Do you love to write? There’s never been a better time to make money writing articles in your spare time!
Content marketing is the new advertising (as you probably already know from your real estate blog!). Today’s prospective clients don’t want to be “sold” on a company’s products or services. They want to get to know the company through the valuable content the company provides first. Then, once the relationship has been established, they’ll consider buying from the company.
For this reason, blogs are quickly becoming essential marketing material! Companies with the best blogs get more social shares, so they enjoy a greater reach, so they get more leads, so they close more sales.
For you, as a real estate professional, this means you must invest in your own blog. But this also has great implications for you as someone who loves to write! It means every forward-thinking company needs written content. So it opens numerous opportunities to make money writing articles!
Today we’re going to outline exactly how to go about making money as a freelance writer with whatever spare time you want to dedicate to writing.
Freelance writing has actually been my primary source of income over the last year, so I can offer some tips learned from first-hand experience!
I’ll explain:
- the basics of how to make money writing articles
- why this income stream could be a good fit for you
- 5 keys to making this income stream productive
- how to get started
The Basics of How to Make Money Writing Articles
The freelance writing business model is perfectly straightforward: you get paid to write articles, usually in the form of blog posts. Couldn’t be clearer!
But there are lots of ways to structure the agreements you make with your writing clients. For example, your pay rate could be per post, per hour, or (most commonly) per word.
You could sign on for one-off assignments, or you could contract to write a specific number of posts at agreed-upon intervals (2 posts per week for 6 months, for instance).
You could be a credited writer, receiving an author byline, or you could be a ghostwriter, allowing your client to publish your words under his or her own name.
The arrangements are flexible, but the means of making money is the same: you get paid to write.
Why Writing Articles Might be a Good Fit for You
Here are a few reasons article writing might be a good fit for you as a real estate professional.
- Writing can be done anytime from anywhere. You may have a deadline to hit, but you choose your writing hours.
- To be a real estate agent, you have to be self-motivated. And that skill will be useful in freelance writing.
- You have a specialty. As a real estate insider, you could provide valuable, knowledgeable content for other areas of the real estate industry, like investing, development, financing, and construction.
- You might even be able to promote your own real estate services through your writing!
5 Keys to Making the Article Writing Income Stream Productive
Let’s talk specifics. What do you need to do, not just to make money writing articles, but to build a sustainable income stream from your writing?
Here are 5 keys to making this income stream productive.
1. Write about something you love OR something you hate
If you want to write passionate, engaging articles, choose a topic you either love or hate.
It makes sense to write about what you love, right? You can enjoyably gush about a topic and sell your readers on the premise.
But hate? Why would you want to spend your spare time focused on something you hate?
That was actually my trick to writing papers in grad school. I would choose a topic I was completely opposed to, and the words flowed like rapids! Because, let’s face it, humans love to talk about things they greatly dislike.
For example, sellers who think it’s ok to leave their 3 crazy dogs roaming freely during showings. Or buyers who cannot see past the current decor and paint scheme. You could probably write a fiery, knowledgeable post about either topic in no time flat!
So choose a niche you feel strongly about and your passion will shine through your work.
2. Ignore the content mills
I’m not saying you can’t make money writing articles through content mills and outsourcing sites like Fiverr and Upwork. But I will say it’s much harder than you’d expect to get started there.
There are a few reasons you’ll have a difficult start going the content mill route.
First, content mills award writing assignments to the lowest bidder. Your rate will be exceptionally low, especially at the beginning. I often see writing assignments offering $20 for a 600-word post. That’s only about 3 cents per word. Compared to my starting rate of 10 cents per word when I was new to writing, 3 cents per word isn’t even worth your time.
Secondly, you actually need to accept these terribly-low rate assignments if you’re going through an outsourcing site. The clients on these sites rely heavily on the number of completed assignments and reviews to choose a writer, so to have a chance at building up your stats on the platform, you have to entice your first clients with obscenely low rates.
Thirdly, content mills are typically about providing high-quantity (rather than high-quality) output. So you probably won’t be able to craft any portfolio pieces through those assignments.
So how do you find work if not through a content mill or outsourcing site? Stick with me through this post. I’ll tell you exactly how I got started.
3. Price your services correctly
Assuming you provide quality content, there’s no reason you can’t command a rate of 10 cents per word to start. If you have a more technical specialty (like real estate law or commercial property taxes), you could easily charge 15 cents or more.
Then, as you gain experience and testimonials from your writing clients, you can increase your rates.
4. Promote your writing services
As with most new ventures, the best place to start promoting your service offerings is with your sphere of influence. Do you have anyone in your sphere who could benefit from your writing services? Perhaps you know an escrow officer or lender whose business would get a nice boost from your content.
Or even your local home maintenance professionals: electricians, plumbers, landscapers, painters, cleaning crews, roofers, and contractors! Small businesses like these can greatly benefit from an increased online presence.
Contact them and offer your services!
5. Find some steady work: usually blog posts
The trick to a successful income stream in writing (or any freelance service stream, really!) is landing consistent work. It takes time to always find new assignments, so if you secure just a few repeat clients, you’ll greatly improve your hourly rate.
The best way to do this is to focus on blogging assignments. Most businesses aim to publish at least one new blog post every week. So with just 2 regular blog clients, you could bring in $1,200 per month (writing 1,500-word posts) in your spare time.
How to Get Started
First, decide on your niche. What do you want to write about and what audience do you want to write for?
Then get your foot in the door. Aside from your sphere of influence, there are a few excellent job sites online specifically to match freelance writers with clients. Here are a few of my favorites:
Clients will want to see samples of your writing before hiring you. If you’re writing your own real estate blog on your website, that serves as a complete portfolio for your prospective clients to review.
Regardless of how you are contacting potential clients, you should draft a cover letter linking to a few of your best posts. Pay special attention to the instructions if you’re applying for assignments through any of the blogging websites. They often include specific application guidelines to help weed out anyone who can’t follow instructions.
Ask any questions upfront to eliminate confusion and possible re-writes. And once you land the assignment, maintain professional, responsive communication.
At the end of the assignment (or once you have written a few highly-satisfactory articles for your client), ask for a testimonial. A review that you can use as social proof in your future promotions.
Get a Small Win
Great victories are made possible by small wins. Before you move on with the rest of your day, get a small win!
Your Small Win Challenge is to look at the job assignment listings on Problogger, Freelancewriting, and bloggingpro. And if any interest you, make the leap and apply!
By the way, if you love writing, consider making money by writing your own eBooks!
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