You’d better be, because sooner or later things will change. How do I know? Because it’s just the way things are when you have a writing career.

Let me share how I got started with a full time freelance writing career.

I always wanted to go full time but I didn’t do it until I had enough clients to keep me going financially. In the end I managed to get enough clients to replace the income I was earning from my crummy job at the time, so it was an easy decision to make.

So I got started with full time freelancing. I had some regular clients and a few of them are still with me now, some three plus years down the line. But if I were to tell you that I still have every single client now that I had then, I’d be lying. I’ve worked for all kinds of people since then, and not all of them want regular ongoing work. That’s fine – I’m just as happy to tackle half a dozen articles as a one off job for a particular website or blog as I am to work with someone over a much longer period of time. That’s half the beauty of a writing career.

But it just goes to show how much change you can experience in a freelance writing career.

When you think about it, it’s the very opposite of a so called secure employed position. You have to be ready to deal with change when you’re a freelancer, because a client you think of as a regular could have a period of time where they no longer need work from you. They might come back to you again in the future (a good number of mine have) but you might also never hear from them again.

Change is going to happen whether you want it to or like it to or not. The real question is whether you are going to cope with it or not. You cannot decide not to have changes in your writing career, because they’ll happen anyway. If a client has been giving you, say, ten articles a week every week for a year, it doesn’t mean they’ll carry on doing so until you decide to retire. They might have cause to stop next week for all you know.

The hardest times in my writing career

I’ve found the trickiest times of change in my career have been when several changes come along at once. I might come to a natural end of a relationship with one client. Another one might put a hold on articles for a while because they have some changes to make to their website. They may or may not come back because of it. Another one might be looking to restructure their whole business or even get out of marketing altogether, so they won’t need me to update their blog any more.

These are just examples, but there have been times when a sea of changes have hit my writing career all at once. The first time this happened I must admit I did what all self respecting people would do – I panicked. As a writer working for lots of different people, I was pretty sure I had enough income streams coming in to weather any storm. In reality I did, but the first time I experienced several changes at once in my writing career I lost out on a couple of great clients in the space of a week.

Serious moping

I can remember all kinds of thoughts going through my head at the time. Why me? (Always a good one) Why now? (Hot on the heels of ‘Why me?’) Another good one was ‘I can’t believe I’ve lost two clients in the space of a week?!’

But one thing I soon discovered was that the initial worry and panic soon subsided. Yes it was a shame that my two best clients had cut right back on their needs. I ended up parting ways with one virtually completely (still do the odd thing every now and then but not often) and the other one disappeared altogether. But it happens. This is part of any freelancing career. The big thing to remember is that the first time it happens to you, you’ll feel like you made a mistake in starting a freelance writing career in the first place.

I must admit I still get disappointed when I part ways with a good client, even if it is only temporarily. But you know what? Every single time it’s happened, something else has come along to fill the void. Some of these newbies have occurred as a result of my own efforts. For example I’d go on Twitter and look for clients on there. If you’ve read my blog in the past you’ll know I’ve found two clients on Twitter and I did a lot of work for each of them. They both still reach out to me occasionally for additional work, which is nice. It’s always great when you have a professional and friendly relationship with your clients – it can make all the difference.

And you never know when that difference will pop up either. Just last week I had an email out of the blue from a guy who used to work for a media company I still work for today. He had joined another company on the other side of the world and wanted to know if I was interested in taking on some blogging duties for them. Of course I was, and now we’re into our second job together. You just never know when a previous connection you thought was severed pops back into your freelance career again.

Remember that when a door closes…

… a window opens, or something like that. I really believe this is true, and I also believe it helps if YOU believe it. You just have to know when to look for these open windows. They won’t always be obvious, but if you’re looking for them and you are open to the idea of change in your writing career, you’ll cope with it far better than you would otherwise.

In fact make a promise to yourself to look for open windows every single day from now on. It could be an email you send on the off chance to a company you spotted that you think you could write for. It doesn’t hurt to get in touch, and you could get a great client out of it. Think of all the windows you could open right now, just for you. There are more of them out there than you might think.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Let me tell you up front that when it comes to freelance writing UK writers have nothing to worry about. The US dollar may be the currency of the internet and you may be paid in this way by some or all of your clients. But it doesn’t mean that writing jobs in the US are the only ones that are available.

In my experience, freelance writing UK is as good now as it has ever been.

