10 Best Online Freelance Writing Courses (And Affordable!) (2024)

Congratulations on the decision to start making your passion your paycheck! This list of the 10 best freelance writing courses that won’t break the bank and will set you on the path to success.

2020 has been the year that´s helped so many people make this jump in their career and follow their passions, and you can too. Whether it´s for full independence or just dipping your toes in, you won’t regret getting involved in the freelance economy.

Should You Buy A Freelance Writing Course?

Freelance or content writing is definitely the best and easiest way to create a freelance career for your future (at least in my opinion, though I am biased!)

You might be wondering if an online course is worth it? With these top-rated and affordable online freelance writing courses, once you start getting jobs you can expect to start earning $10/$15 an hour.

This wage rises with the effort you put into your brand – Small Business Trends found Freelance Writers can earn over $76 an hour.

Considering how freelance writers only need their laptop and a wifi connection.

Anywhere can be your ´office´, a hammock on the beach, or your favorite spot on the sofa.

You don’t need to go to university or college to gain the wisdom to be able to make your brand stand out from the rest, nor do you need to work it out alone. There are plenty of courses available to you.

I´ve made a list of 10 of the best online courses for freelance writing from Udemy Academy, (something I wish I had had when I was looking for courses).

They all offer the skills you need to build a strong foundation and attract good clients and at a very affordable cost.

Some are for absolute beginners – others will help you with developing specific writing or client management skills. There’s a variety in the list, that’s the great thing about Udemy and the options they offer online.

As you learn and grow your skills you will also be able to grow your client base, there is no need to go to university to study marketing when you can get help from top professionals on Udemy.

1. The Complete Freelance Writing Online Course: Beginner to Pro

This is a fantastic course for those who know they have the skills for writing but need help to become a professional writer.

The information it provides is clear and concise and you will finish the course equipped with the tools you need to establish yourself. The course wants you to be able to break into freelancing with ease. Alongside the course materials of how to find and secure clients and the tricks and tools of the trade, you will find a selection of templates. If you have never had to create a client pitch or working agreement before, it’s a nice touch, don´t you think?

The course has five sections from starting up right through to the tips and tricks, here are some of the interesting topics, that help this course stand out:

Building Solid Foundations – ´Finding Your Niche´
How to Get Clients – ´How to Use Blogging to Attract Clients´
How to Write Effectively for the Online Market – ´How to Make Your Content Writing Search Engine Friendly´

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2. Freelance Writing Course:15 Courses in 1

I love how well rounded this course is. With an impressive number of modules about writing skills – it would be hard not to feel confident in your ability as a writer. And after all, confidence is key to success. The course will help you gain experience and get to grips with a variety of types of writing, identify what your strengths are and how to market these.

The course is extensive so I won’t post every topic here. It breaks down into 5 sections and in those are 215 short lectures. This seems like a lot, but when you consider that you will have lifetime access to this course, the value for money is amazing.

Those 5 sections are:

Essential Skills
Language Skills
Internet Skills
Content-Type
Earn Online

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3. Freelance Article Writing: Start a Freelance Writing Career!

You don’t need to have writing experience to join this course, this course anticipates what you will need to succeed. The instructor will actually help you to learn how to write engaging articles worthy of payment and start your career.

So the course helps you build a portfolio from scratch which you can take out to wow clients and start building regular clients.

And a special note about the fantastic instructor, Lex is relatable and encouraging. This is a perfect course for beginners, its information is clear and engaging.

The full spectrum of information includes:

4. Freelance Copywriting: Write Dirty. Go Big. Start Now!

Copywriting can be intimidating. Professionals will talk of the years of experience they have had working in internships and varying different roles. But that doesn´t have to be the case and it shouldn’t put you off from breaking into copywriting. This course uses well summarised practical information and you will teach you the skills you need to be a copywriter, with the most important elements of copy as well as persuasion tactics.

This course is led by Lex who creates other easy to follow courses in this round-up. He’s a great, confident instructor who is easy to relate to and has a great teaching style that makes the information relatable.

Here’s an example of some of the content you will be instructed on in the course

How to Become a Freelance Copywriter
The Three Most Important Elements of Copywriting
The Ability to Tell the Right Story
Who Do These Freaks and Readers Need Me to Be?
How Will I Find Clients Who Will Pay Me?

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5. Freelance Copywriting: How To Succeed As An Elite Copywriter

If you have been wanting to turn your hobby into your career for a while this is the course that will help harness your ability and engage with clients. You will learn how to attract the best clients and get recognised as a serious player in the field even if you had no previous experience as a freelancer.

