Every blogger has an amazing opportunity to use their blog-writing skills to make money. The fastest way to do so? By offering freelance writing services.
Let’s do some basic math: If you decide that you want to charge $50/hour for your freelance writing services (which is very reasonable), then in order to make $2,000/month, you’ll need to get 40 hours of work in a month, or 10 hours of freelance writing work each week.
That’s pretty doable, right? Making $2,000/month isn’t too bad for an extra 10 hours of work each week!
To get started, you’ll want to take the following steps:
Step #1: Create a freelance services webpage.
After all, you want clients to be able to find you! If someone happens to visit your blog and your freelance services page is easy to find, you never know when someone will approach you out of the blue.
Besides that, it’s important to be able to direct possible clients to your page so they can easily find out everything they need to know.
Step #2: Put together a directory of potential clients.
Who are the people who could most benefit from your freelance services? While it would be great for prospects to come to you, it’s going to make a huge difference (especially early on as a freelancer) if you approach them.
That’s where a directory of potential clients comes in handy. Your directory doesn’t need to be anything too complex—the key aspect is that it will give you some direction when you’re ready to pitch your freelance services.
Step #3: Set aside those 10 hours each week.
Take a good hard look at your current schedule. How can you carve out 10 hours from your week? Can you wake up a half hour earlier, use your lunch break, set aside an afternoon on the weekend, or reduce the amount of time you spend watching Netflix in the evenings?
Even the busiest of us can set aside 30 minutes here and an hour there. (Yes, that includes YOU.) If you’re serious about making money from your blog, then you need to be serious about making the time for it. You won’t make any money unless you’re willing to prioritize this.
TIP: Consistency goes a long way! Consider setting aside the same time of day or the same days of week to work on your business.
Step #4: Use your first two weeks to start connecting with prospects from your potential client directory.
You should have a list of at least 20 prospects in your client directory. Once you have your list of 20 prospects, reorganize the list so that the people who you think are most likely to hire you are at the top.
Then, start going down your list! Challenge yourself to build relationships with or reach out to at least two prospects each day.
Step #5: Be honest with yourself and track everything as you go.
Make notes of what you’re doing to build your business as a freelance writer (don’t forget to date these notes). You should be able to look back at the end of the month and see exactly what you’ve been doing to pitch your services to potential clients, so you can notice what works and what doesn’t.
Step #6: Make sure people know what you do.
You don’t need to blog every day about how you’re now offering freelance writing services or use your Instagram account as a giant ad for your freelance business. However, that being said, you SHOULD find ways to mention it organically, so that within a few minutes of someone finding your blog, they realize that you also offer freelance writing services.
Your blog is an amazing portfolio of writing samples, but it’s also an excellent platform for marketing your services.
How can you do this?
- Mention it at least once on your blog’s About page
- Design your website so that your freelance services page is easily visible from the navigation menu and/or homepage
- Add a sidebar ad linking to your services page (if you have a blog sidebar)
- Mention your experiences as a freelance writer, or how you’re undertaking this new journey, as part of relevant blog posts
- Incorporate some tweets, Facebook posts, and Instagram posts to highlight your freelance services each week
- Post short videos and/or photos to your Instagram Stories about how you’re now offering freelance services
- Occasionally mention your new work as a freelance writer in your email newsletter
For more tips on how to find freelance writing jobs as a blogger, click here.
