As I told you yesterday, gaining expert status is one of the quickest ways to succeed as a freelancer. You’ll attract more clients, get more projects, and as a result, make more money.

In short, you’ll be living the writer’s life, with the ability to set your own schedule, pick and choose your projects, and more. And today, I’ll show you how to boost your expert status even more to make living that ideal life a reality.

1. Money-Making Websites

A money-making website is an informational website on a topic you’re interested in. It’s created to attract visitors who are searching the Internet for information on your topic.

Once these visitors find your website, you get paid when they buy the products mentioned on your site. And it’s passive income, which means you make money even when you’re not working. All you have to do is the initial setup and add content on a regular basis – which is as simple as writing a short article here and there.

I once heard it explained as, “Like a paid vacation.” I thought that was a great analogy. If that appeals to you, you might consider a money-making website.

Another benefit of a money-making website is you’ll be seen as an expert in that niche.

Let’s say your money-making website is on marketing. Because you’ll write blog posts every week to grow your marketing website, your visitors will view you as the expert.

This expert status can then turn into more passive income through more visitors to your money-making website, or you can use it to get clients who need marketing help … or both.

There are a lot of options when it comes to creating a money-making website. You could pick a niche that has nothing to do with writing – like growing tomatoes.

Or you could pick a niche that is all about writing – like how to get your book published.

Either way, your money-making website will bring in passive income for you and function as an impressive case study of your expertise.

And the more you write, the more you’ll grow as an expert.

2. Self-Publishing Info Products

Another way to enhance your expert status and make money writing is by creating your own information products and self-publishing them.

An information product (or info product) is a book, e-book, CD, audio recording, or video that provides advice and information. They can be anything from a few-page report to a several-hundred-page course, complete with worksheets and video lessons.

I’ve been creating info products for my clients for years – on topics ranging from social media to building WordPress websites – and I’ve decided it’s time for me to write my own info product.

Having your own info product will give you expert status in your niche, but it’s also a great standalone way to live the writer’s life.

Like a money-making website, self-publishing your own info product is a way to make passive income because sales will come in whether you’re working or not.

With low overhead, low investment, and minimal time required to capture your own expertise into an info product, it’s also a fantastic way to take advantage of (and show off) your writing skills.

3. Copywriting

Copywriting is, in my opinion, the best way to live the writer’s life. If you want to be a freelance writer who makes a killer living doing what you love, I encourage you to spend some time learning the art of persuasive writing.

Copywriting is a huge industry, with businesses hungrier than ever for writers who can produce results. They need all kinds of copy … and they’re looking for experts who can help them with their specific needs. That’s why specializing in a certain type of copy will help you gain expert status and propel you to success even faster as a freelancer.

You could become an expert in one of these areas:

Web Writing

As a web writer, you would use the same skills as a direct response copywriter, but you would use those skills to sell products online.

Types of web copy include landing pages, squeeze pages, autoresponders, emails, sales letters, headlines, blog posts, articles, press releases, and even complete websites.

B2B (or Business-to-Business)

Another big area of copywriting (both in size and income potential) is the business-to-business (or B2B) industry.

If you go this route, you would help companies market their products and services to other companies.

B2B is a great niche because your clients are usually large companies with large budgets. Because they use your copy to generate huge streams of revenue, they’re already aware of the value you bring to their business. This means a higher project fee for you.

Grant Writing

Grant writing is a niche I wish I had known about when I first started. It involves writing on behalf of an organization to obtain large amounts of funding from government programs and private donors.

There’s a lot of research involved, but it’s also extremely rewarding because you can help organizations you care about get the money they need.

A few months ago, I met a copywriter who wrote grant proposals for fire departments. She was extremely proud of each department she was able to get a grant for. She loves her freelance career.

If you have a cause you care strongly about and you would like to help them while living the writer’s life, you might consider becoming a grant writer.

The specialties and niches I mentioned today are just a few ways you can further cement your status as an expert and live the writer’s life.

Of course, there are probably thousands of other ways I didn’t list here.

There are hundreds of industries and countless ways to niche yourself within each industry.

For example, your niche could be baby products, pet supplies, kitchen appliances, green energy, or anything else you could come up with. You could write all copy or just some types of copy for your niche.

I’ve niched myself both in the type of writing I offer and in the industry I service. My niche is web writing for the self-help industry.

Plus, niches can even be combined, making unlimited possibilities.

For example, Copyblogger.com combined the blogging industry and the copywriting industry to make their own niche: copywriting advice for bloggers.

Let’s say you want to write for the baby industry, but you think that’s too broad. You could combine it with the green industry and write only for companies that offer environmentally safe products for babies.

The options really are limitless, but my advice for beginning writers is to pick a niche, one that gets you excited, and get started today.

Don’t waste time analyzing every inch of a niche.

If other people are able to live the writer’s life doing it, you can too.

I’d love to hear what specialty or niche you choose – or if you’re still deciding, maybe I can help. Comment below to join the discussion …