Effectively Marketing Your Services as a Freelance Writer

Ah, freelancing. The up and down, roller coaster-like world of feast or famine. But does it really have to be so tough? Even writers who claim that they’ve been freelance writing for years say that they live this cowby-like, do or die type lifestyle, some to the extreme that they’re barely putting food on their table. This discourages some, causing them to go and seek out a regular nine-to-five for the security of it. It doesn’t have to be this way though! I’m going to explain some ways that you can live comfortably as a freelance writer without so many periods of famine.

Marketing Your Self Online

1)Learn SEO. If you use SEO keywords in all of your blog posts, you’ll be higher up in the search engines. This is really a no-brainer for most of us but for some, writing for the web has been strange to adapt to. Think of the subject of your writing, then use a keyword checker to make sure that what you’re writing about gets searched for frequently. Write down three keywords and then use them throughout the post. Be sure not to over do it with the keywords as this will make your writing look cheap and unappealing. Use each one no more than three times if you’re writing a short article.

2) Build residual income through blogging. Use sites like:

• examiner.com
• triond.com
• suite101
• helium
• hub pages
• bukisa
• eHow

Be careful with helium, as they use a rating system that is not entirely reliable. I started out at helium and left due to the influx of amateur writers coming in and giving well-written articles bad ratings.

3) After one month of using these sites, monitor your earnings. Find out which ones earn you the most and put them on the top of your priority list. If you have time, you should submit 3-4 on each site you belong to each week.

4) Don’t become discouraged if you’ve only earned a couple of pennies from these sites, it will add up quickly. Everyone starts small but your earnings will only grow over time. It takes most bloggers about two years to earn anything significant enough to consider quitting their day job.

5) Use aggregated search tools such as online writing jobs to find immediate projects. The goal is to earn both residual income and immediate income when starting out.

6) Use sites like craigslist to post an ad for your writing services. If your ad is good, people will demonstrate interest.

7) Be sure to have a website. Mine is Quill & Ink . You should use a website template or hire a web designer to create something that’s relevant to your writing services. Notice how mine has a quill pen in the background and is modern, simple, and well-organized.

Marketing Yourself Offline

This may be easier for some people than others. The area in which I live is not really the kind of place to get a writing job, which is why I primarily market myself online. But if you live somewhere like Boston, Philadelphia, New York, or in a similar place where there are local colleges, plenty of businesses, and the economy isn’t so awful, you can market yourself offline.

1) Attend local events. This is actually the only way I market myself offline. In Tampa Bay, events happen all of the time and business owners from out of state attend those events. Bring a little cash and walk around to each vendor and demonstrate interest in their product. Buy something small and then make conversation and hand them your card. You’d be surprised how many of them will call you.

2) Create a business brochure and hand it out to local small business owners. Small businesses are more willing to accept your help than larger ones and often they pay much better.

3) When you meet someone new and they ask what you do for a living, hand them your card.

4) Go to busy places like malls and hand out cards or flyers.

5) Post an ad in a local paper’s classified section. We have one called Creative Loafing.

As I said, you may be surprised how many people really need your services. Always maintain a good attitude and a professional image when dealing with potential clients. You may get more projects much sooner than you ever thought possible.