How and where to get high paying clients

There certainly are exceptions to what I said. -

I personally don't think that luck favors a lot of people. There are only a handful who come across well-paying and nice clients from the outset. For most writers who have just started, it will take time till they build some rep and get a break.

 

It looks like Media Bistro has a place to find jobs. They are higher paying for writers skilled in their craft.

http://www.mediabistro.com/joblisti...keyword_filter=writer&lockw=&sa=refine+search

 

Hi, thanks for the link.

 

Thanks for the info Rebecca.
Please check out buymentions.com and cloudcrowd.com as well. I have never used these sites and don't know anything about the rates offered. At least by the looks of it, they seem good.
Hope someone posts more sites. Is there a master-list available anywhere?

 

Thanks, a masterlist would be a very great idea.

 

I suggest steering well clear of websites like Odesk and Elance for good paying clients.

The ProBlogger Job Board served me very well when I first started out freelancing writing/blogging. Popular blogs and websites use it to find work, and the money is usually good.

 

Can you tell me more about ProBlogger job board? I hope we don't have to bid to win projects! Do we get in touch with clients directly? What's the average pay like?

 

Just got this one - http://adept2012.hubpages.com/hub/101-Top-Websites-To-Write-For-Find-Writing-Jobs. Not sure if it's a master-list. But a whopping 101 sites!! I hope that's more than enough for the time being. Haven't checked whether the info provided is up-to-date and correct. Anyway, will keep on posting as I find more lists. Good luck everyone.

 

There are several ways to attract high paying clients. And you certainly can do it on freelance sites like ODesk. I mention OD because they've merged with elance now anyway.

In my case, I made about 4K this month just from OD. And I've consistently raised my hourly rate by a substantial amount every 2 months or so over the last 7.

The suggestions above about building a portfolio are very good. You also need to be a sales person. Think of it this way, whaydo people hire us? To help them sell, or market, their products, services and businesses, right? So we in turn must be good sales people. Both to sell ourselves and then to sell our clients.

Here is a brief history of my story on ODesk:

1. Started in August of 2013 at $15 per hour. I never took low paying jobs. Either they were hourly at that rate, or I did fixed priced jobs at or above that. Honestly, blog and article writing for clients generally does not pay well. you're better off with PR's, sales pages, landing pages and website content.

2. Around November, I went up to $18. These are my rates, not the 10% on top. Again, because I was building a portfolio of real work on OD, I was able to land better clients.

2. In Feb, I went up to $25 per hour ($27.50) charged to clients. When I did this, I have cgoten even more clients.

The big boys are out there. Real clients pay real rates. And I'd add a word of caution here: if you have a portfolio of 20 past jobs, that's great. But if they all pay $7 an hour, or $2 per article, the big guys won't hire you.

if you want a big fish, you use big bait. Don't be afraid to charge high rates. I've seen people on OD charging $150 per hour, and getting hired. I generally charge over $50 myself in fixed-price or non OD jobs. I'm working my way up the ladder, slowly and smartly.

if you don't value your work, others won't either. that's the long and short of it. ironically, I frequently get hired by non-US business people who desperately want an American with top writing skills. Funny, huh?

if you think you're competing with Indians working at $4 per hour, you're not thinking correctly. Don't focus on the bargain basement market.

Now, aside from the freelance sites, I'd recommend that you write a strong sales letter, include a custom short sample with it and send it to 20 or 30 businesses in your local area in an industry for which you have proven good work and can show samples.

Also, a final quick note: These are writing categories that generally pay well, and don't:

Well paid:
- website content
- sales copy
- press releases
- ebooks
- technical writing
- business plans
- financial, IT, real estate, service industries

Don't pay well:
- blogs
- articles
- product descriptions
- social posts

it can be scary to raise your rates and to not accept work. But you must believe in yourself and back it up. if you don't have a website of your own, create one. A good one, with great copy and great samples. Write 20 ezine articles on topics you know.

Hope this helps.

 

Believe me, you will NEVER change the mind of a low budget client. Some of them are broke and only have $50 to their name, but some of them only value content at slave labor.

It's best to ignore them. There are actually people out there who will hang up on you or refuse to even interview you if you tell them you write for $1 per 100 words. The first time I contacted a potential corporate client, he told me no when I told him $20 per article.

Why you ask?

"I'm afraid the quality will suck at that price."

What did he pay his usual writers? $100 per freaking article. That was my first eye opening experience that the only people who pay that cheap labor crap are the people looking for freebies. Job boards and forums are full of freebie seekers. The majority of corporate and small business clients probably have no idea that forums like this or freelancing boards even exist.

I think almost all the clients I ever met off of forums were small website owners just looking to start up a blog or niche site. I don't think I've ever actually met a corporate client off of a forum before (maybe others have).

I used to have a bulk client who was cheap as hell but I made $40 an hour off of him. Here's basically how the conversation went.

