How to Become a Freelance Writer for an Ecommerce Company

April 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Ecommerce companies need writers to create their product descriptions, write for their blogs, and write general content for their websites. The amount of writing that’s needed will differ from each company to the next, and so will the pay. If you’re looking to make a little extra money on the side freelancing for an ecommerce company could be a good choice. Most of the writing tasks that are required by ecommerce companies are fairly simple in terms of difficulty. One of the more challenging aspects of writing in the world of ecommerce is that high volume will often be expected. For instance, you may be expected to write one hundred product descriptions in one week. If writing at a high speed isn’t your specialty, other freelance writing jobs that require a more thoughtful and thorough approach may be a better fit.

 

If the thought of writing for ecommerce companies has piqued your interest, here are some of the things you might want to do to break into the industry:

 

1. Increase Your Visibility

 

Create profiles on well-known sites for freelancers like Elance and Guru.com. Make sure you list all of your academic and professional credentials on this site. It’s especially important for you to make note of every single writing project you’ve ever worked on. If ecommerce employers can tell that you’re credible and a good writer with experience, they’ll be more likely to hire you.

 

2. Set Your Prices Low at First

 

Until you’ve established yourself in the ecommerce world, you shouldn’t set your hourly rate or per article rate very high. You’re more likely to be selected for projects posted by ecommerce companies if your asking prices are on the lower end. Once you have some experience writing for online retail companies under your belt, it will be easier for you to get gigs and ask for more pay.

 

3. Mentally Prepare for Some Tedious Projects

 

Writing product descriptions for several hours in a row isn’t exactly the most exciting thing you can do with your time. If you’ve ever worked as a technical writer, you might be used to writing and editing jobs that are a bit tedious. If you’re more accustomed to writing assignments that require a lot of creativity, you’ll need to mentally prepare yourself for some monotony.

 

There’s plenty of opportunity for freelance writers to secure gigs with ecommerce companies. Don’t be discouraged if work doesn’t come to you as quickly as you like in the beginning. Once you establish yourself in the ecommerce industry, the payoff can be enormous!

 

Author’s Bio: Carolyn is a guest blogger on the subjects of freelancing, small business management, and order management software that works with Shopify, 3dcart, and BigCommerce.

Filed Under: Guest Articles

Keeping Your Profits In Check When Working From Home

January 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

For many people, working from home and being your own boss is the dream and one of the best decisions you could make. It’s also hard work though, and there are numerous pitfalls to avoid if you want to actually make money and maximise your wealth.

Here are 3 such profit sapping mistakes to avoid:

Don’t Allow Distractions

One of the best things about being a freelancer is that you get to set your own schedule and you get to be at home with your family whenever you want. Unfortunately this is one of the biggest challenges too.

Actually getting your work done when you have a wife, parents or kids running around can be tough; you have to make sure you get your work done though and avoid sitting at your PC in a state of not quite working-ness.

Right from the beginning, when you decide to take the plunge you should set yourself a strict set of work hours and designate a space where you will work. During office hours do not allow any family members to distract you. Being strict is tough, but this is essential.

Be Careful With International Customers

If your business is based online you really don’t have any boundaries and you might well find that you have customers from all round the world. This is great as it helps you to grow and can often be beneficial for tax aswell.

The downside though is the currency risk you will encounter. When agreeing prices with international clients you should take the time to look at currency rates and figure out exactly what payment you will be getting and what fees you will have to pay.

It is also worth avoiding long term contracts for an amount in a foreign currency – and currency movements could dramatically reduce the amount you actually receive each month 6 months down the line.

Get Your Taxes In Order

When you have a simple day job, you get paid and in most cases your tax sorts itself out, but when you are doing it all for yourself you suddenly have accounts, with costs and incomes to work out.

Keeping on top of your accounts isn’t actually that hard if you do it right from the start. Make sure you know what you can and can’t write off and claim back any tax that you can. This might include the cost of your computer, rent on office space, phones bills or whatever else… It all adds up.

Filed Under: Guest Articles Tagged With: , ,

How to start freelance writing bussiness – writing articles online

December 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Many people very often ask me how to start writing articles, which is what to do, as you can charge, and many other questions related to this. If you have not read the other articles of this page online articles about writing, do it after reading the following.

I hope the following article leave a little more clear how to start, but I recommend using this site search to find all articles related to online writing articles, these will help you, remember that without patience not go far.

To start work you can do so through freelancer, Elance, oDesk, Guru, among other networks where the market works freelance.

Items are usually ordered for blogs, there prices stipulated market are usually ordered from 350 words per article, but usually they ask for up to 500 words so you can raise the price per item, and then there are the articles of 1000 words which are considered high quality, they are paid over $ 6 per item. 350 words are usually paid between 1.6 and $ 2, do not make for less, can reach up to $ 3 depending on the subject. The 500 words typically cost between $ 2.5 to $ 5 depending also on whether and how you want. They also often ask you to put keywords in the articles, this is very simple, highlighted in bold (Rich Text) and italics most important words in the text and repeat important words ever in the text. The method of delivery is sent progressively

Summary of 2011 market prices for articles of blogs:

Article of at least 250 words = $ 1
Article to 350 words = 1.6 $ to 2.5 $
Article more than 350 words to 500 words = $ 2.5 to $ 5
Articles from more than 500 words to 1000 words = $ 5 to 10 $ (Eston items are considered high quality). On occasions it may take 1000 words per article.

Filed Under: CV, Guest Articles