FREELANCER #1 : An Essential Guide To Content-Writers & Copywriters

Content Writer :

Content-Writing means composing contents that is to be delivered to a targeted audience for specific purposes like business product marketing, blog post or as news article.

Setting up a high traffic blog or setting up an eBook takes lot of upfront works of researching the topic, front end designing and it also takes an immense amount of time before you can actually earn something from it. They also require rigorous SEO optimisation through keyword density in article, length of articles, image optimisation etc. Later on, they are needed to be marketed into real world audience through social media and advertisements, which requires small scale investments.

So if you need money in a short period of time without investing a single penny, then content-writing is a great alternative. Generally, content writing is divided into 5  broad categories:

Blog post: Websites requires consistent posting of articles to maintain and engage their regular reader base. So they hire freelance content-writer who have an required understanding regarding the topic for fulfilling their employee gaps.

News article: Large news agencies have their own reporters and on-scene cameraman for live reporting the news, but with the other small or regional based new agencies don’t have enough financial support to maintain a regular employees. So they hire freelance news content-writer who would write captivating news articles for them on a cheaper rates. Whenever news articles is requested by the client you can charge slightly higher than ordinary post as it requires intensive research and study on a topics which has lack of resources.

Technical/Medical Writing: Medical/Technical writing involves writing various document such as research material, literature writing for various projects in Ph.Ds and Masters etc. This requires a deep understanding and experience in the similar field. These content-writer must have an ability to transform complex concepts into a simpler way for reader to understand and retain.

SEO Writing: A writer whose primary target is to hit the top search result for a specific keyword or tag such content-writing is called SEO writing. Before an SEO writer start writing his he/she performs an extensive keyword analysis, their search volume, relevance to their content etc. 

UX Writer: UX mean User experience design, similarly UX writer create an friendly and interactive environment for their readers through various onscreen buttons, links and friendly colour combination. UX writers also requires excellent writing abilities to involve the reader to take actions.(Source)

Content-writer uses highly searched keywords, backlinks and metas for amplifying their content reach over web. Content-writers make the audience understand about the brand and its ideology. They are journalistic in nature, creating attractive title and captivating contents. They use writing to pass information or entertainment among the audience in regardless to brand or publisher.

Copywriter

Copywriters are similar to content-writer with slight difference between them.

Copywriters generally creates short form copy such as headlines, tagline, marketing ads, billboards, email campaigns. You must have advertorial nature in writing to be a copywriter. Their primary purpose is to sell their clients product. They use writing to make reader to think or act in a particular manner so that the products are been sold. 

Copywriter's content create an sudden emotional effect on the reader which enhances the chances of the products getting sold. For instance, just glance at the taglines of leading insurance company, SBI life Insurance : With Us, You're Sure; Tata AIA Life Insurance: You Click, We Cover... they derive the emotion of comforting and caring among the reader making them to buy their plans.

Copywriting an art of selling products, brands and ideas.

Skills required in Writing Jobs:

a) Communication Skills          
b) Writing Skills         
c) Good Command over Language

Writing is definitely a great skill and if you want to be full time freelance writer you need to be serious about honing that skill. You can gain advanced skills by reading a lot of high literature book and joining some language courses. You can also learn different styles of writing such as expository, descriptive, persuasive, and narrative. As your work quality increases the clients tends to return to you again and again gaining you more worth.

How to charge a Client in Writing Jobs?

Typically freelance content-writer charges based on:

a. The Hourly basis

b. The Page count

c. The Word Count

d. Complete Project Based

Points to remember while setting up your charges for clients

a)   Type of Client( Magazine, Online Site, Individual Work)
b)  Volume of Work to be accomplished

c)   Research required over the topic

What you get?

As a beginner in content and copywriting you can charge around $5-$10 for an article of 500 words and with increasing work experience you charge around $60 -$80 per hour.

Freelancing Site such as Fiverr, iwriter, Elance, Upwork, Freelancer. You can sign up and get lot of writing jobs.

Even if you can spare 2-3 hr. per day you can easily earn around $1000- $1200 every month. (Rs 60000 – Rs 70000)

Try to be progress in career with more potential client and increasing wages.

Point to remember:

The content you writes must be unique and it should not be copied from anywhere or else you will lose all your credential once your clients know that you are cheating. This can be a black mark over your career prospective.