What are the essential freelance writer website elements? If you’re a freelance writer, do you even need a website?
Essential freelance writer website elements
Around the Internet I see a lot of advice and tips for author websites but I don’t see much out there to help freelance writers.
Why oh why are we left out? Don’t worry. I’m here to help. Here are seven essential freelance writer website elements. Oh, and three things.
Have you checked out my resource library yet? I have a great training for freelance writers I think will help you sort out what to put on your website!
This exercise is meant to help you break positioning down into four areas: who you best serve (ideal client), what makes you different in the eyes of your ideal client, why that difference matters and what you do.
This is a free resource but I do require a password to access the library itself. Just pop your email into the form below and I’ll send it to you! Once you’re there, navigate to the freelancing section and look for “Freelancing Positioning Worksheet.”
*back to the training*
First things first, you need it. Every freelance writer needs a website. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
A website is the most critical tool in your freelance writing marketing arsenal. It’s available on-demand, year-round and is the one place you have complete control over what the message is.
You want and need a website. (Which is why we’re going after the freelance writer website elements today.)
Next. There’s a common idea that social networks can replace a website—that’s where your readers and clients are anyway.
But here’s the thing. You don’t own the platform and you can’t control the message. You can add to the conversation, yes. And I think you should be social networking.
However, you don’t want all your eggs in the social media basket. It could go away at any time, and then what?
One more thing
Set goals for your website. Yes, I’m talking about S.M.A.R.T. Goals and yes, you need to set some.
- What’s the primary goal of your website?
- What do you want people to do when they land on your site?
- Who do you want to see your writing website?
When you know what your goal is, you will know how to build it to help you achieve your freelance-writing goals.
Let’s get into it. What are the essential freelance writer website elements?
Less is more here
- Clear name. Look at your website. Is your name visible? Anywhere? Make it visible. If you write under a business name you can use that one, but make sure it’s easy to spot and read
- About page. This could be called something similar (bio, the company, meet your expert, experience, who I am, my story, profile, ETC.) and it should be on its own web page on your site
- Information about your products, services, or portfolio. Or all three. I have lots to say about portfolios (they drive me crazy…they’re out of date so fast in the freelance fast lane!) but I’ll refrain till further notice. Include as many links as you can to recent work and/or merchandise
- Social media icons. Do you have a few favourites? (I know I do.) Link to them and give your avid fans a chance to connect with you
- Contact page. Yup. You need to let people know how to get in touch with you. How do you want them to contact you? List that information in a clear and visible manner
- Email newsletter signup. Even if you don’t have anything to send, start an email list. Do it. You want to keep in touch with people who want to stay in touch with you (by the way, here are some great email marketing tips)
- Blog. I mean, I think you should have a blog. But I’ll leave it at the bottom so you know it’s not the first thing you do. Nothing allows your sparkling personality to come through like a blog. I don’t know what it is about the medium, but it WORKS! It serves as your pre-portfolio and helps you improve your writing. Oh, but you do need to keep it updated
Do you have freelance writer website elements to add? I’d love to hear about them!
One more thing. You may be interested in my free resource library. This is where I keep my files, downloads, ebooks, worksheets and whatever else I manage to create. I love sharing what I learn and want to keep adding to this library so it becomes a wealth of helpful goodness.
This is a free resource but I do require a password to access the library itself. You can get access by popping your email address into the form below.