Do you want to make $5000, $10,000 or more every month as a freelancer? Does your current published materials earn you that much or are you still struggling looking for new jobs every month? Well, ghost writing articles and books for businesses could earn you a lot of money and end your painful quest for writing jobs.
Making money as a freelance writer can be tough especially for newbies with no samples or prior experience. Most editors want published writers with a proven track record. And the few acceptances you will receive may get you paid $50 or $100 an article. With these figures you can only imagine whether you can make a living freelancing.
Well, its not all doom and gloom as there are other better alternatives. One of these, is ghost writing of articles, books, manuals, e.t.c. for business for fees ranging from $500 to $5000 or even more for big work. A single how-to article could be ghost written for businesses for a fee of $1500 or $3000 depending on the work involved writing and the publications placed in. Surely this is much more than many magazine and newspaper editors pay for single articles from newbies. Sell four or five articles per month and you can consider going full time into freelancing.
GETTING STARTED
To begin with, you need to identify a niche area of you expertise .It could be in medical writing, business writing or a narrow area which you are knowledgeable in or you can make easy inroads into. Not that this limits your market potential but having a niche area of specialization would make it easier to operate, as you will be constantly drawing ideas from a rich and ready knowledge base.
Next, you should research a few ideas and convert them into a few how-to articles in your market niche. Post the finished articles to article submission databases such as:
Use the published articles as samples of your writing ability and work. At the same time the articles will be picked and published in hundreds of ezines and high traffic sites, thus gaining free publicity for you and your business.
FINDING BUSINESS
To get business you will need to send letters or e-mails to your local businesses and even those beyond with proposals to write articles for them. Explain to them the benefits of your business such as boosting their business's image and credibility as well as generate leads for later follow - up. Enclose a few samples, a tentative contract agreement and a cover letter.
You can also purchase or rent business names and addresses from direct mail list brokers, fish out names from your business and yellow pages directory.
Before writing to them, you could do some background check and find out the status and details of the business. If they have a website, you could check it out and get the name of their marketing executive. Address your letter to him/her and offer to call or visit for a detailed business presentation. For businesses which are far away, you could refer them to you website or offer to send them more information by post or e-mail.
WRITING THE ARTICLE
Once you have secured the business's acceptance and you have signed a contract, you should ask them to send to you brochures, press releases, manuals, e.t.c. Write down a list of questions and send to the marketing executive seeking answers about the business or industry.
You can also do further research at the local library, online libraries and databases and read trade and industry publications for further information to write an outline for a how to-article.
However, do not make a mistake to think that the article will be about your client or load it with so many facts that bore you reader. That could be suitable for a custom -made booklet, manual or newsletter for the client. For articles, it is a different matter. Offer tips, solutions to consumer or business problems or give a valuable insight into a common issue or problem. The article could be about self-improvement, making more money, improving health, planning finances, training e.t.c.
The article would contain the client's by line and bio. The bio would explain briefly who the client is, the client's websites URL and e-mail address. This is very useful and will be the centrepiece of the credibility and viral marketing campaign.
Once you have written the article, you need to send a draft to your client for suggestions and revisions. Adopt the suggestions, proofread it and prepare a final draft. Send the final draft to your client and post it to article databases, ezines and syndicates online and offline. In the course of time, the article will be distributed and circulated online and off generating wide publicity for you client.
How long should the articles be? For how-to articles 500-750 words is the standard but where the subject needs exhaustive treatment 1000 to 1500 words is good length. For a higher word count, you should advice your client to consider an ebook, booklet or book. Of course, the longer the article, the higher the fees.
SETTING YOUR FEES
There is no standard way of pricing your article writing services. You should set your fees based on the research work involved, the hours you spend on the work, and expenses involved in producing and publishing the article and a profit.
For a 300 to 500 words article $200 to $300 is fair but as the word count leaps into the hundreds, figures of $1500 to $5000 are reasonable. To convince your customers to cough such amounts, you will need to tell them the benefits of your service and business promotion through articles. You could also offer them various packages laden with bonuses and offers. For example, I offer a package, which includes paid placements to article databases and syndicates, ezines solo ads and press releases writing and posting. All this is done to assure the client cheap maximum and wide exposure no matter what. For booklets and ebooks of less than 50 pages, rates of $3000 to $10,000 are not uncommon. For books a ghostwriter may be paid anything from $20,000 to $100,000 depending on expertise, length and research involved.
At those rates obviously, you will not get everybody in, but for prospective clients who are used to paying hundreds of thousands in advertising dollars they would see it s reasonable and beneficial in the long term.
To ensure that you do not miss business from those who have small budgets to spend on promotion, you can structure your packages according to ability to pay. Those who pay less would get good exposure with no assurance of leads while those who pay more will get an almost guaranteed response.
