Having a client-focused blog on your freelance writer website is a great idea. That’s especially true if you’re new to freelancing and need a boost in search engine and social media visibility. But what kind of blog should you run on your professional site? Should you share tutorials? Advice? News? Or should you take a more personal approach with storytelling? That’s what Meghan Coughlin wanted to know
Is your marketing helping you reach the best freelance writing prospects? That depends on your target market and how successful you are at reaching members of that group. One of the biggest mistakes a new freelance writer can make is having no target market. That’s when you simply take any gig that comes along, whether or not you enjoy the work, whether or not you
For this week’s quick tip, I’d like to bring up an oldie but goodie — a tip I’ve been passing along to freelance writers for years, coming from my background in PR. Instead of using the same writer’s market lists that most other freelancers are also using, find new prospects in media directories instead. How Media Directories Are Different Media directories are similar to writer’s
Here’s a quick tip about how you can more effectively promote your writing every month, whether that means marketing your freelance writing services, your books, or your blogs. Use a monthly marketing calendar. What’s the Point of a Monthly Marketing Calendar? A monthly marketing calendar gives you an easy way to keep all of your marketing information on one handy sheet of paper. I have
For this week’s new resource, let’s turn our attention to promoting your writing business. Whether that means promoting your freelance writing services, marketing a book, or growing your blog, there are numerous ways you can turn to other types of writing to promote your work. To point you in the right direction, here are 45 types of content and copywriting you can turn to when you need
Have you ever struggled to pinpoint the target market for your freelance writing services? If so, I have a free tool that might help. I decided to overhaul my old target market worksheet, previously only available to those who purchased my Web Writer’s Guide e-book which is no longer available. I’m releasing the updated version as a freebie. You’ll be able to find it in my collection
The holiday season is a great time to connect with current and past clients. No matter if you do so on the phone, via email, or even in person, this is one time of the year when you should reach out to every current and past client. While job number one is to wish them a happy holiday season, this is also a great opportunity
Lori Widmer is a fellow business writer, and one of my “go-to gals” for all conversations business or writing-related. On her Words on the Page blog, Lori encourages new and experienced writing professionals alike to realize their worth and strive for something better. Lori inspires freelance writers to pull themselves up out of the low pay rut, and to do so through better marketing and networking. Her e-book, Marketing
In our interview with Lori Widmer of Words on the Page about marketing your freelance writing services, Lori emphasized the importance of building relationships and following up with prospects. If you’re one of the many writers who are uncomfortable with the idea of marketing from a direct sales perspective, thinking about marketing in terms of relationships can help you ease into a more effective marketing strategy.
There are only a handful of freelance writing colleagues that I turn to on a regular basis to bounce ideas around. Lori Widmer is one of those writers. And one issue where I wouldn’t hesitate to consult her for advice is freelance marketing. Lori comes from a business writing background, but also pursues creative writing projects (currently focusing on poetry). She knows how to adapt
As a blogger, you’re already used to creating content on a regular basis. That makes content marketing an ideal option for promoting your blog, increasing traffic, and growing your readership. Today let’s talk about the two different kinds of content marketing — inbound content marketing and outbound content marketing — and which makes more sense for blog promotion. Outbound vs Inbound Content Marketing Outbound content
Have you heard the phrase “content marketing” before but wondered how it applies to you as a blogger? After all, you’re already focused on content every time you write a blog post. Why should you worry about it beyond that, and how can it affect your blog marketing? Let’s take an introductory look at content marketing strategies and why they’re important for bloggers and business
I’ve decided to make some changes to my plans for the Web Writer’s Guide e-book. Rather than updating it and moving on with a series, it will remain as-is. Sometime in the next few months I’ll pull it off the market, and much of the information in that e-book will be worked into print books or e-books in the Query-Free Freelancer series. The problem with sticking with the Web Writer’s
You wake up, get that cup of caffeine, go through your morning ritual, then work through your daily ritual of writing. Marketing? Yea, that doesn’t happen because you’re busy. Yet if you have fifteen minutes to play Facebook games, you have plenty of time to locate new clients and more projects. Just fifteen minutes – that’s less time than it takes to run to the
This article is a part of a five post series for Demand Media Studios writers and others interested in leaving content mills and other low paying freelance writing jobs behind. In our last post we talked about marketing your freelance writing services and how you should focus on basic market research, specialty target markets, and creating a marketing plan instead of aimlessly trying new ways
