This post was guest blogged by Shannon Lilly of Infectedbybugs.com.
If you are looking for the best way to get into the wonderful, exciting world of writing articles for websites, then you have come to the right place. Today I am going to share with you the top five ways to become an article writer and make sure you always have plenty of work waiting to be done.
If you’ve never written content for the web before, don’t be afraid. As long as you have a good grasp of the English language and know how to make a complete sentence, you should do just fine. The hardest part of writing articles is actually finding someone willing to pay you for them. This could be the most time consuming thing you do as an article writer. Finding the best place to sell your articles isn’t always going to be in the places you would think, such as ezines and other online magazines. There are thousands and thousands of webmasters who are looking for quality writers to provide them with new and unique well written content for their websites, so keep that in mind as you begin your journey to becoming an article writer.
Tip #1 – Constant Content
If your not so sure of the level of your writing abilities, you will need to submit your article to an article site that uses a real human editor so that you can get some real advice on what you are doing wrong. The best one I know for this is www.constant-content.com. The team over their at Constant Content are top notch and will not allow you to submit sloppy or unprofessional work, but they are however, willing to share with you what you are doing wrong. It could be something simple like not using the proper format for your article. There are certain things that need to have uniformity and the way you format your article should be the proper way no matter who is paying you to write it.
Constant Content is also a great place to start making money being an article writer. They spend tons of money each month finding article buyers to come to their website and purchase articles from you, the author. You can decide what kind of rights you would like to sell and then upload it to their database all for free. Constant Content will never cost you a penny to get started, they only give you money when they sell one of your articles. The benefits of this is, you can write about any topics you would like and allow buyers to browse through them and then make a purchase.
On the flip-side, you can look at the articles that have been requested from buyers and write on those topics to almost guarantee a sale. Constant Content provides a place for authors and buyers to interact so that authors may submit the article they have written to the potential buyer for review. Of course all articles to be submitted must pass through the strict editorial team first.
Knowing your articles can be accepted here should give you the confidence to move on to the next tip in becoming an article writer.
Tip #2 – Create a Portfolio
Starting an online portfolio to showcase your articles is a must for anyone who wants to get future clients. If you don’t have anything to show them they most likely won’t hire you. If you are thinking, oh no, now I have to build a website, you are wrong. You don’t need a website to have a nice portfolio of articles to show your potential clients, although if you have the sources to do that, by all means do so, all you need is a collection of articles all located in one place. You can accomplish this by submitting your articles to a place like Associated Content or similar online article website. Just be sure to use your real name or pen name instead of a some cutesy name that you have used in the past for accounts online. This will help you maintain a professional image. You only get one first impression and you want it to be a good one so put your name out there and get ready for it to be known, you are well on your way to becoming an article writer.
Tip #3 – Hit The Article Directories
Write articles about article writing and the importance of adding fresh content to websites and submit them to article directories where new people to the Internet world will be looking for information about how to get articles written. Here you can include your author biography and possibly even a resource box that will include your contact information and a link to your website, if you have one. This will lead the buyers directly to your article writing service and a direct way to contact you if they have any questions. Even though you may get contacted to do one or two articles, treat these clients with the same respect you would give to clients who would order 100 articles at a time so that you can build long lasting relationships with these people to continue to get their work whenever they have it.
Tip #4 – Network, Network, Network
Networking is just as important to become an article writer as it is to a person selling an actual product. You have to be in the circulation of people who are needing your service to be able to get a regular flow of work to keep you writing full time. This will also cut down on the time you spend looking for work. The less time you spend looking the more time you can commit to writing quality articles. Use your Instant Messenger to add everyone you come across online because you may turn them into a paying client at some point in your career. Make a few friends online who are trying to become successful at article writing so that you have someone to chat with on occasion when you are having writer’s block or when you want to bounce ideas off of another brain. The more people who personally know you and know that you provide quality articles will tell everyone they know about you. So don’t look at your messenger as a waste of time, view it as a marketing tool to get your name out there.
Tip #5 – Hit The Forums
If you are wondering how to find friends who share the same goal as yourself, this tip on how to become an article writer will explain it all. Go to forums where there are lots of people who congregate regularly looking for and selling services. This will be where you make your friends to add on your instant messenger list but this will also be where you can find numerous amounts of new clients who you will be making long term relationships with. Most webmaster or Internet marketing forums will have a marketplace or a buy-sell-trade area where people are exchanging services. Join the forum which looks the best to you and start to get to know a few people by posting in the other areas of the forum and then applying for jobs as you see them come up that interest you. Once you have a good reputation in the forum, you can start your own services, but I recommend waiting until you have a few posts under your belt so that clients will feel more comfortable assigning you with their projects. Soon you will be swamped with work writing articles and you can start to raise your prices as the demand for your skills increase.