How To Write From Home For A Living

The other day, I bumped into an old friend from school. He’d fallen into the same trap that many people do in their mid-twenties – working, but unhappy. He didn’t like his job, his colleagues or, to be frank, his life. It would’ve been more palatable if he’d been well paid for his time. Unfortunately, his job was minimum wage.
I then explained what I do for a living. “Well,” I said. “I started my own business, writing from home. My average day involves sitting in front of Microsoft Word, hitting the keys and praying that words come out in the right order. I don’t have anybody breathing down my neck, or stopping me from having a break. Oh, and when the sun comes out, I go and work outside.”
He told me I was incredibly lucky.
Sounds like a compliment, doesn’t it? But luck is a funny thing. It comes to people who are willing to put in the work!
The reality of becoming a full time writer in any capacity is that you need an endless reservoir of self-motivation, absolute confidence in your skill with words, and the drive to work hard and grow your business over time. Still reading? Then let’s take a look at the world of freelance writing from getting your first job to how much income you can expect to earn.
The Difference Between Copywriting and Content Writing
First, let’s take the opportunity to clarify the distinction between two different terms that you will hear a lot as a freelance writer – copywriting and content writing. This separation is the subject of much debate amongst writers.
Copywriting is an industry in which people write words that are used for the purpose of marketing an idea. This could be a business, a product, an opinion or a person. Whenever you see an advert in the newspaper, a page on Apple’s website or a television advertisement, a professional copywriter will have played a vital role in putting this together. As you can imagine, great copywriting takes an insight into what customers want as well as a strong ability with words.
Content, on the other hand, is exclusively used to describe the pages on a website. Most self-proclaimed content writers see their goal as generating words, often for the purpose of search engine optimization (SEO). This content could range from website blog posts to articles, how-to guides and news items. Many content writers are willing to work for a lower rate, concentrating on quantity over quantity.
Why Copywriting and Content Writing Are The Same Thing
The differences between content writing and copywriting are fairly clear, and it’s almost understandable to see why these industries are often treated entirely separately. In practice, though, they don’t change anything about the work.
Content writing is a term that has been born out of the search engine optimization industry. Once, stuffing a page full of the words that visitors usually put into a search engine guaranteed a listing on the first page of Google. Content writers could write just about anything in loosely formed English, providing that the correct keywords were integrated.
Now, the search engine crawlers that analyze content are far too intelligent for that – Google even uses real human beings to evaluate pages on the web! With such effective analysis of websites, successful search engine optimization means writing great content that attracts, informs and motivates potential customers.
And that brings us back to the specialist skills of a copywriter and the fee to match. Call yourself a content writer or a copywriter – you should still find clients that value your time and are willing to pay for it fairly.
What Kind Of Writing Work Is Available?
Thankfully, business are starting to understand the importance of quality writing online for the sake of attracting potential customers from search engines, and giving them something worthwhile once they arrive. This has led to a boom in the online side of the writing industry. While online writing is only one part of my service range, I, like most copywriters, find demand increasing by the day.
For the Internet alone, you could be asked to write:
Website pages
Blog posts
Articles
Downloadable guides and e-books
Social media posts for Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook
These are just a few of the potential projects that a good online writer could be working on.
Sometimes when I tell somebody that I am a copywriter, they ask me if it’s to do with making sure people don’t steal ideas. I’m assuming they’re thinking of copyright!
To explain what I do, I say ‘If a business has something written down, I can write that.” This gives you an idea of just how many different things a writer can be called upon to write.
What Are The Skills Of A Professional Writer?
With so many different types of writing available, it can be difficult to figure out exactly what skill a professional writer brings. It’s certainly not existing subject knowledge – I’ve written about everything from private security to private healthcare, with no prior knowledge in either!
I think that there are two key things that every writer needs to be able to do – research diligently and maintain a tone of voice.
Researching Your Online Writing Projects
I remember my first medical online writing job, which involved creating product descriptions for hundreds of medical supplies. Given that I didn’t know my ophthalmometer from my elbow, this was less than ideal!
So I made it my business to know what all these mysterious words meant, learning from the web, books, and conversations with people far cleverer than myself. I developed a genuine and honest passion for learning about new subjects, becoming a jack-of-all-trades.
Now, I regularly start conversations about medical equipment with anybody who will pretend to listen!