While freelancing is a great career and thousands, if not millions, do it successfully, it can also be a very intimidating thing to get into. The way the economy is today has just made it more difficult, and steady writing work has become difficult to find. Demand Studios is one of the few web sites that provides steady, well paying freelance article work.

How Much Can I Earn?

Demand Studios has four main article types: About, How-To, How Does, and Fact Sheets. About, How-To, and How Does all pay $15-20 each, while Fact Sheets pay $5-7.50.

There are also revenue sharing articles, where you do not get paid up front, but do earn money on a view by view basis.

What Categories Do the Articles Fall Into?

Simply put, the articles fall into a variety of categories. There are articles about animals, medicine, computers, sports, arts & entertainment and many more. Anything people are searching for is something DS could have you write about.

How Does it Work?

The first step is applying for Demand Studios. The application process could take from a couple hours to weeks, depending on the number of people applying for a writing job there. It’s recommended to have a solid resume and good article samples before applying, as these will increase your chances of being approved.

Once you’ve been approved, you’ll have a 10 article queue limit. This is the number of articles you can claim and write at a time. Once you’ve had 10 articles approved and published, you’ll be able to claim a new article every time you submit one, thus meaning you have an unlimited queue.

How Often Do I Get Paid and By What Method?

Demand Studios pays weekly on Fridays via PayPal. Articles that are approved by Wednesday of a particular week will be paid on that Friday.

I’m Not a U.S. Resident, Do I Qualify?

Unfortunately, Demand Studios is only open to U.S. writers at this time.

Part 2 in my Demand Studios series will be posted tomorrow. This will talk about my methods for writing articles on Demand Studios and my earnings. Part 3 will be posted on Wednesday and will talk about how you can make $1000 a week on Demand Studios.

You may have noticed that this site has not  been updated in many months. The reason for this is that I have been busy with working on my degree in Computer Information Systems and actually took a break from freelancing. Of course, I ended up greatly missing working as a freelancer, so a couple of weeks ago I decided to get back into it and also start updating this blog again. It is my hope to continue to provide useful information about freelancing for both aspiring freelancers and experienced freelancers alike/

As a freelancer, I’m always looking to diversify my skills and increase my income. I’ve heard a lot about Affiliate Marketing and just recently decided to give it a shot. Much to my surprise, within a week, I had sold a few products and made some good money. I really attribute this success to a new and awesome product called the Secret Affiliate Code. The Secret Affiliate Code is a product that shows you how to build a successful Affiliate Marketing career right from the ground up. Normally, I am skeptical of Affiliate Marketing books, but in this case, it’s quite different. This is easily the best Affiliate Marketing book I’ve ever read, and that’s why I recommend it so highly. If you want to know how to make money with affiliate marketing, buy this awesome book now!

Click Here to Buy!

I have to admit that as a freelancer, I’ve hit a bit of a rough spot. I’ve grown tired of writing articles on topics that don’t in the least bit interest me for a small rate of $5 per 500 word article. I had thought before that I HAD to do this in order to make enough money to pay the bills. That was until I remembered a site that I have used a little bit in the past: Associated Content.

Associated Content has been around a lot, and I have been using it since 2007. I’ve had 18 published articles with only 2 rejections (because the articles were too generic). My average offer was $4.70, each article was around 400-500 words and each were on topics that I actually enjoyed. I’ve made around $3-5 per month in performance payments and have 10,000 page views. (see my content producer page here) Most of these views came from an article I did on Guitar Hero III, a game that greatly interested me at the time. Now, granted, $4.70 isn’t a huge amount of money, but for an article on something that I like and an article that takes a mere 10-15 minutes to write, that’s not bad. I figure I can write 4-5 of these articles per hour, which adds up to $18-$23 pay per hour, not a bad rate at all.

So I have made the decision to finish up my last couple freelance projects for clients before doing what I like to call an AC experiment. I will be working exclusively for AC for one month starting on May 8. I will be writing 9-10 articles per day, which should take 2-2 and a half hours. My goal is to make between $42.3-$47 a day, or $211-$235 per week (which adds up to roughly $800-$900 a month). This is what I consider to be “part-time”, which is all I want for right now, since I am simply seeking to make some extra money this summer.

9-10 articles per day sounds like a lot, and it is for people who have difficulties in coming up with topics or are used to having topics given to them by clients, like I am. That’s why I’ve sat down and plotted out two days worth of article ideas so that, when I go to write my AC articles, I have all the ideas right in front of me.

