Ready to skyrocket your freelance writing game? Today, we’re diving into the art of self-marketing – the secret sauce to making waves in the competitive world of freelancing. No fluff, just straightforward tips on how to market yourself as a copywriter.
Being a freelance SEO copywriter is more than just writing words on a page; it’s about crafting your own success story. Effective self-marketing is your golden ticket to standing out in a sea of wordsmiths. Let’s get started!
How Do I Market Myself as a Freelance Writer?
The are multiple ways to build bridges and make a name for yourself in the online world, especially as a remote copywriter:
- Know your niche and target audience
- Create a writing portfolio
- Build a personal brand
- Build a list of your dream clients
- Master the art of pitching
- Use cold emailing to get in front of potential clients
- Optimize your social media presence
- Network like a pro
- Accumulate social proof
- Offer more services to diversify your income streams
- Stay consistent
1. Know Your Niche and Target Audience
Freelance copywriting for beginners can be difficult because new writers are afraid choosing a niche means making less money as you’re targeting a smaller portion of the market, but it’s the opposite.
By focusing on one niche (e.g. nutrition, dentistry, health tech) you’ll better understand your audience’s pain points, and your words will resonate like never before.
Have you considered what niche you want to write in as a remote copywriter? You can always expand your niche or change it later on, so please don’t get stuck at this step.
2. Create a Writing Portfolio
Your portfolio only needs a few samples of your work and it should reflect your niche. So, if you’re a health writer don’t include samples on travel or finance in your portfolio.
If you have absolutely no money to invest in your business, then I suggest creating a free portfolio on Journo Portfolio, I did this and it looks really clean and simple.
But, if you can afford to create professional a writer website then do so immediately. A website is essential to build trust and show that you take your business seriously.
The key elements of a standout freelance writer website are the home, about, portfolio. contact, and services page.
Your website is like the storefront of your freelancing business so it should be user-friendly, and easy for visitors to navigate and contact you.
**Tutorial: Build Your Professional Freelance Writer Website in Minutes**
3. Build a Personal Brand
Creating a personal brand can help you stand out and get clients quickly. Say goodbye to blending in. Your brand should reflect your unique value proposition and fulfill a gap in the market.
4. Build a List of Your Dream Clients
This part of planning your copywriting business is fun and very motivating.
Once you’ve chosen your niche, check out the type of companies in that niche. You can do a quick Google search to look for startups or the best companies in that field:
E.g. best [niche] startups [year]
You’ll see plenty of listicle blog posts with tons of companies take the ones you want to target and build your list.
5. Master the Art of Pitching
Pitching is about starting a conversation. A compelling pitch should be personalized, short, and show that you’ve done your homework.
You can pitch something specific and relevant to the prospect, like a blog post on a trending topic or something related to one of their current articles.
First talk about the prospect and their needs: identify a problem and provide a solution. Then include a sentence or two about the benefits of hiring a freelance SEO copywriter and why you’re the perfect fit for the job.
6. Use Cold emailing to get in front of potential clients
Spending more time looking for writing jobs than actually doing any client work? If you want to get away from bidding sites that waste your time and make you constantly rethink your pricing – Try cold emailing.
Cold emailing means sending out a bunch of emails to strangers and asking if they need a copywriter. Sounds scary right? It’s not once you get used to it and do it properly.
Cold emails should show your unique value proposition, link out to your website, and include a call to action to get them to respond to the email.
7. Optimize Your Social Media Presence
Leveraging social media platforms effectively can help you get clients fast, especially if you already have a large following. There’s always someone who knows someone who needs a copywriter.
Stamp “freelance writer” in your tagline and post content related to your target clients.
**Building a brand on social media can be done later, but make sure you’re on LinkedIn! **
8. Network Like a Pro
Freelancing doesn’t mean going solo. Network like a pro – both online and offline. Join writing communities, attend virtual meetups, and swap stories with fellow freelancers. You never know where that next gig might come from.
9. Accumulate Social Proof
Testimonials and positive reviews provide credibility and are a major trust factor that you need on your website – Happy clients make for powerful marketing.
Obviously, when you start out as a remote copywriter you won’t have it yet. But when finishing a project make sure to ask for client feedback.
10. Offer more services and Diversify Your Income Streams
Freelancing is a rollercoaster and you never know how much money you make the next month. Lessen the headache by having multiple income streams.
There are many ways to diversify your freelance income such as:
- Increasing your skill set so you can offer more services
- Creating retainers for consistent work
- Setting up a referral program
11. Stay Consistent
Consistency and a positive mindset are essential in your freelancing career.
