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As a freelance writer, you want and need clients and prospective clients to contact you. Yet, some writers have made this contact nearly impossible.
In this post, I’ll explain what it means to be an approachable writer and then describe several ways that writers place barriers between themselves and their potential clients (often without realizing what they are doing).
Could you be one of those unapproachable writers?
Being an approachable writer simply means that clients and prospects feel comfortable enough with you to contact you about their projects.
5 Barriers Between You and Your Clients
Here are some of those barriers that may be keeping potential clients away:
- No contact information on your blog. Surprisingly, many freelance writer’s blogs and/or personal websites have no way for a potential client to contact them. If a potential can’t discover how to reach you, you are unapproachable.
- No contact information on your social media profile. Social media profiles have become nearly as important as blogs and personal websites. One trend I’ve seen on Twitter is for writers to list their Twitter profile as their site. How useless is that from the perspective of a potential client?
- Putting past clients down. It’s very popular for some freelance writers who have blogs to publish rants about their clients. While many of these complaints may be legitimate, if most of what you publish falls into this vein pause and try to see it from a potential client’s eyes.
- Sloppy and unappealing sites. If your blog or personal website is sloppy and unappealing, this can also be a turn-off to potential clients. A poorly organized and messy site makes you seem less than professional. Also, don’t forget to check your content carefully for errors.
- Seeming too busy or too pricey. This is tricky barrier to overcome. You certainly don’t want to sell your services for less than they are worth, but at the same time, you don’t want your potential client to think that there is no chance that they could hire you.
What do you think? Are you an approachable writer? What are some other barriers that writers put between themselves?
5 responses so far ↓
1 Sharon Hurley Hall // Sep 27, 2011 at
Great list of mistakes to avoid, Laura. I think the pricing one is a minefield, because there’s always someone who will do it cheaper. My approach is to outline the value clients get when they hire me.
2 Laura Spencer // Sep 27, 2011 at
I agree Sharon. You do want to sell your services based on value and your blog posts on your writing site should emphasize the value you can provide over the price you charge. However, I have seen a trend where some freelancers boast about getting extremely high paying gigs (not to say they aren’t worth that), which can make it seem like they aren’t open to any kind of negotiation at all when actually they are. I guess a key point is to try and think about how a client might react to the posts on your website.
3 Are You a Careless Writer? : WritingThoughts // Oct 11, 2011 at
[…] started with how approachable you are as a writer, moved on to your visibility, and today we’re talking about the […]
4 Hauk IT - Webconsulting // Oct 11, 2011 at
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5 Cheval John // Dec 14, 2011 at
This was a useful post.