How to Make Money as a Freelance Writer (getting my first writing client)
Updated: Feb 11
Can I make money as a freelance writer?
I am Simon Zaku and I made my first $1,000 as a freelance writer in 2020. By 2022, I had hit $2,500 per month writing for 3 businesses as a freelancer.
This blog article will show you how to do the same and make money as a freelance writer. Without joining Fiverr, Upwork, or Peopleperhour.
How do freelance writers earn thousands of dollars online?
How I Make Money as a Freelance Writer
There are two steps to making money as a freelance writer today. These are;
Consistent blog content that provides top-value
A monetization system set-up (a blog funnel)
To hit $1,000 monthly as a freelance writer faster, I did these;
I gave away free content through my weekly blog content.
My target freelance writing clients get to read my written content (that answers their questions.
They contacted me to work with me.
When I started, I joined different freelance job boards and applied for countless LinkedIn jobs but never got a single freelance writing client.
If you want to get (high-paying) clients for your freelance writing business, you must:
Have a freelance portfolio website.
Create consistent content strategically.
When my target freelance client lands on a blog post on my website, they read and get value for free from my content. And at the end of the content, I invite interested readers to work with me.
Here's an example of how I do it on this blog:
A single blog post can attract thousands or even millions of real visitors hence a good number of leads or sales.
How to Land Your First $1,000 Per Month Freelance Writing Client: My Simple 5-Step Formula.
Here’s a breakdown of what I did to make money as a freelance writer:
I got a website and created blog content weekly. Here's how to create a freelance portfolio website step by step.
I promoted each piece of content to see what my audience wanted (content marketing, paid ads, referrals, etc).
Gave away a lot of free, exclusive content to my email subscribers (or leads).
You can promote your freelance writing services to your email subscribers and blog readers.
Step 1: Get a Freelance Writing Portfolio Website
The first step is to set up a freelance writing portfolio website for your brand.
This step is quite easy as we have great website design services today.
Thankfully, I wrote an entire post on how to create a professional freelance portfolio website in less than 10 minutes.
Here are my top 5 recommendations for website hosting that you can use:
Second Step: Generating Content Ideas for Your Freelance Website?
How do you find blog content ideas for my freelance website?
Firstly, write down what freelance services you wish to provide and get paid heavily.
Copywriting?
Email newsletters?
or Proofreading?
The first thing you want to do is to find profitable content ideas for your freelance or business. For example, here’s a template that could work in almost any niche.
“How to hire a [your freelance work]”
“How to hire a freelance copywriter”
“How to hire a freelance blog writer”
Or;
“Factual Reasons You Need a Freelance [Book Writer]”
“10 Reasons You Need a Freelance [Copywriter]”
I use free tools like Quora, Google Keyword Planner (GKP), and Buzzsumo to find questions that are trending in my industry. Buzzsumo also shows you popular web pages and content in different industries.
Step 3: Creating Viral Content for Your Freelance Writing Website
Over the past 5 years, I've written and promoted hundreds of blog articles and the easiest way to attract your target visitors quickly is to get blogging and social media influencers to share your blog links with their followers.
Find their email addresses and reach out to them.
Here's a detailed guide on how to build relationships with social media influencers so they share your articles when they are live:
The first blog post I published on this website was an expert roundup post and it’s got 3.9k shares and over 10,000 visits.
How was I able to do that on my new website?
I reached out (mostly via email) to 100s of social media influencers to help me with my new website content.
Here are detailed guides to help you with these:
Introducing my coaching program, the "Freelance to $1k" program for freelance writers.
Freelance to $1k - Go from $0 to $1,000/Month as a Writer
I decided to take things further and create this 1-1 coaching program for serious-minded freelancers who are ready to build a 5-figure freelance writing business within the next few weeks.
In the "Freelance to $1k" program (not a pre-recorded course), you will have access to all of the modules.
Module #1: Introduction to "Freelance to $1k"
Module #2: What makes a 5-Figure Freelance Writer?
Module #3: Setting Strategic Prices for Your Freelance Writing Service
Module #4: Creating Video and/or Written Content
Module #5: Setting Up an Evergreen Funnel
Module #6: Closing Leads
Your goal here is to build a 5 figure freelance business.
In "Freelance to $1k", I will walk you through what to do step by step.
"How do I get loads of people to find my freelance writing portfolio website?"
"Do I need to create an Instagram account for my freelance writing business?"
"Do I need to be on Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, or Facebook groups to get freelance writing clients online?"
When you join the coaching program, "Freelance to $1k", I will show you how to set up a few pages (known as a funnel) on your website to send in dozens of people and businesses interested in your service.
Freelance to $1k will walk you through the email templates and a simple ASK method to make your target clients sign you 4 or 5-figure deals even as a beginner freelancer.
This program is 5 years of experience, hard work, mistakes, failures, lessons, wins, and failures throughout my freelance career and you can get this very program for $47 which is about half the normal price.
All you need to do to get instant access to the program is to click here to send me an email requesting to join my 1 on 1 coaching freelance program.
This freelance coaching program may not be for you!
And that's the plain truth. I never created this program for everyone out there.
Instead, I created it specifically for people who are upset about the life that they currently have, understand the power of building an online service-based business, and want to create one and scale it to 5 figures, but just want a tested blueprint to follow step by step.
Once more, here are all the lessons you get access to for just $47 today!
These are the modules that you'll get when you join Freelance to $1k:
Module #1: Introduction to "Freelance to $1k"
Module #2: What Makes a 5-Figure Freelance Writer?
Module #3: Setting Strategic Prices for Your Writing Services
Module #4: Creating Video or Written Content for Your Website
Module #5: Evergreen Funnels
Module #6: Closing clients
Click here or the button below to enrol for the "Freelance to $1k" program for a one-time fee of $47 or email me via simonzaku com at gmail dot com.
Best,
Simon Zaku
Owner: https://simonzaku.com/
Founder: SimonWrites Agency.
