Providing blog writing services is a great way to make steady income as a writer, as well as diversify your portfolio.  Hundreds of companies, bloggers and online magazines are searching every month for realiable content creation services for their Web 2.0 properties.  Search engine friendly content is king, and it’s important for these prospective clients to acquire fresh, targeted content on a regular basis.  Why not be the person who can satisfy their needs?

Professional blog writing services can be extremely lucrative.  For starters, you will most likely be charging your clients on a monthly basis i.e. $97/month for 10 blog posts.  If the blog is doing well and your content is engaging their target audience and regular readers you will be well on your way to becoming a known “expert” in that particular niche.

Many people who start off as blog writers make the mistake of  operating under a ghost writing status – meaning that the content is not getting published as yours, but that of the blog owner(s).  If you want to be getting the recognition for your work, it’s essential that you make clear arrangements which state that all content you provide must be published under your name or pen name.  Taking this step this will guarantee that your reputation continues to soar along side the success of the blogs you write for – potentially opening up salary-driven opportunities to write for large web corporations like Smashing Magazine or Mashable.com.

All in all, if you’re looking towards soliciting your blog writing services there are a few great places to start looking for work.  The ever-popular Elance.com is one of the best places to start.  Be sure to fill out your complete profile and state your objectives, blog writing samples and preferred rates.  Sift through the marketplace daily being sure to respond to every and any blog writing gig that appeals to your interests.  Tip:  don’t take on a writing gig for a php website if you know nothing about programming.  Stick to what you love, know and enjoy and success will be right around the corner.

Article Writing for Business

Sure, there are plenty of SEO article writing services that claim to take your business website to the number one ranking in little time, but the truth is that they’re either lying or using questionable techniques to achieve this outcome.  SEO and SEM (search engine marketing) are very important aspects of traditional e-commerce applications.

Remember that it’s more than just generating random traffic for your business – you are using optimized content to send targeted prospects to your service or product.  More and more fortune 500 companies are using the services of SEO article writers to promote and spread word about their business.  This also seems to be a popular solution for small businesses because it is extremely low-cost and provides a great medium for home-based entrepreneurs to begin making money online.

Article Writing and Keywords

In a nutshell, keywords, also known as search terms, are what individuals use to gather information on a particular topic on the internet.  This creates an appeal towards the purchasing habits of your target audience via different keyword optimization techniques.  If your article holds rank for the keywords and phrases you are optimizing for, then you will be in prime position to receive free, organic traffic from the search engines.

Though there are companies who use more questionable SEO article writing tactics, such as integrating hidden keywords/phrases on a website, sticking to the proven practices will ensure longevity and stable relations with the search engines.

There are various ways of promoting the website and doing it through SEO article writing is an important one.  This is why we take great care to ensure our SEO article writing is infused with facts and how to information that educates customers.  SEO article writing is about more than just writing; sometimes it is about making your old stuff better than it was.

Let’s take a look at a few different ways writers can boost their business into a profit-pulling machine by implementing a few tweaks and suggestions:

Make sure your rates are right

This is probably mistake number one with regards to new or struggling writers who are seeking freelance writing jobs.  If you’re charging too much compared to your direct competition, your potential clients will be seeking services elsewhere rather than fork up %20 more than various other talented writers in the marketplace.  On the flip side, if you are being overly modest with your rates interested clients might not take you seriously or be expecting some sort of “catch”.  Balance is important with every business, regardless of the industry.

The going rate seems to be between $6-$15 per 300-500 word article.  If you’re going to start off charging $15 per article, be prepared for the possibility of more demands from your clients.  At $6 per article most clients won’t even bother to ask for a change or revision.  I suggest starting off somewhere in between, for example you could start your rates at $6 for 200-300 words, $9 for 300-500 and $12 for 500-700 etc.

As time goes on it won’t be that difficult to introduce a standard rate for your work within a more broad per word range.  Do you really think it will be that hard to get people to pay $25 per article for anything between 500-1000 words?  Not at all.  Your clients will pay for quality, reliability and rapport.

Daily marketing is an absolute must

When you’re beginning to search for freelance writing jobs you must market yourself on a daily basis.  Visibility is crucial from the get-go and you should be taking full advantage of the many online writing communities which allow clients and writers to interact, find each other and secure business relations.

There are two great places to start:  elance.com and odesk.com.  Both of these communities receive thousands of targeted clients each and everyday who are looking for high quality, affordable writing solutions.  Set up your profile and make it a routine to search the marketplaces first thing in the morning, sending out response to any and every job posting available within your writing medium, niche or style.

Before marketing yourself, I would highly suggest setting up a website that you can send potential clients to.  Have pieces of your work, contact information, and a blurb about yourself/company/objective.  It’s equally important these days to also maintain a blog – because believe it or not this is where business oriented traffic will look first.  They want to see what you’re about, what type of community you have and how you’re using it to promote your services.

Follow these guidelines and you should be on your way to a $100/day freelance business in no time.  Remember, customer service is crucial, so brush up on your email etiquette and don’t be shy to make the occasional phone call to let your clients know that things are moving along well with their project.

Even if you’re not an experienced writer, there are many opportunties available for educated homemakers and college students to make money online by providing various writing services.  If soliciting your writing skills is something that you’ve been considering it’s important for you to realize that even though there is plenty of work, getting your foot in the door and producing a salary requires lots of research, hard work and determination.

One of the most vital pieces of advice I give to newbie content providers is to make sure you expand your horizons and spread yourself out across a healthy playing field – preventing yourself from getting pigeon-holed and relying on a single medium of writing to produce your monthly income.

Here are a few ways you can expand your writing horizons to increase visibility and earnings:

• Provide a monthly blog posting service on a recurring subscription basis.  For example, you will write and publish 5 blog posts per month for $57.  Set up your client via Paypal’s monthly subscription option and enjoy the benefits of a steady monthly payment for a modest amount of work.  Acquire 20-30 of these clients and you’ve got yourself a fruitful business model that can be outsourced and expanded.
• Provide a customer service/email answering package for your clients.  Have them outsource various support related tasks to you for an adequate monthly fee.  You can charge them by the hour or for a flat rate per month – which includes x-amount of hours.  Anything over the allotted time banked would be extra.
• Provide a content editing service for web publishers who speak English as a second language.  This may be tricky regarding your regular communications with potential clients, but once the ball is rolling you will have yourself a nice monthly source of income for a few hours of work per day – depending on how much work you decide to take on.  This could also be an add-on service available to your blog post clients.

As you can see, there are many ways for individuals to make money writing online – regardless of the economy.  The Internet never slows down, it never shrinks and it will never go away.  As long as there are websites, there will be a need for talented writers who can churn out quality content.