Posts tagged jobs
Finding better freelance writing jobs
Feb 19th
When you have learned the basics about freelance writing and you have started winning the bids, you need to move on. If you are still unable to win any bids, then you need to read my article about freelance writing and bidding tips which talk about winning the bids and lets you understand the entire procedure with inside knowledge of the things.
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!
Freelance writing: How to get started?
Feb 12th
A well written article can do a lot in increasing the sale of a company, convincing people in buying a product, attracting people to new opportunities provided by some bank or organization, making people aware of the fashion to join fashion clubs and providing information on many topics. Therefore, the need of freelance writer has increased a lot in last few years. If you are a freelance writer or want to switch to freelance writing than you need to follow some tips so that you can get started. Freelance writers fall into two categories
- 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.
How to write better articles
Jan 2nd
Now that you have entered into the field of freelance writing, most of the times you would have to write articles for submission to the ezines. These kinds of jobs are commonly outsourced to new writers. Some times the clients test their writers with such freelance jobs before asking them to write content for the web.
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!