I've recently talked to a freelance writer who decided to set up a personal website to offer essay writing services. He was frustrated because the effort hasn't brought him enough clients (at least in his view).

Here is my personal list of reasons why individual freelance writers fail to take their essay writing business to the next level:

- Some writers think that building a website is sufficient to succeed.

In fact, it's just the first step. There are thousands of similar websites competing for the same clients. If you already have a website, your next step should be to market it (online, offline, or both). I know, it's not an easy job, but it's the essential part of an online business.

- Some writers are afraid to take risks and try out new things.

They prefer to "save" $100 and hope for the best rather than to invest $100 into something that may bring them or their websites more popularity = more clients. Not to mention some freelancers who are unwilling to spend $8 to buy their own domain name because they think it's not worth it.

- Some writers think a good customer service is not important.

They assume their job is to write, not to pamper their clients or to reply to emails in a timely fashion. In a way they are right, but is this a good way of building a strong customer relationship? Clients don't care you are a one-man show; they expect a little more from a professional writing service.

- Some writers think they can work whenever they please.

The fact is, they should work whenever clients need them. Taking a month off during the high season or ignoring customer requests just because you have enough jobs for the next week is unlikely to make you successful.

- Some writers think they can hire cheap writers to bring more business.

It is tempting to take more orders than you can complete and try to find some other writer (usually from a foreign and cheaper country) to complete the project for less. However, it can backfire pretty quickly (especially if you fail to actually read the paper and check it for proper grammar, research, and plagiarism).

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Are there any more points to help academic freelance writers be more successful? :)

The following are some questions to current (or former) sample academic researchers or writers. Why are you in this specific writing business field?

A) I tried other writing fields but I failed.

B) I find example example academic research more interesting/less demanding than other fields.

C) My colleague has persuaded me that working in the academic research field may be more interesting.

D) I've always got straight A-s in college, so writing example research papers seemed like mixing business with pleasure.

E) I hope academic paper orders will supplement my income.

F) I've always loved working with students and realizing my tutoring help makes will prepare them to their professional lives.

G) It's just business as usual - for me it's no different than proofreading or editing manuscripts.

H) Something else not covered above?

:)