How to Start Freelance Writing with No Experience

To start freelance writing with no experience will not happen overnight. If you take action, it will be quicker than you might think.

There are a few strategies you can implement today to build trust and also showcase your writing skills.

Most companies are not looking for an accomplished writer because they will pay a premium for someone with experience. They are looking for someone who can write engaging content, not littered with spelling and grammar mistakes they have to edit.

Let us get into how to start freelance writing with no experience.

Freelancing basics

In this guide, we will assume you have set up your freelancing business. If not, it is highly recommended you read this freelancing guide before going through the next steps in this guide.

Success is within the niche

The biggest mistake made when starting a freelance writing business is focusing on every niche within an industry.

If you’re interested in writing about technology, find a niche you are passionate about within that industry. Maybe you focus on writing about Virtual Reality, and over time you would become the expert in the niche.

Far too many people focus their freelance business on offering a service for every industry. All that happens is you just become an average freelancer amongst a sea of other freelancers.

Stand out and be creative.

Another reason to ‘niche down’ is to focus on an underrepresented area. You will have less competition and will command a higher rate of pay.

Build trust and showcase your skills

Once you have chosen your niche to focus on, think about how to showcase your writing skills. Your content will build trust with entrepreneurs and companies who have never heard of you.

Instinctively, you might think you need to build a website to start your freelance writing business, but that’s not required when starting out. Instead, think about where your perfect clients are active online.

• Write short-form content or more in-depth articles on LinkedIn.
• Publish weekly content on Substack
• Write a long-form blog post on Medium
• Create a WordPress.com hosted website

All of these are free ways to write content and showcase your skills.

Once you have chosen your favourite platform, start to get into a routine of publishing at least once a week. Consistency is essential.

Build an audience on social media

At this stage, you will have come up with a freelance writing niche, published content to showcase your writing style. The next step is to build an audience on social media.

Why? Having an audience consuming your content will help you in your freelance writing career.

1. Your audience will share your content.x
2. Your audience will be attractive to clients as you naturally promote the content you write to the people who follow you.
3. In the future, you can monetise your content using Substack, Patreon, etc.

Find out where your perfect clients and audience are active online. If they are in the same place, then this is perfection.

Building an audience does not happen overnight, but it will benefit your freelance writing business in the long term.

Write guest articles

The best way to showcase your writing skills and get content seen by potential clients is to write guest articles and have them published on high-profile websites, magazines and industry-specific publications.

For your perfect client, think about where they consume content. Going back to my previous example of writing about Virtual Reality.

Look for popular tech websites covering this topic. Create a list of online and offline publications you would like your writing to be featured in.

Next, it’s time to pitch a topic idea to the publisher.

Browse through the content they have previously published on the niche you’re focusing on. You do not want to be pitching a topic that has already been covered. You need the title of the guest article to be search-friendly, but most importantly, it needs to attract attention.

Here are some tools to help you with this exercise.

• Answer the Public. Find out questions people are asking online
• Wordtracker. Free keyword research tool.
• Title Generator. Not sure what to write about? This will help.
• Google Trends. Find out what is trending in your niche/industry.

Once you have a topic idea, write it down, along with an overview of what the article will cover. What is the reader going to get out of it? Use bullet points because there is no point going into too much detail at this stage.

Browse the website of the publication for answers to these questions:

• Do they have any instructions on how to pitch guest articles?
• Can you find the contact details of an editor?
• What style of content do they usually focus on?

Next, reach out to the editor of the publication and pitch them your idea, and share with them the content you’ve written and published. This is why you need to prove you can write good quality content.

To be honest, we could write a guide on creating guest articles for freelance writing, but that’s for another time.

Networking with potential clients

Once you have published content online, start to network with potential clients in person and at virtual events. Use platforms like LinkedIn to network with entrepreneurs, founders and editors.

Start to build relationships with people within your industry to open up new doors and increase the chances of finding freelancing work.

What’s next?

Hopefully, we have helped you learn how to start freelance writing with no experience. If you have any questions, please get in touch.

We’d also recommend subscribing to our free weekly email called the Hive. Every Sunday, we share practical advice to help you become a successful freelancer.