Start Printing Money: How to Increase Your Freelance Rates

This is a guest post by James Adams. James has been a tremendous help to me so far, and I think all freelance writers hesitant about increasing their rates should give this article a read. I hope you enjoy this guest post as much as I enjoyed reading it. As always, thanks for contributing James.

Photo by Sunshinecity (flickr)

When you’re doing work as a freelancer, there are a number of considerations that go into determining your rates. Will you charge by hour or by project? Should you start out charging less in order to create a portfolio? After you’ve built a name for yourself, when is it okay to raise your rates? You may be concerned about losing clients with higher rates, but in many cases, you can successfully make the switch if you go about it in the right way. Here are the top five ways to increase your freelance rates and to start earning more money. (more…)

How to Set Up Your Own Web Content Services and Enlarge Your Wallet

This is the seventh part in the series Writing Web Content for Websites. In this part of the series, you’ll learn how to promote your own web content services to maximize your income potential.

In addition to writing content for other companies and earning residual income month after month, you can also promote your web content services on your own website or blog and earn huge one time payments per project. However, going this route does take a bit more work than if you were just writing articles for other websites. You’ll have to make your services visible on the Web through an online portfolio, constantly promote your web content services to attract clients and spend countless hours working on each project according to the client’s liking.

While you will not be able to stop working and still earn residual income with this method, you’ll earn much more money in a shorter amount of time. In fact, some projects may even make you anywhere between $100 to over $1,000, according to the type of project. You also control how much you get paid, since you’re the one setting the rates. Some freelance writers are even able to make six digit incomes yearly. But it’s no small feat. It takes hours of work and effort to keep clients satisfied so that they keep coming back again and again. (more…)

Debate: Write for Residual Income or Write Copy for Clients?

After reading very disturbing comments on a Suite101 review, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about this topic in more detail.

Photo by Razvan Caliman (flickr)

Specifically, why would some people work their asses off writing for web content sites only to get a small return? Many copywriters seem to think this way, as it just doesn’t make sense to them why someone would work for pennies and accept low pay. They seem to think that other freelance writers out there, often the ones just stepping in the door, aren’t getting what they’re worth and therefore are the reason why the rest of the world believes that freelance writing is a low paying job. When people believe this, why would clients spend over $1,000 for a direct mail package? What’s the purpose of wasting so much money for a brochure when writers shouldn’t be charged so much? (more…)