The great thing about the internet is that it doesn’t matter where you are based. Now I know some people will probably say they are being devalued by writers living in places like India who can charge ridiculously low prices for their work. But since when did that mean YOU had to go even lower to get writing jobs?

I’m sure that some jobs may not be available to you as a result of being in the UK. That’s fine – I’ve also come across some jobs that are not available to people in the US, because the client is looking for someone living in the UK to take on the job for them. It is hard to fake knowledge about a country you don’t live in, as most of us will recognise. So in this way freelance writing UK can be an advantage, because some people in this country will always want a UK writer to work with.

If anyone tells you that freelance writing UK is a stale marketplace, don’t believe them.

You simply have to look for jobs you are capable of doing. It’s strange but when you think about it you will realise that there are probably more jobs you wouldn’t do because of their subject matter. I know I have come across more jobs I knew I was unsuitable for than jobs I didn’t live in the right country to do.

So if you are worried that the freelance writing UK market isn’t as good as it should be, put those fears aside.

We’re in a worldwide market here, and aren’t we lucky that this is the case? Freelance writing UK has never been better, because we are always connected to the rest of the world, thanks to this internet thingy!

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

It’s important to understand exactly what article buyers are looking for every time.

If you are working on finding clients of your own to nurture for the future, it will pay dividends to understand as much as you can about article buyers of all kinds.

You see, they’re not all the same. I’ve worked for a lot of different article buyers over the past few years, and I’ve noticed they fall into some different categories. The more you get to work with different people, the more you will understand what I mean about this.

Here are some examples of some article buyers you might come across.

• People who want quantity more than anything else – they’ll order ten, twenty or even more articles at a time
• People who are specifically looking for SEO articles – they’re chasing keywords in order to sell affiliate or other products
• Article buyers who want some good solid content for their websites or blogs – they like quality over and above everything else

Do you know what your article buyers are shopping for?

Now all of these types of article buyers (there are probably more but those are the main ones I can think of) are worth working for. It just depends on what kind of work you want to focus on. If you love nothing better than working certain keywords into articles and still having them make sense, go look for the second type of article buyers mentioned above. If you enjoy writing quality material all the time, you may be better paid and better rewarded by chasing the third type of client.

Can you target all the different kinds of article buyers?

Well yes you can, of course you can, but there are some types you’ll want to steer clear of. I know enough now to know that people who don’t really know what they want are best to pass along to someone else (no one specifically you understand – I wouldn’t do that!). You’ll never quite get to the bottom of what they want, namely because these article buyers don’t really understand what they want themselves.

Another type of article buyer you’ll want to avoid is the one that likes to give LOTS of instructions, demands PERFECT work and yet doesn’t want to pay for it. I’ve read so many ads offering $1 for 500 words and demanding that the writer be at the top of their game. That just doesn’t happen, sorry. Unless you’re lucky to get someone who is just starting out, you’ll never get the best article writers for a dollar. If you do, they certainly won’t hang around for long.

But I digress. The main thing to remember is that you have the power to be selective with your article buyers. Just because someone gets in touch with you and requests you to do some writing for them, it doesn’t mean you have to say yes. You can just as easily decline if the work isn’t the kind of thing you normally do, or if you think that some article buyers might not be your cup of tea.

So there you have it – my take on what article buyers might want. The golden rule, whoever you end up agreeing to work for, is this – always make sure you know what article buyers want BEFORE you start working for them. It’s a lot easier for the article buyers and for you if you do.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

This is the issue concerning writing I have been pondering over lately.  You’ll notice I haven’t blogged for a couple of weeks and to be honest this is the main reason for it.  Apart from having a fantastic weekend away up in London I have been smothered with client work from all directions.

Wait – what happened to my own writing?

Are you blocking out time for writing for yourself as well as for other people?

Now this influx of client work is wonderful of course because it means my writing is going well and I’ve had plenty of money coming in.  But it also means that all my own writing goals have gone to the back of the line.

So this week is going to change all that.  Things have quietened down a bit which is why I’m blogging again today.  And hopefully I will keep at it again now by putting this particular task to the top of my daily list.

My new website focused on writing clients

Other than that I have my own revamped website at www.allisonwhitehead.co.uk to focus on, and also that site needs some writing promotion in order to get it in front of its ideal audience – namely business people who need the kind of content I can supply.  I don’t expect to achieve lots this week but it would be nice to start achieving some more own goals in between working for everyone else.  To my mind these are goals that may have more long term prospects rather than bringing in instant money.

