what they hope to accomplish in their freelance writing.

Freelance writers and bloggers must have the time, patience, and commitment to get the job done. Starting the journey of a freelance writer is just like any other worthwhile business venture. There will always be bumps in the road. It is not the bumps that will determine your success or failure as a freelance writer, but how you learn to go over, around, or through them in your writing journey.

Great freelance writers keep track of ideas as they come

Song writers keep track of song lyrics on cocktail napkins, paper bags, or anything else that is handy when the inspiration comes. Freelance writers are no different. Inspiration for a fantastic blog article can come at the least expected time. When you are at your computer always keep a text editor open so when that idea comes, you can write it down and save it. When you are away from your computer always have a pen and notepad handy to record those brilliant ideas. In just a few weeks you will have more article ideas than you can write in a month.

Great freelance writers think outside the box

There are those who consider themselves to be "niche" bloggers and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. With a little research you will be ready to write on practically any topic. If you limit yourself to only writing on familiar topics you may be placing an unfair limit on future freelance writing opportunities and potential income sources.

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"Writing Better Web Content" - Co-written by Ken Bradford and Dr. Deborah C. Bauers, LPC

Great freelance writers take old topics and make then new

If you can think of it someone has probably already blogged about it. With the millions of blogs on the Internet, there are just no new ideas. A successful freelance writer has the ability to take a well discussed topic and by writing from a different angle can make it totally original and new. Let's suppose you want to write about red shoes. There are hundreds of places that are the best places to buy them, the different styles, and different materials. How many people write about - "How red shoes make you look younger" or "Red shoes are a better buy"?

Great freelance writers understand that writer's block is natural

If you are a new freelance writer you can probably churn out five, maybe even ten, articles every single day. The time will come when that number will dwindle to about four or five articles per day. Then, one day, your mind will tell you that you don't feel like writing today and every topic has already been written about anyway. You will be attacked by the dreaded "Writer's Block"!

The best way to defeat writer's block is to write something every single day. Even if you don't feel like writing for a customer, write for yourself. Just open your word processor and start writing - write about anything. How to clean a gold fish bowl? What makes grass green? It doesn't matter, just write about something. By writing every day, it will become a habit and soon you will feel strange if you aren't writing. Be sure and save these articles. You just never know when you might be able to use them.

Great freelance writers have a thick skin

Here's what you've been looking for - Rejection! Probably the hardest lesson for a freelance writer to learn is that not everyone will like everything you write. This doesn't necessarily mean you're a bad writer. Articles are read and reviewed by different personalities under many different circumstances.

Rejection should never be taken personally. If you ask another writer to critique your article, don't get all upset and angry when that writer tells you it just doesn't make a connection. If you don't want constructive criticism about your article, don't ask for it.

There are no successful entrepreneurs who haven't had their share of failure along the way. Rejection is just a way of letting you know what works and what doesn't. Successful people learn to adjust. If you are writing on a consistent basis, a certain amount of rejected articles will come. If you aren't getting rejections, you probably aren't writing enough. So, rejections can be used to measure your successes, by letting you know your writing may need to improve in certain areas.