If you’re a brand new to freelance SEO writer and want to progress from novice to highly-paid freelancer, here are the key things you need to know. Based on my NINE years of freelance writing, you’ll have to navigate through the following three phases of the journey, and when you reach the end of the road, you’ll have two primary options to choose between.
The first thing you need to do is recognize which phase of your writing career you’re in, so you’ll know what you should be focusing on.
Phase 1 of the Freelance SEO Writer journey
In your early days as an SEO writer, here are the key tasks you need to focus on:
- Improve your writing skills through consistent practice.
- Learn what an SEO article looks like.
- know where your keywords should go
- use simple language that your target audience will understand
- write in a conversational tone
- etc.
- Resources:
- My book, Turn Your Computer Into a Money Machine, contains the frameworks you need to know to write an SEO article.
- If you’d like guided practice so you can write one with more confidence, I put together more detailed training here.
- Fine-tune your writing processes so you can write SEO articles with ease.
- Write your sample articles, so you can prove to clients that you do indeed know how to write!
Make it a priority to master that list—I promise you it’ll be worth it!
An optional step is to expand your knowledge of SEO by reading one to two articles per week from industry blogs such as SEMRush and SearchEngineJournal.
? Remember, after reading my book, you already know everything you need to know about SEO to be an SEO writer. ? BUT, if you want to go above and beyond in improving your expertise, those blogs are both great resources. Plus, the knowledge you learn will be useful after Phase 3.
Phase 2 of the Freelance SEO Writer journey
This is the phase where you begin looking for clients. Because you’re new and don’t have any experience yet, the fastest way to get your writing biz off the ground is to …
… do a small number of jobs for super low rates so you can get reviews and testimonials as fast as possible. I used Upwork to find my first clients and get my first reviews. People often balk at this, or criticize the approach by saying “Charge what you’re worth!”. ?
BUT, for someone BRAND NEW to freelance writing, it’s far easier to get started after you have a testimonial or two or three under your belt. And the fastest way to get those is, well, to accept a small number of lower paying gigs to get testimonials as fast as possible. IMPORTANT: Don’t take on a marathon project that’ll take you days to complete for a low rate… instead, choose quick little jobs that don’t take long.
During this phase of looking for your first clients, I recommend you do TWO things:
- Find engaging, well-written blog posts and try to read at least one per day. That’ll help you internalize the typical writing style and formatting used for web-based writing. Choose a topic you’re genuinely interested in reading about so it won’t feel like work. If possible, read that type of content for 30 minutes a day.
- Write often. If possible, write every single day. Practice makes perfect, so, the more you write, the faster you’ll get, and the more you can earn per hour of your time.
After you’ve landed your first few reviews and testimonials, you’ll find it WAY easier to land clients, and you can raise your rates.
How do you know when you should raise your rates?
Your skill level will determine what kind of rate you should charge, and when you can justify increasing it.
A rule of thumb: When you have all the work you want and your workload has stabilized, find NEW clients who will pay you more than your current clients. If taking on that new higher-paying client means you’ll have more work than you can handle, you can (nicely) let go of your lowest-paying client.
You can also increase rates with your current clients. This is how I increased one of my clients rates by almost 200% over the time I worked with him. However, only take a firm stance on a rate increase if you’re genuinely prepared to walk away should the client be unable to afford your new rates.
Phase 3 of the Freelance SEO Writer journey
This is where you start to have some really cool options for how you proceed with your writing, two of which I’ll discuss in a minute.
But first, you need know WHEN you’ve reached this phase of the writing game. You’ll know you’re here when …
- You feel confident and competent when writing SEO articles.
- You have glowing client testimonials and/or reviews.
- You’ve written at least 200 articles for clients.
Did I really just say “at least 200 articles”?!?!
You betcha. ?
And you’ll hit that number faster than you think.
Remember, you’re not writing them all at once, right?
One client ordering four articles a month equals 48 articles in a year. Even if that’s ALL you have time to write, within four years you’d be at almost 200 articles.