If this experiment goes well, and I earn what I want to earn, I plan on expanding to possibly as much as 20 articles per day, which would make $1,800 a month and would take probably only 4 hours to produce. A nice wage for what is still considered part-time work.

Since I know there is such an interest in AC and making money writing for them, I’ve decided to post updates of the experiment throughout the next month. Look for the first update next week, after I hopefully receive payment.

Being your own boss has its advantages and disadvantages to it. The obvious advantage is being able to set your own schedule, while the obvious disadvantage is not having anyone to keep you on top of tasks. As a freelance writer, I’ve found it hard at times to stay motivated. It’s not like working a normal job elsewhere where you have a boss who will tell you what to do, and if you don’t do it, you’re out of work. Thus, it is important to set up a schedule.

I like to set up a schedule for each day. The way I do it is like this:

Before I turn in for the night, I take 10 minutes to set up my schedule for the following day. In doing so, I take into consideration the projects that I am working on and what needs to get done when. I put the most urgent projects at the top of my schedule followed. I like to use Google’s calendar function (calendar.google.com) to make this schedule. Then, I attempt to stick to it when I get up the following day. This doesn’t always happen, but for the most part, it does and this keeps me from being unproductive during the day.

Freelance writing can be one of the most rewarding, enjoyable experiences. Unfortunately, since most freelance writers don’t work for a particular business, they are responsible for finding their own work. As a freelancer, you must market yourself to people in order to attract business. This is a lesson I’m learning the hard way, since I am now breaking into freelance full-time. I previously exclusively used bid sites like Elance and RentaCoder to find work, but am now finding that I can’t find enough new projects there to meet my needs. As a result of this, I’m starting to seek out more work myself.

My first way of doing this is through posting online ads on Craigslist, advertising my services. I haven’t had too many responses yet, but my approach hasn’t been that aggressive, either. My whole idea with this is to get my name out there.

Secondly, using high traffic forums to advertise services is a great thing to do. I’m personally using Digital Point and since posting a thread in their services > content forum a few days ago, I’ve had 5-6 inquiries for my writing. Granted, none of these are high paying (usually $0.01 per word, or $5 for a 500 word article), but they COULD lead to a lot of future business, which would certainly help my earnings. That’s really all it’s about when you are breaking into the business: getting your name out there and establishing relationships with clients.

Right now, through these two things, I’ve drummed up new business. I never thought about doing this before, but I am glad I did, as every bit of new business helps. If you are a newbie to freelance writing, it can’t hurt to advertise yourself on these sites. It could be the break you need to fully get into freelance writing.

Finding Work as a Freelance Writer

When many people make the decision to become a freelance writer, they are inevitably intimidated by all of the options that are available. Once they get over that intimidation, they start trying to find work as a freelance writer. And they usually come up empty handed. Is it for a lack of jobs? Nope. It simply happens because newbies to the game of freelance writing have no idea whatsoever where to find freelance work as a writer. As a result, they give up without ever giving themselves a fair shot. That is why I will be talking about finding work as a freelance writer in this article, in the hopes of giving newbies a fair chance at becoming successful

5 Tips for Finding Work as a Freelance Writer

Tip #1: Check out Craigslist

Yes, it’s true that Craigslist has gotten a somewhat bad reputation in recent months with stories about people getting hurt after responding to a Craigslist ad, but none of this applies to writing and Craigslist still is one of the best places online to find work as a freelance writer. I myself have found several projects through Craigslist and it remains a solid place to find work. You can find work on Craigslist by checking out the jobs > writing/editing section, as well as the gigs > writing section. Don’t just check your local city, but rather, check the top cities in the United States, as most of these jobs will be telecommuting and the employer will not worry about where you are based.

Tip #2: Elance

Some people have bashed Elance because it charges a monthly fee for 15 or more bids. However, I have found that Elance is an invaluable source for finding work as a freelance writer. In just the month or so I have been there, I’ve already won 3 projects paying around $300. There are hundreds of new projects posted every month, and since it is a paid site, you will be competing against only 1-15 other people in your bidding. Plus, it is only $9.95 per month to join, so it is a really small investment for great work opportunities.

Tip #3: RentaCoder/GetaFreeLancer

I really cannot say enough about RentaCoder. Since joining there about a year ago, I have made around $4450 in writing projects. It is a constant source for work, and most projects pay pretty well, too. Sure, you are competing against lots of other bidders, but if you emphasize that you are an American/British/Canadian writer, you will have a leg up against the competition. GetAFreeLancer is also a terrific source for writing projects.

