How To Find Good Jobs For Freelance Writers: 5 Basic Rules

Freelance writing has become an excellent profession for people who like to work from home and set hours they find most convenient. Freelancers come from all walks of life and can be anyone from a stay at home parent looking to earn some extra income to a recent graduate who wants to travel the world and would like to work from different countries. What’s common about everyone who takes up this line of work is they each want to find good jobs. Here are five basic rules for making this happen:

Rule #1: Start by Creating a Great Profile

The very first rule in finding good jobs is creating a great profile. Several sites make this tremendously easy for you, but you should stay away from simply posting a generic page that gives off the impression that you aren’t given your work any serious thought. Choose a good looking and professional photo of yourself, describe your services in detail, and make your rates visible. These things will work to get more people interested in hiring you for specific projects.

Rule #2: Send out Request for Projects

It’s not enough to create a great looking profile and wait for the project offers to come in; you need to be proactive and search for the good jobs you want and send well-written proposals to impress your clients. Be sure to cater each proposal to meet your client’s need. Any proposal that sounds generic will be glossed over and put into a rejection pile. Don’t forget that you are competing with several other writers, so be sure to make your requests shine.

Rule #3: Update Your Portfolio Often

Once the projects start coming in, it’s important to start to display them in your portfolio. A well-thought portfolio should highlight your best skills as well as provide a glimpse of your range. Some sites allow you to select specific pieces from your collection to include in your proposal. This is a great way of customizing your bid rather than simply asking a potential client to browse through all of your content.

Rule #4: Network on Other Professional Sites

As your freelancing career gets up and running you should take advantage of the several professional websites where you can direct your connections and potential clients to your service site. Keep your professional site un-cluttered so that anyone reading the page won’t get lost or bored before finding a link to your freelance writing site.

Rule #5: Keep in Contact with Clients

Lastly, it’s a great idea to keep in contact with former clients. If they were satisfied with your work then they might be more inclined to hire you again for future projects. Also, if they know of a great opportunity they can usually put you in contact with someone needing some writing services. The greater your network the more reach you will have throughout the country and even the world. So be sure to send a “thank you” note or a “follow-up” letter every now and then.