Don’t start freelancing without a plan mapped out and having a few goals in place or things can get very confusing and you’ll lose focus and quit.
Whether it’s updating your professional website, sending out cold emails, or posting on social media, stay consistent.
Final Thoughts
And there you have it! I hope this short guide on how to kickstart your self-marketing journey as a freelance writer was helpful.
No rocket science, just actionable steps to propel you forward.
Your freelance success story starts with effective self-marketing. What are you doing to market your business? Let me know in the comments!
FAQs
How Do I Price Myself as a Freelance Writer?
I’m sure you’ve heard this before but, “It depends!” Your price is based on your experience, writing skills, the type of writing (e.g. content writing, copywriting, technical writing, etc), and some other factors.
How to make sure to stand out from the crowd and charge what you’re worth:
Have a niche, choose clients that can pay you well, and have a freelance writer website that shows your value proposition and speaks to your target clients.
No matter how you work out your pricing, make sure you have a starting price (like $150 per article), and don’t go below that or second guess your pricing.
How Much Should a Beginner Writer Charge?
As a beginner, it may be daunting to charge a rate of $100 for a 1000-word blog post, especially when some freelancers on Fiverr and Upwork are getting $10 per article.
But pricing low shows prospects you don’t really value your writing and in turn, clients won’t value you.
So, how much should you charge to write 1000 words?
I’d suggest working per project first and charging at least $100 per 1000-word blog post. Decide how much you want to earn per month then divide that by the amount of projects you can complete in that month.
Let’s start with a goal of making your first $1000 freelance writing: So if you want to earn $1000/month and can complete 2 articles a week: 1000/8 = $125 per blog post
Remember it is difficult to get clients at first that’s why I made it two blog posts a week in this example. As you get more projects you should increase your fees.
How Do You Quote a Price for Freelance Work?
Usually when I do outreach and prospects ask for my pricing, I’ll send a link to my services page which shows what my prices start at.
But every project is different so if a prospect wants to know your fees (like maybe during a client call), just give an estimate and say you’ll get back to them with a proposal.
The proposal includes the scope of work, the pricing for each deliverable, how long it’ll take, and a payment schedule for your invoices.
How Do I Start Freelance Writing With No Experience?
To be a freelance writer you need a way to break into the market and stand out among other freelancers (there’s quite a bunch of them).
The way to do this is to niche down and focus on a specific topic or type of writing, like maybe a B2B SAAS writer or a direct response copywriter.
After finding a niche, create a few sample pieces and set up a freelance writer website.
An equally important thing is to optimize your LinkedIn profile and start building your connections with people you’d like to write for.
That’s how you do it, just keep asking if they need your services, and eventually, a few of these people will get back to you. It’s a numbers game so keep going and don’t give up!
What Makes a Successful Freelance Writer?
There are a few characteristics that can guarantee your success as a full-time freelance writer, including:
Understanding of the industry: You need to know what your target clients struggle with and how you can help them. Keep up with trends in the industry to stay relevant.
Good time management skills: It’s easy to get lazy at the beginning especially if you’re not getting the results you desire. Use a to-do list and a timer to work on your productivity.
Ability to market yourself: Going onto bidding sites like Fiverr is not going to get you to $5000 per month. Proactively marketing yourself through LinkedIn and cold emailing will get you in front of decision-makers fast.
Communication skills: Getting on calls can be scary, especially if you’re an introvert like me. Practice your speaking by reading the discovery call script out loud multiple times until it flows and doesn’t sound robotic.
Positive attitude and business mindset: Before even starting your portfolio, decide on a goal and your reason for becoming a writer. This is to keep yourself grounded and not give in to imposter syndrome when dealing with clients and feeling out of depth.
Adaptability: Freelancing seems like a lonely road at first and it can be hard to work with different companies and get used to their tone of voice (branding).
Strong research and writing skills: You don’t have to be an academic, but ensure that you create factual content from verified sources and practice and improve your copywriting skills.
How Do I Pitch Myself as a Freelance Writer?
Keep your pitch to less than a minute and tell them a bit about your niche, education, experience, and past clients, only if it is relevant to the client.
Be as brief as possible and highlight your unique value proposition (UVP), which is what makes you different from other writers out there.
A UVP can especially help if you don’t have experience because it highlights your niche and your understanding of your client’s needs.
Here’s an example of a UVP:
“I help small business owners create thought leadership content to build a strong and recognizable brand on LinkedIn, so they can boost their online visibility and attract more qualified leads.”