If you decide on being paid to write, one of the most important decisions you need to make is your specialization, meaning, what sub-industry in writing you want to concentrate on.

These are the most well known sub-industries in freelance writing:

* Academic Writing

Some very good examples of this are thesis papers and the like. It’s basically research writing for scholars.

* Article Writing

This could be about anything and everything. Most articles are written to give information and pre-sell affiliate products.

* Website Copywriting

Website copywriting are sales-oriented writing pieces with the intention of selling to the reader. Just like advertising copy, a website copy gets to the heart of the readers’ emotions and makes them buy stuff.

THE BIG EARNERS

Of all the classes of writers, who do you think earns the most money?

Web copywriters on average earn $125 to $235 per hour, with some writers earning a percentage of website sales. Maria Veloso, author of the book, Web Copy That Sells, is one of the few writers who get also get paid a commission or percentage of website sales.

Freelance academic writers earn at least $24 per 500 words. Article writers, on the other hand, are paid (or at least should be paid) $6 to $12 per 500 words.

Why the big disparity in writing rates? I think it’s primarily because of the difficulty of the work. With article writing, you basically tell people information that they do or don’t yet know. The style is basically straightforward, “write-as-you speak,” so there’s not much effort to it except to check for errors, and making sure that the author resource box has a compelling call to action.

Academic writing is more difficult since you’ll be dealing with research data, apart from the fact that you’re writing for scholars, thus the writing must adhere to a very scholarly style of writing.

With website copywriting, you are basically selling to people, which is a very difficult thing to do especially on the Internet. People who are online are ever more wary of advertisements than they are when watching TV. That said, website copywriting thus becomes part magic and part writing skill.

Don’t believe me? Try writing a website copy and track how many people are buying through your sales page.  Do you see any sales?

Read more: How To Become A Freelance Writer

If there’s one thing that should be said about freelance exchange websites, you’ll get the feeling that they’re catered mostly to people who live in Asia.

With the cost of living practically 1/4 or 1/5 cheaper than the United States and Europe, writers who come from India or the Philippines can bid on projects at much lower rates*. But this doesn’t mean it’s a waste of time for native English writers. And it doesn’t mean there’s are fringe benefits that can be gained from bidding on jobs, even if you think it’s peanuts.

* The decent rate for articles is between $6 to 12 for a 500-word article, but some writers are willing to write for as low as $1 to $2 per 500-word article.

Segue Into Internet Marketing

I first started writing articles for ezine articles in 2006 on a part-time basis and became a full-time freelance writer on the Internet towards the end of the 2007. What drew me at first was the thought that I was being paid in dollars. (I’m from Cebu, Philippines.)

But soon I realized after that I was being paid way too low for my efforts, which always includes RESEARCHING and writing articles. Luckily for me, someone asked me to write an article about Internet affiliate marketing and that really opened me up to the possibility of earning passive income.

If you hate how much you’re getting paid for you services, you might want to segue into Internet Marketing. I know there’s too much information going around (and I’ve bought and subscribed to an xxx number of Internet Marketing guides),  but you might want to start out by trying PotPie Girl’s One Week Marketing Guide. Her action plan is simple to implement, and I’ve had sales by simply following her guidance.

Networking Opportunities: Contacts Who Make It Big

Some writers feel you should only do freelance websites if you’re:
(a)    very broke, or
(b)    are just trying to get some good feedback.

What you should know about freelancing is that, as with any business, everyone starts out small, and that ones who are earning big dollars in freelancing have their old clients sending in new clients.

Remember, even low-paying service buyers have friends and contacts whom they might send to you. Or even better, they might just hit it big and will pay you more dollars for you work, you’ll never know. I know that I’ve had clients give me more work by sending me their friends.

Happy bidding.

• GetAFreelancer

• RealWritingJobs

• oDesk

Read more: Freelance Article Writer