Freelancing

The fastest way to master the craft of writing for the web is to create and write your own website.

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My money making website about coffeeIt’s hard to track all the different ways in which I have built up my knowledge and expertise in writing for the web.

I guess it started when I wrote and published my first website back in 1996.

When I began writing for the web full time in 1998, I was soaking up new knowledge from all kinds of different sources. I would read articles, buy books and listen carefully to fellow presenters at industry conferences.

And, of course, I learned a great deal from every new client project I took on.

But nothing compares, or even comes close to the knowledge I have gained from writing and publishing my own hobby website, CoffeeDetective.com.

Yes, it’s a hobby. I work on the site just in the evening and at weekends. Sometimes.

And before I get into the part about learning, let me just mention that the site has also become a significant source of income for me and my family. Since I began writing it in 2007, this hobby-site has earned me over $200,000 in passive income.

Now let’s look at how my coffee site has helped me learn so much about writing for the web.

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3 First sentences to avoid when writing a prospecting email. (And 2 that work better.)

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Prospecting emailsIf your freelance copywriting or consulting business has got to the point where all your new work comes in through referrals, good for you.

But most of us need to do some prospecting for new clients, in the form of outbound marketing. And outbound marketing will typically begin with an email or physical letter, sent to your prospects at work.

Some prospecting letters work pretty well, but many of them bomb. And when they fail, the cause can often be found in the first sentence of text below the salutation.

I’m going to share 3 examples of first sentences that really don’t work very well, and tell you why. Followed by a couple of examples that might help you achieve better results.

Example 1: I see that your company has a Facebook page, but that you’re not updating it regularly.

On the face of it, this line seems reasonable. You have gone to the trouble of checking out the prospect’s Facebook page, and you have found a weakness that should be addressed.

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Freelance Copywriters: You don’t have to say Yes to standard industry rates or fees.

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copywA few days ago I got involved in the comment stream on a post about the fees freelancers earn. The post itself was actually about freelance designers and coders etc. There wasn’t any data on what most freelance copywriters earn.

However…

A copywriter did post a comment in which she noted that “industry rates” for copywriters were pretty dire.

This got me scratching my head a little. Why? Because I can’t imagine a situation where I would allow myself to be confined by an industry “rate”.

To put it another way, working within the spread of an industry rate in voluntary. You will be confined by those rates only if you voluntarily agree to be ruled by them. There is no law that says you have to do that.

Your other choice is to totally ignore those rates and set your own fee levels in accordance with the value you offer your clients.

How can you go about establishing higher fees for your work? Here are three ways to get started.

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When your inner fire starts to burn low, what’s a freelancer to do?

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freelancer flameAs freelancers we work alone.

A lot of the time that’s a good thing. No time wasted on commuting. No time lost in dreary meetings. No ducking behind the cubicle to avoid the most annoying person in the office.

But…working alone can be tough sometimes too.

It can be particularly tough when your inner fire begins to run low.

What you’re inner fire? It’s the source of drive and energy that propels you forward each day. It’s the driver behind all your hopes and ambitions for the future.

It’s that same energy and belief in yourself that probably got you started as a freelancer in the first place.

Once you have launched your business, you still need that fire to burn bright. It’s what keeps you moving forward. It’s what drives you up to higher levels of success.

But…and I think this happens to all of us…there are times when the fire burns low. And because we work alone, there is nobody else close by to help us fan the flames back to life.

So what is a freelancer to do?

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One simple question that can increase all your online writing fees.

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freelance client questionsAs freelancers we often take on a project from a client and then write that web page in isolation.

But that’s not a very smart thing to do.

Whether you are writing a product category page or a blog post – or anything else – your work is part of a broader strategy.

If you write a product category page, that page will be linked to from other places, and it will have outbound links to other pages too. It will take its place at a particular point within a sales funnel.

If you write a blog post, that post will be part of a content publication plan that is aligned with your client’s marketing plan and calendar.

In other words, whatever you write for a client, it fits into a broader picture.

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How I would pitch my social media services to prospective clients.

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social media fire hydrantI don’t offer professional social media services.

But if I were at a different stage in my career, I would. In fact, I would be all over social media.

Why? Because every successful freelancer fills a need on the client side. If you want to be a highly paid freelancer, you need to offer a service and skill set that companies desperately need. And right now I see millions of companies that desperately need help with social media.

Putting aside the tiny percentage of companies that are being really smart and successful with their social media marketing, I would address the other, much larger group.

These are the business people who feel like they are trying to drink from a fire hydrant. Information about social media and how they should use it is hitting them from every direction at an impossible speed. They feel battered and confused.

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