How to Land Freelance Writing Jobs for Beginners

You can land freelance writing jobs for beginners by mastering in-demand skills, building a small portfolio, and pitching with strategy. Focus your energy on vetted job platforms and send value-driven, custom pitches often.

When I first started looking for freelance writing jobs for beginners, I had no clue what I was doing. My first paid gig paid a whopping $1.25 for a 500-word article, and I wrote five of these articles per week. The job came from a client who knew I was brand new to freelance writing and took full advantage of it. I didn’t realize better work even existed, or that beginners could earn real money writing online. And I had no one to teach me otherwise.

It took years, and plenty of low-pay lessons, to finally figure out how to find quality work, quality clients, and what clients actually value. They don’t pay for pretty sentences; they pay for strategy, consistency, and results. Once I learned how to write for their goals — not just my love of words — everything changed.

Now I’m giving back. You can still land good-paying work as a beginning writer, even today. This guide shows where to find freelance writing jobs that actually pay, and which skills clients value most today.

Define the skills that sell

If you want someone to hand you money for your words, then you need more than grammar and spellcheck and the ability to form a sentence. Clients crave writers who can shape content that drives real results, and that means sharpening a few core skills:

• Research that goes deeper than Google’s first page
• SEO basics so your work actually gets found
• Content that aligns with the reader’s intent
• Content that aligns with EEAT: Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust
• The ability to switch tones from casual and friendly to polished and professional
• Excellent grammar, spelling, and punctuation
• Knowledge of a standard style guide, like the Associated Press Stylebook
• Time management to hit deadlines in advance and without panic
• Clear communication to keep clients in the loop and confident in your work
• The ability to write strong headlines, opening hooks, calls to action, and content that engages readers
• Basic graphic design skills
• Basic technical and copywriting skills
• Sometimes…basic HTML and CSS skills (depending on what you’re writing)
• Basic AI prompting and how to use AI the right way. (Hint: It’s a tool to assist, not to replace human writing)

Yes, that was a long list. However, these skills aren’t optional; they’re your currency in the online writing world. They’re also an investment in yourself, your career, and your future.

The good news is that you can gain or sharpen these skills without blowing your budget. And free and low‑cost resources abound. Let’s go over some of my top recommendations for resources:

HubSpot Academy

One of my favorites, HubSpot Academy, offers excellent and free beginner courses on content marketing and SEO. These are video courses with downloadable PDFs so you can follow along and reinforce learning. Some courses even offer a kind of forum, allowing you to interact with others taking the course. And HubSpot Academy offers a completion certificate for many courses, which looks nice on a CV, resume, or LinkedIn profile later.

Copy Pro Academy

Carmine Mastropierro offers eight free courses and templates on copywriting. There are also more in-depth courses available for purchase individually or as part of his Copy Academy (at a very reasonable monthly subscription, currently set at $10 a month as of the time I wrote this article).

Carmine looks flashy in his website photos, but he doesn’t overpromise. Instead, he offers the basic skills to grow your expertise. And he’s got a great blog that covers many of the topics.

Yes, the landing page suggests you could earn six figures with these skills. That’s legit. You likely won’t do it straight out of the box, but the skills and some practice to hone them will place you on the path to get there. Don’t believe me? Do your own research. Look at Indeed or LinkedIn jobs to see what 9-5 employers are offering copywriters with the right skills and experience.

Popular Online Courses

Platforms like Udemy and Skillshare are packed with affordable classes taught by industry pros. And if you prefer a structured approach, Coursera offers university-backed courses that you can audit for free, along with an extensive library of additional classes that you can take if you choose to subscribe.

And if you choose a paid course? Most are quite affordable. With a free Udemy profile, you can often grab courses at a discount. (I love the way that word rolls off the tongue, don’t you?) So, sign up for a free profile and look around for courses that interest you. I recently snagged an Amazon affiliate marketing course by Tim Sharp for less than $20. That same course would’ve cost me $99 at full price!

Yoast Academy

I’ll be honest — I’ve broken more than one blog page in the beginning. I messed up URLs, deleted pages I shouldn’t have, and thought I’d just start fresh. You can’t. Every broken link creates a 404 error, which wrecks your reader’s experience and tells Google your site’s a hot mess. And when I don’t know how to fix them manually, either. Let’s just say coding isn’t my love language.

That’s where Yoast Academy changed things for me. Their courses walk you through everything from writing SEO-friendly blog posts to improving site structure and understanding search intent — all taught by the SEO pros behind the Yoast plugin itself. It’s beginner-friendly but still sharp enough to grow with you.

And if you’re serious about ranking, you’ll eventually want Yoast Premium, like I did. Yes, it costs a bit, but it’s worth every penny. When I need to change a URL, it automatically creates the redirect for me — no errors, no headaches, just a smoother experience for my readers. It quietly saves your blog (and your sanity) behind the scenes.

The Freelance Writer’s Den

Here’s another favorite resource of mine. If you’re ready to invest in a community and training, I highly recommend The Freelance Writer’s Den. Yes, there’s a subscription fee, but I’ve been a member since 2017 and loved every minute of it. It’s packed with bootcamps, podcasts, forums, resources, and expert peer support that can seriously fast-track your skills.

Websites and Blogs

Writers who prefer bite‑sized lessons often find Grammarly’s blog surprisingly practical. I also follow and have written for the Make a Living Writing blog. Neil Patel’s blog, Search Engine Land, and Content Marketing Institute’s blog are also fantastic resources.

Choose a resource to start with. Commit to learning. Then keep practicing until your skills become second nature.

Show proof you can deliver

Learning the skills is one thing; showing proof you can deliver is another. Consistently meeting deadlines is another. Any writer who cannot meet deadlines soon finds themselves with unhappy clients, or worse…out of work. However, you don’t need a fancy degree or decades of experience to prove your worth. What you do need are solid samples and a little credibility‑building. And I highly recommend not just hitting deadlines, but submitting ahead of them every single time.

Start by creating two or three writing pieces in niches you’d love to work in. These can live on a personal blog, a free Medium account, or even a free Wix or Muck Rack portfolio site. However, if you choose Medium, you can build a larger audience of readers, which will demonstrate your ability to appeal to a broader audience.

Once you have a few samples, you’ve got proof. Proof gets you noticed — and proof gets you paid.

Find real jobs, not scams

This is where things can become messy for both beginners and more experienced writers. The internet is flooded with job boards, websites, and self-proclaimed “experts” promising quick cash. Many are either scams or low-paying gigs that pay pennies on the dollar. However, your time is worth more than that. So, carefully vet your resources before using them.

Skip sites that churn out content mills and focus on trusted places where real clients post. Here are some great options where I’ve had success:

• BloggingPro
• Clearvoice
• FlexJobs
• Freelance Writing Jobs
• Make a Living Writing
• Mediabistro
• nDash
• ProBlogger Jobs
• Reddit’s r/ForHire
• WorkGenius
• WriteJobs Plus
• LinkedIn Jobs or Indeed for broader exposure

Tailor your searches to content writing and marketing. And remember: legit clients don’t ask you to pay to apply, don’t demand unpaid “tests” that look suspiciously like full projects, and won’t ghost you after contracts are signed. Protect your energy and choose wisely.

This is especially true if you’re chasing freelance writing jobs for beginners — the right platforms mean the difference between earning pennies and a steady income.

Pitch smarter, not harder

Now comes the part that makes most beginners squirm — sending pitches. But pitching doesn’t have to feel like begging for work. Think of it as problem‑solving: you’re showing a potential client how your words can help them reach their goals.

Here’s how to keep it simple:

• Research the company or editor so your pitch feels personal, not generic.
• Don’t send a pitch for a topic the company or publication doesn’t cover!
• Know who to pitch to. The CEO, marketing director, and other writers are not it.
• Lead with value: explain what you can do for them, not what you want from them.
• Share one or two strong samples from your portfolio or CV instead of unloading everything.
• Keep it short — nobody has time for a 1,000‑word life story.
• Follow up once after a week or so. Professional persistence beats sending daily emails.

The secret lies in making pitching a daily or weekly habit. Ten minutes a day spent pitching is better than a once‑a‑month marathon. The more consistent you are, the faster you’ll land clients who actually pay well. And don’t get discouraged! It often takes many pitches to land something. My first decent assignment took nearly 100 pitches. Perseverance pays off, and rejections are part of the territory for all writers, beginners and advanced.

Freelance Writing FAQs

Starting your freelance writing journey? These FAQs break down what beginners really need to know to land gigs and get paid.

Start freelance writing jobs for beginners today

I still remember the first time I hit “send” on a writing pitch. My hands were shaking, my stomach was in knots, and I was sure I’d made a dozen rookie mistakes. I did. But that tiny moment — clicking send on something I wasn’t even confident about — was the start of everything that came next.

You don’t need years of experience or a flawless portfolio to earn money as a writer. What you need is the guts to show up, learn fast, and keep delivering…on time, every time. Every pitch, every post, every awkward first draft teaches you something new.

The online writing world is still wide open. Your first client might be only a few emails away. Stay consistent. Keep learning. Treat every job like it matters because it does. That’s how a side hustle turns into a steady income, and how a dream turns into a real, working life. Had I given up on my dream of a writing life back in 2014, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Your next “send” could be the one that changes everything.

Did this guide help you? Want to stay connected? If so, then subscribe to the Frugal Hen blog for no‑fluff guides, practical strategies, and tips to grow your writing career without wasting time or money.

Image Credit: © relif from Getty Images via Canva.com | © Golib via Canva.com | © tumsasedgars from Getty Images via Canva.com

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