Freelance Writing Jobs: Ways to Find Writing Jobs In 2021(Definitive Guide)

Let me guess; you are a newbie freelance writer, you want to scale your writing business. But one thing is holding you back-you are not getting high paying clients. Finding writing jobs that pay as a beginner is hard.

You feel sad and want to close your writing business and quit freelance writing altogether.

You've tried all the suggested ways of landing high-paying clients and were fruitless.

You've pitched a million times and bid a zillion times on content mills and Nada! Zilch!- No clients pay attention to your pitches.

I get you, and I know how it feels to have no clients when you want to scale up your writing business.

I struggled to find clients during my early days of freelance writing. It was either a low-paying client or no work. My countless pitches went unanswered.

I had to change my strategy or quit writing. After trial and error, my plan worked like a charm.

I attracted high paying clients, and within two months of freelance writing, I landed a $150/1800 word blog post.

That is why, in this post, I'm going to show you the exact strategies that helped me land high paying clients.

First off, below are some tips you need to follow to succeed as a freelance writer.

#—Freelance Writing Tips For Beginners.

• Hone your writing skills-

You've just started writing, so technically, your writing skills do not match a veteran writer. You need to work on your writing skills. Embrace apps like Grammarly that can help you double and triple check your grammar, spelling, and plagiarism.

• Specialize in a niche-

Yes, buddy, you need to be a specialist to earn the big bucks as a freelance writer.

There are many areas you can niche and write your way up. When I started, I wrote on different topics until I found digital marketing.

Find something you love and write great topics in that niche. Clients will love you for that.

Additionally, many sites do not take in generalists, so it will be a tad bit hard for you to find a decent paying writing job.

• Craft a pitch that sells-

You've gone the entrepreneur way. That means you need to have an idea of winning clients. And that means crafting a pitch that sells your services.

When pitching, focus on what the client will get. Do not talk too much about yourself in the pitch. Here is my pitch that won me a $150/1800 words blog post.

• Learn Continuously-

You need to learn new things every other time as a freelance writer and business owner.

This is because trends change, and you can not remain in the past. Move with the pattern and learn new ways of growing your business.

Learn new tactics for winning clients and how to diversify your writing business. You can do this by following other blogs of interest to you and listening to podcasts. Here is a list of resourceful sites for freelance writers.

• Connect with other freelance writers-

Connections are like the building blocks of your business.

Find other blogs/freelance writers in your niche and connect with them. Help each other out and grow together.

Connections can help you land new writing jobs and get more exposure. Connect with me here.

• Diversify your writing business-

Move out of the content mills and set up your own business.

You can have a blog and diversify its income streams. Promote products and content in your blog and make money.

I'm an avid affiliate marketer, and my blog made $25 (I know it's a little money, haha) during my first month of blogging. That is money that comes in without you doing anything.

You can also create products like e-courses and sell them on your blog. It is one excellent way of making money as a freelance writer. You can start your blog here in simple steps.

Now let's get into the nitty-gritty part of earning income through writing. You love the ching-chang sound in your account, right? 

How to find writing jobs as a beginner. 

Note: This post will show you how to land writing jobs outside the content mills. I've never made money through content mills except for $4 that I earned on the Iwriter-an account that was blocked before I withdrew the little money grrrr!

I know there are many success stories of people working in content mills, but it never worked for me because;

1. The pay is super low, especially for a beginner.
2. A percentage of the earning goes to the site owners.
3. Finding jobs is crazy hard. The competition is too high to get noticed as a newbie.

#1—Find writing jobs through Google.

Google is a powerful search engine on the web. If you use it right, you will find the hidden gems. To find jobs through google, you need to feed in the right keyword to give you the right results.

Input specific keywords like inurl:" write-for-us" get paid. These types of particular keywords give you more accurate results. The above keyword gave me these results on google. Check out the sites and pitch to those that appeal to you.

You can try this other keyword income report+august(or whichever month you want). Read through those income reports. You will find that in some stories, the owner has plans of hiring a freelance writer. Send in your selling pitch.

#2— Find writing jobs through LinkedIn

Tailor your LinkedIn profile to reflect your writing business. Your author bio should state the type of freelance writer you are.

Use canvas to design your LinkedIn banner that indicates that you are a freelance writer for hire. Also, your skills and experiences should reflect your writing business. People looking at your profile will know from the word go the type of person you are.

Set up a notification on the job search bar so that anytime a freelance writing job is posted on LinkedIn, you get them straight to your mailbox.

Here is how to do that;

Type in your keyword in the search bar. I typed in "freelance blogging jobs."

You should get search results, as shown below.

Turn on the job alert notification with a mailbox-like button, as shown by the arrow.

Don't forget to use hashtags every time you comment or post on LinkedIn.

#3—Find writing jobs through Facebook

Facebook is another lead generation tool that can land you high-paying clients if you use it the right way.

• Rebrand your Facebook profile-

Fill in your Facebook profile with the right keywords that indicate you are a freelance writer for hire. Weed out those unprofessional posts you posted years a while back. Make sure that your Facebook profile is professional.

If you are like me, you can create a Facebook page to promote your services and use your primary profile to keep up with family and friends, but you still do have it professionally. 

