Can you make money online as a writer? Yes, you most certainly can. The key is to understand the best approach to picking up long term writing clients. Let's take a look at the best method for doing so.
Emphasize Quality
The single most important thing you can do to build a client base is to emphasize quality in your articles and content. Google has really changed the way that content is developed online these days. Specifically, the Panda update and later developments placed a real emphasis on quality writing versus simple and spun articles. The longer, more detailed and better written the content, the more Google will favor it. If you can supply your clients with this kind of content, they will come back time and again. Let's take a look at how to go about providing them with quality content.
Clarify
The first step to take is to clarify exactly what the client is looking for in the project. Clients will often fail to mention specifics that they have in mind. When the final result doesn't meet with their unspoken requirements, they often blame you. To avoid such scenarios, I suggest that you always develop an outline of the article you intend to write and then forward it to the client to make sure it meets their expectations. I've found this prevents misunderstandings from happening, which is to your benefit both because the client is happy and because you don't have to end up rewriting large parts of the article.
Research
The next step is to really research your project. Although some clients want generalities, most these days want to see specific information on the subject in question. One tip that can really help you deliver value in your articles is to do a search for the keyword plus the word "study". This should give you a list of studies done on the subject in question. There are often studies even for the most esoteric of subjects. If you can find one that works with the approach your client wants to take, it can really set you apart from other writers in their mind. That's how you develop client relationships that last a long time.
Outline
Once you have done the research, the next step is to create an outline for your article or content. Some people prefer a general outline while other writers favor greater detail. It doesn't really matter which approach you take so long as you take one of them. An outline is great because it allows you to think through the article without simply jumping into the writing and then having to change it later. You can play around with the order of subjects and how you want the content to flow from subject to subject. If you don't do outlines now, I suggest you try it. You will be amazed how much improvement there is in the content you produce.
Writing
Finally we get to writing. Everybody has their own specific technique for writing articles and content. I am not going to make any suggestions regarding one being better than the other. The one thing I would mention, however, is if you do a large number of articles per day it may make sense to look at voice-to-text options. There are a number of different programs out there that will let you essentially dictate your content. I am using Dragon NaturallySpeaking for this article, but Microsoft offers a free voice-to-text version that comes with Windows 7 as well. Regardless, taking the voice approach can really help save your forearms and wrists over time.
Proofread
The final step in turning out quality content is to proofread what you've written. Once I've completed writing an article, I will often do something else for the next 5 to 10 minutes. Then I will come back to the article and proofread it. While it is tempting to simply use the spell and grammar check commands on most word processors, you should never just rely on these. Run them once, and then make sure to read the article in detail. Once that's done, wait a bit and come back in proofread it one more time. After doing it twice, the article should be in excellent shape.
There are many people who feel that article writing may be a thing of the past. I tend to disagree. While building up links for SEO purposes through article distribution may have taken a hit, the other side of getting a site ranked is having quality content. To do this, your clients need a quality writer. Follow the steps mentioned above, and they will have one.