If you’re like a lot of freelancers, you might be wondering:

• Might there be another way to supplement my income?
• Is there something else I should do to increase my income?
• I have a lot of skills. How can I use them to create multiple sources of income?
• Was freelancing a bad idea?

This article is about the 2-year journey of how I became a content writer and exactly what I did to build another source of income, including eventually starting my own content agency.

It’s early 2018. I was in the middle of yet another famine cycle.

My heart was in my throat. That became a normal feeling on the mornings of a famine cycle. Especially when I noticed that late payment for a translation job I did 2 months before still hadn’t come in yet.

The idea had been in my head since 2 years prior in 2016, when I redid my freelance translator website. I didn’t feel confident to write the copy myself, so I hired somebody to do it.

The quote was as follows:

At the time, this was a pretty hefty investment for me (equivalent to nearly $700 in 2016). But, I wanted the best for my business.

I received and uploaded the copy I paid for. I had to revisit and rewrite it a few times during the lifetime of my translation website.  I realized that this was  something I could do – and better. It took me a few more years before I took any action on this realization.

It was in 2018 when I decided to use my skills to get into copywriting. This path transformed into the lucrative content writing business I have now.

How to become a content writer

After reading this article, you’ll know:

• What I did,
• How I did it,
• What resources to use for learning more about content writing on your own,
• How to become a content writer!

After a while of diving deep into the freelance writing world, I’ve noticed a clear distinction – in my opinion – between copywriting and content writing. I have a clear preference for the latter.

Copywriting is writing for:

• Ads
• Sales pages
• Sales emails
• Landing pages
• Website copy
• Microcopy

….etcetera.

It’s a salesperson in writing. Its purpose is to convert.

I have nothing against sales, but I prefer the lure of content.

Content writing is:

• SEO writing
• Blog posts
• Courses
• Resources
• How-to guides
• Social media content

The purpose of content is to educate, inspire and build trust. It establishes credibility. It’s a way to share your experience.

I took all the (free) courses about copywriting. I devoured every blog post on the internet.

After two years as a content writer, the skills I have found to be the most useful are:

• SEO – understanding how SEO writing works is by far my most valuable asset
• Writing for internet consumption
• Basic design
• Niche expertise
• An open mind and a low ego (yes, these are skills to learn)
• Research & interviewing
• Networking

Most of these skills are transferrable. They’re useful whether you want to be a content writer or a strategist.

Now I’ll tell you how my time is spread out as a content writer.

How do content writers spend their time?

I can’t tell you about a “day in the life of”, because I do several things at once. Freelance-wise: I’m a translator and a content writer. But I’m also a blogger (a passion project – unbillable), and I run a b2b content marketing agency.

So I’ll take my time as a content writer and break down the percentage of my time from that:

• 20% Research. Not just about the topic I’m writing about. I do keyword research, customer research, and I study blogs similar to what I’m writing. Particularly those than rank on the first page of Google.
• 20% Strategy. Planning how all the blogs will work together. Documenting the purpose of what I’m writing. Planning headlines and sub-headings.
• 10% Learning. Most of my learning comes from other blogs or influencers on LinkedIn. I sometimes listen to podcasts. Sometimes I also take courses. My short attention span and commitment issues make me stick to blogs.
• 10% Networking. I spend 1 hour a day networking on LinkedIn. That combines writing and actually having conversations. This helps get clients, but also helps me learn. You also need a network for content promotion and distribution.
• 40% Writing. I spend a bit less than half of my time actually writing.

I should also mention re-optimizing. I spend a lot of time going back to old posts and updating them. For me and my clients – to test theories and see if we can improve metrics.

Anyway, I digress.

You may be curious about what I mean when I say strategy. Is that something you need to learn as a content writer?

What is content strategy

I do not think that content writers need to know how to create a content strategy. But they need to understand one. And they need to know how to write strategic content.

I’m a bit of a control freak (working on it), so I prefer to design strategies myself. I want the writers who I hire to understand strategy. Otherwise, their content – however good- won’t achieve my goals.

Content strategy is your plan for achieving a specific goal with content.

It’s aligning what you create with your ultimate business objective. The person creating the content does not need to create the strategy. But they do need to understand it.

I won’t go to deep into content strategy here. That’s not why you’re reading this. Let’s move on.

I wrote a non-overwhelming business plan for freelancers

How much do content writers make

Well, it depends.

Just like most freelance services, your salary depends on:

• How much you can niche down and
• What results you can provide

You’ll see on some freelance websites that people are asking for $10 for a 1,000-word post. Big-time freelance writers can ask for thousands for a single post (usually longer than 1,000 words, though 😅).

According to Indeed.com, the average content writer in the US makes $17/hour, but I have never accepted that low of a rate. It also says the average translator salary is $19/hour, so I’d take it with a grain of salt. The masses of “bottom feeders” probably skew this data.

Payscale.com says that the average salary for a content writer is $45,377.

The average doesn’t matter if you’re going to be awesome.

If you can prove that your content has converted into qualified traffic or sales, you can charge more.

A $10 blog post is a commodity – content for content’s sake. A $500 blog post is an investment, with results expected.

Pricing is whatever you make of it. The more value you can demonstrably provide, the more you can ask for.

Okay, so now let’s look at how you can actually get into the business of content writing.

How to start content writing

I’ll move quickly through the main step, which is to write a lot.

My first blog was a Garfield fan club website in the late 90s. I even had a member’s area.

Then I had a couple of other random blogs for personal use. When I wanted to build a real audience, I started a pretty terrible blog back in 2013 about fitness and nutrition. I won’t even link to it, it’s too embarrasing.

Your first content will probably be bad. That’s okay.

You need to get through the bad stuff to start writing the good stuff.

No writer, designer, YouTuber or anybody who does anything good started by doing it well.  They just started by doing it. But you need to start writing stuff.

This post isn’t about how to write well, it’s about how to make money writing content.

To do this, I had to start from zero.

I started by reaching out on Facebook Groups to entrepreneurs who may want some free content.

I gave them free copy in exchange for a portfolio piece and a testimonial on LinkedIn.

I reached out to local entrepreneurs to see if I could be a volunteer team member. I became head of content of this local event for a short time. I also built some solid relationships in Barcelona’s startup scene.

This also gave me more solid testimonials a few months later:

The main thing I had to do was swallow my pride, work for free and do my best.

I don’t really have a portfolio anymore.

Now, I usually send prospects links to published articles I’ve written.

Being able to show growth is the greatest portfolio piece of all.

But I’ll still show you what my portfolio looked like at the end of 2018: