A Proven Strategy to Earn Your First $1000 as a Freelance Writer (Part 3)

Day 7 of my goal to write every day, document my freelance writing journey, and share the knowledge with others who want to become freelance writers. I provide writing tips, tactics, and strategies to help you earn well. I share everything I’ve learned to date, together with hacks and tricks that have helped me.

Day 2 I mentioned I’d share a strategy to help you earn your first  $1000 as a freelance writer.

Day 5: I summarised the strategy and provided links to help you get started. Remember this isn’t my strategy. I never created it. I copied it from Bamidele Onibalusi, CEO of Writers in Charge. It helped me earn my first $1000, and because it works, I want to share it with you.

Day 6 – Positioning.

With your positioning clear you then need to create your freelance writer’s website.

Freelance Writers Website

There are three key pages you’ll need on your site: about, hire me, services, and contact me. But before you can even start designing these pages, and creating content, you’ll need to deal with the technical aspects. Unfortunately, that’s the reality.

I understand everyone isn’t  technically-minded, but there’s this wonderful thing called Google. If you’re not willing to put in the effort, then ask yourself, “How badly do I want this?” And if you’re still struggling, feel free to contact me for help. There’s no catch. I will help you.

The point I’m trying to make is: you don’t need to be a technical guru and you shouldn’t let these obstacles stop you from becoming a freelance writer.

With that out the way, let’s jump into deciding on a website name.

1. Website Name

You want to have a custom domain name as it shows professionalism. You have a choice between your name or a unique name that indicates your writing niche.

Both have their advantages. Choosing a name that indicates your writing niche makes it clear what your site is about and makes it easier to rank in search engines. Bamidele used this technique for the challenge and created yourtechwriter.com. Needless to say, he writes about technology.

Choosing your name, while making it harder from an SEO perspective, allows you to change your site to anything in the future. It makes it easier to change your positioning. For example, if your website’s about health writing (healthwriting.com) and you decide to specialise in technology writing, you will need to buy a new domain. If you’re reading this, it’s clear what I chose.

Once you’ve done this, register your domain. It usually, costs about $10. To make things easier, I’d suggest registering your name with your hosting provider.

2. Hosting Provider

When it comes to hosting provider you’re spoilt for choice. But to simplify your decision here’s two hosting providers I recommend.

1. Siteground: Bamidele used SiteGround for Your Tech Writer. Pricing starts at $3.95/month.
2. Blue Host: Many top bloggers and professional writers use BlueHost. They’re the host I’ve used for websites in the past and the host I chose for the challenge. You also get discounts when you use them together with WordPress. Pricing starts at $3.45/month.

If you are cash-strapped I also have a connection that offers the use of his servers for $1 a year. That’s a kind offer. He only asks that you don’t do anything that gets him booted from his hosting provider like starting a porn ring. Fair enough. But, I can’t guarantee he’ll have a spot for you, but if you’re interested, contact me and I’ll ask him.

On to the next step.

3. Create a Professional Email Address

You want people to take you seriously right? Then why on earth would you use a Gmail address? Many clients and publications will ignore you if use free email accounts. As Bamidele says, “I’ve seen this in action so many times”. So, setup your professional email address within your hosting provider. I chose nick@nickdarlington.com.

Hosts often have poor webmail interfaces and many people prefer using the Gmail Interface. I’m one of those people. And I figured out a little trick that allows you to use your custom email address in Gmail. And no, it doesn’t involve paying a monthly fee with Google Apps. In fact, it’s free. Yes, you hear right, free!! Okay, here it is:

You go to Gmail – Settings, click – Accounts and Import, then click, –Add a Mail Account You Own. You’ll need to fill in info, that’ll vary depending on your host. Get this info by logging in to your hosting provider and/or using the live support. If you’re still struggling, don’t be lazy. Use Google.

That’s all for today and more than enough to get you started. 

Click here for the next post in the series. I’ll be jumping into your content platform, theme, the creation of key pages, and your online presence.

If you enjoy writing and are serious about improving your writing skills, becoming a freelance writer, and want to earn more, I can help!

Feel free to email me at nick@nickdarlington.com.

P.S. No, I’m not selling you anything. I’m not going to ask you to buy my book or even sign up for my course (I don’t have one) or weekly newsletter, I’m simply offering you help.

But remember while I can offer you assistance and support, you have to put in the work. No action = No results.

Cheers

Nick D