Making it as a freelance writer isn’t a perfectly straightforward process. Like with any other job success at freelance writing takes a decent amount of work and persistence, among other things. If you’ve been interested for a while in moving into this line of work, here are a few simple tips for improving your chances as a freelance writer.

Read your writing out loud to yourself, and then edit mercilessly

Many people who don’t have a lot of experience with writing for an audience, often make the mistake of thinking that “sounding smart” – usually by misusing and cramming a bunch of highbrow words into each article – is a key sign of quality writing.

Ultimately, though, writing is all about communication – and the better you are able to communicate in a way that people can understand and relate to, and that seems natural, the more you’re succeeding in your primary role.

One great trick is to read your writing out loud to yourself during the editing phase, and to mercilessly cut out or reword anything that doesn’t seem natural. Also, try reading it backwards. I like to read through an article at least three times before I submit it.

As a general rule, you can be pretty sure that if your writing sounds clunky and awkward to your own ears when read aloud, it’s not going to make a great impression on many readers.

Have a well-presented and reliable website to serve as the cornerstone of your marketing efforts

The number one marketing resource for any freelance writer in today’s world, is going to be their website. Ideally, plenty of customers will stumble upon your site via SEO – but even those who you reach through more “old school” marketing channels will inevitably end up on your site’s landing page to get a better sense of who you are.

If you have a well-presented and reliable site at your disposal, you’re simply going to be in a much better overall position than you would be if your site was blatantly amateurish, and prone to lagging and crashing. 

In fact, your website is so important that it might be worth hiring a company to manage it for you. You can visit this website for an example of such a company.

Continually expand your experience and insight by reading a lot, and trying many varied types of writing

No one is born a good writer, but at the same time, being a good writer isn’t the kind of thing that you can necessarily just step into after spending enough time reading technical guides about the correct use of grammar and vocab.

Ultimately, much of what makes up “good writing” comes down to developing your sense of taste and insight, largely by reading a lot, and practising your writing ad nauseam.

Keep your perspective broad by reading plenty of different types of literature, non-fiction books, articles, and so on. And try many varied types of writing, in both a professional and private context. 

Each style is an art unto itself, and if you know something about how to write an ebook, and are also familiar with blogging and case study creation, you’re simply going to be a more well-rounded and appealing writer to anyone who might be shopping around.