Do’s and Dont’s of Freelance Content Writing

Dos

• Provide Original and Well-Crafted Work

This begins with studying the content requirements, goals, and target audience. This will help you to research extensively and adequately to gather information. Make sure that the content is original, engaging, and readable.

• Adhere to Deadlines

Nothing upsets or infuriates a client more than a missed deadline. It creates a bad impression on your professionalism. Be a stickler for submitting your work within the stipulated timeline. If you don’t have the bandwidth, you should refrain from accepting new work. You shouldn’t compromise on deadlines at all. If there is any delay due to a genuine issue, you must immediately inform the client about it.

• Learn SEO

SEO knowledge will be an additional skill set in your kitty and give you an advantage over other writers. SEO helps you to boost the quality of your content with relevant keywords. It also makes the writing piece easily searchable on the web.

• Edit and Proofread 

Editing and proofreading are non-negotiable aspects of freelance content writing. Before submitting, you must check your content for spelling, grammar, punctuation, typo, formatting, and factual errors. There isn’t a client who wouldn’t appreciate clean content!

• Use AI Tools 

When it comes to how to become a freelance writer, you should consider using AI tools to level up the content quantity and save a significant amount of time. Instoried is a reliable AI tool for content writers. It can be helpful to you in the following ways:

• Create unique, error-free, and engaging content.
• Beautify your content and save time.
• Predict emotional engagement of content to hook the audience.
• Get intelligent recommendations on better words and the right usage of words in real-time to make content more impactful.
• Analyze the content and create the perfect positive, negative, and neutral tone. 
• Make SEO-friendly and plagiarism-free content with an in-built plagiarism checker.
• Analyze headlines, titles, captions, and email subject lines to understand whether they are appealing enough to grab the audience’s attention.
• Generate attractive headlines based on the body of the text.

• Grow Your Network

It is natural to think about how to get a freelance writing job when you are working on a gig basis. A strong network of clients and fellow writers can help you source good leads and bag new projects. Through calls, social media, and community discussion forums, stay in touch with them.

• Sign a Contract

Unfortunately, the content marketing industry is unorganized and fragmented. Hence, it is vulnerable to frauds and scams where writers don’t get paid for their work or face other issues. A freelance writer contract is an answer to this problem. Before you board a client, insist on signing a contract stating services you will offer, the compensation you will receive, and other terms and conditions.

If a client doesn’t agree on a contract, you can ask for a partial advance payment or weekly remuneration. The bottom line is that you should be extra cautious while entering into a contract with a new client.

• Build a Writing Portfolio

A writing portfolio is of the utmost importance for a beginner freelance writer. It showcases your work and will serve as a pitch to new clients.  It should include:

• Your personal information, phone number, and email ID
• Your writing niches
• Links to web pages where you have published your work
• Links to your blog or social media accounts
• Client testimonials

9. Stay Updated with New Gigs

As a freelancer, you have to search for new writing projects continuously. When looking for freelance writing jobs from home, here are some popular websites where you can get leads:

• Upwork
• Fiverr
• Freelancer
• Truelancer
• Guru
• Fixnhour

Dont’s

• Avoid Plagiarism

This is one of the most important tips for beginner writers. It not only reflects poorly on your integrity, but it will adversely impact your reputation and future work. It is also unethical to copy others’ ideas and words. Moreover, plagiarized content gets a low search ranking on Google.

• Don’t Take Gigs You Can’t Do

When you are getting several writing gigs online, you should pick only those that belong to your niche and writing style. If the gig is about a topic you are not comfortable writing about, you should refuse it rather than submit mediocre work.

• Don’t Work for Less Money

Understandably, you want to write articles to get paid as content writing is your source of income. Hence, you should never agree on work that doesn’t compensate adequate and respectable remuneration as per your experience and expertise. Even if you are a beginner, you should look for freelance writing that pays.