One question I get from folks just starting out is where to find paying clients. This winter and early spring, I’m going a series on different kinds of paid writing work available for those of us who can turn a phrase.

Legal SEO Writing

Some law firms — usually personal injury, medical malpractice and similar genres of lawyers — use SEO-rich articles to attract customers who have been injured or otherwise harmed. Somebody has to write these articles, and it might as well be you.

The job involves writing 400 to 700 words about a narrow topic related to potential or ongoing lawsuits. You’ll keep the language as “just the facts” as possible, and stuff each paragraph with a handful of keywords the firm’s computer spat out after analyzing current trends in web traffic.

http://www.personalinjuryattorney.org is a solid example of this kind of writing. Browse through the site to see the kinds of articles you would turn out doing this kind of work. Right now, these gigs pay between $15 and $25 per article.

Pros: Large body of available work. Many potential clients.  Great opportunity for entry-level work.

Cons: It’s kind of boring, and repetitive. Low pay as compared to other opportunities.