4 Surefire Ways to Land Great Clients

Transcription

1 4 Surefire Ways to Land Great Clients Freelance writers are resilient and resourceful people. They ve ventured out on their own and work within their own business. I know from experience. I ve worked my way from my humble beginnings to now making a six-figure income. Hi. I m Maggie. I love writers. I m in your corner. And the most important information I could ever give you is how to land great clients. I m sure you realize that without clients, there is no money. Yes, securing direct clients is the key to building toward a six-figure income, but so many writers ask me, Where do I even begin to find clients? This video will teach you how to find great clients and keep them so you have continual income. There are 4 proven methods I ll talk about today to finding and securing private clients who will hire you for their writing projects. The first site that is perfect for writers to connect with prospective clients is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a business to business website that has grown in popularity because it allows people to link with each other in an easy and effective way. If you are not already on LinkedIn, the first step is to visit linkedin.com and create a free profile.

2 Make sure you add your expertise, company name and complete the profile as if you were writing a resume. Be aware that you re using this site as a vehicle for clients to find you, so write any and all information that would appeal to them. One area of LinkedIn that some people aren t mindful of is the hundreds of groups that you can join. On the top of the page, when you hover over interests, you will see groups. If you type in writers on the Groups page you will see a few thousand results that include writer s groups and interests.

3 LinkedIn also has an area for job seekers. This is where you ll discover many jobs that might be perfect for you. Go to the top of the page once again and click on jobs. When you arrive on the landing page, type writers in the search bar. This delivers thousands of results with all types of jobs available for writers.

4 When you see jobs you want to apply to, you can contact them right through LinkedIn, Google them or contact them through their website. A second way that is effective in locating writing gigs is through Twitter. Joining Twitter and creating a profile is free and is very useful for any freelance writer to find jobs but also to develop and expand your brand. If you don t have a profile, go to twitter.com/signup and fill out the information required for your personal profile page. Twitter will ask you what you want for your Twitter username. You should give this some thought. Whatever name you choose for your domain name for your website should match or at least be very similar to the names of your Facebook and Twitter profiles. This helps further strengthen your brand. There are so many uses for Twitter as a freelance writer. So the most important question you have to ask yourself is Who am I trying to attract? Since you are

5 trying to attract private clients, tweeting links to your blog, your website, and other links that can showcase your work is a good idea. Also tweet about writing tips, valuable writing websites and other information that would make people want to follow you. With Twitter, the key word is consistency. If you continue to share and follow writers and prospective clients, they will follow you back. If they see you tweet and comment and interact and offer great advice and tips, they will get to know you. That familiarity could land you a job! Now, when using Twitter subtlety is important. Get to know people before you ask them for anything. Respond to their tweets. If they post blog links, go there and comment on them. Make yourself known and well-liked. Once you are firmly planted on Twitter and you ve followed some prospective clients, you can then ask a non-offensive question like Do you have an where I can send my portfolio? A work-related question is always best sent as a direct message on Twitter, which allows for greater privacy. You can only send a private message if you are following that person and they are following you back. If that s not the situation, then you could always them on their website and remind them who you are on Twitter. Don t get frustrated if you don t get a response. Keep trying. You will get responses that just might turn into some lucrative, long-term gigs. So, what are some good tweets? Tweet about projects you ve completed. Tweet about a new blog post with the link. Tweet interesting facts about your specialty. The strategy is to get followers engaged, following you and retweeting your posts or commenting on them. Also, retweet posts liberally to show followers you are also interested in their content. Another great way to use Twitter is to become a troll. I know that word has a negative connotation, but in this case, it s smart. Troll all of the job listings on Twitter. Twitter is excellent for locating writing jobs directly from job sites posted on there. Some great profiles to @mediabistro, which is the website, journalismjobs.com. Although they don t have a huge amount of followers, the jobs they post are very good quality. Here is a sample tweet from them.

6 If you re looking for local clients, check out the You might just find a worthwhile client looking for freelance writers in your hometown! Don t forget to check hashtags. A hashtag is the pound sign on your keyboard. Using hashtags can direct you to many nice writing gigs. Use #freelancer, #WriterWednesday, #writechat and #freelancewriter, and search for other variations. If you d like more ideas, go to ProductiveWriters.com. They recently posted a long list of hashtags for writers. If you spend minutes every day on Twitter, you will gain many followers and connect with other writers and clients that can help you find writing gigs. Although gaining a huge amount of followers is not necessary, it s important that you find the right followers that can help you earn six-figures as a freelance writer. The third surefire way to land great clients is a freebie by using Google. If you search for high paying guest blogs you will find millions of results.

7 Peruse the first 5 or 6 pages and you will find a great many websites that point you in the direction of blog owners who pay for blog posts. Let s just take one Google result as an example.

8 On the landing page you will see that there are several sites listed that regularly pay at least $100 for each guest post.

9 After clicking through to these sites, each one will give you a set of guidelines to follow to submit your blog post. Once you land a few blog gigs, you can develop a relationship with the blog owner and they might ask you to do several blogs a month. If you have several of those on a continual basis, the money starts to add up. The fourth surefire method to landing great clients is by contacting clients directly through cold calling. Some people find this a bit intimidating, just hearing the words cold call, but if you understand that these clients are looking for you, it will put the fear in perspective. Cold calling in any market is a number s game. The more you contact, the more chance you have of landing a great gig. Today, cold calling isn t so scary. Years ago, you had two choices when you were cold calling. You called the client on the phone or visited them in person. With the advent of the internet, cold-calling clients is simple and just an away. Make sure to target your s. Include your website and portfolio links in the . Make the short and personable. Write it with a smile on your face and it will translate in your writing. If you don t hear from them in two weeks, them again with a brief remember me note. If you hear nothing, move on.

10 To find companies to cold call, Google the topic you specialize in or a topic you regularly write on and search for companies. For example, I might search for the phrase internet marketing companies. These companies may be able to use your writing services and you can find that out once you contact them. Now that you have your personal profile, you can also contact clients through LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and by visiting high quality job boards. And I stress the words high quality because there are thousands of job sites but most of them are junk. As you submit to clients, you will learn to weed out which ones work for you and which ones don t. Before you begin contacting clients directly, make sure your website is professional and has your best samples posted. It should have a clean design and should point to the type of writer you are. Your contact information should be visible and it should include an inviting photo of yourself. Developing your business to reach six-figures takes time and diligence, but it is time well spent. You are building toward something that will change your life. I remember the first house my parents built. From the perspective of my young mind, that house took forever to build. It seemed like every day just a few boards would be added, until one day we pulled up and the whole shell of the house was in place! Over the next couple of weeks, the entire house came together and we walked inside. I could hardly believe my eyes. I really thought it would never happen. As I ran into my new room, I realized it was worth the wait! I learned a great lesson that day that has helped me in life and in my writing career. The foundation of anything worthwhile, takes time. But if you keep striving at it, in what seems like a moment, it s finished and you see the benefits of your hard work. It s the same with your business. Keep at it. Connect on LinkedIn. Follow people on Twitter. Google for high paying blog posts and knock on client s virtual doors. If you keep at it one day your business will be built and your dreams will become a reality. Then you will realize it was all worth it.