How about you?  What are you doing this week to further your own career and your own writing goals?

Has this blog post made you realise you are putting your own writing behind everything else all the time?  What can you do to give yourself some writing time as well as your clients?

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

The more you know and understand about keywords and search engine optimisation, the more money you are likely to be able to make as an online writer.

This is because there are thousands upon thousands of website owners and affiliate marketers online who want to promote their wares.  But they don’t have the skills to be able to write good articles themselves.  Many of them don’t have the time either – they would prefer to pay the money to get professional writers to create proper SEO articles on their behalf.

But one thing these potential clients DO know about is keywords.  They will come to you or advertise their requirements, and they will state that they want one or more specific keywords in each article you write.  They might have article titles or subjects in mind or they may not.  But whatever else they want, they will certainly have a list of keywords for you to use.

Some of them might ask you to use each one a specific number of times in an article.  So you might get asked to insert the primary keyword three times per article and two secondary keywords twice each.  That’s just an example of course – it depends on the client and the length of the article required as to what those requirements will be.

The point is, the more you can learn and find out about search engine optimization and how keywords work to attract the right readers, the more cash you are likely to be able to make out of this form of writing.  SEO writing might not appeal to everyone, but there is a LOT of it available and it is good, quick and relatively easy work to do – once you know what you are doing.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Let’s face it, we all love long term writing jobs.  They offer a degree of safety you don’t get if every writing job you have lasts for just a few short articles.  It’s good to have a mix of different article jobs and blog posts and so on, but having some long term work in the mix as well offers a degree of stability.

And I think I may have broken my record on this one this week.  I have agreed to write a 52 week course for a new client.  So that means I have to deliver one part each week for the next year.  Overall it will be a good payment and even each individual part will be a good payout as they will be several pages long.  So while I won’t pay the bills with each individual piece alone, they will each go a long way towards making each week a successful one over the next year.

I am also ramping up my efforts to bring in more new clients – and one incident this week really made me question the power of thinking along the right lines!

You see, I applied for a writing job back at the end of October last year (Hallowe’en actually, so I don’t know if spooks were at work here…).  We went back and forth with a couple of emails and that was about it.

But this week they got back in touch and I’m all set to go with five articles for them next week.  Wow!  How’s that for a late reply?  They want at least two articles a week ongoing, it’s the kind of work I LOVE doing, it falls into one of my personal favourite niches and it should be regular work if all goes well.  I’ll let you know how it pans out.

So it’s been a good week (apart from the head cold, but that’s another story).  How has your week panned out for you?

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Are you a quick writer?

Hmm, interesting question isn’t it?  The answer will obviously depend on how much time you have available.  But if you are writing web content for clients they will have their own ideas of how much you should be able to write and when it should be done by.

This is why it pays to get to know your own limitations.  If you take on too much work it will lead to undue stress and anxiety as you struggle to meet your deadlines.  And if you miss those deadlines you will find that clients will very soon go elsewhere.  Only the most urgent of reasons should prohibit you from meeting a deadline agreed previously.

You’ll notice too that the most important word in that title is the word ‘good’.  No matter how many clients you have and what they are paying you, as a web writer you need to be able to supply good quality articles.  This is particularly true if you want to push your rates up and earn what you are worth.  Clients won’t pay for substandard content that doesn’t hit the mark.

So in reality the answer to this question will be answered as you go along and gain more experience.  You will usually find you get faster as you learn more and develop a rhythm of writing that you are happy with.  If you are writing about familiar topics you are an expert in, you will be able to write more articles in a shorter length of time.  It will be very different if you have an alien subject you know nothing about, because you have to add in research time.

So get to know what you can write and how long it will take you.  The more you can maximise your writing time to get the most out of it, the more money you stand to make from clients who will be looking for the writing services you provide.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Are you kept busy by your existing clients? (Photo credit: Kris Szkurlatowski; click on image for link to profile)

Online writing has a lot of benefits.  Firstly if you work for yourself you have total control over what jobs you take on, how much you write and how many people you write for.

But how many clients do you actually have?

There is no magic number of course, and what one writer thinks of as an adequate number of clients someone else might find too few.  Similarly a third writer might wonder why they have so many.

