Website Content Writers and Personal Freedom

One of the things that attracted me personally to freelance content writing was the freedom it provides. I have always loved writing, but even more than that I wanted a career that would allow me to set my own hours and travel anywhere I wanted while still being able to work.

The truth is, any sort of freelance career provides these opportunities, but many people still feel trepidation about stepping outside of their comfort zones. I've been in Costa Rica for nearly 3 years, and I've been feeling the travel bug once again. What I realized, though, was that this time it's different.

The Freedom to Change

Right now I could spin a globe and head wherever my finger lands, not because I'm rich but because my work allows me to go anywhere in the world without worrying about losing my job. There's something really freeing in that realization, and any website content writers out there are in the exact same situation.

You don't have to be bound by common conventions of how or where you are supposed to work. In a very real sense, the world is your oyster. If traveling is not your cup of tea, you still have plenty of options. Freelance content writing allows you to pursue hobbies and personal goals throughout the day because you are the person who sets your schedule.

But I Have to Work All the Time!

A lot of website content writers come into this job with the idea that they have to work constantly to make ends meet. For awhile that may be true, but these same people end up getting stuck in routine and feel like they're trapped, the same way a bumblebee will never fly out of a jar even though the lid is off. If you're constantly looking left and right, you never have time to look up and see where things could go if you just took the initiative.

The truth is, you probably do have to work a lot, but not all day, every day. If you decide to set aside 2 hours every morning to exercise, or paint model trains, or go out and explore your city, or whatever you want to do, you'll find that the bills are still getting paid despite the fact that you're taking those hours off.

The Current State of Freelance Content Writing

These days, a lot of people are becoming more interested in being a freelance content writer. It's an excellent way to earn money on the internet, especially if you have some skill as a writer. Of course, it's not exactly easy to write articles or web content; you have to know a bit about grammar and spelling, not to mention SEO if you want to earn money doing it.

Nevertheless, the potential is out there to make thousands of dollars a month with nothing but freelance content writing. If you want to get to that level, you have to be able to write well, fast, and research quickly in order to get your articles written.

The way it stands, freelance content writing is one of the best ways to increase your online earnings, even if you only do it part time. You can do it in several ways: either write for pay per view (PPV) sites like Triond, Hubpages, or Helium, or work for clients directly and be paid for your writing up front.

In my experience, it is more difficult to work directly for clients, but the trade off is that you get paid more, and best of all you get paid up front. With PPV sites there's a cumulative effect in place and as a result you might not see any revenue from an article for a few months until it has earned enough views to warrant a payout.

A lot of people are earning money like this these days, myself included, but the key is to hone your skills, just as you would with any other craft. If you want to become a successful freelance writer, you have to work at it, improve your grammar and spelling, and learn how to do the required research quickly and efficiently.

Freelance Writing Advice- How Much Time Should You Spend Writing

Right now my schedule is absolutely filled with writing. If I'm not doing freelance content writing work, I'm working on one of a dozen other projects, so the question stands- how much time should you actually spend writing during the day?

The answer really depends on the type of writing you are doing. For example, I started out using some bid sites like Guru and Freelancer to find most of my first clients, and as a result I was physically writing for at least five or six hours every day. I was getting paid extremely low rates ($3 for 500 words) and I had to write fast, and write a lot, if I wanted to come out with enough money at the end of the month to pay rent and buy food. Most of these clients ran content mills, so I was churning out articles for link building and such that didn't require much research.

Eventually I began to get referrals from my writing, and I was able to dictate a higher price for the time that I spent on writing. I was getting paid more per word, so I had to write fewer words in order to make ends meet. I still wrote for at least 4 hours throughout the day, but only because I'm a workaholic and wanted to get as much done as fast as possible. I mean, why not? The more money the better!

Somewhere in the middle of all this I started to write for other sources as well, some of which didn't pay much, if anything, right off the bat. I set up a freelance writing blog to track everything I was doing, and I started writing articles for sites that offered an Adshare program, like Triond. Because of this, I was spending at least 8 hours a day in front of the computer, and most of that was either writing or promoting my articles.

Right now I'm about steady at 8 hours per day. I set a schedule for the time that I need to work on projects for clients, and after that I delegate the remaining hours to work that needs to be done in other aspects. For example, if my Hubscore is falling, I'll make it a point to publish another hub. If my Adsense revenue is going down from one location, I'll write a few more articles for that site or blog and then promote what I write there.

In the end, the time you put into writing depends on what you want to get out of it. Making money online is not going to be easy for anybody. If you put the time into it, you'll start to see results. I say if you have a blog, write at least one post per day. If you use sites like Triond or Hubpages, write at least one article a day.