One of the hardest thing about being a working freelance writer is coming up with content. Which is why you need an evergreen content strategy.
Trust me on this, it will change your life.
Writers who want to build an online platform know they should be producing content. Maybe a blog or something similar.
And in theory it makes sense.
A blog is an excellent way to showcase your skills as a writer and advertise your services. In reality things are a bit trickier.
What do you write about?
How do you balance writing for yourself/your site with writing for clients?
This is where an evergreen content strategy comes in
Evergreen content can be described as the foundation of your blog—and this surprises many people for a couple reasons.
First, because it’s hard to comprehend how timeless articles can stay relevant over time.
Second because hardly anyone has heard of it.
How can evergreen content be a foundation when I’ve never heard of it before!?
I know! But I’ll explain everything and you’ll never wonder what to write about on your website again.
Do you find brainstorming ideas a total nightmare? I have a process for that! Check out the worksheet and free training in my my resource library.
This is a free training but you’ll need the password—just pop your email address into the form below and I’ll send you it to you. Once you’re there, navigate to the writing section and download the “How to Brainstorm Ideas for Writing Worksheet.”
*Back to the training*
First I’ll talk about what evergreen content is, then I’ll explain how to come up with ideas in a way you can balance with your freelance writing workload.
What is evergreen content?
“Evergreen” is jargon but the word makes sense—think of evergreen trees, they keep their needles year-round and the needles maintain their green colouring thus, ever-green.
Evergreen content works the same way, it stays relevant year-round and answers questions people are asking years after it was written.
Why you should employ an evergreen content marketing strategy is because this timeless, relevant information will deliver a consistent stream of leads to your website month over month.
It takes a bit of time and effort to set up but once you have the wheels in motion this approach will allow you to spend your mental energy on your freelance clients while your website works in the background.
How to come up with ideas
The best way to come up with ideas is to know your audience. In a freelance writer’s case, your audience is your ideal client.
Think about who you serve and what problems they’re trying to solve. Your website or blog content should solve those problems and answer common questions. The more questions you answer the stronger your foundation.
Here’s what you need to do when coming up with evergreen content ideas:
Get clear on who you’re talking to (your ideal reader) and what you offer (what’s your goal? What are you trying to achieve?)
Decide what your topics are
Put everything into a calendar template.
To systemize these ideas (and actually get them written) you’ll need to take your ideas and build a content calendar with them.
Of course we could go a lot deeper when talking about creating evergreen content—there’s SEO, keyword research and virality to consider.
But for today we’ll stick with the concept of evergreen content and building a strong online foundation as the base of your freelance writing business. When done well it’s a beautiful thing.
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.
I’m writing Twitter tips for writers. I know, I thought all the writers would have got the memo by now too.
5 important Twitter tips for freelance writers
Just kidding. I know you’re not on Twitter because you’ve heard it’s dead and you don’t understand it and you don’t know what you’d do with 10,000 followers anyway (all real things writers have said to me, by the way).
And that’s OK.
But I think you should be on Twitter because that’s where the writing people are.
Like, all of them.
Agents
Editors
Publishers
Publications
Authors
Freelance Writers
All the writing people
Because everyone’s there, and you are a writer, I’d like to take this opportunity to prompt you to re-consider being there. Or if you haven’t visited in a while, to log back in.
Pull up a chair and get ready to take some notes, because these are the five most important things to pay attention to on Twitter if you want to connect with any of the types of people listed above.
Twitter tips for writers
Use the @mention tool as much as possible
One of Twitter’s strengths is giving you direct access to people you don’t know, but want to.
And when you @mention someone (this means tagging the Twitter user in a tweet) it grabs their attention and helps them notice you in a not-creepy way.
Even though the landscape has changed over the years, Twitter is still all about connecting. When you compose tweets, you should be thinking about who you can mention in it.
