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I get asked a lot by people, whether it’s via an email, blog comment, social media or face to face, “How do you earn money writing?” Well, I often talk about setting up your own blog, but you can also become a freelance writer. So in today’s post, I thought we’d look at, not only, how to find freelance writing clients, but more importantly, how to find freelance writing clients and get paid!
Now, every freelance writer has their own methods for finding clients. A lot depends on whether you are looking for online or offline clients, perhaps even both. Having said that, there are simple tips that you can use to get started. Here are some of them…
How To Find Freelance Writing Clients Online
Start Your Own Website/Blog
Any regular readers of this site will be aware that we talk a lot about starting your own website or blog. It’s a good way to make money online and build your own business within a niche that you like.
If you are a freelance writer, having your own site is a great way to get noticed. Think of it as your own online portfolio, where you can display examples of your writing work, as well as ways in which to get in contact with you and a ‘bio’ section telling people a bit about you. Not only will clients be able to find you themselves, but you can send potential clients a link to your professional website to show off your writing capabilities.
Over time, as you add more content to your own site, you will find that your site rises in the search engine rankings. If you are able to drive enough traffic, you can also monetize your site and earn money online, as well as through your freelance writing. It’s a win win!
If you don’t already have your own website or blog, it’s really easy to set one up. Check out our ‘Start A Blog Today!‘ tutorial guide that will help you set up your own site in no time at all!
Actively Look For Leads
Having your own website is a good way to show off your work and potentially find clients, but for the most part, you will have to actively search out and find your own clients to work for.
There are countless websites online that need regular content for their sites, whether it’s small blogs or large multi-national fortune 500 corporations. It’s much cheaper to hire freelance writers for this type of work, rather than hire full-time employees to work ‘in-house’ writing content. Content helps to drive traffic, so there will always be a need for writers.
It’s your job to scour the internet for these types of sites and get in contact with them offering your services. Send them an email, or better yet call them up (if they have a number) and ask if they need any content writers. True, this type of ‘cold calling’ will probably require you to get in contact with lots of sites before you get a lead, but getting that lead is worth the persistent effort.
Job Boards
How to find freelance writing clients? Well a good place to find freelance writing opportunities are on online job boards. These are sites where you can find a wide variety of different jobs that people and companies are advertising. Here are some sites to check out;
Partner With Internet Marketing/Social Media Consultants
You could try to partner up and work with internet marketers & social media consultants. These people/companies work by approaching businesses and offering to improve their website by making them perform better. They do this by looking at things like; web design, SEO, backlinking, etc. and of course web content!
You see, writing content can be time consuming, especially when you are working on all the other aspects of a large existing website. This is where you come in. If you can partner with one of these people/companies, you can concentrate on working on the content side of things, which frees up their time to work on improving their clients site.
Unless you see this type of work advertised on a job board, you will again have to actively seek out these opportunities with internet marketers & social media consultants. Send them a professional sounding email with a link to your website and ask them if you could help them out in any way. The worst that they can say is no, but if they like you, they may ask you to do some work for them.
How To Find Freelance Writing Clients Offline
Small Local Businesses
Why not look at how to find freelance writing clients by getting in contact with some local business in your area and see if they need any work doing. There are always small business that need things like; flyers, product manuals, documents, etc. writing, but aren’t able to hire a full time writer. If you can impress them, it could lead to further work in the future.
The key to this type of work is to be flexible. Not every business will be looking for the same type of material, so you need to be open to working on different projects.
Charity Organizations
You could also look at how to find freelance writing clients by contacting non-profit organizations to see if they have any work that you could help them with. The good thing about these types of charities, is that they often have lots of work, but not enough staff to do it. You can therefore help them out with things like; writing press releases, leaflets, promotional material, etc.
Admittedly, these jobs probably won’t pay that much, as they are after all a charity, but it can be a good way to get some experience working in a freelance situation and it could lead to more jobs in the future. You have to remember that each job that you do, you can include it on your CV. Many other companies may like the fact that you have done some work for a non-profit organization and look more favourably on you.
Newspapers
I’m of the opinion that traditional newspapers are slowly dying out. Having said that, they aren’t dead yet, which means you can make the most of it. Newspapers sales are on the decline, so many are choosing to hire freelance writers instead of full time writers. This could be a good opportunity for you to get in touch with your local newspaper. They should have plenty of work that needs doing, so it all depends on how well you present yourself and your past experience.
Whether you’re looking at how to find freelance writing clients online, offline or both, there are plenty of freelance opportunities out there for you to find. You can earn a nice living from freelance work, but you have to be prepared to put the work in to find your clients. I’d definitely recommend that you set up your own website if you haven’t already, as it’s a great way to show off your writing.
But what about you? Do you make a living as a freelance writer? What additional methods do you use when you look at how to find freelance writing clients? Have you got any questions? Let us know by leaving a comment below!
