Yolanda – Completely agree with you about the free sites. One thing some of those folks don’t consider is that by using a free Web or blog host for their “professional site,” they lose some control over what they can do with it in the future. Many, if not most, of those hosts don’t allow the user to 301 redirect all of the pages to a new site later on. That means when the writer outgrows the free host down the road and they want more control over the design, features, tools, etc., they’ll lose all past link-building efforts, search engine rankings, and a lot of traffic (which means lost potential clients).

Also, even when freelance writers go the free route of building a web page and using third-party software, I count how many times I’ve seen it riddled with advertisements at the header and footer of the page due.

If you’re going to label yourself as a professional, you should at least have a professional website to back it up.

Thank you for posting this helpful advice. One of the best ways to market yourself as a freelance writer is to establish a nice online portfolio. And it’s convenient too when responding to job or project ads.

May I please feature your post on my new community network?

The Writer WAHM’s Network

Thanks and keep up the great work with this extremely helpful site!

- Tess