For example
If you’re sharing a great article you read, @mention the person who wrote it and the publication that published it
If you’re tweeting about having a great writing session at the local coffee shop, @mention who you were with and where
Or if you’re at a writing conference or event @mention the speaker you’re watching and the conference you’re attending
By integrating @mentions into your tweeting strategy it helps keeps your content focused, relays valuable information to your followers, and helps you make connections.
Use hashtags; use the right hashtags
Because Twitter is all about connecting, people use hashtags to find and follow information or people. They’re so important on Twitter.
Maybe I’m preaching the the choir here, and you already understand hashtag best practices but I’ll mention it again just in case. Hashtags are meant to help people find you and connect with you. So using hashtags and using the right hashtags is pretty important.
Want 125 writing-related hashtags? They’re my gift to you, free in my resource library. Pop your email address into the form below and I’ll send you the password.
Once you’re in the library, navigate to the “Social Media” section and look for “125 Writing Hashtags.”
Using the examples above, here are a few hashtags you could try.
Remember, we’re using hashtags to connect with people so we’re not making up our own or trying to be clever. Those are throwaways.
If you’re sharing a great article you read and want other writers to check it out, try #bookrecommendations #amreading or #writingtip
If you’re tweeting about having a great writing session why not try #writerslife #writersgroup or #critiquegroup
Or if you’re at a writing conference or event make sure to use the event hashtag along with whatever the topic is about (e.g. #writingprompts or #writingcommunity etc.)
Use lists
As far as Twitter tips go, this is the one that’s made the most difference to my Twitter experience. Lists keep things streamlined, which—if you’ve followed me for any amount of time—you know I’m a big fan of.
Lists are curated groups of Twitter users, making it possible to spend less time on Twitter and yet take strategic connecting to the next level. Your lists can be public or private and I recommend a mix of both. Here are a few lists you can create, just to get the creative juices flowing.
Agents you want to connect with
Writers you admire
People you want to work for or collaborate with
Local people you want to keep track of
People you meet at writing events
Once you create these types of lists, you then start adding Twitter users to them. If your list is public the user is notified when you add them to the list.
If your list is private then no one knows about it and no one can see or follow your list.
I have a few lists of people I’d like to connect with or work with and I keep those private, but some of my lists are curated based on types of writing and I keep those public so others can benefit from them if they want to follow my lists.
Your Twitter bio HAS to be complete AND optimized. You can’t be vague or clever or witty here, not if you want to make strategic connections.
And the best way to make these connections is by ensuring your profile makes people want to connect with and follow you.
Here are five quick tips for optimizing your Twitter profile
Choose a professional/standout profile picture and cover photo
Make it easy for people to know who you are and what you do
Link to your website
Include keywords about your services
Be clear on your location/contact info
These are kind of basic tips but there are so many profiles out there missing one or more of these key elements.
Let’s back up for a second and remember why we’re doing Twitter tips in the first place: We’re freelance writers looking to make connections with writing industry people.
In order to make a good first impression and grab their attention, we want our Twitter profiles to be complete and optimized.
If you want these tips in more detail and download form I have a free printable for you in my resource library. Pop your email address into the form below and I’ll send you the password. Then, when you’re in the Social Media section download the “Social Media Optimization Ebook.”
Understand Twitter best practices
As far as Twitter tips go, this is one of those “duh” ones. If you want to succeed on Twitter, you have to understand how to use it properly and abide by its best practices.
So while you want to create a strategy where you’re not on the platform 24/7, you also want to understand it enough to use it properly.
What does this mean? Well, here are a few things that come to mind.
It means you don’t just set up your tweets to send out and never engage with others
It means you don’t spam people with self-promotion, you send valuable and on-brand content to your followers
Also, it means you don’t stalk people! You follow them, you retweet them when appropriate, and you watch for opportunities to make genuine connections
It means you’re not just there for what you can get out the platform but you’re also there to be generous and add value
It means you join the conversation when you can, in real time.
