Thursday, March 28, 2013

Finding Clients Can Be A Challenge When Starting Out. Here Are Four Ways To Find Them



Making the jump and deciding to become a freelance copywriter is a huge step. To ensure it's going to be a longterm move you will have to find a great deal of clients, which can be difficult task when first launching your business. It will take months, if not a number of years, to build up a stable customer base to keep your revenue at a stable level. With this in mind, prior to starting out it's a wise idea to have at least six months of savings in the bank along with a plan of action to find profitable customers.

Here are 4 ways of acquiring firms prepared to pay for your writing talents:

Phoning business to promote your copywriting services


Many copywriters are inherently fearful of picking up the phone, and would rather clean the house than pick-up the telephone. But getting in touch with local companies to inform them about your copywriting abilities can be an effective means of locating clients. Mass sending e-mail to as many firms as you are able to might sound like an simpler, and quicker, option. However your e-mail are unlikely to get read by the right people and may even annoy people for spamming them. Picking up the telephone, on the other hand, is a chance to grow rapport on a human level and to link with local business owners.

Marketing and website design agencies always need freelancers


Marketing and website design agencies always need copywriters to provide them with articles for their customers' promotions. They'll also provide you with access to bigger brands and higher paying clients than you'd be able to connect with as an individual freelancer. The big agencies may have already have writers inhouse, so it is wise to concentrate on the medium sized to smaller agencies that use home based workers to add extra capabilities whenever they need them.

Attending face to face business networking functions


With the level of competition for clients on-line leading to rates of pay to drop fast, the most sensible method is to hunt for customers in your local region. It’s simply common sense that people prefer to work with those they like, know and trust. With this in mind, you need to be out there greasing palms and speaking to local business managers, face to face, at each opportunity.

In the majority of towns and cities there are networking events where entrepreneurs can get together to chat, say hello and hand each other business cards. These networking events are usually hosted in local hotel function room or can take place over an early morning breakfast in a local restaurant.

You may find that most networking events charge an entrance fee for attendance, which normally covers food and drinks. It is, however, usually possible to find plenty you can attend withought an attendance fee. However if you can not locate any professional networking events in your town or city, then why not start an event of your own? You could create the event on a website, like Meetup, Facebook or LinkedIn. Once you have setup the event send invitations to people you know and persuade them to invite people in their business network so you can assist one another to obtain additional paying customers.

Find customers by networking on LinkedIn


Whereas Facebook is for fun, LinkedIn is focused on business. It is a social media site where professionals can promote their skills and link with other people in their sector.. So it's a wise decision to get involved by setting up a user profile and interacting with people you've worked alongside in the past and people you would love to work with at some point.

An appropriate place to start is connecting with friends from your old jobs to build your network. You can even use LinkedIn to identify companies in your neighborhood that could require your skills and who you can contact for work.

As a freelance worker you can not afford to sit back and wait around for enquries to roll in. So you should be constantly advertising and promoting your copywriting skills so you can build a consistent salary and make the freelance dream come true.

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Friday, March 1, 2013

Working From Home Is Not For Everyone. Points To Consider If You Wish To Be A Free Lance Copy Writer

As with starting up any new business enterprise, becoming a freelance copywriter is usually a challenge - I should know because I built my copywriting business from scratch! It will take months, if not many years, to build-up your client list as well as to be generating a stable salary.

But you'll find there can be big rewards for anyone able to achieve it, both in terms of money and lifestyle. There are negative aspects too, though.

THE DISADVANTAGES OFBECOMINGA FREELANCE COPYWRITER

Shortage of social connection - If you like spending time by yourself (as many writers usually tend to do) then being a freelance copywriter might be right for you. However, it can become isolating at times without having workmates to talk with and bounce ideas. Which means you have to discover other ways of having outdoors so you get some human interaction to your day).

Your competition is the world - Companies prefer to work with a copywriter they can meet and speak to face-to-face, after all people like to do business with people. I always highly recommend meeting clients if you canin your neighborhood to get clients. Nonetheless there's always businesses where expense is the deciding factor. They are prone to head to the web to find a copywriter.. The reach from the internet has widened your competition to the globe. Now anyone with an internet connection and wordprocessing software can claim to be a copywriter, that can make persuading businesses to pay a goodrate for your words challenging..

Up-and-down revenue - When beginning your journey, I suggest having enough funds to last you a good few months while you find clients. Still maintaining a steady salary may be a struggle. There will be times when the emails never stop flowing and the mobile phone is off hook. Other times you may be watching your PC nervously waiting for those enquiries to arrive. You have to be prepared for a fluctuating income if you want to be a self-employed copywriter, and the stress that can come with it because the business running expenses don’t stop when your earnings does.

THE BENEFITS OF BEING A INDEPENDENT COPYWRITER

Earning money to write - If you like writing then getting paid to do it must seem like paradise. You get paid to sit at home or in your favourite coffee shop and write about fascinating new subjects. Additionally you get to make use of your mind in looking for ways to make subjects sound appealing to readers.

Learn about new subjects - When you progress with your career, you may specialize on a specific topic. But most copy writers generalise to begin with. You are always studying new topics and also broadening your expertise, it’s remarkable how frequently subjects interlink. So if learning about fresh topics interests you, becoming a self-employed copy writermay be right up your street.

Work/life balance - Being a freelance writer doing work from your own home, you don’t have a employer telling you what to do. You get to choose what assignments to work on, and you can also choose to go for a mid early morning walk if you like, and catch up later in the day. Who wouldn't love that independence? If you get stuck for inspiration at home you'll be able to go and work in coffee shops or the neighborhood library, turning your surrounding area into your workplace.

Earnings - Once you’ve built up your portfolio and expertise, you can charge large charges for your expertise. As a freelance writer you can charge greater pay on an hourly basis compared to someone working fulltime. This means you can earn a high annual salary if you are able to establish a continuous flow of work. Writing for businesses in order to promote their product or servicecan be a demanding process. But with your performance connected to sales you can expect to earn a large income with practice and experience.

With a little luck, this article has given you an introduction of the positive aspects and downsides of the self-employed lifestyle. Good luck in making your venture into website copywriting a success!

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