Simple Secrets for Successful Freelance Writing

You have looked into freelance writing and it sounds intriguing, but you find yourself wondering how to write that article that is going to generate dollars for you. Look no further! The answer lies under your very nose (well, under your fingertips).

The secret to constructing the article that is going to bring in thousands of page hits comprises three simple steps: write about what you know, ensure that the article is quality writing, and publicize it. It's really as simple as that.

What do I mean when I tell you to write about what you know? Well, uh, think about it this way. If you have never piloted a plane in your life, perhaps you aren't the best person to write an article about piloting planes. You will miss key facts, you won't have any personal anecdotes to share, and your article most likely will not be interesting to anyone who is seriously interested in flying.

What is your experience base? What are you passionate about? What are your hobbies and interests? Write those down in a list. Then, sift through the list, looking for topics that could potentially be of interest to a wide audience. Those are the things that others will find interesting as well.

For example, I have four children and I absolutely love being an active father. I have funny stories to tell about my kids or about times I've messed up, and readers respond to those things. We raise chickens and we have honeybees; I write articles on those topics, and people react favorably. I love telling stories - I've enjoyed that all my life - so I write stories, letting the storyteller in me speak. The articles I've written in those areas have done well.

Now, that being said, I am not saying that you shouldn't experiment with other writing. I love writing poetry, though I'll admit my poetry is mediocre at best. No one is going to go crazy over my poetry and it's just not going to get that many hits. And that's fine, as long as expectations are realistic.

You don't have to go off and research a whole new area (unless you want to, of course -- that's a great way to learn about something that may be of interest to others too. This also counts under the realm of writing what you know, because after you research it, presumably you will know enough to be able to write something about it. If you don't feel you know it yet, then don't write it (yet)).

The article that is going to go viral on the net is the piece where you write from the heart about a topic where your expertise can shine.

What about quality? Nothing will turn a reader off faster than poor quality. Obviously, run your work through a spell checker. More important - or at least as important - is to check grammar. Look for any misuse of apostrophes; look for things like dangling participles and split infinitives; look for prepositional phrases and make sure you're using pronouns correctly. Read grammar books if this stuff is difficult for you. There are some excellent books out there!

In addition to technical quality, think about your audience. Do you really need to infuse your article with bathroom humor and foul language? I find it very tiring to read works from writers who fill their pages with swearing and inappropriate humor. Maybe some readers will find that style to be their cups of tea, but I guarantee you that not all readers go for that. If you want your article to have wide appeal, then try to appeal to a wide audience. That's obvious, right?

The third thing, of course, is to get readers to read your work. There are three basic approaches for doing this successfully. First, if you are a good writer who writes interesting stuff, fans will find you (eventually). This is a sort of grass roots approach. It will start slowly at first, but if you consistently put together good stuff, word will get out. Second, many of the freelance writing sites have a sort of "I'll read yours if you read mine" mentality. Try to "make the rounds" and read (and comment on) articles from other writers. The third approach for publicizing your stuff is to make use of Stumbleupon or Twitter or other social networking sites. Be careful though. Many writers are sending stuff in Stumbleupon and they are impolitely demanding that an article be reviewed and shared. If you want to keep your readers / subscribers, don't be a bad neighbor. Let them decide when an article should be shared with others.

Send links of your articles to family, friends, neighbors, and anyone else who might be interested. You'll be surprised with some of the people who "discover" your writing and who thoroughly enjoy it.

A tangent to all this is to listen to feedback. If a reader goes through the trouble to send you a note correcting something you are doing, or offering advice for improvement, look closely at it. It probably will be solid advice.

So there it is -- your interests and experience; quality; and a bit of marketing. Assuming you enjoy writing in the first place, following these guidelines should be fun!

Get out there and write. I look forward to reading your stuff.