Twitter, like all of social media, thrives on generosity
When you provide relevant information and entertainment and build genuine relationships you become a part of a vibrant community that you contribute to and also benefit from. By following best practices it ensures you aren’t seen as a spammer or someone just out for themselves. Also, it keeps you from getting kicked off Twitter. Which happens.
I hope these five Twitter tips help clarify a few things for what you should do on Twitter and why.
There’s lots more we can cover like what to tweet, how to make connections, and how to curate all this valuable content you’re supposed to share. If you want to go deeper on any of these topics get in touch. I do offer social media coaching and training, customized to your unique needs.
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 (like that social media printable I mentioned earlier). 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.
When you’re a freelance writer it might seem a bit strange to promote your writing to others on social media but it’s an important step in marketing your work and showcasing your skills.
How to promote your writing on social media
Your first thought might be that you can’t share your freelance writing either because it won’t make sense to your social media followers, you’re ghostwriting and it’s not exactly OK to take credit for ghostwriting or you’re under a confidentiality clause.
All very possible and very important reasons why you should not be sharing your stuff!
But that doesn’t get you off the hook. Maybe you can’t share your freelance work but you can promote your writing on social media.
By the way, optimizing your social media profiles is important! You want to ensure potential clients know who you are, what you do, and why they should hire you.
Download your free ebook from my resource library! All you have to do is pop your email address into the form below and I’ll send you the password.
Once you’re in the library, navigate to the social media section and download the ebook called “Social Media Optimization.”
Ready to promote your writing on social media? Here are a few ideas
1. You can write a blog and share individual articles on social media as they publish
Write and publish articles on your website or on a platform like Medium.
Whatever it is, you can share articles on LinkedIn, tweet links to them on Twitter, post about them on Facebook, talk about them on Instagram…you’re creating content, putting your work out there and engaging your followers all at the same time.
Blogs are brilliant.
2. What’s your area of expertise? Create tips and tricks to help your followers improve in that area and post about them on social media
Maybe you offer a tip per week on Instagram or perhaps it’s a Facebook Live video each month…whatever it is you’re showcasing your skills on social media and helping potential clients get to know, like and trust you.
3. Have you written a book? Then why not talk about that on social media
Develop a content calendar and rotate through different ways to talk about your book—talk about who it’s for, what the benefit is to the reader, publish excerpts, put it on sale, etc.
4. Post about what you learn
Maybe you can’t post about the exact freelance work you’re doing but maybe you can post about ways you’ve learned to make it easier, more efficient, etc.
Have you learned about a new place to get great gigs? Why not share about that?
How about a new hack to get your brainstorms down in a quarter of the time? I’m sure people would love learning about that!
When you share about things you learn you become a resource for your followers—someone they want to hear more from.
5. If you can post your freelance work—do it! Share them all over social media
When you share your latest article or post try and talk about it in a way that is interesting rather than “Here’s an article I wrote, check it out!” While that works every now and then if you become someone who drops links and just expects your followers to read it because you wrote it.
Try and engage them by describing what’s in it for them if they take the time to click the link.
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.
How do you get more clients fast? This is the ultimate question and when you’re in this position, you don’t have time to try things that “might” work. You need it to work. Now.
Let’s dive right in: ideas to get more clients fast
Get more clients fast with these seven ideas. I can’t guarantee they’ll work, but they’ve worked for me so at least it’s a starting point.
1. Reach out to your long-lost clients
This tip only works if you’ve had clients before, but assuming you have this is an excellent place to start. If you haven’t worked with a client for a couple months you can classify them as “cold” and they qualify for this tactic. Go through your cold clients and send them an email asking how their project/magazine/website/etc. is going and if there’s anything you can help them with.
If you had positive experiences with clients in the past and they didn’t call you back for more, it may not be because they don’t like you or don’t have work. Sometimes they’re too busy to reach out…sometimes they don’t think of you…and sometimes they have a project but haven’t got to letting you know about it yet.
