Work Online Money

By Lilian Okado

Where to begin

When defining one’s path on the road to a successful online career, where does one begin?

Before answering this question I would like to state that it doesn’t help much, to speak about making money online if there are no practical examples of how this can be done. It doesn’t help either to only use examples of others’ experiences without also sharing my individual experiences pursuing an online career. Therefore I have written this article largely from my own experiences making money online as a freelance writer.

For starters, the field of writing is diverse and covers a whole range of subjects and areas such as: SEO/copy writing, book writing, report writing, article writing, resume writing, blogging, web content writing, technical writing, business plan writing, press release writing, etc and it is up to you to know or discover which areas best suit you.

If you think about it writing work should be some of the easiest to find online today because practically everyone needs writing services of some kind. Think of all the free articles, book reports, web copies, sales pages, ads that you can find online; each one has a different author at the helm of their creation and development. What of the millions of eBooks available on the net on practically every subject? Fact is, someone somewhere wrote them. It may be the owner of the website or the website administrator who is constantly weaving relevant content for their sites and oftentimes these people get busy. They may have competing deadlines to meet and neither the time, nor the expertise, to constantly pen out technical manuals/professional copy writing for their sites. Therefore many opt to use freelance writers like myself to do the heavy lifting (writing) for them.

From the assortment of writing fields that one can pursue a career in, each one can be dissected further into smaller and smaller fields thereby allowing you to specialize.

Making money online as a freelance writer can be tough but once you have honed in on a particular field(s) it becomes easier to focus on making that specific area work.

I for one specialize in SEO/copy writing for websites, blogs and articles as well as press releases. But due to my online exposure, growing clientele and my constant desire to increase my income, I frequently find myself delving into writing areas that cover things like technical writing for example.

Moreover, you can work full time or part-time. It’s up to you. Either way it helps if you love to write. I started off working part time as a writer before ending up working full time due to my love for the job and my ever increasing workloads. Way before I got started however I made an effort to prepare myself well; practices that I now recommend to any first timer looking to develop a writing career online:

a) Identify the kind of writing that best suits your needs: That is; your hobbies, interests, background and ambitions. What do you want to achieve? This also means setting a time that works best for you when you can write be it at night or during the day and finding practical ways and systems that help keep you organized.

I often work best early in the morning and late at night and unlike most people prefer to work with some background noise on; nothing to loud, just low music or anything similar. I therefore cannot function properly in a room that has pin drop silence.

NB: This may not work for everyone; remember: the key is to find what best suits you.

b) Prioritizing and setting goals: Once you have identified your needs and ambitions comes the hard part of setting goals. I would say that setting goals is the most important thing. For everything you do you must have a goal set to accomplish it within a certain amount of time. Start out small and progress from there. It can be a goal just for the week or the month or perhaps for the entire year. Whatever you decide; it’s up to you.

At all costs avoid unnecessary distractions; don’t let other people divert you from your writing. Always keep in mind that freelance writing is a career like any other and warrants to be treated like any other normal business. So stick to your goals.

c) Research: Finding the relevant resources you need to build your skills will help you get started and find well-paying writing work. There are numerous online resources; too many to count, that are of relevance to launching a writing career. These may range from websites, blogs, forums to writing courses and ebooks either free or available at a fee. Associatedcontent.com, ask.com, ehow.com are examples of good FREE resource sites.

These are just a few things that you can do to put you on the right track as a freelance writer. If you bypass the above steps and hope to instantly start signing up high paying writing gigs then you are in for a rude shock. It may be difficult at the start but every established writer will tell you that they too had to go through these steps of analyzing where they were, where they want to go and how to get there.

So be patient and keep plugging away.

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