Freelance Marketing?

I am a full time freelance content writer -- and I have found that the hardest part of my job is marketing. I have the skills and the references but building my empire from scratch is difficult -- even after having been in the business several years! Any advice?

 

Hi Nicole,

What I have seen some freelance writers do is write for big websites and use that as a medium to gain exposure. For example you could approach ahrefs and offer to write maybe once a month. Make the post an epic juggernaut that users want to read and link to and in your author bio state you are a freelance writer and you contribute to ahrefs and they should contact you for writing jobs. Do this on like the top 10 blogs in your niche and sit back and watch referrals come in. I wrote a piece that went viral on twitter once, the post is till trending and even though I am not a freelance writer and never advertised as one I got a few people asking if I wanted to contribute to their blog and some offering to pay.

Put yourself out there is the 1st step, make sure everything you produce is above mediocre standards and go beyond the norm that is expected. You will be surprised how fast words can spread online!

 

Hi Nicole,

It is nice to see another content writer here on eForum. One thing that I found useful was GiffGaff, one of the UK's most popular PAYG Networks. They have a blog, which I have written an article or two for in the past.

These articles are great for exposure and allow you to show that you have "worked" for a big company.

Take a look at giffgaff.com, and chat with the user named "Hazel22" . Show her some of your work, and she should point you in the right direction.

 

Thank you both for the extremely useful advice. Freelance writing is great work - but it is not always steady and all the extra time in between writing gigs has to be used to market yourself or you will never get anywhere. So thanks again for the help because the better I learn to market myself the less time I can spend doing other mediocre online tasks to fill in the gaps in my income and focus more heavily on my writing!

 

I am a content writer and I also do SEO and digital marketing for clients. The things, marketing is simply giving your prospects more information while also challenging them to be more. We try to adopt this approach in our SEO marketing campaigns to make our clients feel like they could trust us. You put your copywriting skills and not just mere content writing skills to the test through social media posts like Twitter and Facebook. These are where you can showcase your talents the most. Hint: begin with a challenging question then try posting the website/product you're planning to market.

 

I am a freelance content writer as well and I would've asked the same question. Well, it looks like I don't need to because I already got the answers! Thank you so much for that.

 

I've never written professionally but I think what Samuel said makes a whole lot of sense so I'd agree. It's probably best to start targeting big name sites and if some of them ignore or reject you then maybe just try and work for the more mid sized sites for a while until you gather enough of a portfolio to create enough noise for the more popular ones to notice you.

 

To start, if you haven't already, I would join some of these freelance and article writing websites all over the internet. You could definitely begin building a portfolio. Once you are exposed to these companies that depend on these freelance sites, your name will get out there. I would consider making a social media page specifically for your work purposes. Utilize social media by offering your services to any and everyone. I might also think about blogging. It requires work, but it is a very public way to showcase your work. If you aren't interested in blogging, I would still recommend having a presence in that particular community. For instance, interacting with other bloggers. Many bloggers offer guest posting, which is another great way of exposure.

Hope this is useful. Good luck.

 

I a a struggling freelance writer as well . What I have learned over he course of last 2 years is, there are lots of freelance writers in this market, so if you are looking to get more jobs, you'll have to stay one step ahead of them and be pro-active.

 

I am also an online content writer and having a bit of difficulties now. Thank you so much for the info. Greatly appreciated.

 

Having a blog is the best way to showcase your talents as a writer, I follow a lot of writers who have a blog 'About Me' that mentions their writing successes and experience. They also have a 'Hire Me' contact button on their blog.

Knowledge of SEO is an important requirement for anyone who writes content for the Internet. It's what most clients want when they pay for content. Having a popular blog demonstates that a writer knows how to create good SEO content.

I find enough work without having to market myself as a freelance writer, but if I wanted more clients to find me I would widely promote my author profile page, social media profile, etc.

 

Having a digital or online portfolio is another way to make your presence and accomplishments as a freelance writer known on the Web. This requires creating your own website, the content of which are your educational credentials , experience, and accomplishments.