Writing for the Web: How to Start a Freelance Writing Career Online?

A freelance writer is probably one of the easiest job online and one of the most in-demand. Content is King, so as they say. So writers are the heart of every website. Without content, a website will not be friendly with Google Search engine.

Anyone can write. But not everyone has the skill to entice people to read what they wrote about. With constant practice, we can earn this skill. As a start, writers need articles and these articles must be web-friendly.


Here are some tips on what a web-friendly article should be:

1. Know Your English.
English is the language prevalent online. Non-native English writers must understand the language well enough so that everybody can understand what you are trying to say. Watch what you are writing particularly on your grammar and spelling. To help with grammar and spelling turn on spell checker and grammar checker of your word processing software. You can also check for your errors online by visiting these websites:

www.spellchecker.net - checks for grammar, spelling, and has a thesaurus.
www.paperrater.net - checks for grammar, spelling, word transition, bad phrase, correct word usage, checks if the article is plagiarized, and the best feature of this site is that it grades your article.

Both of these website offer suggestions for your mistakes. A word of warning though, computer-assisted spelling and grammar checkers are not 100% percent accurate. Manual checking is still the most effective way to take care of these kinds of errors.

Here's one example: A uniform or An uniform, which one is correct? Isn't it that 'U' is a vowel?

2. Know How the Web Speaks

Contrary to most beliefs, the web speaks like a commoner and not like a business person. Unless it's a corporate website, readers don't need complex words and sentences. What they need is to get things straight and get there fast.
Readers in this world skim, they don't read every paragraph that you write like a book. They look at your bullet points,  if they don't find one, they won't read it all 'cause they find it uninteresting. Know what you want to portray, keep it simple then point it out.

Do you need "abhor" when "anger" can express just the same?

3. Create your own articles
Articles should be created by you alone and is 100% unique. Do not copy paragraphs from other websites because its plagiarism. If your article contains plagiarized content, your integrity as a writer will be compromised. If you have copied some texts cite references and state it as not your own.

Articles are important for a freelance writer because this is their portfolio. A blog will also do but blogs that talks about your family, your rants, etc does not entice clients. Try making blogs that answers questions, give tips, or provide knowledge to readers. Blogs made that way shows how knowledgeable you are on a certain field. The more diverse the topics, the more interesting you are as a writer.

Additional Tips:

Create a blog or article that talks about a certain topic or in web terms: niche. Any niche will do just be sure you know what you are talking about. A good idea for a niche is to talk about your hobby, pets, computers, or create how-to's. This will serve as your portfolio.

Submit your created articles on article submission sites. Look for an article submission site that is strict and reads articles manually. Sites like EzineArticles.com are probably what you should look for. This is a way to thoroughly proofread your created articles.

Do you know any similar websites that uses the same policies and methods as EzineArticles.com?

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