Tips on how to make money from freelance writing in Nigeria

A lot of bloggers came into blogging because of the success stories of established bloggers in the country. Coming to blogging, they realize that blogging is not as easy as they once believed. This has led to a lot of bloggers quitting blogging to try their hands on something else. If you still want to make a living from online business and blogging is not yet paying the bills, check out freelance writing. You start making your money
within a month from freelance writing. Really? Yes. Really. But how?

What you need to become a freelance writer 

Here are some other things that you need to make a successful living out of freelance writing. These are very useful tips.

1. Register with a freelance website: This gives you the opportunity to get writing contracts from home and abroad. For instance, Freelancer.com contains almost 19 million registered members and about 9 million posted writing jobs. So if you bid on a daily basis, you have a very high chance of getting a writing job
2.  You must create time for it as you must constantly bid to increase your chances of landing a job. Also, sometimes clients give out jobs to writers who are online when the client wants to check those who bid for a particular project.
3. You must be able to write error-free articles. No client will want to rewrite your article after you have submitted it. The clients are busy and that is why you are hired to do the writing. So to have a good reputation with your clients, give them the best that you can afford.
4. The ability to surf the internet is equally important. Sometimes you may have to source for the information yourself if the project is not a rewriting one. You must be able to use search engines effectively to get the best information for your clients.

 Challenges of freelance writing

Although freelance writing is a good online business opportunity, it definitely has some challenges. Some of these challenges are:

1. Writing CopyScape-free articles: The need to be able to write articles that will pass CopyScape is a necessity. This is absolutely important as no client will accept an article that will not pass CopyScape test. What is CopyScape? In a simple term, this is a software that compares your article with existing articles on a particular topic to determine whether the article is unique or is a product of "copy and paste". So, if it is discovered that you copied from another source, the project will be rejected. You may have to rewrite the article entirely. I want to tell you that rewriting an article that fails CopyScape test is harder than writing the article from the scratch.
2.  Getting jobs from Freelancer: I equally have this challenge when I started as a freelancer. For more than 3 months, I did not get much project apart from a single client. This gave me several sleepless nights. You have to face and overcome this challenge.
3. Meeting the deadline: This challenge can be very disturbing for both you and your client. When you can't meet a deadline, you are risking losing a client. If this problem persists, you will lose your reputation as a freelancer and this means losing your clients as nobody wants to employ a writer with a very poor completion rate.
4. Always stick to the agreement that you have with your client. Any attempt to deviate from it will portray you as an unserious type. For instance, when I started freelancing, I got a 4000-words writing job. Because of the pressure mounted on me by the client, I reduced the job to about 3000 words. The result? My client rejected the job instantly. I had to rewrite the job immediately at a very awkward time, when I was preparing to go for service on Sunday morning. So, stick to agreement, even if it is not convenient for you.

How to overcome these challenges

1. To overcome the issue of CopyScape, the rule is that you don't rewrite an article word for word, especially if you are to rewrite an article from another source. You need to understand the idea of a sentence and write it down in your own words without losing the meaning.
For instance, if you want to rewrite "How to make money from freelance writing" , you write it in such a way that the words will not be similar but the idea will still be the same thing. If you write an article that fails CopyScape, no client will accept it from you. You have to know that writing an article that passes this test is easier than having to rewrite the article if it fails. The bottom line is try to let your content be original, don't do "copy and paste". Be different from the original article.
2. Getting jobs from Freelancer requires that you know how to bid very well for projects. You have to compete with experienced freelancers who know how to place good bids. What am I saying? Suppose you want to place a bid, tell the client why you believe that you are the best writer to handle the project.
This involves mentioning your writing skills as well as making reference to your other works, if they exist. When I was unable to get much project for the first 3 months, I confided in a colleague who who is an experienced blogger and freelancer. He gave me some useful tips on how to bid. When I implemented this tips, I got three offers worth $105 the first day. Imagine that! One of the clients asked for my url which I gave him and he decided to check me out. How did I know that? He gave me some tips on how to improve my blog.I didn't know that the guy is a professional blogger. The bottom line is that you must have a way of convincing the client the need for him to give the project to yo, Also be mindful of what you post on social media. It may make or mar your chances of landing that dream job.
3. To overcome the challenge of meeting the deadline, there are three major problems. These are network problem, power failure, and speed. To overcome network failure, it is advisable that you subscribe to multiple network service providers. For instance, if Glo service is bad, check that of Airtel or Etisalat. Definitely, one of them will be ok to get the job done. For the issue of power failure, the best thing to do is to have a generating set. There are some small models that sell for about #15,000. If you are financially buoyant, you can get a good laptop with a strong battery. Some batteries can work for about 3 to 4 hours in case of power failure. Power bank is another necessity in this case. Some can give you the opportunity to work for many hours if fully charged. There is a particular model that gives you 6 extra hours to work without light.
The problem of speed is common among people. If you have just 2 hours to write a 1000-words article, how will you meet up if your typing speed is slow? Learn how to type very fast. There are a lot of tutorials on typing. Mavis Beacon is a good example. Install it on your PC and practice always.With time, you will master the art of typing. Personally, I have a typing speed of 45 words/minute, and I type without looking at the keyboard. It always gives me an edge.
If you can overcome all these challenges, you will be smiling to the banks always. If you want more details or guidance on how to make money as a freelence writer, you can contact me using the Contact Form.