Freelance writing skills are hot today, but always hotter if you have a niche

Writing and Editorial are some of the most in-demand freelance skills around at the moment, proving that you don’t have to be blessed with the very latest digital specialisms to be sought-after as a freelancer who supplies services over the internet, writes Xenios Thrasyvoulou, founder and CEO of PeoplePerHour.

But like Digital, Writing and Editorial are also highly competitive fields, which can occasionally have the tendency to bring charge rates down. There is plenty of reason for optimism however, if you find the right niche as a writer. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this category though, and unlike Digital, is how little things have changed in the last few years!

What's surging if you're a wordsmith

The top two most sought-after services provided in the Writing and Editorial market are SEO-optimised articles and Web Content. Both of these services have been in high demand for a number of years now, and seem unlikely to fall out of favour.

Commanding in the region of £40-50 per 500 words, SEO-optimised articles are used throughout the economic ecosystem. With Google indexing of ever-increasing value, SEO-rich copy is one of the best ways to get your business seen by the greatest number of people. This means the demand for accurate, skillful writing is unlikely to wane any time soon.

And it’s a similar story behind the strong call our clients are sounding for Web Content. While the likes of WordPress are making website creation accessible to everyone, you still need words to bring the site to life! For £40-50 per hour, you can hire a professional Web Content Writer. However, populating pages with SEO-friendly content isn’t always easy. That’s why quality Content Writers are in demand, because they make it look like it is!

Financial rewards for penning awards

Another lucrative area for writers is Awards Entry Pitches. It’s a niche area, and you wouldn’t imagine that there were enough awards around for someone to make a living writing pitches for them! But nowadays, an award can be seriously beneficial for any company, to the point that Pitch-Writing Experts are receiving anything up to £500 per entry for their work. Even if you just bag one buyer a week as a freelancer in this specialist space, that’s still a respectable income for the working hours involved.

Overall, Writing, Editorial and Editing remain areas very much open for freelance market exploitation. But where there are ups, there are also downs. And anyone who may previously have made a living writing CVs will probably be struggling about now. With an ever increasing move towards interactive CVs, business-social platforms and professional networking sites like LinkedIn, plus forms of digital résumé , the traditional CV is falling out of favour. With it, on that downward trajectory, are its CV Writer practitioners.

Final thought

Generally-speaking, the ability to write has long-been highly prized and frequently conducted independently on a self-employed basis. The freelance marketplace moving online and now maturing has simply served to increase opportunities within the sector. Get yourself a niche and those opportunities can turn golden.