by Aqeel Syed on March 29, 2009
People often asks me different questions about online freelance work, Yashwant Senha from New Delhi has asked a few questions through email. They are very commonly asked questions, I’d answered these questions in this post. This post also provides good basic information for freelancing newbies.
Yashwant asked, “Can I really make money as freelance writer?”
Yes off course, it is possible to earn a decent amount of money from freelance writing. Some may even make a full time income as a writer. There are many successful freelance writers, many of those I know are from India and Pakistan. They are making their living by freelance writing.
Yashwant also asked, “How much I get paid for an article?”
There are many variables to it like quality of article, its length, to whom you are selling it, location of your client (region), place of contact etc.
Article Size: Rule of thumb for freelance writing is pay per word, on average people who get work from freelance sites get paid 1 – 5 cents/word. So if you write a 500 word article for a client, you can earn $5 – $25 USD per article depending on its quality.
Quality: Clients can pay you 1 – 5 cents or even more depending on quality of article. If you have good copyrighting skills you can do very well in freelance writing.
Location: For example clients from Western Europe and North America pay higher then clients from China or India.
Place of contact: This is a very important factor but mostly ignored by freelancers. If you got contacted through DigitalPoint Forums chances are you will be paid peanuts like $1 USD per 500 word article versus ProBlogger Job board or SmashingMagazine Job board. Point is that you’re marketing directly to end customers or your clients are resellers. There is a new breed of contractors growing with econom crises. They are resellers, they get work from small & mid size businesses & individuals from USA/Canada/EU and then get it completed through freelancers in Asia. These middleman earn from you, they keep 70 – 80% of fee. They pay you peanuts for working with them. So beware of them. However if they pay peanuts, they get monkeys 
Quality writers always prefer quality job boards & sites.
3rd question from Yashwant, “How I will get paid?”
There are many international payment methods like PayPal, MoneyBookers, Escrow, Bank/wire Transfer or even you can have your own MasterCard through Payoneer.
I hope it help you Yashwant and our readers, wish you best of luck with your freelance writing endeavors 
by Aqeel Syed on March 27, 2009
Its quite a time since I learned about freelancing, about 5 years! But I started working as a freelance blogger/blog designer 3 years ago. I love freelancing and recommend it to others. Before starting freelancing I had a clear concept of what I’m going to do but many people struggle to understand freelancing. This guide is specifically written for freelancing newbies.
So What is a Freelancer?
A freelancer is a person who is self employed. Freelance work is used in many different professions, but most commonly a freelancer works in the fields of writing and editing, photography, web design, graphic arts, or computer programming. In any given profession, freelancers sell or contract their work to a client rather than being employed by a business. You had listened about “Work from Home”, freelancing is working from home.
Who Can Freelance?
I was not able to find a job for myself in IT sector as I was a student, wherever I went I was asked for 3 – 5 years of experience. I’d enough experience of building blogs & web design but no one was interested in my skills in Pakistan.
Ah! I guess I was very lucky to stumble into freelancing and it worked great for me 
(Hope for you also).
Things You Should Know!
If you have decided to work as a freelancer, you need to know following things.
- You need to have good English Writing & Reading Skills (its a must, as you have to do all sort of things yourself, contacting potential customers, marketing your skills, providing customer service on projects acquired, creating reports, if you can communicate well, you have a good chance to be a successful freelancer.
- As a freelancer you can find many jobs of different categories like Writing, PHP coding, ASP and .NET coding, C++ related jobs, Web Design, Graphics Design or even Research or Data Entry jobs. Bottom line is that you can find a job in your field of interest but you must need to have some sort of specialty.
Where to Freelance?
You can find freelance jobs from a freelance website like GetAFreelance.com, there are dozens of freelance job sites. Some are free to join, some require membership fee but beware of scam sites. GetAFreelance.com is free to join freelance site, so its good for you to start.
Do you find this article helpful? You can express your thoughts through comments section and if you have any question, please feel free to ask.
by Aqeel Syed on March 26, 2009
Shankar asked,
PLease do clarify what if none of the ads is being clicked by any of the visitors?… But for instance,the page is having a lot of visitors… Will adsense pay just for displaying ads on a page – which is viewed by lot of ppl?
You’re asking about CPM ads. CPM stands for “cost per 1000 impressions.” Advertisers running CPM ads set their desired price per 1000 ads served and pay each time their ad appears.
CPM ads can only be server on a page if a Adwords advertiser bid for placing CPM ads and place higher bid then CPC ads. So it is a rare scenario, that you get CPM ads on your pages.
My experience is CPM ads yeild high revenue, even some time tripple the CPC ads. CPM ads in Google Adsense compete against pay-per-click (or CPC, cost per click) ads in the ad auction, so only the highest performing ads will be served to your pages. If an advertiser wants to specifically target your site, they will need to bid high enough to beat out the CPC ads that are already in the auction in order to show up on your page. Google pays you each time a CPM ad is shown on your page. But you won’t earn additional revenue for clicks on these ads.
If you’re interested in CPM ads, there are many CPM alternatives to Adsense, Problogger has a good list here of Adsense CPM alternatives.
by Aqeel Syed on March 25, 2009
Well I’m still remembering Syria, land of culture and history. Here is my short review of Syria and specially Damascus.
It is where the first alphabet was conceived, where the first written musical note was discovered, and where wheat was first cultivated.
Syria’s rich and varied history has left lasting legacies, which are as diverse as they are remarkable. Syria will always surprise and delight. It is not necessary to travel all over the country to appreciate archaeology. There is enough in Damascus to keep you occupied for at least one holiday. After all, this is the world’s oldest inhabited city and is in itself a living museum.
From the moment you arrive in Syria, it is clear that this is a country very different from its neighbors and the rest of the Arab world. The Arabic hospitality is still present wherever you go, but the openness of the society also makes it quite unique.
The main appeal of Syria is its archaeological sites. Home to 39 civilizations over 16,000 years, Syria is a lost treasure awaiting rediscovery.
A short car journey outside Damascus is the ancient village of Maaloula, a mere 50 kilometers from the capital, which is one of only three places left in the world where the inhabitants still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ.
Jordan has Petra, Egypt has Luxor and Aleppo is the jewel in Syria’s crown. It is a city with a history dating back to the 3rd millennium BC and was once a renowned stop on the trading route linking east and west.
by Aqeel Syed on March 24, 2009
I was on an unannounced holiday visiting Damscus (Syria). I was not able to reply to questions asked by readers, I’m back and going to make regular blog posts.
Thank you all for writing.
- Aqeel
