PREFACE

I've been a freelance writer since 1993. In 2007, I stumbled upon SEO writing, a form of web writing. I say “stumbled” because in my daily marketing for jobs, I kept running into ads for “article writers,” “SEO article writers,” and “SEO content providers.”

Now, most of them paid slave wages (eg, $3 for 500 words), but there were so many of them that it forced me to do some digging to find out what this freelance writing niche was all about. Once I did, I knew I could make a go of it.

Why I Wrote This Ebook

I had immediate success as a web/SEO writer. Literally, within a couple of months, I had to hire other freelancers to outsource work to. Then, because I started blogging about this new niche, readers started sending in questions, eg:

What is SEO writing;

How can I find article writing jobs;

How much should I charge for SEO article writing;

What skills do I need to become an SEO content writer;

How do I find clients who need SEO content; and

On and on and on.

So, I wrote an ebook entitled, How to Make $250+/Day Writing Simple, 500-Word Articles. Once this ebook was published, it was like it made me an instant “SEO writing guru,” and even more questions poured in. So, I started a blog specifically for freelance SEO writers (http://SeoWritingJobs.com). Week in and week out, questions are asked and answered there, and it’s become a go-to source for new and aspiring SEO writers.

Who This Information Can Help

Hence, the information here is for existing/aspiring web writers who want to know how to earn upwards of $100,000, which is pretty easy to do. Proof?

I had one SEO writer email me from the Philippines. He’s American, but lived and worked in the Philippines because of family. On 2/18/2011, he wrote:

Hi Yuwanda,

I don’t think I mentioned this to you before, but I currently live with my wife’s family in the Philippines. We moved here out of necessity-we are adopting a non- orphan child and the only way to complete it was to live in this country for 3 years before starting the adoption. For most of the time here, we’ve been living off our savings, while I’ve been searching for a way to make money online to help support us.

Thankfully, a friend I met in one of the forums recommended your ebook [on SEO writing] to me and has been mentoring me on much of the details ever since, which has helped me to reach the point now where I have consistent weekly cash flow.

The reason I mention all this is I wanted to know what you know about the tax implications of living abroad. I have heard that if you are a US citizen and you live abroad, you are exempt for like the first $90k or something in income. This has never been an issue in the past, but this year it definitely will be. I was wondering if you could post sometime about how you handle your taxes and if you are able to qualify for this tax exemption.

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I want to point out that this freelancer started his SEO writing career in and around November of 2010. I’m writing this ebook in November of 2011. So, it’s totally possible to earn six figures your first year in this business.

Question from a Fellow Freelancer: How to Earn 6 Figures as a Freelance SEO Writer

What inspired this ebook was a question from another freelance SEO writer. She emailed me the following:

I know you write a lot about marketing etc., etc., but I am really curious to know what you did to make your first 6 figures and how long did it take. Did you have a strategic plan, or just wing it? I am really thirsty to hit the 6 figure mark within the next 6-12 months.

Do you have an ebook that details that? If so, please send me the link and I will purchase it :)

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So, following are my keys/insights/tips to how to hit the six-figure mark as a web/SEO freelance writer.

Note: Although the discussion here centers around SEO/web writing, the advice is applicable to any type of freelance writing career you want to start – online or off.