The One Year Plan for Beginning Freelance Writers

In the beginning, think of your freelance writing as a part time job (Don't quit your day job yet). You are the boss. As the boss you need a plan of action. If you are a seasoned writer who has already published your work and got paid for it, your plan will likely be different. However, if you are a beginning freelancer on the web, this plan will familiarize you with the online writing market.

The One Year Plan
First, Start off with Associated Content. You can also use Helium, but the upfront payments on Associated Content are typically higher. Write a few articles and submit them for upfront payment. You may get an offer, you may not. At this point that is not important. If you get an offer, accept it. If you don't, submit it for display only.

• DO NOT spend a lot of time researching these articles. These sites do not pay very well and you will be wasting your time. These articles that you write will simply be to familiarize yourself with the process and you can make A LITTLE money from the page views.
• Write about things you know. The easiest articles to write will be about topics you know well.
• DO NOT spend a lot of time writing these articles. Of course, you should proof read them and not submit garbage. Everything you write says something about you as a writer. The first articles you write may take a bit of time. However, you don't want to spend too much time on articles that will not pay you what your time is worth. Write short, not more than 600 words, articles on topics you already know.
• Make each article about something different. As you see which articles get pageviews and which ones don't you will be able to see which topics are most profitable.
• Write articles about seasonal topics. At least once a month, write an article about something seasonal. In December you can write an article (or articles) about Christmas. These type of articles will get large amounts of pageviews around that time each year. This is a good way to get a little boost to your passive income from Associated Content each month.

Don't spend a lot of time writing for Associated Content and Helium. Remember, this is a part time gig. Write a few articles each month but you need to leave yourself time to do some exploring and possibly writing elsewhere.

Search the web for other freelance writing jobs. There are many blogs about freelance writing. Read them. Take the time to learn about marketing yourself and your work. Start your own blog. Do everything you can to learn more about freelance writing on the web and how to be successful.

Follow the plan for a year. That's right, an entire year. After one year, you should have a good idea of what type of freelance writing you want to do and what markets will provide the best compensation for your time and efforts.