Once you have mastered winning the low budget freelance writing projects, you should move on to the better jobs. If you have been working on the freelancer.com then it is the time to move on.

You should consider bidding for higher projects on freelancer.com now. Remember that freelancer.com is good for the new comers and all the high budgeted jobs are either present at elance.com or at odesk.com

oDesk is a great place to start hunting for good jobs. You will find plenty of fixed price and hourly priced projects there. You can win the bids on oDesk if you have done it on freelancer. But here are few things to remember:

• You are starting with a new website. That means you do not have any feedback.
• oDesk is a lot different from freelancer so you will have to spend some time understanding the things there

HOW TO BUILD A BETTER PORTFOLIO AT ODESK?

Now your first target should be to build a good portfolio on oDesk (have a look at my portfolio here). Once you have cleared their enterance test which is called odesk ready test, you will be able to start bidding. Don’t do it at this moment. Take some time and clear few more tests. The people at oDesk will hardly hire someone without feedback and qualifications. If you clear some tests there, you will be in a position to use that to overcome the feedback issue.

Start with some low budget freelance writing projects where the buyer does not ask for feedback. Try to complete the project quickly and get some positive feedback. Once you have 4 positive feedbacks and have achieved an overall feedback score of above 4, it time to start finding the freelance writing jobs here.

Bid for the freelance writing projects with better budget. You have feedback and tests to support your bid. Do tell the buyer what you have got. Mention that you have cleared the tests and also write down that you have a good feedback. This will make you bid even better.

You can also play a lot with your profile on oDesk. You can add previous projects there. You can also add a cover letter. Try to take advantage of these features.

Now if you have

• Positive feedback
• Relative tests cleared
• Good looking and complete profile (here is how to do build amazing portfolio for freelance writing jobs)
  

then you are all set to make big bucks from freelance writing!

The first step is to work for yourself!! Yes it is correct there is no typo. Create a proper job, with requirements, delivery date, and specifications and then hire yourself to write the article. You will notice that you are far more professional in working for a paying job than a sample piece. You would be able to test yourself by meeting the job deadline and other essentials.

Once you are done writing the article move on to the review stage. Here you have to put yourself in clients’ shoes. Evaluate your work, identify any shortcomings in your article and look out for improvements. This can be used in your portfolio. With all this done you have entered the world of freelance writing.

Now you have finished your first assignment. Move on and try writing a new article with a different set of requirements. Include key words and try to fit them smoothly into the article. Repeat this again but with more challenging tasks. Test your skills as much as you can. Try to find out things that interest you and you are really good at and then look for work related to your interests.

Writing such articles would present you with a chance to show off your work. Potential buyers might be tempted by your writing skills and before you know it you might be hired. In addition you would have gained valuable experience. The next step would be to promote yourself and look for paying work.

• Freelance writers on full time freelance jobs.
• Freelance writers on part time freelance jobs.

Whatever category you belong to, you need a start. So I suggest you to do some homework on writing techniques. You must have a grip on the language in which you are going to write. Secondly and most importantly you should have something written by you to show employers which can give them an insight of your writing ability. So whether you want to be a full time freelance writer or part time freelance writer, you need to write something which you can present to employers at the interview or first negotiation. Here are some tips which can help you to write an article of 2-3 paragraphs which can be a way opener in your career.

• Apply for a freelance writing project.
• Choose the topic which you find most interesting. For example, you can write about music, you can write about fashion, health topics etc.
• Do a bit of research on your topic so that you can get perfect grip on your topic.
• On that topic try to write most elegant and perfect 2-3 paragraphs without any grammatical or spelling mistakes.
• Convert this file to PDF format so that it looks more presentable.
• Use a piece that you’ve written for past employment if you had any.
• Try to get recommendation from the people you have written for in the past about your work.
• Start your own blog.

Whatever you write, just keep in to mind that this written piece can be a step towards your success or it can play a role in losing a job, so write carefully and with open mind.

• First of all if there is a freelance job promising hundreds of dollars per day or week, be very careful in taking that job. There may be many writing jobs which pay thousands of dollars, but surely those jobs are not offered by anonymous service buyers normally. You can get those jobs only if you have some strong reference.

• People say that no or little experience is required for freelance writing. This approach is wrong, you may be able to get to write few articles but to become a top writer experience and knowledge is necessary.
  
• There may be many ads in which employers insist on the assistance of employees, think wisely before going for that contract. Just think how many employers have you seen begging to employees to take their job?

• You should get enough information about the company or organization which wants to hire you, in few emails or message posts. You have the right to know that what the company, you are going to become a part of, do and who they provide services to.

• A potential employer never tries to hide these details, but if somebody does, it means that there is something wrong going on. So do not go for the job when you do not know what the main aim of the organization is or who the organization is serving? You can find out about the repute of the company by a little bit of searching, asking others is helpful too in deciding whether the employers are good enough to work with?

So if you will follow the above mentioned tips, you will be able to grow quickly and never get trapped in to the fake employer’s trap. Start now!

The best way to learn creative writing is to visualize the things and then write about them. You should recall your memory and try to put it on the paper. This would help you with your creative writing skills.

