If you have a way with words, there are many ways you can turn your skills into a career or even a business. Launching a writing service can be an excellent idea if you find a niche where your talents are needed. You can provide both B2C and B2B services and they could range from business writing to academic or even creative writing. If you have a range of writing skills, or you’re willing to learn something new, you have lots of choices for what services you could provide. Look at some of the examples below to help you decide what to do.
Content Writing
In a business world where the internet is king, it’s all about content writing. Companies need content for their websites and often develop content marketing strategies. Content writing services can sometimes offer a broad range of different materials. You might sell writing for web pages or blog posts, or create ebooks, or perhaps you could write educational materials. There are a lot of content writing services out there, so you might be competing with a lot of others. Prices are competitive too, especially with cheap global services in the mix. One way to make yourself stand out is to pick one thing to do and do it extremely well. You might write content just for ecommerce sites or only do business profiles and bios.
Blog Writing
Blog writing can sometimes be seen as separate from content writing. There are a number of different reasons people want blog posts. Many businesses have a blog on their site, and they need someone to maintain it for SEO purposes. Others run a blog or several of them as their primary income and need help with the content. Guest blogs are also required for many people. Others need sponsored posts to help them get backlinks. As a blog writer, you might run your own blog and also offer your services to others. There are many ways you can make money with your own blog, as well as branching out to provide for other blogs. Visit Problogger.net for the best tips on writing a killer blog post.
Social Media Writing
While being a social media marketer is largely a marketing position, you also need a way with words. Someone who is in charge of a brand’s social media account needs to know their voice. They should be able to connect with customers in a way that works for the brand. Writing social media posts involves more than just crafting creative tweets and posts too. You need to get a number of factors right, from using links and images to timing your posts correctly. If you want to work with social media, you need to be familiar and comfortable with your chosen channels.
Academic Writing
If you excelled at writing in college, you might consider offering academic writing services. You can write essays, reports, and even dissertations for students. Take a look at Privatewriting.com to see an example of one of these services. Your website could also provide advice on academic writing. Perhaps you could even have a subscription service to access it. When you start out, you’re likely to offer writing in a subject or subjects that you have expertise in. As you grow, you can hire other writers who can write about different topics. Many services will require their writers to have at least a bachelor’s degree in the subject or relevant work experience.
Creative Writing
For some people, commercial writing isn’t what they want to do. If you prefer to be more creative, you might consider offering fiction or poetry services. This type of service is often not as lucrative. One way you can make it more viable is by providing your services to creative writing students. You might also advertise your services to anyone who might want to buy a story or poem as a gift. For example, some people sell love poems on Valentine’s Day. People often want ghostwriters to help them write a novel or memoir too.
Technical Writing
If you have some technical knowledge, or you’re an excellent researcher, you could be a technical writer. Manual writing could be one of the things that your service provides. You’re likely to pick a particular industry in which you feel you have a lot of knowledge and experience. If you find it easy to pick up jargon, and you’re excellent at researching, you might not limit yourself. Your writing could extend beyond manuals too. Perhaps you could write product descriptions and other materials where technical knowledge is necessary.
Copywriting
Copywriting services can offer writing for a range of different advertising media. They can also include writing for a variety of materials, from brochures to websites. The difference between copy and content is that copy can be seen as more sales focused. Content aims to engage the reader more, whereas copy is more informative. Although content might also try to boost sales, it isn’t necessarily the primary purpose. Some people might say that copy is more appropriate for print materials. Whereas, content should be used online. Copy doesn’t necessarily engage the reader in a dialogue or have a conversational tone.
PR Writing
Some writing services offer press releases and similar materials as their primary product. If you have some knowledge of public relations, you might consider this option. Some people choose to provide press release writing alongside other PR services. For example, as well as writing press releases, you could also sell PR distribution. You can distribute the material you write and do the same for anything written by someone else. Some PR services offer copywriting too. It can be useful for anyone who wants to get all their writing in the same place. Writing good press releases requires you to know a little about the press and what they need to know. You should also have good contacts to help you distribute material.
You have many options if you want to set up a business offering writing services. Think about your expertise and interests to work out which is best for you.
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