5 Tips For Marketing Your Freelance Writing Business
A constant problem in the life of every freelance writer is the requirement to promote your writing services while allowing enough time to actually provide them. Time management is tricky enough when working from home, and it’s very easy to become swamped in marketing activities, thereby taking away valuable writing time from your busy schedule.
So how can you free up more writing time without letting your business disappear into obscurity? And is it possible to keep new business coming in, without infringing on the copy production line? This article illustrates five easy-to-implement marketing methods that will help you strike that all important balance.
1. Create Standard Templates
It sounds rather obvious, but creating templates for frequently used documents can not only provide huge time savings, but also enhance your company’s professional profile.
For example, press releases all contain the same basic information: who, what, where, why, and when. A template can have the “who” and “why” completed in advance, and sometimes even the “where”, before you sit down to write the release.
Personal introduction letters also work well with templates. If you use strong sales techniques to promote yourself, include those in the letter, so you only have the recipient’s personal details to complete before posting it.
And it doesn’t stop there. This approach can be used for queries, marketing material, and even emails; all of which can be transformed into templates. Any document you need to send regularly can be transformed into a template to speed things up.
It may take you a little while to get the templates up and running, and you may eventually need variations on the same theme, but once you have them it takes only a small amount of work to adapt them as your business needs grow.
2. Look For People With Something To Offer You
When was the last time you scanned your local or evening newspaper with your marketing hat on? Or read a copy of a trade magazine without knowing anything about it? By training your eye to spot opportunities from a variety of sources no matter where you are, you will start to see more and more places where the savvy freelance writer can generate work opportunities.
You might be sitting in the dentist’s waiting room reading a magazine or newspaper, or maybe you are on a train, in a motorway service station, browsing the shops – anywhere there might be an advert or somebody with a story to tell is a potential opportunity.
Look for stories or adverts where local businesses are seen to be expanding, have won an award, or where a key member of staff has changed. New businesses to the area might have a feature story, or perhaps a local event is looking for input or sponsorship.
Take notes of names and addresses, then write short letters of introduction (from a template) that mentions the story and how your services can benefit them. Throw in a couple of business cards and send it off. It’s a method that might just generate the type of interest you are looking for, and will certainly go a long way to creating a memorable impression.
Continue Reading...The Three Dumbest Mistakes to Avoid in Freelance Writing
The three dumbest mistakes in freelance writing are easy to avoid, as long as you know what they are. Do you know what they are? Read on to find out.
There are two types of freelance writer. Let's call them Type E (for enthusiastic) and Type B (for blah.) The first type is making a great income, loves his writing, and gets great satisfaction from it. He's enthused! He can see a long career ahead of him, where he makes a great six figure income because of the huge demand for competent writers.
The second type of freelance writer, Type B for "blah" is a nervous soul. He's not sure why he's writing, whether he should be writing at all... he spends a lot of time depressed, and wondering whether he's wasting his time writing. Not that he does much writing, he's too busy questioning himself.
The three dumbest mistakes to avoid in freelance writing
1. Not writing enough Most, if not all, challenges you face as a freelance writer are solved when you write enough.But how much is enough?
That depends on how much time you have to write. If you can only spare 15 minutes a day to write, a page is enough. If you can spare an hour, four pages is enough.
If you have an hour to write, and haven't written four pages, you're making the first dumb mistake in freelance writing.
2. Not sending out your writing
Freelance writers write and sell. If you're letting your half-completed novel languish on your hard drive, ask yourself why. Is writing a hobby for you? If it is, and you don't want to sell your novel, that's fine. Enjoy yourself.
However, if you want to sell your writing, selling is part of your everyday life as a writer. Sell something every day, or you're making the second dumb mistake to avoid in freelance writing.
Read More...Start Freelance Writing Today
Say you’d like to start freelance writing, to stop dreaming about it and just do it. You head for bookstore and sit down with a pile of books about freelance writing. Pretty soon, you’re overwhelmed. Query letters, mastheads, SASEs? The list of things you’re told you need to learn about before you start freelance writing grows with every page you turn. You begin to wonder, “Isn’t there an easier way to start freelance writing?” The books in your lap don’t suggest an easier way.
I’m going to tell you how to start freelance writing today. I’m going to suggest things that many of those intimidating books say you should never do if you’re “serious” about wanting to start writing. I won’t promise that you’ll make a fortune, or even a modest living, anytime soon. But you can start freelance writing in virtually risk-free ways that allow you to test the waters without investing huge amounts of time or money. And you can start writing sooner if you skip those lengthy advice books (you can read them later if you need to).
1) Start Freelance Writing: Clarify Your Goals
Why do you want to start writing? Are you hoping to make some extra money? Are you simply looking for appreciative readers? Are you considering freelance writing as a potential career that will eventually replace your current job?
If you want to start writing, you’ll need to be honest with yourself about what you hope freelance writing can do for you. Identifying your motivations as you start freelance writing will help lead you in the right direction.
2) Start Freelance Writing: Keep It Simple
Books, websites, articles?the amount of information about getting your start in writing is staggering. With your goal in mind, you can start freelance writing without wading through all of that material. Make the process easy at first, and you’ll be less likely to get discouraged.
Say your goal is to make extra money. Start writing by submitting articles to content websites, such as AssociatedContent.com and Helium.com. Content sites provide buyers with articles which draw Internet visitors. The articles generally need to be “keyword dense,” which means that you’ll need to repeat the same word or phrase frequently throughout the article. Most people who start writing learn about keyword density quickly by viewing other articles and observing how keywords are woven into the text without weighing it down.
Often, selling articles to a content site means giving up all rights to the material?that is, handing over the copyright. How does this help you start freelance writing as a career? It probably won’t, but it’ll provide you with a small, steady stream of income. Many sites such as GotWebMojo.com allow you to start writing as soon as you complete a brief online sign-up form. Be sure to read the terms carefully, so that you understand how and when you’ll be paid, what rights (if any) you’ll retain, and other important information.
Source and Contributors
- 5 Tips for Marketing Your Freelance Writing Business by Colin Galbraith http://freelanceswitch.com/finding/5-tips-for-marketing-your-freelance-writing-business/
- The Three Dumbest Mistakes to Avoid in Freelance Writing by Angela Booth http://copywriter.typepad.com/copywriter/2008/03/the-three-dumbe.html
- Start Freelance Writing Today by J.D. Carr http://www.netuser.cc/2008/03/06/start-freelance-writing-today/
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