How I Make $1ooo Per Month as a Freelance Writer (without Fiverr, Upwork, etc.)
Updated: 4 days ago
My name is Simon (Taki) Zaku and I made my first $1,000 as a freelancer in 2020 and I'll show you how to make $1000 as a freelance writer.
Plus, I didn't need to join or use Fiverr, Upwork, Peopleperhour, or any of those websites.
Thus, in this week’s article, I’ll be showing you the 2 most powerful freelancing systems to get your first freelance client within 7 to 28 days.
How do freelance writers (and freelancers in general) earn 5, 6, and 7 figures online?
How I Make $1ooo Per Month as a Freelance Writer (without Fiverr, Upwork, or PeoplePerHour.)
You see, to make money by offering freelance writing services online, there are two (2) major elements that you need:
Content that provides top value
A monetization system set-up
Here’s what I mean:
To hit $1,000 monthly as a freelancer, I did these;
Content (which is mostly given out for free),
The value is given away, and;
Emails and DMs inquiring about my freelance services (I get to pick who I work with).
When I got started, I was trying so hard to get freelance writing clients but nothing ever worked. I joined loads of freelance job boards and tried LinkedIn jobs and many more job platforms but nothing worked.
I got so frustrated that I set out to send out cold emails to 1000 businesses in just 4 weeks and still ended up with zero clients!
About 20 people replied to me back with a “NO”, 7 jumped on a call with me but no one hired me for my freelance writing services. In fact, 11 sent back really harsh replies.
If you want to get high-paying clients for your freelance writing side-business, you should:
Create consistent content strategically.
Design and lead your clients through a simple funnel.
Have a platform or portfolio website where you publish your content.
Let’s use this very website for example:
Since I am a freelance writer and I target b2b startups, I create exceptional content (around content marketing) that startups, company owners, directors, managers, etc derive huge value. Here’s an example:
Startup Content Marketing: How to Brainstorm & Validate Lucrative Blog Ideas for Your Startup
When my target client lands on that blog page, they get absolute value (for free) from my content, and at the end of the content, I just give readers a chance to contact me to work with me.
A single post could generate thousands of real visitors without much effort.
My Simple 5-Step Formula for Landing Your First High-Paying Freelance Client
Here’s a breakdown of what it takes to make $1,000 per month as a freelance writer:
Research & publish detailed blog posts OR Videos weekly for the next four weeks.
Drive 5,000 real visitors to your website (content marketing, paid ads, referral, etc).
Convert 2 to 5% into email subscribers.
Send free content and build trust (3 emails in 3 days).
Pitch your freelance writing services to these subscribers and keep your rates high.
GOAL: 5,000 monthly visitors. Convert just 2 to 5% to subscribers and get JUST ONE client to pay you $500 to $1,000 monthly.
For example, say I’m a Freelance Graphic Designer, here’s how to produce and attract 100s of people interested in your services.
How do I promote my freelance graphic design business?
Find graphic (or logo) design questions your people are asking online (Quora is very effective)
Publish 4 detailed content pieces around those questions on your website.
Attract 5,000 to 10,000 visitors.
Create an incentive for people who sign up for your email list (free ebook, the course just like this training…) and get your target to sign up for your list.
Send 5 emails. (3 emails building trust & providing value. 2 emails selling your services (discount, promo, offers).
I use a free tool, Google keyword planner, to find interesting questions and hot and trending topics in any industry. Another tool is Buzzsumo. It shows you popular content pieces in every industry.
Create content that helps your ideal target client and gives your unique perspective using your epiphany story.
How to Generate Content Ideas for Your Freelance Website?
How do I find content ideas for my freelance website?
Use your epiphany story and you must use it effectively in selling your services. Stories are so easy to sell that even a beginner can start closing 5 figure deals effortlessly.
What freelance services do you wish to provide and get paid heavily?
How did you come about learning it? Why did you learn it?
The first thing you want to do is to find profitable content ideas for your freelance 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 graphic designer”
OR
“Factual Reasons You Need a Freelance [your work]”
“10 Reasons You Need a Freelance [Graphics Designer]”
You want to check to see what content format works in your industry.
This is pretty simple and you can do that by using search engines to search a few hot keywords in your industry and then go through the top-performing posts to see if more videos, infographics, blog posts, presentations, or books would come up first.
top-performing.
How to Create Viral Content for Your Freelance Website?
The easiest way to get 2000 people to read a post (video, Slideshare, article, guide, ebook), is to get social media influencers to share your links.
And you do this online by finding their business emails and reaching out to them.
I mean, I still remember the very first time I published good content online. It 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 found a way to reach social media influencers and since I didn’t have any money, I had to get them to share my posts for free.
I reached out (via email) to 100s of social media influencers (in my industry, which is the marketing industry) to help me with my new website.
I was fortunate (and with the help of a few strategies) to get close to 100 to help.
If you don't know how to drive people to a website, don't worry, I'll show you.
I was simply just like you years ago when I launched my freelance website, simonzaku.com.