Most people don’t know what a freelance SEO writer is, but SEO writing is fast becoming an excellent career choice. Online sales surpassed retail sales for the first time during the 2011 holiday season, and as this trend continues, search engine traffic will become increasingly important. The demand for quality freelance SEO writers will grow significantly in the coming years, but how do you determine if SEO writing is for you? Here are the three essential qualities you need to be a freelance SEO writer.

Writing skills: Unlike a novelist, writing SEO articles does not require much creativity. However, a freelance SEO writer must have good basic writing skills. She must have a good command of English, understand basic grammar and have access to reference tools such as a thesaurus. It’s also important to understand the basics of writing structure and be able to form simple paragraphs that effectively convey ideas.

Wide Range of Interests: While you don’t need to have many interests or areas of expertise to become a freelance SEO writer, it is certainly beneficial. SEO content writers are often asked to write about a wide variety of topics and may need to conduct research to improve their understanding of the content domain before producing an article on that topic. If you can specialize in more than one niche, especially a lucrative one like finance, health or relationships, it will be easier to find work and complete assignments. If this sounds fun to you rather than boring, then you might just be the right person for this career.

Solid work ethic: Being a freelancer in any industry isn’t easy, but being a freelance SEO writer is especially challenging. You must be able to produce content within tight deadlines on topics you may not be particularly interested in. It’s important to work on projects every day and not put them all on hold until the last minute or you may end up with more work than you can handle. With so many freelance writers on the market, missing a deadline can easily cost you a client.

A career in SEO content writing can be challenging, but it can also be very rewarding. If you meet these three simple criteria, a freelance SEO writer may be right for you.

Becoming a Freelance Writer

Freelance writing is one of the most in-demand jobs in the market today. With job security lacking in many areas, people turn to what they see as easy money-making skills. Freelance writing is much more than sitting in front of a computer and typing. Those starting out in the field can look forward to a modest salary and plenty of general keyword articles before graduating to a world of better paying and informative articles.

To become a freelancer, it is helpful to have some written background and good English. Many people look for jobs on job boards like Craigslist.com. Once you have created a number of articles, you can create a profile. Most freelance writers start out as ghostwriters. Basically, it means you get the job done and someone else gets the credit. Freelance writers pay a small fee of about $0.01 per word for basic articles used to backlink a site in search engines. These keyword-dense, often referred to as search engine optimization (SEO) articles. The purpose of these articles is to direct consumers from search engines to websites based on the words they see on their computer screens.

There are several web content companies that regularly hire freelance writers. These sites have an endless selection of articles to choose from. Freelance writers can sign up once they’ve gained some writing experience. You must generate a free test essay to demonstrate your skills and education. On these sites, writers are divided into different levels and each level has specific articles. It helps to pair basic writers with basic articles and advanced writers with technical articles. The advantage of a paid data web content company is that the company acts as an intermediary between you and the customer.

The ultimate goal of most freelance writers is to get their work published and recognized under their own name. Magazines often hire freelance writers to write articles that fill pages outside of their regular columns. Every magazine is looking for new ideas to present to their readers. If you have an idea you want to publish, you need to generate a short document outlining your idea. It should start with a paragraph about the article and its intended audience. Next, you should outline the components of your essay and indicate where and how your research will be conducted. Magazines pay top dollar for their articles and expect them to be of the highest professional standard. Once the article introduction is emailed to the magazine, it takes 6-8 weeks for the freelance writer to hear back. Upon approval, the magazine agrees to pay a fee ranging from $200 to $1,000 to have an article appear in their magazine.