The Instructor makes difficult concepts within the course easy to understand, and gives insightful and down to earth suggestions. This course will make you confident about your ability to use the strategies and insights you gain in this course.

As I said, this course caters towards those who already have a high level of writing skills, the topics covered in this course are

Succeeding financially as a writer
How to charge your clients
Finding your niche as a writer
How and where to find writing jobs
Presenting a professional image as a writer

6. Start a Profitable Freelance Writing Business In 5 Weeks

Aimed at writers who are ready to turn their talent into serious cash, you need to be willing to put the effort. But if you are already looking into these courses, I don´t think you need to worry about satisfying that need.

This is great value for money when you look at all the content included in this in-depth course from the Instructor Arfa Saira Iqbal. She shares her incredible journey and the invaluable experience she has gained along with it.

Arfa offers great practical advice about how to find markets that aren´t saturated with competition. You will learn how to advertise yourself as an expert, create consistent sources of income and even creating a more organised environment for you to maximise your potential, Arfa offers a course that is the A-Z of how to break into the Freelance Writing industry.

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7. Freelance Writing for Beginners

Laura Brown is a successful Freelance Writer with thirty years of experience behind her. She shares her advice on how professional Freelance Writers avoid traps of having to take on low paying jobs by knowing what works and what doesn´t when it comes to business.

It’s a short course in comparison to others on this list, but it´s concise, which is its charm. If you already have lots of confidence about your skillset this will compliment nicely. Have a look at some of the topics, Laura instructs in the course:

Get Started (including ´Setting Yourself Up for Success´ and ´Understanding the Market–Types of Freelance Writing Jobs´).
Getting Work (´How to Get Clips for Your Portfolio´ and ´Your Website´).
Succeeding as a Freelancer (´Working Productively with Your Clients´, ´How to Get Paid for Your Work–Quickly and Without Drama´).

8. Freelance Writing 101: Start Your Successful Writing Career

An easy to understand and impressive course with an instructor who knows the subject extremely well. This beginner´s course is short and sweet, so you will not be intimidated by the amount of information.

The course offers some a full section on skills writing for absolute beginners, ´Optimizing Your Tone & Vocabulary´ to ´How Grammatical Errors Can Cripple Your Writing´, so don´t let a fear of the Oxford Comma keep you from becoming a professional writer.

For such a short course (a total of 1 hour and 19 minutes of video) there are plenty of topics covered of the journey you will take to become successful as a Freelance Writer:

Freelance Writing Basics: Understanding the Basics
Finding Your Niche
Building a Portfolio
Doing the work

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9. Freelance Writing: Start Your Freelance Writing Career

Nader Nadernajad is an enthusiastic instructor who has has a successful career in digital marketing. He offers his expert advice on how to promote yourself, your content, pitch, and ultimately market yourself as a top tier Freelancer.

Nadar gives more advice about where to promote yourself and find work as a writer than other instructors, but he doesn’t offer advice on how to write. It’s an amazing course if you already have the talent.

That’s not to say absolute beginners should steer clear, this course in tandem with other writing courses would be a winning combination. Just look at the course content:

All About Writing Clients (Where they come from, maintaining relations)
Freelance Platforms for Writers
Marketing Your Writing
Pitching Your Writing to the Media

10. How to Begin and Sustain a Career as a Freelance Writer

A well-presented course offered by Brian Cliette, a Digital Growth Marketer. His lively and enthusiastic approach to teaching helps make the content accessible. Aimed at those who are already writing and are searching for guidance about getting into the business. Brian draws on his own experiences as a Freelancer to offer real-life examples of the ups and downs of freelancing to better prepare you for how to navigate the challenges.

With 2 hours of video and plenty of downloadable material at your disposal its a great course if you are nervous about being unprepared for freelancing and organising your own business affairs. I´d recommend having a look at the course closely to see the full list of topics but have a look at a few here:

How to Start Your Freelancing Career
How to Open Up More Freelancing Options?
How to Find Golden Clients
If I want to Become an Entrepreneur Where Do I Start?

Conclusion To The 10 Best Freelance Writing Courses!

I hope you’ve seen something that fits you,or at the least, you have a good understanding of what to look for in freelance writing courses. Every Instructor and the knowledge and experience from their experience will aid the rapid growth of your own freelance writing business.

Now it’s up to you to take action, invest in yourself. Once you start using the skills you’ve learnt you will easily pay off the cost of these freelance writer courses with the first client you get, the success of your business depends on what you act on today.