Client: "Idgaf how you do it, just get this shit done it's easy."
Client: "I need 500 of these send em in 10, 20 or w/e you want paid"
Me: "Alright, I'll get on it."
Client: "k peace"

That rarely happens. The majority of the cheaper clientele have a laundry list of requirements you have to stick to and they want you to spend as much time as possible crafting perfection. In order to make it as a cheap writer, you need constant work from people like that mentioned above. He was one of the coolest clients I've ever met and he has random tidbits of work now and then.

ALSO: Ignore all of those "Freelance Blogs" out there like The Writer's Den. The majority of them are just trying to sell you crap like access into some kind of Writer's Den that she promotes. It's amazingly difficult to find high paying clients on the internet because the majority of tech savvy clients have found forums like this and try to outsource their gold production needs to $1 writers.

As others have stated in the thread though, the more you charge, the more appealing you are to real clients that value content. No client that values content is going to take a $1 writer seriously or wants to waste their time with those people.

What's more appealing? Let's say you're looking for a copywriter to craft a page that'll make you rich.

You browse and see a horde of "I CAN HAS YOU JOB" and "dear hiring manager" posts for $1-$5 per hour.

Then, you come across the the $30-100 an hour profiles with seemingly professional pictures and native English skills.

Which one would you rather hire?

 

That was very informative coreygeer; I am really loving the twist that this conversation has taken, with everyone sharing their experience on the best way to score high paying clients.One notable thing from the conversation is that there are different ways to get such clients.Some are in support of Freelance sites but others are not.

 

Some people have had luck pulling high paying clients off of Freelance sites, but the majority of them are penny chasers.

It's just my experience that the majority of serious or professional clientele have no idea places like that even exist. They don't go looking for writers, writers come to them.

 

Thanks for sharing your story ScookAAM. Helps really.
I see that competing on prices is totally pointless. You might be able to grab a client or two quickly if you charge less, but it will not at all be worth the time and effort you spend. The best I think is to be confident about your quality and try to deliver the best you can. Know what kind of quality you offer and set rates based on that. Cheapos seem to get across the competition faster by bidding lowest, but they can never move up from there.
Luck is also necessary to come across really professional, nice-to-deal-with and well-paying clients. Not everyone will be lucky enough to get the perfect kind at the outset. But you can't just give up. Perseverance and patience are very necessary here. Even if you lose a couple of clients because they think your rates are higher, there is no need to be disappointed. You will certainly come upon better ones. The market is vast and opportunities are aplenty.
If you keep on charging in the low bracket, your portfolio will showcase that you are only worth the cheap rates and your chances to work with higher-paying clients are spoiled. It's an endless cycle. Charge low, get paid low. Then all that potential clients see is your low rates and think you are worth nothing more. They are unwilling to pay you better and this continues till you permanently get caught in the circle. Depressing indeed!

Again I thank you for your info on what pays well and what not. It will help to focus more on stuff that's more in demand and lucrative.

 

Thanks for the compliments, Maestro, even though there were a few typos in my post lol.

Figures.

 

What you conveyed matters much more for me than the typos.
(BTW, if you are really worried about those typos, there is an option to report the post and get them corrected.)

 

Here's another list for job leads for writers. It's at the Rat Race Rebellion It might be helpful, although I think the WAHM forum and ProBlogger job forum might be better. I also signed up with a paid membership to FlexJobs. I have it notify me daily for new photography jobs. Also, I read today (not sure where now) that expresswriters.com is currently hiring. Admittedly, I don't know much about them or if they're just a content mill. I work for Demand Studios, but as a photographer. I've heard some negative things about them by writers, but I like them personally. I go in the queue after the articles are already written and pick articles that I want to create images for. It's all right. Also, I'm still trying to get hired for that perfect transcription job. I'm not quite there but think I'll find an interesting one very soon.

http://www.ratracerebellion.com/jobs-writing.htm

Anyway, Mr.Sidney and Content Maestro it's fun talking to you both. Good luck with everything.

 

Thanks a lot for the info. Will check these sites out and see if I can hit upon something good.

Same here Rebecca. And all the best to you to especially for that perfect transcription job. Hope you get it soon.

 

I am also grateful, and good luck too.

 

Thanks! Another thing I thought of, you can get paid pretty well to write Photoshop tutorials. I think there is always a strong market for that if you know the software. I also found some more lists of where writers can make money at.

120+ sites that pay upto $150 for guest posts,make money writing:
http://seekdefo.com/make-money-writing-articles-sites-that-pay-up-to-150/

Over 30 Reliable Blogs That Pay $50+ For Your Guest Posts:
http://www.minterest.org/how-to-make-money-guest-blogging/

45+ More Websites that Pay You to Contribute an Article, Instantly:
http://www.writersincharge.com/more-websites-that-pay/

Best Article Writing Sites for Earning Money Online:
http://www.malleeblue.com/best-article-writing-sites-for-earning-money-online/

101 Best Websites To Make Money Writing Articles:
http://www.parvezsazzad.tk/2013/12/101-best-websites-to-make-money-writing.html

These lists are under a year old. There is lots of opportunity for writers.

 

Thanks Rebecca...really appreciate it.Where can I get the photoshop gigs?