1. Fiverr
Fiverr is best known as the biggest marketplace for freelancers. You get everything for $5 (so cheap, right?). That’s why it became so popular.
If you are just starting out and looking for quick ways to make money online as a freelance writer, Fiverr is for you.
How to get started as a freelancer on Fiverr?
Step 1: Sign up for free by using this link. Sign up for free, set up your Gig, and offer your work to our global audience.
Step 2: Set up your gig (you can start offering your writing services, pick a price)
Step 3: Start earning money as you go. Here also just like Upwork, you need positive feedback in form of reviews to attract more clients. You can also use Fiverr to upsell.
How much do they charge?
It’s free to join Fiverr. There is no subscription required or fees to list your services. You keep 80% of each transaction and the rest 20% goes to Fiverr pockets. For instance, if you made $100 from a client, you get $80 and the rest goes to Fiverr as a service fee.
Recommended Reading: Fiverr Best Alternatives Worth Trying in 2020
2. Upwork
Let me tell you one thing: finding the best freelance website for writers is hard. There are so many freelance sites out there that don’t even pay well or ditch you. That’s the reason why most freelance writers are afraid of taking up jobs online.
If you’re one among them, don’t worry, Upwork is one of the best freelance websites for writers. Not only for writers, it can also be used by designers, marketers and everyone else who are looking for freelance work.
Upwork formerly Elance is a popular online freelance platform that’s used by millions of people worldwide.
How to get started as a freelancer on Upwork?
Step 1: Click here to sign up for Upwork as a freelancer for free.
Step 2: Start picking the topics that you’re interested in. But before that make sure to fill your profile with your name, description, experience, photo etc. This makes it easy for you to find clients quickly.
Step 3: Start earning money (ask your friends and family to hire you when you’re just starting out and ask them to give positive feedback so you get better work in the long run).
If you’re someone who wants to start using Upwork as a freelance writer, here are some quick tips for you.
1. Always make sure to ensure that the clients’ payment methods are verified. You’ll see a “verified payment” tick for every client.
2. If you’re starting out, make sure to use Upwork’s desktop app and work diary that tracks your time and takes snapshots of your screen to avoid any conflict at payment stage. This is a must if you want to avoid headaches later.
How much does Upwork charge for freelancers?
Freelancers pay a service fee of 5% to 20% based on their lifetime billings with a specific client. Here’s the breakdown of how Upwork charges for those who are doing freelancing on their platform.
- You pay 20% for the first $500 billed with the client across all contracts
- 10% for total billings between $500.01 and $10,000
- And when total billings with the client exceed $10,000, a 5% fee is charged
Yes, 20% is a lot of service fees but mind you, it eliminates a lot of competition by giving you a great edge of getting high paying clients.
3. People Per Hour
People per hour is another great site for freelance writers to find writing jobs online.
There are 3 multiple ways to use this site to find freelance work as a writer. You can use Browse Hourlies, fixed price offers ready to start immediately, post a job and let people find you.
How to get started as a freelancer on People Per Hour?
Step 1: Click here to sign up for free.
Step 2: Once you create an account, start browsing jobs. You can pick anything from designing to writing to SEO.
Step 3: Send proposals or accept proposals from those who already have posted jobs relevant to your choice. Finish their work and get paid!
How much do they charge?
0% commission fee for life. You can also freely use Escrow and invoicing system and all of your messaging, invoices and statements in one place.
4. Guru
Guru is an incredible platform for freelance writers to find thousands of content writing jobs.
This platform is extremely easy to use and businesses can search for freelancers or post a job and receive proposals straight from the homepage without any hassle.
How to get started as a freelancer on Guru?
Step 1: Click here to sign up for free and create an account to start finding freelance writing jobs.
Step 2: Click on Find a job to search for content writing jobs and click on any job offer that interests you.
Step 3: Send a proposal, start working on your job posting to get paid.
Quick tip: Always make sure to carefully analyse the buyers profile. Check if they are using Guru for the first time. If they look fishy, never accept their jobs as you might not get any money!
How much do they charge?
The only fee you are responsible for is a 2.5% handling fee when paying an invoice. However, Guru offers 3.5% Cash Back when you pay using check, e-check or wire transfer to help offset this fee.
Freelancers usually pay between a 4.95%-8.95% transaction fee, deducted from their earnings. So let’s say if you’re making $100 from a client, you usually get around $90 (better than Upwork!).
5. FreeeUp
FreeeUp is an incredible platform which is used by more than 15,000 businesses all around the world to get professional writing services. So if you’re a freelance writer and looking for better projects around freelance writing, you should definitely check out FreeeUp.
