4 Big Freelance Writing Mistakes To Avoid

4 Big Freelance Writing Mistakes To Avoid

We all know that writing content as a freelance writer is an easier job to do online if you have the skill set.  One thing that isn't talked much about is the four mistakes you should avoid when doing this type of work, and these mistakes might not be what you're thinking.

We all know to write content, over-deliver, and make sure the client is happy, but we don't really go over who your clients should be, what type of content you should be handing over, and how often you should be working.

In this discussion, I'll be going over the top 4 mistakes I've come across in my years of freelance writing, and they are:


Writing content for friends and family
When one of your friends or a family member starts up a blog or website and hears you're a writer, they will always ask for a handout.  I don't have a problem writing a few articles to get a loved one's site off the ground, but I'm not going to be their blogger and submit content every day without getting paid.

The problem is that people don't understand how much work goes into content writing, and your friends or family members will ask for handouts.  Working with them could cause a rift between you and that's never fun at social events or family get-togethers lol.

I suggest you avoid working with any friends or family members unless they're willing to pay you for your time.  This is how you separate work and personal lives and you should never do something for free if you're good at it

High-stress clients that don't pay much
I come across this quite often since I sell my services on most marketplaces.  It's not the people who purchase from me; it's the people who message me asking if I can lower my prices so they can order.  In the beginning, I would lower my costs so they could make a purchase, but it usually turned out that they wanted 900 revisions and weren't happy with the work provided, even though the work was just fine for the reduced price they paid. 

Remove the stress from your freelance writing career and charge customers what you feel you're worth.  If you've been writing for years, have had hundreds of happy customers, and your skills are top-notch, then you can charge a premium.  If you've been writing for 10 minutes, have not had a single client, and think you're going to get $500+ per article then you're probably on a stage right now telling jokes because that was funny

Charge what your skills are worth and always work on being better.  The better you are, the more you can charge, and the more likely your customers won't increase your stress levels.

Plagiarism
You never want to plagiarize your work because that's not what someone is paying you to do.  If you can't think of anything unique, do some research and see what is already written, then write down some bullet points and expand off of there.  This way, you will be niche specific, not plagiarized, and have unique content for the customer.

If you're a big-time writer and get caught plagiarizing something, it's pretty much a career killer.  You'd likely have to start over and burn your past to make it back to the profits you were already at.  Sure, you could have a jump start on things because all your previous customers might give you a second chance, but why test that in the first place?

Write content in your way that customers will love and never think about plagiarising someone else's hard work.

Too much content and not enough time
I've never really had this problem unless I had something come up in my personal life.  I've refunded a few orders here because my mother passed away and I couldn't get online to do the work.  My customers were very understanding and asked me to let them know when I was ready to start writing again, and they would be willing to purchase in the future. 

If you happen to get a lot of orders and don't have enough time to complete them all, then you're too successful, and it will come back to hurt you.  I would suggest talking to other writers and asking if they could help you if this problem does happen.  I'm sure most people won't turn down some free money for content so be sure they know you're going to send them something later on if you get too many orders

If you happen to get 100 orders overnight for 1,000+ word articles, you won't be able to do that work yourself, and you will start to get negative reviews that will hurt your career.  You should limit yourself and let people know how much work you can do so they know what they're getting in return.  I don't put any "buy now" buttons on my website because I tend to get a good amount of traffic and don't want to be swamped with work that I can't complete right away.  Instead, I have people contact me so we can discuss the job and if they will fit into my schedule.  This way it's much more professional, they don't get annoyed with late deliveries, and I keep my reviews flawless


In the end,
There are many things you can do when beeing a freelancer writer to help your career but if you don't focus on the potential mistakes I've listed above then you'll hurt your business and profits pretty quickly.  Don't work with family and friends, try to avoid cheap customers that will likely be stressful, never plagiarize something, and don't overburden yourself with too much work.  If you can do that, you will probably be able to cut it as a freelance writer, but you will need the skills to back it up as well


Thanks for reading

- Tommy
https://www.seoclerks.com/user/TommyCarey