By Tom Ewer
For the last two years, I have made a living from freelance blogging.
I make a few thousands dollars a month from my freelancing efforts, but I haven’t sought out a client since 2011 – they have all come to me. They find my services through my blog’s Hire Me page and via bylines on the sites that I write for.
Writing your bylines with the explicit intention of gaining clients is smart, yet not often practiced. If you’re looking to attract more clients and/or raise your rates, embracing this strategy will be a great first step that can drive clients to you without extensive work on your end.
Converting visitors to clients
An effective Hire Me page will exercise a massive influence on what kind of work you do, so you should have a keen awareness of your intended client base. That is, you should remember that you’re not writing to the general public about how you’re an awesome writer. Your goal is to persuade a specific group of people (i.e. prospective clients) that they would gain specific benefits from paying money to you in exchange for a service.
Of course, you need a compelling headline (just like you would have on a blog post). It should clearly summarize the benefits of working with you. Here’s an example from my own site, Leaving Work Behind:
You do not exist in a vacuum with your skills; because you’re trying to form a client-blogger
relationship, you need to show how your services will positively impact their bottom line. I cannot stress this enough.
One way to emphasize the solution you provide is to show samples from a variety of sites you’ve written for. These samples need to be on the topics that you want to write about. My rule of thumb is to have three examples of your work per topic.
Include testimonials
Testimonials are another great way to cement your credibility.
If you’ve done guest blogging, the owners of those blogs are a great source of testimonials.
Including a live link to their site and a small head shot makes testimonials more compelling, as you can see here.
Getting clients to your hire me page
Posts you write on client sites will usually have a byline attached with your name and links. This is where you need to work some magic.
You should write your byline specifically for driving potential clients to your site. For example, refer to yourself as a “freelance blogger for hire” and link directly to your Hire Me page. Here’s an example:
Tom Ewer is the founder of Leaving Work Behind and a freelance blogger for hire who works with web startups and bloggers.
Again, this strategy necessitates an awareness of your goal – you’re not trying to convince everybody and anybody to visit your blog. Your goal is to get potential clients to click on the link.
You would be amazed at how much more effective this is than simply linking to your blog. Most prospective clients do not have the inclination to go in search of writers – they need the opportunity to slap them in the face. Stating your availability as a freelance blogger in your byline is about as blatant as you can say it.
Why it matters
Your Hire Me page is important because it will convince clients to work with you. Your byline is important because it provides a flow of prospective clients to your Hire Me page.
One leads to the other, and best of all, your growth will be exponential. The more clients you get, the more bylines you have, the more prospective clients you drive to your Hire Me page. Keep that motor running with a targeted byline and an effective Hire Me page!
Do you have a hire me page on your blog? Tell us how it’s working for you in the comments.
