freelance writing clients,
In the 2011 Freelance Industry Report, the biggest challenge freelancers faced was getting paying freelance writing clients, and 22% of the freelancers polled complained that it was a big problem. Having said that, 11% also cited the barren period where you don’t get any gig at all as a problem too. We call those days a famine circle.
These statistics show that the fore mentioned were their biggest challenges. It is hard as a freelancer to get gigs, jobs, clients but its not impossible. Personally, I have used some unique ways to get some freelance gigs lately and I would want to share them with you in this blog post. I will be giving 3 tips on how you can also get freelancing writing clients.
As weird as this sounds, if you want any freelance writing clients, Quora is one of the best sources to get solutions for your freelance writing gigs. Whether you want to ask or answer any question, or to do research about search a topic, Quora is the best source of information for you. Having over a million current users, it serves as a source of clients to freelance writers and other experts.
I just recently just came across this question “What is the most unusual/unique method you’ve used to land freelance writing clients/gigs?” in the career section and in less than a day, it will generate over 50 answers, half of which will likely be from clients looking to hire you for career-related writing gigs.
Here’s a link to the thread I’m referring to. You can get people interested in your services on Quora by browsing through relevant threads in its freelance writing section, and you can also create your own thread to see if there is someone interested in hiring you.
While most people use Twitter or Facebook, for fun, there is every probability that if you use those the social media site, you will come across potential clients if you go about it the right way. It is worth giving a try. Facebook launched Facebook Jobs, a job platform where you can search for jobs and get hired in an easy way. As a writer, you can get a few quality jobs this using this platform.
It is important, however, to know that it can be difficult to get clients through social media as you will often come across ridiculous offers (such as $1 for a 500 words article – and no, I’m not exaggerating!), but you can easily get rid of most of these offers by refining your keywords. You can do that in various ways; it can be by adding your desired price in front of your keywords, by adding key terms to your search to filter out poor results (key terms can be, unique, experienced, etc.), by making your keywords more specific and focused instead of generic (“freelance copywriters needed” is more specific in comparison to “writers needed“).
When using Facebook for your search it is important to ensure you filter your search by selecting the “Public Posts” option so you don’t keep on getting pages or profiles show up in your search. See the image below to see what I mean. You can also use the countless Facebook groups about writing.
You can also get people to hire you for your services using the Flippa marketplace. This particular tactic is one I first heard from Sarah Russell on her blog. Flippa is a marketplace for buying and selling online businesses, based in Melbourne, Australia, and San Francisco
There are people who are deeply into the business of buying and selling websites, and most of them will happily embrace a writer who can be working with them on a long-term basis. They will need writers to help them with anything from blog posts to sales pages, and this can be your opportunity to get a client.
You can easily visit an auction of your choice on Flippa and comment below the auction to see if the seller is interested in a writer for his/her sites, and you can also PM the fellow to discuss the matter privately.