• By Yuwanda Black
• Published 02/1/2011
• Article Writing

Jobs in freelance writing online run the gamut. There are blogging jobs, SEO content writing jobs, social media posting jobs (these are fairly new but becoming more and more common), etc. And, how much they pay is as different as what each of them require. So, how can you determine who much money you can make as an online writer? Simple, it all boils down to how much you charge. And, as online freelance writing rates are all over the place, you may have to do some digging to come up with what to charge. Freelance Writing Online: How to Research Rates So That You Charge Enough When researching rates, there are three areas that you need to cover: (i) the industry as a whole; (ii) your competition; and (iii) your niche. Let’s take a look at how to research industry rates. I. How to Find Out What Industry Freelance Writing Rates Are For online writing, this is pretty easy and can be done in a few ways. Some are paid sources, most are free. Note: When you visit the following recommend sources and sites, search by titles. Some you might use are: blogger, web content writer, web writer, freelance writer, content writer, web content specialist, content specialist, article writer, SEO copywriter, SEO specialist, digital content editor, and digital content developer. There are tons more. Major Job Boards like CareerBuilder, Monster and HotJobs. These are great starting points for figuring out what many mainstream companies offer.

Industry Associations like Writers Market (paid) and The Editorial Freelancers Association. You

‘ll get a good mix of what smallish businesses, as well what mid-size to large companies will pay. Classified Ad Sites like CraigsList and Backpage: Here again, you’re going to find a hodge-podge of employers — from small, independent startups to large companies. When combined with the other two, youu can start to get a clear picture of what the various types of online writing jobs pay and/or what you can comfortably charge. Niche Sites: There are tons of these. A couple of very popular ones that come right to mind are ProBlogger and FreelanceWrititngGigs. When you visit these sites, read through the jobs and look not only at what they’re paying, but what they’re asking for, eg, turnaround time, subject matter, word count, etc. Write this info down so you can refer back to it later. By doing this, you get a high and low freelance writing online rate range. So, when you sit down to figure out what you want to charge, you’ll have some good barometers by which to judge. Freelance Writing Online Rates: Valuable Tip to Keep in Mind As an online writer, you should always have a bottom-line hourly rate that you won’t go beneath. This will make it easier to accept/reject gigs as you grow your writing business. I’ve been an freelance writer long enough to know that by the time you log on, write, proofread, do even minimal research, format and spell check a piece, even if it’s only 300 words and you can write it in 20-30 minutes, it’s going to take longer (about 10-15 minutes at least) to be totally and completely done with it.

So, make sure this is reflected in your freelance writing online rates. This is good not only for you, but for your clients as well.