Freelance article writing is borne of a love to write and slaughtered by the reality of what paying clients need. But in this article, I’m going to show you how to get paid to write articles online that feel authentic to your love of writing.
Taking the traditional freelance writing path can feel like you’re forced to suffer through things like:
- Inauthentic writing
- Keyword stuffing
- Boring topics
- Meager pay
- And surface-level articles that won’t actually help anyone
All just to build a portfolio worthy of a look for a decent assignment. That’s why so many of us feel like freelance writing is dead. But let’s talk about it: how to get paid to write articles online.
But as someone who created a career out of freelance writing, I’m here to tell you it’s not dead.
You’re just positioning yourself wrong.
What is a Freelance Writer?
If you call yourself a “freelance writer,” let’s face it. You’re a dime a dozen. It sounds harsh, but I think you might need to hear it.
There are so many of us “freelance writers” out there willing to take pennies for our work, (can we please stop doing that, by the way), that it’s almost impossible for the rest of us to be paid fairly for what we do. There’s always someone who will do it for less.
Not to mention ChatGPT and other generative AI tools yet to come undercutting even the lowest-priced writers among us.
With a “freelance writer” title, unless someone knows your writing and seeks you out by name, you’re going to find yourself racing to the bottom on price to compete.
It’s a rough path to take full time.
But with a small adjacent upskill and new positioning strategy, people will beg to work with you at a premium price point.
How do I know? That’s what I did. And if I can do it, so can you.
My Beginnings: Trying to Get Paid to Write Online Articles
My case was unique — I was starting a brand new business after having moved across the world on a self-employment visa (i.e., I couldn’t keep my job). It was sink or swim with no backup plan.
I had always been told I was a good writer, so that’s where I started while I was abroad and in grad school. I knew it was something I could do on the side while prioritizing my school work.
So I started out just like most of us do — writing articles for peanuts in hopes of building a portfolio and reputation that would eventually let me earn higher wages.
I didn’t know any better.
That’s what all the people succeeding in the space at the time said to do, so I did it.
But after my 10th life-sucking 2,500-word keyword-stuffed fluff article for pennies on the hour, I realized that despite my best efforts and raving reviews, this was not the career path I wanted. It wasn’t worth this.
How to Get Paid to Write Articles Online: My Repositioning Strategy and Upskill
Now I know you don’t know me or care what brought me to this strategy (I’m not trying to be one of those long-winded recipe bloggers who tell you all about their grandmother’s life and what an inspiration they were for the lemon meringue recipe we’re about to enjoy together), but I do think a little context is important.
My graduate school program centered on innovative business strategy, and my undergraduate degree was in marketing. So I had a unique perspective to approach this problem.
What I knew was that I liked writing and that everyone willing to pay me to do it had one goal: higher search engine rankings.
This made sense — there’s no reason to write if no one will read it.
But this meant that to my clients, it really didn’t matter who wrote it or how knowledgeable they were on the topic as long as it fit their brand guidelines. That’s why they weren’t willing to pay much for it.
This translated to both a poor writer and poor reader experience (i.e., writing for the algorithms instead of human readers). To them, it’s a means to an end.
But when I really reflected on it, I knew something else: Google doesn’t want to push s*** out to their audiences. You need to write strategically and well to rank long term.
That was the first lightbulb moment.
The Shift: From Cog to Mechanic
I realized that very few people know SEO well (at the time, myself included).
So what if I was approaching this whole system from the wrong angle? What if it actually wasn’t the best answer to the question of how to get paid to write articles online?
So I looked at it from a new angle.
What if I could be the expert on search engine rankings and offer my writing as a solution to that misunderstood problem?
Bingo.
That shift transformed my work from being a cog in the ranking machine to the mechanic orchestrating the whole thing.
A much more valuable skillset.
How to Get Paid to Write Articles Online: Upskilling + Repositioning Yourself
But knowing how to position myself as an SEO expert and being an SEO expert are two different things.
I knew the basics of SEO, analytics, and web design thanks to prior courses I had taken, but not the detailed mechanics of algorithms, crawlers, front-and-backend optimization, and all the other elements you need to actually be an expert.
So I upskilled. And you can do it too.
If you can level up your skillset and stay client-focused, you can create an entire career for yourself in a way that’s both smart and sustainable.
Here’s the thing — SEO is a science, but a highly attainable one.
If you want to turn your freelance writing dreams into a full-scale career that clients are actually looking for and happy to pay you for, join the waitlist for my Build-a-Business Workshop: Building a Business with SEO.
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