Sometimes this can feel awkward but when you need clients it’s time to get over it and as for referrals. Ask your current clients if they have any colleagues who could use your services. Tell them you’re looking to add a few more clients to your roster. Either they’ll tell you they don’t know anyone, they’ll give you a couple leads or they’ll give you more work themselves. THIS WORKS!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the best way to let people know you’re available is by saying you’re available. Mine your friends and family list for leads. Remember, you NEED clients NOW. You’re in a spot. Lay it out in an interesting, polite way so it’s easy for them to think of you when they hear about someone looking for a writer.
4. Run an ad
I have a friend who does this and swears by it. Whenever she’s looking for a couple more clients she runs a Facebook ad for a week or two to a super-duper targeted audience and gets her money back tenfold. You have to know what you’re doing, and target the right audience, but this can and does work.
If you do want to run ads as part of your prospecting strategy, make sure your pricing includes that overhead!
For extra help on the subject, I co-created the course How to Price Your Work. Setting your prices takes a bit of effort and guts but it will help you stay away from jobs that don’t pay enough. So you can make a living from your craft!
5. Apply to job board postings
Yes there are horror stories from job boards. Yes I would say you don’t get the strongest clients from job boards. However, you’re in a situation where you need clients now and job boards are filled with businesses looking for people just like you. You’ll have to look hard and put out a lot of inquiries but you’ll find clients.
Here are a few suggestions for job boards I’ve found good.
I should qualify this with write paid guest posts. Writing free ones is a good long-term strategy but doesn’t work when you need clients now. Different goals.
There are lots of websites and blogs that pay for content although there’s no set rate. But if you need cash flow…this is one way to get ‘er done. You’ll have to do the pitching so get ready to hustle.
So? Did you get some great new ideas to get clients fast?
These are emergency strategies for when you’re in panic mode and need clients quick. Even people with the best referral programs and ongoing marketing strategies run into this from time-to-time (but…not as much).
While these are all effective I’ll encourage you not to rely on them strategies as your entire freelance approach—you will burn out! Too much hustle is unsustainable. Plus you’ll be hustling so much you may not find time to do the work!
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.
Portfolios. In general I understand them—a collection of your work assembled to demonstrate your experience and expertise in an area.
But I’ve struggled with social media and figuring out how to create a social media portfolio.
Because although it’s my work it’s not for me.
Most of my social media experience is creating content and strategies for other people or brands. It’s like ghostwriting. It’s ghostsocialing. (I sure hope that’s a hashtag.)
My mission is to figure out how to present my social media portfolio in a way that demonstrates my experience and expertise but doesn’t break client confidentiality.
How to create a social media portfolio
As I searched the Internet I didn’t find a lot. Most how-to create a portfolio advice is for writing clips, marketing, or how to display your personal social media stats.
All of this is good and useful, but off topic. And I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because it’s a tricky balance.
So I started asking writing friends how they add ghostwriting credits to their portfolio. Short answer, they don’t. They leave it out and just refer to “ghostwriting services” or “x amount of books/blogs ghostwritten for x amount of clients.”
Vague but what else can you do?
But I want to do more for my social media portfolio
The golden rule when you create a social media portfolio:
Show don’t tell
You know you need to do it in your writing but it also is important in your portfolios. But how do you show (or even create a social media portfolio) when your clients don’t love the idea of admitting they don’t run their own accounts?
Or what if you did strategy work with a client, how do you display that?
And what if you worked with a client at one point and their feed looked amazing but now they manage their own and it isn’t so awesome?
How do you show that?
Here are my best ideas for building an awesome social media portfolio
First, showcase the services you offer
The best social media portfolio’s I’ve seen break the services down into bite-sized pieces.
Here are a few tips for creating this section of your social media portfolio.
Images are your friend. Find generic stock images representing the services you offer and the types of clients you serve
Highlight the services you offer
Make it interesting
You can expand on and explain the services you offer, or not. It depends on your target client and what will speak to him/her.
Second, list your clients
Gulp.
I know, we’ve been talking about the situation where you can’t name your clients or you aren’t sure how to talk about them. We’ll just do our best here.