This week we’re running a five-post series for writers looking to leave content mills like Demand Media Studios behind them. Yesterday we took a look at three types of freelance writing jobs you can pursue, starting today. If you’re considering a change to grow your business, you should start there and narrow down your specialty area. Once you have a freelance writing specialty in mind,
It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of either content mills or extremely low-paying private clients (like the webmasters on bidding sites willing to pay a whopping $1-5 per article). As far as I’m concerned it’s an irresponsible business move to take on these kinds of gigs without pursuing something better early on (and an irresponsible move I made myself back in the day —
We talk a lot about how to market freelance writing services effectively. But how do you know when there’s a problem with your existing marketing and it’s time for a change? Here are five signs that your current freelance marketing sucks and that your marketing plan is overdue for a visit. You only attract low-paying clients — those unable to pay the freelance writing rates
Do you offer bulk discounts if clients order a large number of articles at once? Have you ever had a client or prospect pressure you to offer these kinds of discounts, saying they’ll order more if you lower the per-article rate? Many freelancers fall into the trap of offering bulk discounts because they think it will lead to more work. And it might. The problem
You have a fairly packed freelance writing schedule. You have client orders lined up for the next several weeks, and things look good. But then something happens. A project is cancelled. A client suddenly becomes non-responsive. You get a request to postpone something. Whatever the reason, you suddenly find yourself with a hole in your schedule — one that needs to be filled now at
Today we have yet another post inspired by @vcmcguire (you can ask your own questions which will appear on the blog by tweeting @queryfreewriter or emailing jenn@allfreelancewriting.com). She wanted to know how freelance writers can make time for pitching their services to new prospects, especially when they already have a fairly full schedule. First let’s talk about why you might want to keep marketing (or
If there’s one thing that can help you earn more through your freelance writing business, it’s understanding your target market. You can’t jump into business blindly and expect to succeed — or at least not excel. Are there cases of dumb luck? Sure. But don’t expect to be one of them. Instead you need to focus on two things: what you’re selling, and who you’re
Before you can think about marketing your freelance writing business, you need to know where you currently stand among your competition. Are you dealing with over-saturation in your specialty area? Are you lacking skills other freelance writers have, that clients want? Do you have something going for you that justifies charging higher rates than others? A SWOT analysis can help you figure those things out, and
Normally I don’t talk about my clients directly on my blogs, but today is an exception. One of my clients (the owner of DirJournal.com) made a special link building offer to writers and bloggers, and I’d like to share that with you today. But first, let’s talk about link building in general, why it’s important for freelance writers, and how you can build quality links
Yesterday I announced our December 2009 freelance writing contest — you can win cash and prizes just for thinking about your own marketing for your freelance writing business. Write an elevator pitch / elevator speech of 4-5 sentences. That’s all you have to do! But wait, how do you write an elevator pitch? Here’s a quick “how to” to help you out: Step 1: List
Do you know that you need to work harder at marketing your freelance writing services, but maybe you’re not sure where to start? Well, we’re all about the business and marketing side of freelance writing here at AFW, and moving forward I’ll be offering Monday marketing tips to bring you new ideas each week for promoting your services. To kick us off today though, I
I was talking to a new freelance writer recently about getting started in freelancing. One of their questions to me was about which services they should promote the most. In their case they wanted to offer both Web content and Web copywriting services. On the surface, there seemed to be three solutions: Promote the one you enjoy doing the most. Promote the one that pays
Today I’m going to give you a quick tip for better query-free freelancing: give things away for free! People love freebies. If they feel they’ll get something for nothing, they’ll often stop and take notice even if they would have otherwise passed you by. Freebies are especially important during growth phases where you’re trying to expand your visibility or reach within your target market. To
If you want to become a query-free freelancer, you can’t just wait around hoping clients are going to find you. You need to create demand for your work. Today I’m going to share a story about how I not only did that, but how I created demand in a relatively new market by identifying a need and choosing to fill it. Those who have known
It’s much too easy to forget about marketing our writing services to someone once we’ve landed them as a client. However, sometimes all it takes is a reminder or a little nudge from you to bring in even more work. Here are five things freelance writers can do to keep existing clients coming back for more: Keep in Touch – A simple email or phone