But say you land a client who orders an average of 15 SEO articles per month—that’ll add up to 180 articles in a single year. Add on one client ordering four articles a month, and your yearly total will be 228 articles. At that point, you can experiment with marketing yourself as someone who’s written over 100,000 words of SEO-optimized content! ?
It’s also worth noting that if you work for enough SEO writing clients, it’s only a matter of time before some of them ask you to write other types of content. The awesome thing about it is that you get experience doing something new, which you can add to your list of services in future. Here are some examples of the types of things that fell into my lap as an SEO writer:
? Video scripts
? eBooks
? Press releases
When you reach Phase 3, here are the 2 main options you’ll be choosing between:
END GAME OPTION 1: High-Volume Rapid Writing
In this path, you focus on producing a large quantity of content quickly. It’s all about efficiency and speed, maintaining quality while maximizing output. This approach is ideal for those who excel in fast-paced writing and can consistently meet tight deadlines.
In a nutshell, you’ll write very basic articles for lower prices, but your writing speed means you still make good money for each hour of writing time.
For basic SEO articles, I can make $60 an hour doing this… and I occasionally hit a peak of $70/hour. Of course, it took years of practice to get there… but I figured I’d share that info so you know what’s possible.
Also, bear in mind that the type of articles I can write in 20–30 minutes to make 60 to 70 bucks an hour are DEAD SIMPLE 500-word articles.
For those articles…
I spend zero time on overall content strategy.
I spend zero time trying to come up with an particularly attention-getting intro for the article. The intro is basic and factual. That’s it.
And I do zero keyword research (the client does that).
These articles do not require extensive digging for information on the topic.
I don’t interview subject-matter experts to jazz up the articles.
The only things I need to concern myself with include ensuring that…
- The article contains the client’s chosen keyword (used the number of times they requested).
- The content relates to the keyword.
- The article is factually correct.
- There aren’t any typos.
Anyway, after as little as a year, you may have written a few hundred articles. Then you’ll be able to pitch clients with, “I’ve written hundreds of SEO articles,” and here’s what my clients are saying about my work: “[PASTE YOUR CLIENT TESTIMONIAL HERE]”. As you can imagine, THAT will make it much easier to land even MORE clients!
Pros of the High Volume Rapid Writing Approach
- Getting Paid to Learn: This strategy is perfect for anyone who hasn’t been a freelance SEO writer for long, and needs to improve the quality of their writing. The types of clients you’ll be working for don’t expect Harvard Business Review quality writing, so it’s low-pressure work.
- High Efficiency and Productivity: This approach allows you to produce a large volume of content in a short amount of time, maximizing your output and increasing your earnings per hour.
- Skill Improvement Through Practice: Constant writing under time constraints can significantly enhance your writing speed and efficiency over time.
- Consistent Earnings: This method can provide a steady stream of income, especially if you have a regular clientele needing high-volume content.
- Simplicity and Focus: By not having to spend time on content strategy, keyword research, or extensive topic research, you can focus solely on writing, making the process straightforward and less stressful.
Cons of the High Volume Rapid Writing Approach:
- Quality Trade-off: While maintaining quality is a goal, the rapid pace and focus on quantity means you’ll be compromising on the depth and insightfulness of the content. To show that side of your writing, you’ll need to start your own blog or write on a site like Medium, for example.
- Limited Skill Development: If this is the only type of writing you do forever, you won’t get practice with deep research, long-form content creation, and developing a unique voice or style.
- Lack of Diversity in Work: Focusing solely on SEO articles might become less interesting over time, and limit exposure to other forms of writing that could be more creatively fulfilling.
- Not Challenging Enough: You may not find these mentally stimulating enough and want bigger challenges.
END GAME OPTION 2: Premium Content Specialist
Maybe you’re not in the mood to write fast all the time. If so, you need to increase the quality of your output so your writing will command more than 6 or 7 cents a word. One of my earliest examples of doing this was when I was approached to write for a website that paid 100 bucks per 500-word article. And I can tell you from personal experience that there are clients who pay hundreds of dollars per article on an ongoing basis. When you have the right skills and experience, you can earn a lot from writing premium content.