Remember how you listed your services a few minutes ago? These are now our categories for organizing our clients.
So, in my case it’s Consulting, Social Media, Blogging and Platform Strategy.
Divide your clients into categories (they can be in more than one) and make them look pretty.
If you can’t name your client then describe them.
You can list them as a Wellness Company in Vancouver, BC for example.
If you can’t show their logo or brand then find a nice stock image that represents the type of business they are. Now list how you worked with them according to your categories.
Bing, bang, boom.
Here are a few tips for creating this section of your social media portfolio.
Describe the types of clients you’ve worked with and the types of services you provided
Include links to client websites if you can
Include client testimonials where you can
In my mock-up example I haven’t expanded to this point but you can see how more is more here.
However, if you can’t say more due to client confidentiality then a beautiful image and a short description of the work you did will suffice.
Choose a professional/standout profile picture and cover photo
Make it easy for people to know who you are/what you do
Link to your website
Include keywords about your services
Be clear on your location/contact info
A few other things to consider when you create a social media portfolio
Think about what you want to be hired for. Is it social media management? What about content creation, content curation, platform development, strategy, etc. Curate your portfolio to display that—you don’t need to list EVERY client or every freelance job you’ve ever performed (I mean, you can, but put some thought into it)
Things to cover: who you are (about), your mission, what you do, and who you serve (aka who you want to work with)
Is there an area you’d like more work in? Highlight this throughout your services, experience, expertise, and even which clients you mention
After I wrote this post, Thema asked this question about social media portfolios
Hi Robyn! I ran across your article about social media portfolios. I am pursuing a career as a Public Relations Specialist but only have the social media pages I curated for my internship to show. Any suggestions on how to create a portfolio with very few work examples?
This is such a great question and while I have answered Thema’s email I also want to provide my general tips here in case it’s helpful.
Question: How do I create a portfolio with very few work examples?
Answer: Depending on what type of job you’re going after this answer changes but I can tell you in general what I would do.
First, make sure the curated items you have for your portfolio are presented in a compelling way
As in, make sure they look great and are easy to skim and demonstrate the scope of your skillset.
Perhaps you don’t have traditional clips right now because you’re just getting started. Think about what you CAN present to demonstrate your skills and abilities.
For example, if you’re looking to run a client’s Instagram account, then what are some things you can showcase on your Instagram account to demonstrate your proficiency?
Do you have a good amount of followers? Then highlight that.
Do you have a posting strategy that generates leads? Unpack that.
Have any of your posts gone viral? Take some screenshots and write a case study on what you did and what happened.
Speaking of case studies, this is another excellent way to showcase your social media portfolio.
Even if you have many examples, breaking some key campaigns into case studies is a great way to showcase your results, your strategic knowledge and your competence.
I’ve also turned this cast study training into a free ebook, which you can download in my resource library.
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.
Once you’re logged in, navigate to the “Writing” section and look for “How to Write a Case Study for Marketing Ebook.”
OK, back to Thema’s question.
Second, work on adding new samples/clips as much as possible
If you’re not able to get clients/paid work then I recommend writing blog posts (or something similar) to beef up your portfolio and showcase your knowledge.
One of the big reasons I continue updating my blog and improving these posts is because they showcase my writing and expertise to potential clients.
These days, most of the work I do is without bylines and difficult to demonstrate in a portfolio so having regular bylined blog posts is an asset.
Third, networking! Always be networking
Get to know the people who work in the industry you want to be working in. Also get to know the people who work for the types of companies you’d like to work with/for.
When you know people then the breadth of your portfolio doesn’t matter as much.
True story. Once you’re established, see how many new clients ask for your portfolio.
I mean, someone you have no previous connection with might want that. Or if they’re from a big agency where that is par for the course.
But most people will either be going off of a referral from someone they trust or they’ll want one or two samples from similar projects you’ve worked on.
I hope this answers your question! Let me know if there’s anything else to add about social media portfolios.
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.
