Sure, you might be desperate in the beginning. If you log on to any of the freelance writing job websites peppering the Internet you will stumble across plenty of job offers which pay close to nothing…and certainly do not pay enough to justify the time you spend composing the pieces. It is one thing to take a low paying job to get your foot in the door and gain some experience, but it is another thing to get completely taken advantage of by someone who specializes in bleeding new freelance writers dry.

If the job website has a forum attached to it, be sure to check that out because oftentimes writers will post on there if they have bad encounters with certain employers. While you certainly cannot rely on everyone else's opinion, if you find that the majority of writers are complaining about not getting paid for writing something then it's a pretty safe bet that you should stay away from that particular company.

Be on the lookout for companies or individuals who offer to hire writers only after the writer composes a test article for them. Your previous work should be sufficient to show the employer what your writing style is like, and if you're asked to write an unpaid test article about a specific subject it may be that the employer is merely trying to gather some free material. You'll never hear from the company again, and then your test article mysteriously shows up online somewhere as web content. Try to use your common sense.