NOTE: IF your writing speed allows you to achieve $60 an hour as a regular SEO writer, specializing doesn’t usually lead to an increased hourly income.
So why would you consider doing it?
If you enjoy the specialized nature of the work more, then shifting to this model is worth considering.
Now don’t get me wrong—it’s possible to earn more per hour… but MOST people won’t, at least not in the beginning. For example, there’s this one writing niche where I regularly see freelance writing gigs that pay 90 USD per hour. I’ve toyed with the idea of studying for a few months and forking out the $$$ to write the exam to get certification for that niche… However, so far I’ve decided not to bother because it would be a very, very, very boring niche ?, and I love the work I do for my current main client (so why mess with a good thing, right?). I don’t want to hate my job, you know?
Another thing you can do is offer additional services beyond regular SEO writing:
- Content strategy
- Keyword research
- Youtube video scripts
- Podcast scripts
- Email newsletters
- LinkedIn posts
- Twitter threads
- etc.
Depending on the pay for higher end writing jobs, you may agree to being paid by the hour, or, continue to charge by the word. Another option is to sell packages for a fixed price per month, that combine writing plus add-on services such as content strategy.
For standard SEO writing, I’d never take hourly rate gigs because I knew from experience that I’d make way more money for my time if I charged by the word. But with higher end gigs, it sometimes makes sense to take an hourly wage. Make this decision for yourself on a case-by-case basis.
Things to think about when deciding what to charge for your writing
Is this a one-off job, or ongoing work?
How much credibility do you have to pitch yourself as the right person for the job?
How bad do you want the job? For the right client offering work that you love, you may be willing to charge less if that’s the only way you’ll get to work with them. Or maybe not. Only you can decide what’s best for you.
There’s only one rule.
Don’t let anyone tell you what to charge.
Only YOU know what’s acceptable to you given the stage you’re at in your freelance writing journey. By all means consider the recommendations of more experienced writers. But ultimately, you get to decide what’s right for YOU.
In any case, this is the stage when many writers decide to specialize in a very particular type of writing and raise their rates to whatever the market will bear. Those types of writing tend to require more thought and strategy than basic SEO articles. BUT, once you have enough practice, it’s worth considering.
A key point on specialization if you’re a NEW freelance SEO writer
For most new freelance SEO content writers, I do NOT recommend specializing. The reason is that the types of clients you’ll be writing for—for example, SEO agencies—need a generalist, not a specialist. They have all sorts of different clients in all sorts of different niches, so having someone who only writes SEO articles about one thing isn’t super useful to them.
BUT, once you’re experienced and can confidently say your writing is excellent, assuming you don’t want to continue speed writing the dead simple articles you started out with, it can be attractive to niche down and become a specialist.
Pros of the Premium Content Specialist approach:
- Higher Earnings Potential *Per Article*: Rather than speed-write $30 articles, you can take more time to write an in-depth, insightful masterpiece for $200–$300, or more. The client gets a higher quality piece of writing, but it takes more time for you to produce it.
- Diverse Skill Utilization: Offering services like content strategy, keyword research, and scriptwriting allows you to use a broader range of skills, making your work more varied and interesting.
- Established Credibility: As a specialist, you can leverage your experience and expertise to attract high-paying clients who value quality.
- Opportunity for Passion Projects: Specializing might allow you to focus on areas you are passionate about, leading to more fulfilling work.
Cons of the Premium Content Specialist approach:
- Increased Pressure for Quality: Higher rates come with higher expectations for quality, which can add pressure and require more time per piece. So, don’t embark on the specialization route until your writing is top notch!
- Narrower Market: Specialization can limit the number of potential clients, especially if you niche down very specifically.
- Longer Project Times: High-quality, specialized content often takes longer to produce than general SEO writing.
- Need for Continuous Learning: Staying on top of trends and developments in your area of specialization requires ongoing effort and education. Whereas with basic SEO articles, you’re not expected to have any expertise in the subject matter.
- Initial Client Acquisition Challenges: Initially, it might be more challenging to find clients willing to pay premium rates until you establish a strong portfolio and reputation.
Which end game do you see yourself aiming for as a freelance SEO writer?
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