• By Yuwanda Black
• Published 12/2/2010
• Article Writing

I started my SEO writing career in late October 2007. By December, I was so swamped that I was looking to bring on other writers to help me meet deadlines. But, there were some things I had to do to get up and running. If SEO writing is a career that interests you, do the following so that come the New Year (or before), you can hit the ground running while everybody else will be stuck at the starting gate, doing what you did while they were stuffing themselves. Get Your Website: In my opinion, you absolutely positively need one. It doesn’t have to be fancy; just crisp, clean and error free. Decide on a Niche: I’ve had great success pitching myself as a niche writer, instead of just a generalist. Even though I’ve written on everything from wedding cakes to welding (really!) as an SEO writer, it was my pitch to an SEO company as a mortgage/real estate writer that landed me my first gig. So, I firmly believe carving out a niche and pitching yourself that way to land writing jobs. Write Samples: After you decide on a niche, write samples that you can put on your website; make sure they’re SEO articles, as opposed to just general articles. This means knowing where to put keywords, paying attention to keyword density, using headings and subheadings, etc. Decide on Your Service Offerings: At my SEO writing company, we offer everything from simple SEO articles, to press releases to article submission. But, I started out just offering SEO article writing. It’s all up to you what you offer. But, whatever it is, make sure it’s clearly outlined on your website. Research SEO Writing Rates: One of the most frequently asked questions I get is “How much should I charge for SEO content writing?” Well, it varies so much it’s ridiculous. There is no one answer (and I don’t even answer questions about it anymore because my answer is – whatever you feel is right for you). Following are three ways to research — and come up with a definitive answer — on what to charge for writing SEO content. Do some web surfing. Check out the major job boards to see what those who need content are paying; check out the websites of other SEO writers to see what they’re charging. Then, tally up your monthly bills — see how much you need to earn to make it worth your while to start this type of freelance writing business. Once you get all of this done, you’re pretty much ready to start marketing. And that’s what I mean when I say you can hit the ground running come the New Year (or before). It’ll probably take your competition a few weeks and in some cases a few months to get this done. That’s because most will start and stop; stop and start before they complete all of this. This may be because of family pressures; working a full-time job; laziness; procrastination; etc.

If you take just take 2-3 hours 2-3 days a week, you can have all of the above done – and be ready to start marketing for SEO writing jobs come the New Year. You’ll be landing your first freelance writing jobs while the competition is still in the starting gate.

Learn how to start making $100-$250+/day as a work-from-home SEO writer. This SEO writing “business in a box” details step-by-step exactly what you need to do to start this type of freelance writing business. Once you click through, you’ll read unsolicited testimonials from others (just like you!) who’ve started — and are so glad they did.

by Yuwanda Black

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