Your Realistic Guide to Freelance Blogging

What is it about freelancing that appeals to you?

Freelance writing isn't for everybody. Find out why you DON'T want this career.

Download your workbook and turn to the first page.

Content marketing will be your bread and butter, so you should take the time to learn the basics.

Open your workbook to find a list of content marketing learning resources.

Learn what kinds of experiences will serve you best in your career as a freelance blogger.

This exercise will help you uncover which of your past experiences will help you the most.

You will need four important categories of skills in order to succeed as a freelance blogger:

• Language skills

• Writing skills

• Research skills

• Social skills

Open your work book and rate your skills in the space provided.

This lecture will briefly cover the basic tools you need to get started.

What exactly is ghost blogging and why should it matter to you?

Wondering where you can score a few early customers? Don't worry, there's plenty of sources to choose from:

• Personal contacts

• Volunteering

• Small business owners

• Medium to large companies

• Agencies

• Networking

• Social media

• Online communities

• Your own content

• Freelancing platforms

• Content mills

• Job sites

• Other writers

• And much more!

This exercise will help you discover your most likely source of clients.

This lecture will give you pointers on how to craft your first pitch.

As a freelancer writer, you're going to have to be familiar with the different blog formats.

It's important to know the difference between evergreen content and topical content when making content that lasts.

SEO is a key part of being a freelance blogger, and something that nearly all of your customers are going to require you to know.

Clients will sometimes ask you to produce and manage a "guest post." Let's cover what those are and how to make them work.

There are many tried-and-true techniques that content creators use to generate topics for clients.

In this exercise, we'll have you create a few blog topics for a couple of fake companies.

This section will cover the best ways to get better at writing. First step: know what makes "good writing."

The best way to get better at blogs is to write... you guessed it... blogs.

To write is human, to edit, divine.

I've set up a few writing challenges for you. Wil you accept?

Let's talk about how to maximize your productivity. The first challenge you'll need to overcome is writer's block.

Try to organize your work day into task-based chunks.

Constant practice is the key to success.

Find out your primary motivation for writing and use that to drive you forward.

The hardest person to manage is yourself. It'll be rough going, but I hope these suggestions will help you overcome your bad habits.

In this exercise, I'll help you reflect on your own habits and see what can be improved.

Clients come in different flavors, each of which requires special handling.

Don't start any freelance job without a contract of some sort.

Money down is one of the best things you can do to protect yourself. Make it a policy.

Clients might be paying you, but they don't own you. Know when to follow orders and when to push back.

You have the RIGHT to FIRE clients who don't treat you well. DO NOT STAY WITH TERRIBLE CLIENTS.

You want your money, but the client doesn't want to pay? Don't call the cops just yet!

Want to know how much you should charge? This lecture will tell you.

In this exercise, you'll be calculating your own living wage.

Learn how to negotiate your pay without putting yourself in a bad situation.

Stand up for what you're worth, but don't overinflate yourself.

The freelance world is a dangerous place. Be on your guard!