Once you have practiced this first step, you will need to move on. The next step involves arrangement of ideas and the use of your natural style and expression. Remember that there is no need to write as a formal writer would do. Being informal would help you to become a better creative writer. Always stick to your original style.

Brain storming is really important before any kind of writing but it becomes the most important thing when it comes to creative writing. Let your brain guide you. Let the ideas come to you. Do not give them a direction and let the natural brain storming help you find out the best of the ideas. Once you have the ideas, write them down and then arrange them according to their importance and according to the topic. A good freelance writer would always enter into an imaginative state before attempting any creative writing.

Remember, there are no hard and fast rules as far as creative writing is concerned. The only few things which you should take care of are

• Prefer your genuine thoughts
• Never discard a thought and write them all down for a later review
• Always be NATURAL and ORIGINAL
• Be creative!

As a freelance writer, you will have to make sure that you understand the basic need of the job. The article writing is about three things

• Short and to the point content
• Compelling yet readable content
• Information given which will make the reader crave for more.

Normally the articles will have to be around 400-500 words. Do not stretch it more than 550 words. If you are doing so, you will then loose the grip.

Also, the article needs to be to the point. Do not talk a lot about other things; come to the point straight away.

When writing as a freelance writer, research has extreme importance. You may have to write about the niches which you know nothing about. This brings research into the job. A good researcher means a good freelance writer who can write about every other topic.

You can find valuable resources for researching your content for article writing here.

Once you have the resources, the next thing is to find the right content. Always make sure that you are reading the informative content and not just anything out there that comes to your way.

Now that you have enough information about the content, the next thing comes writing it down. Here is how you would have to write it down.

• Try to use a talk to the reader. This is the foremost important thing in article writing.
• Try to use short sentences and short paragraphs. This will enable you to keep the interest of the readers intact.
• Try to use the bullets or numbering whenever possible.
• Always make a good start and a good ending to the article while staying on the topic.
• Know the audience that you are writing for. This will help you in many ways. I will write a blog on this at some time during the next week.

That’s it. Now you have a pretty handy and acceptable article ready. The rest of the things depend upon topic and your personal style of writing. Remember that the freelance writing is a huge field and there are many different kinds of jobs out there for the freelance writers. Make sure you find the jobs which interest you the most!

There are many websites to choose from but the best place to begin is getafreelancer.com. This website is crowded by the clients who offer the freelancers to work for them. The quality required is not that high normally. You will have to write the articles, web content etc making sure that there are no grammatical mistakes and that the content is of reasonable quality. This is the platform which will enable you to choose niche which you will be working on in future.

Remember that choosing a niche is important for the freelance writer to start. You will not be able to make a lot of money from freelance writing if you have not mastered a certain niche. You can keep on adding to your skills and can master more niches with time.

Alright, now that you have mastered a niche, you should move on to the better websites like elance.com, odesk.com etc and should look for work there. These websites will help you to find the buyers who will be offering much better rates but they will require quality of the work as well. So make sure that you have learned enough before moving on.

The best freelance writers today started it the same way. They may have chosen the different platforms but they all did it step by step. This will help you to win the better projects as you will be master in certain niches. Good luck with your making money from the internet campaign!

PS: keep coming back- The next article will be about ‘the art of bidding’. It will help you to win even the hardest of the projects easily!

1. Always make a genuine bid. Never use someone else’s words. This will go a long way and will help you to develop self believe.
2. Always tell the client the reason why you should be given the job. Remember that you will have to capture his attention. You will have to use minimum words and will have to make them as attractive as possible.
3. Try not to be too formal. Yes you are seeking a job and you are bidding for it. But try to be a little natural as well. If the job excites you, let the words tell that. This will also help you to win great projects.

• Remember that freelance writing projects are awarded to those people who show something in their bid. You have to make your bid unique to attract the client.
• You should talk about you specialties. Tell him the things which give you an edge over the others.This will help you to win the freelance writing project
• Make sure that you do take advantage of making a bid earlier. If you are not doing so, you may be too late. The client may have already selected someone else.
• You should always use proper language and should make sure that you are meeting the requirements of the client.
• Never try to sound too funny or casual. You should look like a professional and should use the language accordingly.
• Try to communicate after placing the bid. Almost all the freelance websites have the feature of personal messages and message boards. Try to use them and communicate with your client.
• If the client has stated clear cut requirements in the project details, try to answer each one and try to tell him why you think you should be selected.
• Always make a reasonable bid. Bidding too high or too low will not show your seriousness and the client will just ignore your bid.

I tried various things. Yes various! I literally tried every thing available online. From FOREX to the affiliate marketing, there is nothing which I have not tried yet.

Then somehow I came across a freelancing website and I was happy to see that I can do something here as well. I can either bid for the legal jobs, as I happen to be a lawyer as well, or I can bid for the freelance writer’s job. I made bids for both of them!

I was to work as content writer for a client from the U.S. It was a she and it was easy to win the bid :d

My career as a freelance writer started and I was happy to see that I was earning more than I wanted to. I was not only covering the internet service related experiences, but I was also able to pay my utility bills from freelance writing in the very first month. Though I was lucky to get such a wonderful client, the others may find it a touch difficult to get going!

Keep looking for the next article of this series and you would know how to win over the projects. It’s easy and I will make it even easier for you!