If working flexibly from your home while earning money is an attractive option, you may have considered becoming a freelance writer. If you have never undertaken writing assignments in a professional capacity, don’t be discouraged. No formal qualifications are required to write as a freelancer; however, you will need some specific abilities and personality traits to perform this role and get paid.
In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into the qualities and skills required to take on writing jobs, along with the steps you will need to take to have a successful career. Read on to find out more.
Personal qualities
Freelance writers must be dedicated and dependable. To get paid for your work, you must be able to manage your own workload and submit articles that meet the brief on time. Working remotely allows you flexibility, but with this freedom comes responsibility.
Specific skills required
As mentioned earlier, you don’t need to have a Master’s degree in English to be a writer. However, you must have the basic skills under your belt. This includes grammar, punctuation and spelling. While you will learn with every piece of content that you write, being able to construct an article with opening and closing paragraphs and subheadings is essential.
To be a successful writer, you will need to write a wide range of content on many different subjects. It is understood that you might not be an authority on a specific topic, but you will be expected to have a firm grasp on the content you are writing about. As a result, you must be able to research and digest information and be able to express it in your own words.
Being able to write original content is a key skill you must master as a freelancer. Companies are penalised by search engines for including unoriginal content on their websites, reducing traffic to their sites when they drop in online search rankings. If you submit work that is directly copied from another article online, you will not receive a payment.
Getting set up
To work as a freelance content writer, you will need certain practical solutions in place to operate. You will need a bank account in your name to receive payments for the work that you complete, and you will need a computer equipped with software to write content.
Internet access is a must. When you work with a copywriting agency, your interactions will all be online. You will receive your writing briefs and communications from editing teams via a secure online portal. After accepting and completing your assignments, you will also need to upload them to the portal.
Being able to access the internet is useful for many other reasons. Online, you will find numerous writing aids – like the helpful site Grammarly – that can check your work for errors. Just remember that however smart a software solution may be, it can still miss mistakes, so always proof your own work before and after you use it. Search engines online will also help you perform research swiftly for your articles when required.
What kind of content will you write?
Working as a freelance writer, you will have the opportunity to write many different types of content. This includes press releases, weekly and monthly articles, local news-based pieces, product descriptions, website copy and even press releases. Each type of content requires specific skills. You may be asked to include keywords and stop words, a call to action, subheadings or meta titles and descriptions. Fortunately, you will find that editing teams and copywriting agency resources can supply expert guidance and advice in such areas.
Tips for working as a freelance writer
While professional editors will oversee the articles you submit, always check your own work before submitting. If time allows, step away from a completed piece for a couple of hours and then reread it before you submit it.
Editors will give you encouraging feedback but will also alert you to any errors that you make. Take this opportunity to learn how to avoid common mistakes and improve your abilities. While receiving praise for your work can be rewarding, you will learn far more from constructive feedback, overall making it a valuable asset.
To become a successful freelance writer, you must have a passion for your work and a desire to advance your abilities. Keep looking for ways to better your articles by listening to suggestions from editors, reading the work of professional writers and taking the time to train and learn new skills.
Apply to Words of Worth UK now
If you are ready to take on writing jobs as a freelancer, at Words of Worth, we can help. Providing that you can be counted on to deliver high-quality content to a brief and on time, we have an extensive range of articles that we can offer you. Get in touch today to apply to write with us today.