How to Be a Successful Freelance Writer - Produce Better Content

Whether you realize it or not, when you submit your work to websites or post something new on your blog, you are joining the ranks of freelance writers (provided it is not part of your job; for most of us, it's not). As a freelance writer there are some very important guidelines to follow if you want to be taken seriously as a content producer.


While it's true that there can be some latitude for people when producing information products, but I believe there should be very little latitude. That may harsh, but it is important that potential customers and publishers see your best work. Your best work should include certain considerations that will enhance your work. Otherwise you risk potential customers, clients, and publishers being distracted by bad grammar and spelling rather than being impressed by your work.

Here are 3 guidelines to follow to make sure your work is up to par and distraction-free:

1. Always perform a spelling and grammar check.

I shouldn't have to say this, but there are an amazing number of articles writers have been paid for producing that are hard to understand simply because the author did not take the time to check for spelling and grammar. That's really just lazy. I am writing this on my Mac that also has Word 2007. Word 2007, like almost every other word processing program, has the ability to check your document for spelling and grammar mistakes. Make good use of this every time. No matter how long you've been writing, you can still get something wrong. Don't embarrass yourself by letting the world see mistakes that could be easily corrected.

2. Read through your work at least 2 times before submission.

You will want to read through your work to make sure that you catch what the computer did not catch. For example, you may have spelled a word correctly, but the grammar check did not catch it. Or you omitted a word and the computer did not catch that either. Although spelling and grammar check are important, it doesn't take the place of a human edit.


3. Edit your content for ease of flow and understanding.

When you do this, I suggest that you read your content out loud, word for word, and exactly as you wrote it. This is yet another way to catch potential errors and make sure that what you wrote makes sense. This is where you'll likely find that omitted word or find that you may need to shift around some paragraphs to make the content flow better. If you can read your work to someone else, another pair of ears would be great. This is another way to check that your work is understandable to someone other than yourself.

By taking these three suggestions to heart with every piece of work you produce, you will be able to create content that is easy for readers to understand and increase the likelihood for further publication.


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