How and where to get high paying clients

I am really tired of most of the freelance sites, because currently what I am seeing is ridiculous bids from freelancers from that part of Asia where we have Filipinos, Indians, Bangladeshi and the like.
It is impossible to believe that someone would be willing to work for as low as $1 for a 500-word article.I mean don`t you value your work and your dignity?
Anyone paying less than $1 per 100 words should not expect high quality content.In simple terms, `no one ever bore slavery with grace.`
Kindly advice me where to get well-paying clients.Thanks!

 

Here, sometimes.

 

You can't get high paying clients on Freelancer sites or forums, there is just too much competition and too many social-economic factors. You need to search local classified sites, and also walk into local businesses with samples. That's how you land high paying clients.
I don't offer any services on forums etc. for this reason. I do all my hiring on here though because then I have the advantage.

 

tell me about it, what i dont understand is how people are willing to pay buttons for content when all they get most of the time is spelling mistakes and poor grammar.

 

@mr.sidney - Here is another good resource for writers to find jobs.

http://jobs.problogger.net/

 

So

Someone needs to tell them that cheap is expensive Sally.

 

The rates offered at freelance websites are really depressing most of the times. Some people simply don't understand the importance of investing into content.
Getting well-paid for your work will depend mostly on how effectively you are able to negotiate and sell yourself. You may not get the pay you desire till a client is convinced about your quality. But you have to keep on trying. Especially for newbies, a lot of patience and perseverance is necessary before they get a real break.
Anyway, I am posting some links here that may help you to get an idea of how to grab clients.
http://www.makealivingwriting.com/7-steps-to-finding-good-paying-web-content-clients/
http://www.contentcrossroads.com/2013/06/content-writing-6-tips-to-get-clients/
http://www.writersincharge.com/get-clients-that-pay/
http://onlineincometeacher.com/freelance/how-to-find-freelance-writing-clients/
http://www.bloggingcage.com/3-insanely-awesome-ways-to-get-freelance-content-writing-projects/
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-in...on-forum/794667-where-find-clients-write.html
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-in...riters-where-do-you-find-quality-clients.html
I hope this helps you somehow. Good luck.

 

You can still charge very good rates (in excess of $2 per 100 words) in freelancing sites. The more time you spend, the more you bid, the more are your chances of getting a 'well-paying' client. Yes, I agree its going to be extremely difficult for you to get clients when you charge $2 or even $1 per 100 words, especially in freelancing sites like Elance. (I mention only Elance because it's by far the best site with several clients paying up to $10 per 100 words. Other sites are extremely crowded and its useless to spend your time bidding in sites like freelancer, odesk, etc.).

When you charge $0.5 per 100 words and say you bid on 20 projects, you're likely to win 4 to 5 projects in a site like Elance (provided you already have a good portfolio). If you're a 'newbie', you'l still win 1-2 jobs per 20 bids. If you charge $1 per 100 words, you're likely to get say 2 jobs per 20 bids. If you charge $2 per 100 words or even more than that, you're unlikely to win a project but for sure, you'll atleast get a response from 1 out of 20 clients who'd be willing to hire you if you communicate well and convince the client.

Public forums/sites like digital point were GREAT for me so all I'd tell you to be patient if you're looking for 'well-paying' clients. Several months back, I got a client who paid me 'decent' amount per article and hired me for a long term project. Since then, my income has sky-rocketed and I never looked back at freelance bidding sites since then! It was bye-bye time. I got that client here in DP after getting in touch with more than 100 clients who post with the 'Buying' tag in the B/S/T threads.

Be patient and wait for your turn. Pray for good luck to find a good client very soon! Wish you good luck

 

So you suggest to bid on as many projects as possible to get something? I would also like to know what you can do if you don't have a strong portfolio. Clients you hit up on freelancing sites generally do not pay in higher scales. At least from my experience I can say so. Rarely, you may get a good-paying one. How do you convert the clients? Or convince them to pay better? Any useful input on this is really appreciated.

 

Yes, you're absolutely right..

If you're going to win projects from freelancing sites, all you need is a good portfolio. Not necessarily an excellent one (as it may take several months) but quite a good portfolio (which you can easily build in a month or two). If you are a newbie, you've got no other 'easy' choice (IMHO) other than quoting less rates. (I'm sure several others will disagree with me on this point but this has worked for me. 100%). Say, you charge $0.5 per 100 words and get about 10-20 projects in a month. In a site like Elance, average feedback rating and feedback comments matter 'a lot'. If you've got feedback on 20 projects and if you're average rating is over 4.7/4.8 out of 5.0 with over 90% recommended rating, you can start charging in excess of $1 or $1.5 per 100 words or even more and you have double the chances of winning projects.

Though you're guaranteed to win projects by bidding, I wouldn't recommend you to bid in freelancing sites to get projects but you can always showcase your skills in public forums and get in touch with clients directly.

