Freelance Writing Job Boards
Elna says it’s best for beginner freelance writers to look at job boards first and foremost. In my situation, I think it’s best if I get 5-10 projects done on a job board before switching to cold emails to companies for work.
Since I’ve already read the article, I believe it’s best if I exclusively look at free freelance writing job boards for work. And not premium ones. Especially since I already have experience in the tech niche.
What boards will I peruse first?
IMPORTANT: Pro Blogger, Freelance Writing, and Blogging Pro. If I can find enough work, stick with those three.
Using Social Media
Social media is a hot topic for a lot of freelance writers. Some say it’s a waste of time and highly distracting. Others say it’s a goldmine for freelance writing work.
Elna agrees with the latter. In her first two years as a freelance writer, she landed gigs on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Pinterest. And they’ve been some of her best clients to date. Because of her strong presence on social media, clients were able to find Elna and work with her.
In this lesson, she’s going to go over finding clients on Twitter and Facebook. These are her two favorite social media sites to find work. For me, I’m definitely going to add LinkedIn, probably as a replacement for Facebook.
A Simple Tactic to Using Social Media to Find Leads
To get noticed by my ideal client, I should try to work in-front of them. With repeated exposure to my name, face and content, over time, the fact that I’m awesome at what you do is going to eventually stick with prospective clients. When the time comes that they need to hire a freelance writer, they’re more likely going to think of me over someone else that pitched to them one time.
And this is why social media is a great way to find clients – by connecting, sharing and engaging with my ideal client I’m making them warm up to me and my services.
This is called warm pitching and it’s highly effective (more so than any other pitching method in this course).
The goal is to find these editors or business owners or marketers – i.e. my target audience – follow them and engage with them. Look at what they are sharing. Let’s say content manager A shares a lot of posts from Fast Company.
IMPORTANT: I can also engage with them on social media. For example, if there is a small business that I’m interested in writing for them, I can follow them on Twitter and start sharing their blog posts. Sometimes this is enough to get on their radar.
I can start a dialogue and go from there. Find out more about the business, keep sharing their blog posts, tag them if I find relevant content and then approach them.
IMPORTANT: To recap, warm pitching entails on Twitter:
- Following my ideal client on social media
- Sharing their content
- Responding to their tweets or saying how great their post is
- Engaging with them if they ask a question on social media
- Tag them if you find a post that’s relevant for them
- Reach out to them by direct messaging them on Twitter if they need a writer (if you can’t direct message them, contact them via email or their contact form)
Using LinkedIn (Optimization + Leads)
IMPORTANT: Out of all the social media sites out there, I personally believe I’d have the best chance landing a gig on LinkedIn. So let’s focus extra close on this module to learn as much as humanly possible.
I already have a LinkedIn account fully optimized for my software developer career. All I have to do now is re-write a few bits so I re-engage my audience as a freelance writer. Now, will I get LinkedIn Premium? There’s no need in my opinion.
When I start my career as a freelance writer on LinkedIn, it’s best if I connect with tech brands or people who work with those brands.
IMPORTANT: Another thing I can do to help my brand is change my background photo on LinkedIn. An amazing tool to do this is canva.com. It’s a free editing tool that allows me to make my own background image.
IMPORTANT: A change Elna made recently which had a HUGE impact was cramming her title with as many keywords as possible. For example, “✨ B2B SaaS and Digital Marketing Writer 💫 Web3 + NFT writer • Email Copywriter with Hands-On Experience, Youtuber, Trainer 📕 Award Winning Blog 6 Years in a Row • American living in Canada”
The two biggest keywords in Elna’s opinion was SaaS and copywriting.
As a new freelance writer, Elna recommends hyping up my niche and my services. In my case, I think it’s best if I hype up the fact I’m a former software engineer with hands-on industry experience.
Now, I may not have much experience as a new freelance writer, but if I land a guest post, it’s best if I post it on LinkedIn.
IMPORTANT: There is a BIG downside to LinkedIn. When it comes to finding jobs, they’re all locational. What does that mean? It means depending on where you are, that’s what jobs you’ll get recommended to you. For example, I live in the USA… I’ll get jobs in the USA. Not in Europe or other countries I may want to net clients. If I want to bypass this, try using a VPN.
IMPORTANT: I found a great video which details how to get clients on LinkedIn. Use this as a reference since Jessica Foster specializes in it.
Elna recommends going on LinkedIn once a day or every other day to interact with posts written by companies I want to work for.
What’s the most important thing to focus on, though? According to Elna, an optimized header. This includes title, background image, etc.
IMPORTANT: Elna recommends a Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook page. Twitter and LinkedIn are most important.
Connection Template
When I want to connect with another freelancer or business owner, here’s a template to use instead of clicking connect with no message.
Hey,
Thanks for viewing my profile. I see you work at (x). Trying to expand my network and would love it if we could connect.
Thanks & take care,
[first name and last name]
If you wan to be a little more forthright you can send this message instead:
Hi,
My name is [first name and last name] and I am a freelance writer specializing in producing digital marketing content for blogs, newsletters and landing pages. I’ve really been enjoying the blog posts on [your website] and was wondering if you’d like to connect.
Once they connect they may seek out my writing services!
Optimization Tactics
On LinkedIn, I want to connect with:
- Marketing directors | Content directors | those in charge of marketing content | Editors
- Business owners
- Other freelance writers who you can send work to and receive work from
On LinkedIn, I want to start following the businesses or people I want to collaborate with.
I can find these businesses from job ads I’ve pitched to, on Twitter or social media, or doing a Google search of businesses.
I can then go to LinkedIn and search for those companies and view who is working for that company.
This can let you know quickly if that business has a marketing team.
Or, do other tactics if I want:
- Engaging with the company’s LinkedIn posts when possible. Have a meaningful conversation. This can help me get on the radar of the marketing director (or owner) who is probably managing the content on LinkedIn.
- Share relevant content – ideally guest posts, blog posts or client pieces – and call out my potential client. Use the suggested hashtags LinkedIn gives me.
Leads May Start Approaching You
By being consistent using these strategies, Elna started to receive leads. I’m sure that if she continued this process she would receive more leads.
But realize it’s my title that will get the right clients in front of me.
IMPORTANT: Cold pitching is the next section. Since it’s SO IMPORTANT for me to learn this, I’m going to devote an entire blog post to it.