Tip #4: JournalismJobs.com

If you’ve gotten tired of using freelance project bid sites, it might be time to check out JournalismJobs.com. This is a site that will show you all of the available telecommuting writing jobs currently available, and a good amount of these are very well paying. While you will not find as many project possibilities with this site as you would on a freelance site, you should find some quality work here.

Tip #5: Always Provide Samples

If you have tried the sites listed above and have come up empty handed, don’t fret: you still can win projects, and it’s possible you’ve missed out so far for one reason: you didn’t provide samples. Since you are new to freelance writing on the internet, buyers will want you to prove that you have “it” and can write quality articles, ebooks and guides for them. The best way to prove this is to provide samples of your writing work when bidding on any projects and show the buyer that you are competent. If you do that, you will win projects and make money online as a freelance writer.

In my search for work from home, I have come across a great many scams–so many, in fact, that I was nearly turned off from freelance-related products all together. However, when I came across Six-Figure Freelancer, I was immediately impressed with what I found. You see, Six-Figure Freelancer is something that is unlike anything else on the internet. It is something that will make you money right off the bat, and will continue to make you money time after time. I’ve used it myself and have made a good amount of money from it. It has definitely made me a better, more successful freelance writer. For that reason, I encourage to you to give Six-Figure Freelancer a chance. Click here to try it now.

- Michelle

Less than two weeks ago, I made the decision to try out Elance after having used RentaCoder exclusively to find my work. I can honestly say that this was a great decision on my part, as I am already really liking Elance’s set up.

For those that don’t know, Elance is a site where buyers can hire people to perform a variety of computer tasks for them, from programming to writing. I specialize in writing, so I’m looking for writing projects on Elance.

Within 24 hours of giving Elance a shot, I earned my first project, a $200 20 page eBook on Web Design. A short time later, I was awarded another project for 5 pages of web content and am currently close to being awarded yet another project. All this within a short period of time. I have never been able to get so many projects in such a short amount of time.

So what’s my secret? Well, it’s not really a secret, but rather, a strategy. Elance has a ton of writing projects posted every day. Because Elance is a paid service (although you can get a free membership that gives you 3 free project bids per month), you aren’t competing with as many people. Thus, you have a greater chance of being awarded the project.

The issue that some run into is the fact that you’re only given 15-20 bids (known as connections) a month and yet you’re given so many different project possibilities. My strategy is to only consider the projects with fewer than 4 bids, so that way I’m not competing with 10 other people. I also only consider projects that I know I can perform quickly and accurately and have some sort of sample to show buyers. For instance, I don’t presently bid on full-fledged ebooks, because I haven’t written as many of them. But I do bid heavily on article and guide projects.

When I bid, I give a competitive rate. Since most Elance projects have sealed bidding–meaning you can not see the value of other bids–this can be a little tricky. But try to see what other users have charged the buyer for a similar project and match that. If your bid is a reasonable price, the buyer will be more inclined to accept it.

When bidding, be sure to include a link to your portfolio or, if you’re a writer, a few samples of your writing as an attachment. Most importantly, give a customized bid proposal. Don’t use a generic one, but rather one that addresses the project at hand. Tell the buyer what sort of skills you have and emphasize your ability to get the project done quickly and satisfactorily. If you are an American or British writing, say this as well, as many buyers would rather hire someone who speaks their native tongue than an Indian freelancer who may not know English natively. Lastly, tell them how much you’ll complete the project for and how long you anticipate it taking.

Another tip is that, when a buyer asks you a question, answer it quickly and give lots of details. Show that you can do it for them. Thank them for their question. A buyer asking you a question is actually a good indication that they are seriously considering you. If they don’t follow up with a response within a day or two, send them another message just asking about the current state of the project. The bottom line is to keep them informed and be as professional as possible. If you do that, winning projects will be easy.

There are times where you can make easy money on the internet without even having to do any freelance work. This is a great example of that.  RevolutionMoneyExchange is offering $25 to new signups. RME is a lot like PayPal, in that it is a way to electronically transfer money between people. It is also more secure than PayPal.  The $25 signup bonus is sent to you immediately and can be withdrawn to a bank account or sent via check. It is completely free and there are NO strings attached.

Want to sign up? Send an email to mcar_2185 AT yahoo DOT com and I’ll send you an invite. Hurry, though, as this promotion ONLY continues until March 31, 2008.