How to Successfully Market Yourself as a Freelance Writer
Though freelance writing can be quite a lucrative business, you need to have a solid client base in order to make any money. Probably the biggest obstacle for any freelance writer is finding people that are willing to pay for your content. If you want to get hired, you must market yourself as an effective and hard-working freelancer.
Establishing yourself as a freelance writer involves researching each article extensively and approaching it in an innovative way. If you want people to pay you money, you need them to first notice you and recognize that you can help their business grow.
Stand Out from the Pack
In order to stand out from all the other freelance writers on the Internet, you need to make sure you are constantly developing fresh, original and interesting content. If you are writing about a topic that has been covered countless times, try to approach it from a new angle. Use various sources and combine the most useful information from each to create a unique post.
Keep Writing
Be sure to set quantitative goals as you are writing. The worst thing you can do as a freelancer is to stop writing for an extended time period. Setting daily content goals (e.g. three blog posts a day) will help you maintain your writing ability. If you keep yourself in the habit of consistently writing, it will be easier for you to create content for clients.
Increasing the amount of your authored content will also increase your credibility as a writer. Potential clients will see that you are experienced and capable of writing on a number of different topics. As you create more content, your skills as a writer will increase, which makes you a more valuable commodity to your clientele.
Attracting Clients Through a Blog
If you are having trouble finding people to pay you for specific assignments, try creating your own blog and writing about things that you find interesting yourself. Having your own blog can be a good way to keep yourself writing. Also, if your posts are good enough, your blog entries may lead to a job offer.
Make sure to include your contact information on your blog and emphasize that you are available for hire as a freelance writer. If you define your purpose, companies looking for writers are more likely to respond. Try to naturally integrate keywords such as “freelance writer” or “blogger for hire” to make your site more search-engine friendly. If you have difficulty ranking for popular content-focused keywords in search engines, you can use SEO services to bring more visibility to your web site.
Contact Potential Clients
There are always companies that are looking to hire a freelance writer. Web content needs to be created by someone, and any company that wants to make money on the web needs to have an effective site.
Try contacting specific startup companies or web development firms that you think could use your services. Tell them how you can benefit their company, and show confidence in your skills. Provide them with a link to your blog or send them some writing samples to give them an idea of your skills. Some freelancers have found that making phone calls to such companies has proven more effective than using electronic forms of communication.
Pitching Yourself
You want to develop an effective pitch when contacting any potential clients. Keep it short, concise and specific to each client. Make sure you have specific goals about how you can help the company. Maintain professionalism, and keep the message simple enough to where it can be quickly and easily read by your potential client.
Ideally, you should be pitching to multiple companies at any given time while consistently producing quality work in order to become a successful freelance writer.
