freelancers

What I’m Doing to Make More Money as a Freelance Writer in 2024

Upskilling as the world around me evolves is the key to staying afloat.

Anangsha Alammyan

Mar 4, 2024 • 6 min read

Image by the author.

Upskilling as the world around me evolves is the key to staying afloat.

Quitting your job to be your own boss might seem like the ultimate dream.

I know many people who see freelancing as the alternative to their 9 to 5.

But is that really true?

With so many rumors about AI coming to steal the jobs of writers, are you safe as a freelance writer in 2024?

I’ve been a full-time writer for the past three years, and in this article, I’m going to share what I am doing as a freelance writer to make more money in 2024.

If you’re interested in side hustling as a freelance writer or you want to build more income streams, then get ready to take some notes. This article will be full of value for you.

Before we start, if you’d like to watch a more candid tutorial in video format, here’s the link —

Expand my skill-base

Like it or hate it, AI is out there in the world, and it’s coming for you.

If you create the type of content any AI can create, then, my dear friend, you’re replaceable.

If you want to make yourself future-proof, you need to expand your skill base. You’ve to push yourself out of your comfort zone to get better at your skills so you can become irreplaceable as a freelance writer.

What I am doing to improve my skill base is, as a freelance writer, I’m currently focusing on these 5 skills to make myself AI-proof.

1.1 Incorporate journalistic style writing

It means sticking to deadlines better, writing tighter headlines, being super expressive in very few words, and so on.

1.2 SEO skills

SEO defines how internet users interact with websites.

If you know SEO as a freelance writer, your value proposition to the client will be higher than any normal writer who just writes articles.

With SEO, you can put the client’s website in front of new users who aren’t even aware of the client’s product. This way, you can get huge website traffic just by using your amazing SEO skills.

1.3 Creating content with AI

Leveraging AI is not very hard. If you spend some time and effort into understanding it, you can become an expert in using AI to become a better freelance writer.

All you have to do is open ChatGPT and play around with it, understand how you can better use it to

organize your thoughts,
give you better ideas,
summarize content, etc.

1.4 Do more interviews and feature pieces

If I don’t have sufficient knowledge in a particular niche, it doesn’t mean I can’t write about that.

All I have to do is get someone well-known for their subject matter expertise in that field and conduct an interview or a feature piece with them. This might sound like a hack, but it’s actually super effective in creating more value through your content.

1.5 Learn content strategy and brand messaging

If a client comes to me for writing work, I don’t just blindly write articles for them in the topics they assign me.

Instead, I go through their website, I understand their product, I understand their target audience, and then I give them a very specific and solid strategy they can use not just for their website, social media, YouTube channel, and blog.

2. Continue to increase my rates

The current rate I’m working on with clients is a 1000-word article for $200.

In 2024, I want to continue increasing my rates while providing more value.

I’m looking for better projects where I can showcase my thought leadership and use my SEO skills for better content creation.

For this, I’ve to look for the right type of clients. If I blindly increase my rates to my existing clients without providing any extra value, that’s going to backfire.

I also want to focus on more pillar pieces, which are 3,000-word articles priced at $600. If I can get a few pillar articles each month, then I can easily make more money with the same amount of writing that I do.

3. Optimize my LinkedIn profile for leads

When it comes to optimizing your LinkedIn profile, let’s talk about all the various elements that you need to take care of.

Cover picture: Make sure your email is highly visible in your cover picture. Add a bit more information about what you do and how you can help your clients.
Profile picture: Make sure it’s a clear headshot of you where your face is visible, and there’s no distraction in the background.
Bio: Showcase your top skills in this bio so people who read this know who you are and what you do without any ambiguity.
Featured section: Highlight some of the best work you’ve done that can attract more clients to your profile and add to your credibility as well.
About section: Here you can use anything up to 5,000 words, so make sure you include everything that’s relevant, how you can help your client, and why you’re the best person to help them.
Recommendations: Ask all your clients to write you a recommendation. This not only adds more credibility to your profile but also gives a clear message that this person means business.

I’ve made a detailed video covering the details of how to optimize your LinkedIn profile based on your goals. You can watch it here —

If you’re not sure how to use LinkedIn to attract the right kind of audience and pitch yourself to more people who might be able to hire you, check out The Ultimate Guide to Building A Business on LinkedIn here.

4. Be open to lower-paying work

All the work I take up doesn’t necessarily have to be for money.

What I usually do is set a threshold, a number beyond which I’m not willing to go, no matter how good the client is.

If the client is amazing but they don’t really offer the exact rates that I work for, then I’m willing to lower my rates a bit because I want that client to be on my resume. This happens if they’ll help me get even better clients, or maybe they have a huge network that can give me access to future clients.

5. Aim to grow in my niche

I’m going to specialize.

I’ll narrow down my niche further so I can truly become a subject matter expert in that.

I’m going to explore other parts of my niche I’m interested in and set my roots down firmly so whenever somebody talks about that niche, the only writer they can think of is me.

These were the five things that I’m doing differently to make more money in 2024 as a freelance writer. If you’re already at an advanced stage in your freelance writing career, I’m sure these tips will be helpful.

If you’re new and you have no clue how to make money as a freelancer, then I have some amazing news for you.

On 11th March 2024, at 7:00 p.m. IST, I am hosting a live workshop on my YouTube channel. The topic? How to make money super fast as a freelancer in 2024.

This video is free for all to watch. All you have to do is turn on notifications so you don’t miss out on this. If you found this article helpful, please share it with other writers as well so they can gather some value from it.

If you’d like to have a career as a successful freelance writer, but don’t know where to start, grab my 90-day guide on how to start from scratch and land your first freelance client.