Editor’s note: This post was written by Christopher Jan Benitez, content marketer during the day, heavy sleeper at night. Dreams of non-existent brass rings. Writer by trade. Pro wrestling fan by choice. Family man all the time.
Being your own boss and working without the restraints of an office environment are words that make freelance writing such a promising career choice for many individuals. While nothing beats having your own home office and working at your own pace, freelancing can be one of the most demanding and stressful jobs.
Gaining foothold as a freelance writer is probably one of the toughest challenges in this career path. Deadlines can be unreasonable, revision requests might come at the most inconvenient times, and procrastination is a constant threat. You may even frequently find yourself fighting tooth and nail for the best-paying projects – if you can find any at all!
Despite all these, freelance writing can be one of the most fulfilling professions you can hope for, especially if you’re a passionate wordsmith. It’s only a matter of:
- making the right connections
- being a consistent performer
- and building long-term relationships with well-paying clients.
So how do you achieve all these? Here are the top 5 tactics that can help you make the most out of your freelance writing career.
Tips to boost freelance writing services
Build a Beautiful Portfolio Site
Finding work as a freelance writer without an existing portfolio to show prospective clients is difficult enough. Yet, a lot of freelance writers still overlook this fact and continue to work harder instead of smarter. You may think that having a steady stream of orders from a few clients will suffice, but you shouldn’t be too dependent on a select number of people for on-going projects.
Why You Need an Online Portfolio; Yes, You!
You should start investing some time and possibly money into building your own portfolio website. This can make it a lot easier to pitch your clients to prospective clients. Your credibility as a freelancer will continue to grow with every completed project. This will give you the competitive edge you need for the highest paying clients.
Blog About Your Expertise
Just like a portfolio site, a lot of freelancers still overlook the importance of having a personal blog. Writing and maintaining a blog is a very natural thing to do if you want to establish yourself as a competent freelance writer.
In addition to showing off your writing skills, a blog can also refine it over time and help you develop a distinctive writing voice, which is one of the characteristics that separate successful writers from the rest. Just remember to establish your own blogging calendar and start publishing posts consistently (both in frequency and quality) to keep your readers engaged in the long run.
Maintaining your own blog is also a good way to remain productive during dry days, especially if you write in a niche you’re passionate about. And of course, blogs may also be monetized for extra income.
Guest Post on Different Websites
You may already have your own portfolio website. You could even be maintaining your very own blog. But without enough online traffic, you’re not reaping the full benefits of either.
A great strategy to increase the exposure of your work is to write guest posts on other websites, preferably those in the same industry as your expertise.
Doing so can help you leverage the reach of those websites and become instantly visible to your target audience. This is also a good way to reach potential clients who could be looking for freelance writers to hire.
Of course, it is also important that you learn how to manage your guest posts on different sites. Things like replying to comments on your posts and optimizing your author box, among others, help in drawing more clients to your freelance writing services.
Build an Email List
If you’re doing business online, then an email list can take you a long way when it comes to building and nurturing connections. It doesn’t matter if you’re maintaining a blog, running an online store, promoting an affiliate site, or simply looking for freelance work. If you need to reach people, then emails are the way to go.
“The truth is that email is far more effective at reaching your raving fans than any other tool,” says Adam Connell in this post about building an email list.
Building an email list and promoting your services through emails can easily be done with the help of an email marketing tool such as GetResponse, Aweber, and MailChimp. Just remember not to abuse your list by sending out emails needlessly and make sure everything has valuable information in it.
Establish your Social Media Presence
No matter what industry you’re in, there is no doubt that you can find your target audience in social media websites. It’s no longer a secret that the online marketing world has gravitated towards social media in the past few years. People want personal, relatable, and social connections with brands. And if you want to promote your service as a freelance writer, then you should do the same.
Conclusion
Remember that these tactics can be interconnected into a single marketing system; with each having the ability to amplify the other. Use them as your stepping stones to attaining a fulfilling freelance writing career. Just remember that clients value skill, reliability, and consistency above all. One flop and you could lose the credibility you’ve worked so hard to build. So good luck – and whatever you do, don’t quit.
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