Website: http://jennifervacchio.writersresidence.com

Specialty: writer

Rates: .50 per word

I have been a professional writer for over 15 years and have worked for various corporations in various industries. My writing portfolio includes venues such as magazines, newspapers, websites, brochures, newsletters, email campaigns, catalogs, advertisements, advertorials, and video and documentary scripts.

I generally perfer to write short-form, punchy content that requires a bit of flare, but am open to anything.

A major aspect of query-free freelancing is building a writer platform–your visibility and demand. There are many possible elements to a writer platform such as blogs, a professional website, published books, microblogging (Twitter), and speaking engagements. (If you’d like more examples, check out our past post listing 30 ways to build your writer platform.)

I asked our guests what they considered to be the most important aspect of a writer platform, based on the most effective elements of their own during their careers. Here are their thoughts:

Chris Bibey

There are a couple of things that come to mind here. One, every freelance writer needs a blog. Since starting my blog a couple years ago I have received a number of large projects from clients who found me in this manner. Yes, it takes time to develop a readership but once you are there it can help immensely.

Having two books in print has also helped me grow as a writer. Not only has this brought forth additional projects, but it has allowed me to connect with others who can help me reach my goals.

Angela Booth

All of the above [e-boks, a blog, published books, speaking engagements], because at various times, I’ve used and have done all of the above, and will continue to do it, as time permits, and as projects require.

Jenna Glatzer

Some editors did find me through my website, but to be honest, most of it was just a matter of editors getting to know me through my work for them and their colleagues. As I proved myself, editors began batting my name around more and more, and taking me with them when they moved to other magazines and other publishers.

Kristen King

Having a website was absolutely essential to building my business. I now also have a blog, and they both bring in enough work to more than pay for their own overhead costs. My website and my involvement with American Independent Writers were the two biggest external contributors to my freelance success. Busting my butt nonstop to go after work was essential, but I don’t think it would have been nearly as effective without those two elements.

Deb Ng

For me it was my blog. My blog is the best thing that ever happened to me, my writing career, my “brand” and my reputation. Not everyone will have a successful writing blog, but I put out the right blog at the right time and it continues to grow today. I also speak at various blogging and social media conferences and write ebooks and together these have all helped to shape my success.

Allena Tapia

Often I think this whole “platform” business tends to accidentally connect us to other freelance writers. For me, that’s important because of my work at About.com. But, you know what? Other than freelancewrite.about.com, it’s not freelancers who pay me! It’s publishers, editors. So I would say that the most important part of your platform is the audience!! Select them carefully.

Anne Wayman

I’ve always thought speaking might be a good way to get writing assignments, but it looked as hard to get speaking engagements as it can be to get writing assignments, so I focused on the writing. Websites and now blogs are my most important marketing tool, but although I think every writer should have a site with samples, etc., it won’t be everyone’s prime method. Just as we’re all different, our marketing will be different too.

So there you have it. Get a website. Get a blog. Do what works for you, but for goodness sake get out there and do something! The sooner you get started, the sooner your platform can begin bringing in the gigs.

Come back tomorrow for the final post in our series, where our guest will share some parting words of wisdom.

What a Professional Website Does for You

When you think about setting up a website related to your freelance writing work, perhaps you think about using it to solicit work. You detail your services and maybe share your rates and some testimonials. Yes, websites can effectively bring in clients directly. But they do more than that. Your professional website can also serve as a:

• Public portfolio
• Download host (if you offer white papers, reports, etc.)
• Media magnet (if you want to secure interviews)
• Direct income stream

More importantly, your professional site can serve as a “home base” for all (or most) of your other platform-generating activities.

Your Website as “Home Base”

When you’re building a platform, it helps to have a single primary presence. On the Web, that should be a website. Yes, you have the option these days of using a free, hosted blog (like with Blogspot) or even a social media profile (such as Twitter or LinkedIn). But using those tools as your primary base is a bad idea.

You should never put your platform in the hands of a third party. That’s what you do when you use a hosted service, rather than hosting your own website. Companies shut down. Even big ones. They also change their terms and policies, and occasionally have hardware issues (where you have no control over backups).

Get your own site. Put all of your must-have information there (your bio, your portfolio, your services and rates, testimonials, your client list, links to any products you’ve released, and of course your contact information). Then go ahead and start building other online profiles for added visibility, and link them each to your very own home on the Web.

When you do that, you build links to your website, which directly can influence its visibility when people are searching for writers in your specialty area (more relavant links equals better search engine placement). If you tried to do the same thing with an off-site profile, you may find yourself starting over again every time the next fad tools comes along that you want to focus on. Instead, let them supplement your platform base–your professional website.

It Doesn’t Matter if You Have Enough Clients

One of the biggest excuses I hear from freelance writers who don’t want to take the time to build a professional website is that they don’t “need” to because they already have enough regular clients. That’s nice. But it’s going to be a hell of a shocker if one or a few of those previously-dependable clients suddenly disappears. It happens.

Even reputable print publications are shutting down, leaving writers to scramble for their remaining pay and trying to secure replacement gigs. You never (I repeat never) should count on any client to always be around or to always pay. On top of that, you have issues that today’s economy really helps to highlight. Companies downsize. They overhaul their staff for any number of reasons. The editor you love working with today might be gone tomorrow, and you may not want to work with their replacement for very long. Or maybe clients will want to re-work their payment arrangements with you, offering you less.

You always have to be on the lookout for more work and new clients. Even if you’re comfortable now, you should be thinking about what you’ll want years from now. Will seeking higher-paying work help you reach your personal and professional goals? If so, kick that comfort to the curb, and stay alert. More importantly, stay visible. By building your website now, while you already have enough clients, it will be more visible a few months or years down the road when you may not. Remember, older websites often have not only a built-in audience, but an edge in search results.

In the end, having even a simple professional website can do nothing but help you. They’re absolutely essential for Web writers (at least higher-tier Web writers) because they’re a direct line between you and your clients in the medium. Even if you’re a print writer or corporate writer, a website can be a huge benefit helping to set you apart from the competition, and allowing you to more easily connect prospective clients to your work and credentials. If you don’t have a professional website yet, get on it. If you don’t, countless new freelancers will in the meantime. And when you do need to look for new clients again someday, don’t you think you deserve an edge instead of giving that space and visibility to someone else? I don’t know about you, but I certainly do.

I also previously mentioned that I wasn’t going to post the domains up front, but I changed my mind. You can find the sites through the links below. As of now here’s what I’ve done:

• I registered 11 .info domains that were keyword-rich and based on keyword phrases with decent search volume and advertiser competition.
• I manually installed the latest WordPress version on each domain.
• I got rid of the default first WP post and put a quick intro on each site – those intros will either be expanded or deleted before I actually sell the sites.

I haven’t yet chosen themes / designs for them, so they’re all using the default. I’ll be working on that over the holidays. I’m also planning to get the content ready for at least two sites over the holidays, so they’ll be ready to flip first thing in the new year.

The sites I’m flipping don’t fall within the primary area I write in for clients. Instead, this time around I chose to focus on niches that would be particularly interesting to readers early in the year (such as things based on new year’s resolutions).

The niches cover dieting, walking for weight loss, home fitness equipment, green living, free online courses, online master’s degree programs, how to get organized, tips on saving money, recipes, making money online, and various things people might want to learn.