Why Every Freelance Writer Needs a
Website
BY AMBER McNAUGHT
What do you mean, you don’t
have a website yet? Websites these days aren’t just for
businesses and people who want to share their obsession with
Buffy the Vampire Slayer with the world. These days, websites
are one of the most important tools for writers...
Why get a writer’s website?
First of all, ask yourself why
you write in the first place. If you can honestly put your
hand on your heart and say that you write only
for yourself, and you don’t care if no one ever reads your
work, then I’ll concede the point: you probably don’t really
need a website.
If you’re like the vast
majority of aspiring writers, though, and you’d secretly (or
even not-so-secretly) love to see your name in print, or to
actually make a living from your writing, then I’ll say it
again: you need a website.
But why?
Well, if you’re serious about
carving out a career for yourself in writing, the first thing
you need to know is that a successful writing career isn’t
just about writing. If you’re really
serious about selling your writing, you need to get serious
about marketing it.
Here’s an interesting fact for
you: the most successful freelance writers aren’t necessarily
the best writers. In fact, some of them aren’t even all that
great at writing in the first place. They’re good at
marketing. Selling themselves – and their writing. And what’s
one of the easiest ways to start marketing your writing? By
getting a website.
Promoting your writing with
your own writer’s website
Let’s face it – selling
ourselves isn’t always something that comes naturally. As
writer’s (and often just as people) we’re used to
self-effacement. Some of the best writer’s I know are the most
modest. They know how to write: they just don’t know how to
sell themselves.
If you fall into this
category, a website can be a fabulous work-around for the
problem of how to sell yourself effectively. In simple terms,
once you have your own writer’s website, you don’t have to
worry about selling yourself – your website will do it for
you.
A writer’s website allows you
to:
-
Post samples of your writing so
that prospective clients can see for themselves how well
equipped you are to write for them.
-
Give potential publishers,
employers and fellow writers a means of contacting you to
offer you work and ask for quotes. * Position yourself as an
expert in the field of writing, thus making it more likely
that people will actually want to make use of your service.
-
Display testimonials from your
satisfied clients.
-
Take advantage of the fact that
the web is where employers are looking for their writers.
It’s the last of these points
which is possibly the most significant. Let’s look at why:
The number one reason why
writers need websites
When an employer is searching
for a freelance writer, editor or proofreader, where do you
think they look? Well, they may look in their local yellow
pages or business directory, or they may go by word of mouth,
but for most people, the very first place they’ll look is
online. Trust me, when you run an online agency for freelance
writers, you find out very quickly just how many employers
there are who use the Internet to find a writer!
If you don’t have a presence
on the Internet (i.e., a website), how will these employers
ever find you? Yes, you can rely on using an agency like my
own, but with a little bit of hard work, and a well-designed
website, you could be bringing in clients yourself.
Still think you don’t need a
writer’s website?
Amber McNaught runs
Writing World - an online agency helping freelance writers
find work.
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