Online Work beats the Traditional!

The latest survey from oDesk shows a significant increase in online hiring as more and more now prefer such time saving, money saving and hassle free method over the inconvenient traditional ways. oDesk presents us with an infographic on how online work has disrupted the traditional ways of hiring:

Where to Find Freelance Writing Assignments?

I've been an online writer for several years now. I admire top writers and freelancers I've seen in Odesk, but I know they've also struggled to reach their status. Finding freelance writing jobs online can be a little daunting especially for beginners. My first try with some online job markets placed me on the lowermost level - with no feedback, means lesser chances of getting a job. So where can you really find freelance writing assignments that actually pays?

where to find freelance writing assignments?

Referrals

Mine was a lucky start. I got referred to someone looking for writers. They seemed satisfied with the articles I produce and became a regular provider for their projects. And because they are local clients, I also got to meet them personally. I think being referred is one of the most effective way to land writing assignments that pays. Ask your friends and colleagues about writing gigs, copywriters and editors who may need writing services you can provide.

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Bidding Sites

After months of having a writer's block, I slowly got back to writing and finding freelance writing jobs which are very demanding. I checked out Craiglist, eBay and Sulit.ph for possibilities. I know these are not the places where people looking out for jobs would probably check out, but I got one of the most productive job from a Sulit.ph job posting.

Online - Freelance Job Markets

After establishing myself back and learning more about writing styles, techniques and more about SEO, I tried applying for writing jobs posted in online job markets, most specifically - oDesk. There are other job markets that have hundreds of freelance writing job assignments that you can check out such as:

• Freelancer
• Guru
• Elance
• Pro Blogger

Among the many online writing job markets, I am actively pursuing oDesk. I was hired for several projects here and also got re-hired by many satisfied employers. I was really happy working for their projects and they seemed to be quite happy with the output too, thus I've raised my feedback score to 4.8/5!

One thing that you should always remember is to to accept only assignments that you can do and avoid overlapping your tasks to ensure that you write only quality articles. This way you can keep your clients happy and would never hesitate to give you more writing assignments in the future.

Online Writing Jobs: How I Started as an Online Writer

Going back almost 6 years ago, I can still remember my struggles to find a decent part time job to supplement my income. I had a growing baby and I need to earn a little more to ensure that I can save despite the ballooning expenses.

I tried a couple of rackets gimmicks including:

• Online selling on eBay and Multiply
• Blogging (Mommy Cotz and Teloyski), and
• Online Job Markets (Odesk and Freelancer)

Starting from scratch truly is frustrating and depressing especially if you don't see any results at all. I earn a little by selling used stuff, but blogging was another story. I was overwhelmed by some of the technical stuff (page rankings, back links, SEO and a lot more). I keep a personal blog and ruled out monetizing it and just proceeded with online job markets where I also failed to make some income. The competition was tough and many other nationalities offer really low prices for their services.

I was lucky enough to be offered a  writing assignment by a local client. I was referred to her by one of my office mates and for the next 3 years my writing world revolved around the assignments she sends me.

I wrote different types of content - press releases, short articles, SEO articles and more. I wrote about different topics - freelance writing, shoes, bags, health, fitness, solar and wind energy and many others. I learned about writing original content, keyword placement and densities. I loved what I do and I was happy to earn and learn with my writing.

But at one point, I also went through what many would call a "writer's block." I felt I could no longer write - I struggle with words, much more in composing articles. Nothing comes out of my brain anymore and I wasn't satisfied with my writing. It lasted for a year, may be more.

I got my vibe back slowly and painstakingly. I started activating my blog once again and wrote little by little. Travel and spending more time with my son provided motivation and ideas for writing. I started applying on local online markets - Craiglist, Sulit.ph and eBay for content writer and got another local client with a good pay. It was a good motivation as well - money.

Soon I thought about having direct clients and tried one more time with Odesk. I elaborated on my extensive writing experience and provided some of my works. I also created a portfolio for clients to check. And this time I succeeded in getting more clients and assignments. I also got an overwhelming number of invitations for interviews and some of clients re-hire me with an upgraded contract.




But since I consider writing as a hobby and not as a primary source of income, I learned to choose my assignments and dealt only with topics that I like and I want to write about. This way I was able to give it my best and provide quality, creative and value-for-money services.