No matter where you are in your freelance writing career, a blog can be a valuable marketing tool. In this post, we’ll look at three reasons you should consider blogging to land freelance writing clients if you aren’t already.
The best part? A blog is something that continues to work for you over time. And as experienced freelancers, you already have a wealth of knowledge you can share to attract clients and keep them coming back for more.
1. Blogging increases your visibility in search results.
When you’re just starting out as a freelance writer, you might be content with browsing job boards or even using freelance marketplaces. But those aren’t places where you’ll consistently find pro-level projects (and, more important, pro-level pay).
I’ve said it dozens of times of the years, and I’m sure I’ll say it dozens more, but “the best freelance writing jobs aren’t advertised.” It’s unlikely that will ever change. I’ve seen why first-hand when working in an editorial capacity. When clients advertise publicly, they get bombarded with unqualified applicants and it becomes a bigger headache than they can manage.
And that’s just when it comes to beginner-level gigs. It’s even worse when clients advertise pro-level pay, where they can receive hundreds of applications in less than a day. It’s tough for the genuinely experienced pros to stand out when clients can’t get through everything.
What do top clients do instead?
They get referrals from people they trust. They might be open if they receive a direct pitch. But they often start with a simple search.
It isn’t difficult to find qualified freelance professionals these days. But are you making it difficult for those clients to find you?
If you want to attract these higher-budget clients, you need to improve your search engine visibility. There are plenty of ways to do that, from optimizing your content on-site to building links to your professional site.
Do you want to know one of the easiest ways to improve your rankings though?
Publish new content periodically.
I’ve tested this many times over the years on my Pro Business Writer site, and without any doubt the biggest rankings influence has been whether or not there’s any recent content.
Now, I didn’t publish there all the time when it was more active because I didn’t always need to attract more leads. I could go a few months with no new content and not see much change. But once the rankings would drop, fixing that was almost always as simple as putting up a new blog post or two.
Why would this have an impact?
While Google’s algorithms take in many factors, they like to see fresh content on a site.
I’m not going to pretend to know exactly what their rules are on that front. No one knows their exact ranking signals. But it makes sense. If you put up marketing copy on your site but never publish anything new, it’s reasonable to assume what you’ve published could become dated.
Fortunately, it’s easy to publish new content when you have a professional blog attached to your site. And you don’t even have to publish often. In the example I’ll give below, we’ll focus on posting just one article per week.
2. Your professional blog serves as a “living” portfolio piece.
Another way your client-focused blog can help you attract new gigs is by working as a sort of living portfolio piece.
By that I mean it evolves with you. Every blog post is a writing sample on its own, and it only takes one to covert some readers into clients. But it’s also a deeper look at your thought process, your planning, and even how your writing has changed or improved over time.
On top of that, every blog post on your professional site can, and should, have a call-to-action (CTA). If you don’t, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
Your CTA can be as simple as a one-line pitch for a service related to the post content, with a link to contact you or request a quote. Don’t over-complicate it.
When you prompt a prospect to take action if they like what they just read, you’re increasing the chance of converting them into a new client rather than letting them slip away.
3. Your blog keeps prospects coming back.
Along those lines of letting readers slip away, it’s still going to happen sometimes.
But when you have a professional blog as opposed to just your static site copy, that’s OK. Why? Your blog can keep those prospects coming back in ways your marketing copy can’t.
While it’s not necessary to build an email list in most freelance businesses, bonus points if you do (and if you tie it to your blog).
When you give readers a way to subscribe, and you continue to publish content they find helpful or interesting, they’ll keep coming back. And every blog post is a new opportunity to turn that reader into a client.
Note: This post was originally published on September 2, 2020 as part of my article: The One-Day-Per-Month Blogging Schedule to Land Freelance Clients. It has since been separated and updated to improve the focus of the original post.