You can't bargain with clients when you bid on the project. I've hardly ever bargained to convince a client and win a project when I used freelancing sites. But when I get in direct touch with people (clients) outside the freelancing world, like people here in DP looking for quality writers, you can get in touch with them, convince them to improve their business with your service and make the most of it. That's how it worked for me. To be on the safer side, in the initial stages, you can create a good portfolio and keep bidding on several projects. Once you make your income stable, say if you're constantly making over 1000 or 2000 usd per month from the sites, you can then look for other options like DP where you can negotiate with people. If you're lucky, you may get a good client and if he's keeping you busy, you can concentrate more on his project (since it pays more) and bid on fewer projects in freelancing sites. This is the safest option I can think of!

Tip: Always look for 'long term' clients. Look for long term benefits. Rather than working for a one-off client who pays 40$ per 1000 word article, I'd prefer to work with a client who'd want 10 articles per day and pays $15 per 1000 words. It's up to you to decide which way you wanna go. Good luck

 

Thanks for your valuable inputs Tpvinod.

It's indeed a long way to go. First start bidding. Then when you win something, work for lower rates. Slowly as you build your portfolio, increase your charges.

This I think is a much better option than freelancing sites. One high-paying client you come across on a forum who needs content regularly and things can work out well for you.

That's the hardest part. Despite of trying my best to convince some clients to offer better rates, nothing worked out for me. The more I tried to convince them, the more they became disinterested.

I fully agree with you on this. To understand the client's requirement better and comprehensively, a long-term business relationship is very necessary. Most of my work that got rejected was because the client found something amiss. Most of the times, the 'missing part' was something which the client never communicated clearly about.

 

Yes, there's a lot of competition. You can never win the hearts of clients who post jobs in freelancing sites. If not you, there's always multiple options for the client. So why would he be interested in paying you more to keep you happy? But you can be successful to a certain extent if you negotiate with clients you find here in DP.

 

Cut-throat competition is one factor and the other I would say is that some people don't understand the importance of investing into content. They hesitate to invest some extra bucks for good quality. Taking into account your budget, you should pay writers as good as possible IMO. Money is the biggest motivation and writers will automatically be driven to deliver good quality when the pay matches their expectations.
“Content is king”. High-quality content is potentially not only able to recover your investments but can also enhance profit margins.

 

Wow I must admit that your piece was very informative.Thank you for taking your time to go into details.

 

But then again there is always a gap between those who would accept lower rates in order to build their profiles, and those who have already built their profile and portfolio and are now looking for reasonable rates.Then there are those who would accept just any rate provided they have won a bid, people whom I most often refer to as `low self-esteem` writers.

 

It takes quite long to bridge this gap. But you can do some things to speed up.

Participate actively in forum discussions. Provide useful and interesting info. It's a good way to get noticed. Once you are in spotlight, the probability of clients approaching you increases considerably. Again those you come across on forums are usually not like the ones you encounter on freelancing sites. They pay better and need content frequently, if not regularly.
Additionally, setting up your own blog is a very good idea. In fact, it's a must for anyone who is serious about becoming a long-term writer. Requires minimal or no investment. Put up the best samples of your work. If you are capable of delivering good quality but don't have a strong portfolio yet, your blog will be useful to prove your merit to potential clients. Once they are convinced, there is no need to work for lower rates. You can then ask for the rate you wish, but it should be reasonable.

 

This is always a topic of debate What seems reasonable to me may not seem to be good to other writers.

But one thing's for sure. There are people who write 500 words for $1 and there are people who charge $1 per word! As writers, we'd have to scale upwards, as much as possible. There's nothing that can be fixed as a reasonable amount. Anything is reasonable for a client who's willing to pay 100$ per article. Ask him 50$ or 70, or 99, you're still within his budget! It's all about finding people who are willing to spend money Where to find them, how to convince them and how many such clients you find, matters the most!

 

It wouldn't take long. I'm sure it depends on luck. I say this because you need to be lucky enough to get good clients. There are people you'll come across who will be so rude and expect you to satisfy all their requirements for the peanuts they throw at you. At the end of the project, even though you gave your best, he'd not be satisfied and won't rate you any more than 4 stars out of 5. And believe me, it takes a lot of luck, hard work and time to maintain average rating of over 4.5 out of 5. A couple of bad clients and you wouldn't see your average rise over 4.5 any soon. This is why I say luck plays its part to help you set up a great profile at the earliest.

You can easily get 20 small projects in a month and get good ratings. From the second month, you're going to show yourself as an 'experienced' writer

Tip: When you're starting out and looking to build a portfolio, its better to take simple and small projects. Reason being, you can complete the projects soon, get rated very fast and become an expert in no time!

 

I definitely agree with you on this...

 

You are right. By 'reasonable' here, I mean a rate which BOTH the writer and client can agree upon. Now this differs greatly according to what the context is.

If you talk about reasonableness ONLY from the client's perspective, any rate lower than what he/she is willing to offer is 'reasonable'. Looking at it from the writer's side, rates offered should justify the time and effort spent for creating content and go well with the writer's experience and reputation.