BENEFITS
Everyone wants to know how he/she will benefit from a product or service. For yourself as a freelancer, you will get booming business and enjoy making money as a freelance ghost writer. You will get more business by collecting and showing testimonials of your satisfied clients and establish a reputation as a prolific writer.
For the clients, you will need to explain to them the benefits of your service. Here are some benefits you can tell them:
The article could provide spin-offs for other article ideas, which you could slant for various businesses and markets. You could also write new articles every month, post them to article databases and send to prospective clients with a cover letter to market your services.
This ghost writing service could be very lucrative. You could earn tens of thousands of dollars every month from it. You could even get clients worldwide through your website and e-mails to direct response mailing lists.
Only the sky the limit!
About The Author
Abdallah Khamis Abdallah is a freelance copywriter and ghostwriter. To learn more about how you and your business can benefit from our viral and credibility marketing solutions, and how your business can benefit from infinite publicity visit his website at: http://www.qualitywritingsolutions.com.
One thing all successful Internet marketers have in common is... Read More
I worked as a business magazine editor for about 20... Read More
Want to know the secret of creating MEMORABLE promotional copy?... Read More
In a previous article I talked about a few similarities... Read More
Lets start with copyright infringement.It is easily explained as copying... Read More
A few weeks ago I wrote some copy for a... Read More
Yes indeed, that's all you've got, 30 seconds to make... Read More
Whether you run a home-based business or Microsoft, one thing... Read More
Most of the sales pieces people ask me to rewrite... Read More
Knowing how to write, and write well, is a skill... Read More
One of my most powerful marketing weapons costs me less... Read More
Most people can write. Some can even write well. But... Read More
These days, there's widespread acceptance that a website is an... Read More
Where can you find out about freelance technical writing pay?... Read More
Every salesperson and fledgling copywriter hears the harangue: DON'T SELL... Read More
So you finally built a website for your home-based business.... Read More
Hands up if the title to this article made you... Read More
In order to maximize your sales efforts and fully seize... Read More
Here's a critically important copywriting technique I use when writing... Read More
I know, I know. Times are tough. You have to... Read More
Your definition may differ, but I define a lapsed donor... Read More
Careers in copywriting are booming. Could it be that the... Read More
Whether you're wet-behind-the-ears or a seasoned copywriter, your craft will... Read More
Here's another drill ripped out of the Field Guide for... Read More
I confess--I'm a marketing heretic! I've built my career on... Read More
Hi everyone,Been ruminating on this one for a little while... Read More
Not everyone is a writer. Good copy writing is a... Read More
"Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause... Read More
The single most important element of your website's copy is... Read More
Market identification Custom writing services market is a sector of... Read More
One of the most important priorities of evey online business... Read More
Advertising is key! Unfortunately most people waste their money on... Read More
Back in the late nineties, the phrase 'Content is King'... Read More
You only have an instant to capture your prospect's attention.... Read More
Hands up if the title to this article made you... Read More
As with any of the performing arts, an effective voiceover... Read More
One of the best marketing tools available to your internet... Read More
One statistic shows that over 80% of all buying decisions... Read More
My name is Ann and I'm a grammar geek. There,... Read More
A letter or postcard allows you to "talk" one-on-one to... Read More
About once a month I fly off somewhere to give... Read More
Having worked as a digital publishing specialist at a large... Read More
I like to use power phrases when writing sales material.... Read More
As websites and electronic commerce are becoming more and more... Read More
When you create headlines, do you put benefits into your... Read More
The sales letter is the key; the sales letter is... Read More
I have been in the ad game for a long,... Read More
WHAT'S THEIR PROBLEM?How do you begin a dialogue with a... Read More
Knowing how to write, and write well, is a skill... Read More
Summer is finally here and school is out, but learning... Read More
Grab 'em and don't lose 'em. Every marketer knows that... Read More
So many copywriters think that it's enough to be a... Read More
You have to choose a character or an angle that... Read More
When one is in a creative state, rarely can one... Read More
Why Some People's Ads Almost Always Make MoneyDiscover the Master... Read More
Internet Marketing- Forget the experts, latest software program or even... Read More
In its most basic form, copywriting is, among other things,... Read More
IntroductionA pencil. Yes, a pencil. In my opinion, every great... Read More
Year after year people make the same mistakes in direct-response... Read More
No doubt, the headline is the most important part of... Read More
Did you know that jobs writing about food are available?... Read More
1. Use a hand written letter on your ad copy... Read More
In the world of web copywriters, many will try, but... Read More
COPYWRITINGAfter determining what we are going to sell, the next... Read More
A few weeks ago I wrote some copy for a... Read More
Is it out there? The chance to be a freelance... Read More
Copywriting |