I have a Facebook page that promotes my services and my blog.

You can see I've added the keywords freelance writer for hire after my name.

Anyone searching on Facebook using the keyword freelance writer is most likely to find my page.

• Join relevant Facebook groups- 

Facebook groups related to freelance writing are a great way of connecting with other freelance writers.

Some of these Facebook groups posts writing jobs, but you need to be very selective and only apply to those whose posters have genuine Facebook profiles.

You can also join business-related groups where you think your clients hang out.

I'm in a couple of blogging groups and women entrepreneur groups, and each time in these groups, people are looking for freelance writers.

• Use the Facebook search bar-

Just like on Google, type in specific keywords, and see what Facebook brings you. The good thing is you can search for jobs on Facebook during your free time-when checking.

#4—Through guest posting on other relevant websites 

Contributing to other sites is one of the best ways to grow your brand and gain authority if you have a blog. I did a guest post, and it landed me a ghostwriting gig.

The guest post gives you an author byline and a link back to your blog and social media profiles.

Here is an example of an author byline.

And here is another one

After writing two guest posts, my editor requested that I ghostwrite her an article and pay $200/post. I still write to her. If you get an opportunity to guest post, please do.

To find guest posting opportunities, try these keywords on google; in URL:" guest-writers-needed," "write for us," "in URL: contributor writers."

#5—Find writing jobs through job boards.

I landed my high paying job through a job board two months into freelance writing.

Bookmark these job boards and check them frequently for jobs.

Also, remember to write a killer pitch every time you apply for the writing jobs.

Below are some of the job boards that can land you high paying clients.

I've bookmarked these four major job boards for freelance writers.

The best thing about job boards is that they curate quality job ads.

• Problogger- has a wide variety of writing jobs from social media, web copy, press releases, product reviews to blog post writing jobs. You can find jobs on this site, even if you are a total newbie.https://problogger.com.

• Freedom with Writing- Helps freelance writers find high paying writing jobs for free. https://www.freedomwithwriting.com

• Freelance writing- Help both new and experienced freelance writers find quality writing jobs since 1997.https://www.freelancewriting.com/jobs/

• Blogging Pro- Curates blogging jobs for bloggers and freelance writers.https://www.bloggingpro.com/jobs/

• All Freelance Writing- This site posts curated writing tasks as well as it has a writer directory. 

You can create your profile and wait for clients to knock on your door.

#6—Find writing jobs through craigslist.

Ever heard of craigslist? It is one of the biggest classified sites on the web. There are many writing jobs on the site. However, be wary of scammers. Here is a guest post I did on how to find jobs on craigslist.

Go to Craigslist.org

The jobs section is a list of types of jobs available.

Drop down to writing and editing and click. The website will redirect you to writing jobs available on the site.

You can also do a one search on craigslist using Searchcraigslist.org

Key in specific keywords like "hiring a writer," "freelance writer wanted," etc

#7—Find writing jobs through Reddit.

Reddit is another site worth your attention as a freelance writer. 

Put, Reddit is a social site and a discussion forum.

It has subreddits dedicated to various topics, including online business, online writing, and freelance writing.

Reddit might look weird and annoying at first, but when you use it for some time, you realize how powerful it is to writing business.

Here are a few subreddits to help you get started.

1. r/freelance writers

2. Hire a Writer

Additionally, the minimum pay per writing jobs posted on these subreddits is $.10. That is excellent pay for a beginner.

#8—Use your writer's website. 

A writer's website is different from a blog. A writer website is your service-based site that showcases your services and experience/portfolio.

Here is an example of a writer website

Your service website should have the following pages;

Portfolio page-where you showcase your past excellent work.

About me, page-Filled with more information about you and your service.

Home page/Landing page- The page is summing up all about you and your services. You can also include reviews from past clients and logos of the sites you've featured.

Contact page- Let your potential clients know how to find the contact you.

Remember, you can have these pages in your blog. I have them on my blog.

Also read Freelance Writer Website: How to Create a Website for Online Business.

#9—Use Twitter to find clients

Just like Facebook, you can optimize your Twitter profile to showcase your writing services.

Follow people that interest you and could be potential clients.

When tweeting, try to tweet with hashtags like #freelancecopywriterforhire, #Contentwriterforhire, #blogger, #emailmarketer, #Digitalcontentmarketer, and so on.

Also, follow other freelance writers and connect with them.

#10—Finally, find freelance writing jobs through Pinterest.

Pinterest is another top search engine that focuses on graphics. You will see nothing on this site but clear images with great content that link back to websites.

Type your keywords in the search bar that will bring you the ideal results. My preferred keyword is "income report."

Click through those income reports and read through them.

You will find that some of the blog owners are looking to hire freelance writers. Pitch your little heart to them and find yourself some writing jobs.

Your take away on how to find high paying freelance writing jobs.

There you go! The definitive guide to help you find more high paying writing jobs.

Do not get tired of pitching. It is a numbers game. Pitch more.

Please pin me if you loved the post.

Have other excellent tips to share with us or a burning question about freelance writing? Please share them in the comments.

Happy writing