Here’s how you can get started with FreeeUp as a freelance writer
Step 1: Click on this link to visit their home page and click on “Apply as a freelancer” button to continue. Here’s how it looks like;
Step 2: Once you’re on “Apply to be a freelancer” page, you’ll see a start button where you need to enter your details such as name, email, your resume and so on (which hardly takes 15 to 20 minutes and it doesn’t save your answers automatically, so you need to do it in one go).
Step 3: Once you’re done with your answers, click on Submit button to finish the process. After you have submitted your application successfully, the Freelancer Success Team from FreeeUp will review your answers and call for an interview if you’re eligible.
If you are invited to the interview, you will get an email outlining the interview process where they’ll ask you to schedule a time for your interview (Skype interview). You’ll be given access to their client projects once you’ve successfully selected.
6. TextBroker
TextBroker is highly targeted freelance website. For example, it doesn’t operate in India. Textbroker ensures that authors come from the target countries for each platform to provide high quality content to its customers.
For example, textbroker.com only permits U.S. based authors (they have to verify their US citizenship while signing up to create an account).
How to get started as a freelancer on TextBroker?
Step 1: Click here to register for TextBroker (it’s free to join) and make sure to verify your country’s citizenship.
Step 2: You need to submit a writing sample of 200 words (then you’ll get a rating out of 5 stars based on your writing).
Step 3: You can start accepting writing gigs based on your rating. Level 5 star rating gives you around $70 per 1000 word article and level 1 star rating gives you around $13 for the same article.
The great thing about using Textbroker is, it pays you for your articles as soon as the client accepts them. You can request a weekly payoff as soon as you’ve earned $10 or more.
How much do they charge?
Unlike other freelance websites, TextBroker has fixed pricing for various ratings (ranging from 1 to 5) which you can find on their site. Apart from that, you’ll have to pay a nominal 0.35% as a service fee for every dollar you make. That means you pay $3.5 to TextBroker if you get a client to pay you $100. It’s as simple as that.
7. Outsourcely
Outsourcely is another great alternative to TextBroker which charges you $19 per month for setting up an account (various pricing plans). You don’t have to pay any commission to their platform so that’s a good thing.
How to get started as a freelancer on Outsourcely?
Step 1: Click here to create an account (the monthly pricing starts at $19 per month)
Step 2: Create your profile and you can then start having private chat conversations with customers who want to get your writing gigs.
Step 3: Start making money without paying even a penny as commission.
How much do they charge?
Just like TextBroker, Outsourcely also charges monthly pricing plans to those who wants to find freelance writing jobs. The pricing starts from $19 a month and you don’t have to pay even a penny to their platform as commission. For instance, if you made $100 from a client, nothing goes into their pockets and everything goes into your account.
8. Problogger Job board
Last but not least, Problogger job board is an excellent community where you can find hundreds of writing gigs to make money as a freelance writer.
The best part is, you get quality leads and you don’t have to pay anything (no Problogger commission or monthly fee). You can also subscribe to their email list with the job alerts by mentioning the keywords that you want.
How to get started as a freelancer on Problogger job board?
Step 1: Click here to start looking for writing gigs on Problogger job board.
Step 2: Pick the projects that you really like. Search for the job search form with the keywords that are relevant to your skills for better results.
Step 3: Read the instructions and start pitching the job creators to start making money from writing gigs.
How much do they charge?
If you’re a freelance writer, you don’t have to pay even a penny. It’s completely free. Incredible, isn’t it? Just go to their job board, find a job that you like and follow the instructions that the job creator gives you. Mostly they tell you to fill a form to submit your details (such as showing your previous work and discussing what you would like to get paid for the project).
9. Freelancer
This website is not only meant for freelance writers but for freelance web developers, designers etc. Though, it does not specialize in writing field, you can get a lot of writing projects on this website. People who wish to get projects from this website need to make an account here and bid for the projects they are interested in. Writers who bid lowest and offer to do the work in least time often get the projects.
How to get started?
Step 1: Click here to sign up for Freelancer
Step 2: Find projects that you are most interested in and apply for them
Step 3: You need respond to buyers bids by placing bids in terms of completion time, bid value, experience and through a sample of their writing. If you have placed a bid and the buyers find you competitive for their kind of writing project, they contact you through freelancer’s message box.
10. Freelance writing
This is another great website for those people who wish to get writing work. It is very easy to use for all the people. Here, you can expect to get writing assignments from buyers living in different parts of the world. It is easy to register on this website and it takes very small time. Due to great opportunities for writers and loads of writing assignments, this website has become very popular among writers.
