7 Effective Marketing Strategies for New Freelance Writers
Copywriting is a talent, no doubt. The ability to write in a way to get mainstream audience’s attention is one thing – political essays or novels are examples of how to make money on it. But being able to get in contact with the target audience, no matter what it is, and play on its strings is a talent of a different sort.
Career of a freelance writer may be money making if you have a talent. According to statistics revealed by SkillScouter in April 2020, on average, professional writers get $15-80 as their hourly income. Not bad at all!
Companies are always ready to pay generously for catchy texts to attract newcomers from their target audience and convert them into customers. It may be a tiny proportion of the total population with very specific habits and demands that depends on goods and services being provided. But still, any audience needs a special approach, and you may be the one to know it.
Finding a key to a customer’s heart with freelance writer’s assistance is what companies pay for. The problem is that with huge demand there also exists commeasurable supply of those services from your rivals. Whether they are better or worse than you is the second thing because the first thing is to present yourself to the market.
This raises a big question. Even if you have that skill, how to tell potential clients about it, or how to have them find you? Here are seven useful tips for those who are new on the market for professional writing services and urgently need some promotion
Google It!
It is probably the first thing that comes to one’s mind, and it is a perfect starting point. Honestly, even a search as vague as “freelance writer marketplace USA” already yields direct links to maybe a dozen of websites to dig deeper. Obviously, “best freelance websites to hire a professional writer” is very likely the place to find a guest posting service like Adsy where your writing services will hopefully be highly demanded.
Even if not, some other websites you discover in this way are in fact marketing blogs which provide useful tips for building effective marketing strategy. They are also an opportunity to get in closer acquaintance with examples of professional writing practice – just to see how it is done.
Freelance Forums
This follows quite logically. Freelancewritingbox.com, for instance, is a place especially useful for new freelance writers to introduce themselves to the market, get in touch with fellow professional writers, hear their recommendations for beginners, and maybe even to find a company interested in the subjects you are most capable at.
Social Media
An integral part of today’s reality, even an alternative reality to live in for many – it will be like that for dozens of years to come. It’s almost impossible to find a modern person who doesn’t have an online account because it is like not having a digital presentation of yourself. With current tendencies towards total digitalization – quite a short-sighted policy it is for anyone, may it be a company or an individual.
Social media platforms are places where people find each other online and communicate. A good thing is that the variety of platforms provides an opportunity to choose representation in the one that is more close to your specialization. For instance, if you produce content which requires visuals like nature photography, Intragram posts will be more representable.
Specialization
As a new freelance writer, you may understandably try your skills in many different areas, may it be finance, medicine, politics, or even space. A bit later, however, there comes the need to specialize on a couple of key subjects where you feel stronger.
It could come from your educational background, or former job experience. A funny thing: due to its main goal to attract as many customers from the target audience as possible, freelance writing does not always require perfect acquaintance with the subject you are writing on. However, you will inevitably lose those who know it better than you and uncover insufficient competence of you as a presenter.
Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Gaining reputation requires effort, but sooner or later it starts bringing dividends. Recommendations from your former clients are a good example. It is advised not to be excessively shy and ask for reviews from the clients with whom you have especially warm relations.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization is itself an applied science of a sort – a set of key principles to help a website find its audience in the most efficient manner. The main point is to get higher rankings in search engines like Google. Ranking is determined by relevance, while relevance is dependent on external and internal website parameters, such as:
Keyword density
“Watery” content
Website citation index
Visitors behavior (internal and external aspects)
Loading time, and others.
Not so hard to grapple with, it nevertheless requires some efforts and time to study, and this will later pay off tenfold. Most highly paid writers are SEO writers, well aware of how to use keywords and keep water content to minimum.
Building Portfolio
Learning SEO principles will pay off even more if you run your own website. Most talent seekers ask candidates to demonstrate at least something already done professionally in the past. Even if it is your very first potential client ever - and you really want to work with that company, but can’t because they are asking for something as a proof of experience – there exists a solution.
Ordering a website of your own may turn out to be a worthy investment. Free website construction platforms like Tilda are easy enough even for people without a strong technical background. In the worst case you will always find a freelance web designer to make you a website for a reasonable price in no time.
Running own website with own exclusive content has many advantages:
It is a ready-to-see portfolio of your works to be presented to potential clients.
It is a website and has certain rankings – preferably higher – in search engines, meaning that you may be found.
Backlinks building means exchanging links with other freelance writers’ websites. It is one of the main influencing factors to increase rankings.
It is also a potential marketing platform for other companies, thus a source of additional income.
A presentational factor also matters: running your own website is a sign of a serious approach to doing business.
A Successful Start for Freelance Writers
It comes naturally that when we start something new, we make mistakes. Whenever we are new to something, we can’t be as successful as the ones who have been there longer - but this doesn’t imply always losing.
What that implies is the importance of getting your place on the market as soon as possible. Otherwise you risk not stepping through that door at all. We hope that by using tips described here, you will manage the tasks of crucial importance.
