5 Freelance SEO Copywriting Business Tips (+ Video!)
Welcome back to another “slice of Heather,” featuring the best of her best blog posts grouped by theme.
Last week, we covered small business freelance copywriting, which had to do more with the personal struggles we as small business owners face in trying to cobble together a viable career for ourselves.
Today…we cover the same topic, but from a decidedly different angle: so get ready for another slice of Heather, focusing on the strictly business part of small business freelance copywriting!
1) How to spend less time writing proposals (and still get the gig!)
In this reader favorite, Heather delineates 7 specific strategies for getting that client to say “yes!” without spending precious hours laboring over a proposal. Learn how to save yourself time, energy and grief by simplifying your client proposal to give your prospects what they really want!
2) What to do when you don’t get the gig
So what happens when you don’t get the gig? Facing rejection sucks, especially if you’ve spent hours examining a prospect’s site and writing up a detailed (and what you thought, a killer!) proposal (see above). However you’re taking the news, what’s important is what you do next. Here, Heather shares 10 actions to take to move on when you don’t get the gig.
3) Are you charging enough for your time?
As a freelancer and small business owner, you know that your hours are precious. But you may be stuck in a place, especially if you’re new to the online writing market, where you don’t dare charge more than mere peanuts for your hard work. Heather declares: stop it! And encourages you to consider if you’re perhaps not selling yourself short with 5 clearly illustrated scenarios – and dares you to believe in yourself.
4) Are you making your clients fire you?
In this post, Heather warns you to remember that your clients’ needs come first: they are paying you to make their problems go away, and timely and responsive communication is the way to keep them happy and yourself employed. If you’ve been “fired” by a client, here are some things to keep in mind so that it doesn’t happen again.
5) Your SEO is not the problem
Sales slow? Don’t be too quick to blame your SEO, link builders, competitors or Google. It’s your content. All the marketing and optimization in the world can’t save you from bad content. Here, Heather discusses 4 common bad content issues, and suggests to be highly mindful of them when writing your site copy.
photo thanks to Better Than Bacon
But you may be stuck in a place, especially if you’re new to the online writing market, where you don’t dare charge more than mere peanuts for your hard work. Heather declares: stop it!
This statement caught my attention. Most copywriters actually charge peanuts. I guess I know why. It is because they never relentlessly market themselves, have low self esteem and are ‘lazy’.
Even if you write better than David Ogilvy, Eugene Schwartz, Bill Jayme and John Caples combined, no one will ever know that you exist unless you go out there and tell the world.
Every copywriter should treat his or her craft as a business. And I think this quote is very appropriate.
“Business has only two functions – marketing and innovation.” ~ Milan Kundera
Well said, James! Tending to the business side of your freelance writing career makes the difference between success and failure (or burnout), and marketing plays a crucial part in the equation. Love Milan Kundera, by the way! Thanks! :)