But the point is that you need to have the right number for you, and you shouldn’t assume that even long term clients will be around forever.  For example, you might have a regular client that gives you work every week for months on end.  But you shouldn’t become complacent and assume they will always continue to do so.  They may email you one day and say they want to take a break for a while before sending you more work.

This is the most important part of keeping an eye on the number of clients you have.  You need to ask yourself whether you could still manage if one or two of your clients suddenly stopped sending you work.  Obviously it would make things a bit tighter money wise, but would it cause a real problem in that area?

If the answer is yes, you need to find yourself some more writing clients – ideally ones that pay more than you are being paid now.

It might seem tough to be so mercenary but you need to think about the number of hours you work and how much you earn for your time.  Always be on the lookout for new writing jobs that offer more money.  Look to add new clients into the mix every now and then, and don’t leave it until you lose one or two clients to do it.

This strategy will give you a much better chance of earning more money – and earning it more regularly as an online writer as well.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Ouch.  The loss of any writing client can be a disappointing time.  This is particularly true if you have been writing for them for quite a while and you’ve got used to that stream of income flooding your way.

Are you keeping your fingers crossed you keep all your regular clients - or are you looking for new ones all the time to ensure a regular income?

I had just such an experience today.  I have a regular market – offline as it happens, the only one I have on a regular basis that isn’t internet based – that regularly takes four of my articles a month for their magazine.  But this morning I received an email that revealed they will only require one article a month for the immediate future.

Since the articles are also well paid, this will be a chunk of money to lose.  Not  a huge amount in the grand scheme of things, but enough to notice, if you see what I mean.  Obviously it’s disappointing, but it got me thinking about the nature of freelance writing and how well prepared you are for such things to happen.

After all it is the very nature of freelance work of any kind.  You do get regular clients, but they won’t go on forever.  You might work for them fairly steadily for years on end, but even then you should never come to rely on them.

So how do you turn this into a positive experience?

Well firstly it will free up a little time to focus on more things.  Firstly I have decided to devote some of that time to finding more clients.  And secondly – and perhaps most importantly – I have devoted some of the time to writing for myself.  You may have read before that writing for your own needs is the best thing to aim for in the end.  You can write eBooks that you sell over and over again; you can create your own websites that you monetize in all kinds of different ways, and you can do lots more besides.

I have a plan for an eBook that I can now devote some more time to.  And I also want to start creating PLR – private label rights – packages to sell directly to clients from a dedicated website.

All of this takes time though, and the danger when writing for lots of clients all the time is that you never get time for yourself.  So this is the lesson in losing a client, or a certain body of work.  By all means take a moment to mourn that loss, but then think about how you can use that news to gee you up and start making inroads into achieving even more in your writing career.

In this sense, losing a writing job or a client could be one of the best things that ever happens to you as a freelance writer.  At the moment I am devoting time to the Ezine Articles Challenge too, so this is just one example of how you can spend that extra bit of time in a productive way.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Could your articles be appearing on someone else's RSS feed?

Did you know that some bloggers online don’t actually write their own blogs?  Not all of them of course, but some certainly farm out their writing requirements to expert writers on their particular topic.

And that presents a great opportunity for you as a writer if you want to increase the amount of work you do.  There are plenty of websites which provide leads for bloggers and blogging jobs, so you won’t find it hard to get started in this particular line of writing work.

Blogging jobs tend to be advaantageous too because they are more often than not regular.  You might be asked to provide two, five, ten or more blog posts a week.  Each one will bring in a set fee, so you can look forward to a weekly or monthly pay day that is pretty steady alongside your other writing work.

Some people focus only on these particular jobs, and don’t write articles for anyone else at all.  If this idea appeals to you it is good to be able to show your own blogging skills to potential clients.  Make sure you create a blog for yourself if you haven’t already done so, in order to demonstrate that you are capable of writing regularly, on topic and on time.

Different blogging jobs will have different ways of working as well.  You might have to submit a single post to the client each day (or whenever it is required).  Alternatively some prefer receiving a batch in advance every week or two.  This is better for you because you can fit them in whenever it suits you.

You might also find they give you access to the blog itself.  You can then post directly whenever necessary, and they will simply check to see that it has been done.

So you see, blogging for other people is an excellent way of earning a steady living as a writer.  Work at building up your client base and very soon you will have a nice income you can rely on while you build up your other online writing jobs.

Article source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Allison_Whitehead

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time