If you want to become a web writer or copywriter, it is important to find customers right away. But how is it done? Here are 7 effective ways to build your supplier network
When starting to work in the world of web writing, one of the first and most important questions we ask ourselves is: how do I find clients?
The initial obstacle, in fact, is to find the first customers when we cannot yet show ourselves as experts and we have no results to show. Once you have overcome this obstacle, then, I assure you that potential customers will come directly to look for you.
And that’s exactly what I want to talk to you about in this article. In fact, I will show you 7 ways that I myself used at the beginning of my web writing path to find customers online and offline and I will give you some ideas to make sure that they are looking for you directly after you have your portfolio of works.
Ready? Let’s get started right away!
Web writing: how to find new customers?
If you want to become a freelance web writer, there are mainly 7 ways you can find clients:
- Create your own website
- Take care of your social networks
- Create your portfolio of contents (and of results obtained)
- Participate in online discussions
- Collaborate with web agencies
- Search for clients on freelance platforms
- Expand your offline contact network.
But now let’s see all these points one by one, in more detail.
Create your website
The first step you should take if you want to become a freelancer and find clients is undoubtedly to create your own website, where you can develop your personal branding.
Your website, in fact, is the best showcase you can have to demonstrate your knowledge and what you can do, to make yourself known, to tell your story, your experiences and your results.
There are two ways you can create a website to strengthen your personal branding:
- Through the use of a blog
- Through a static page.
What should you opt for between these two possibilities?
Well, it’s up to you. Personally, if you want to do web writing, a blog is the best choice. In this way, you can go and write vertical articles on the topics you deal with and on which you feel more inclined.
But what are the results you need to show? Very simple.
Based on what we have mentioned so far, the main metrics that you need to take into account when we talk about the results obtained are:
- Conversions on the article, based on the CTA (or Call to Action) you entered, such as subscription to the newsletter or clicks to visit a landing page
- Conversions on a sales landing
- The time spent on the article. If people spend an average of 5 minutes reading what you write, that means you’ve probably got the point. If they go away after a few seconds, the article you wrote is probably not effective
- The bounce rate (or Bounce Rate), i.e. the percentage of people who leave your site after a few seconds, without having taken any action. The lower the bounce rate, the better your content (but watch out if it’s too low, your site could have problems!)
Creating a blog is therefore the first step to be successful in the world of web writing.
Take care of social media and digital reputation
Another very important aspect if you want to increase your online reputation as a web writer or as a copywriter and find customers online is to take care of your social networks.
This is one of the fundamental elements of what is called brand reputation and even more specifically, in this case, we are talking about digital reputation.
(I also recommend that you take a look at the excellent Digital Coach web reputation course).
But what exactly is it about?
In Google’s own words:
“Your online identity is determined not only by what you post, but also by what others post about you – such as a mention in a blog post, a photo tag, or a response to a public status update.”
Quite simply, brand reputation – or, in this case, better to say online brand reputation – is the set of what you do and what people think of you.
It is the set of all the articles you have written, your posts on social networks, your images, photos, and videos, your tweets but also the mentions, likes, and shares you have received, the reviews you have been given.
So let’s say that online brand reputation is a bit of a mirror of you and your business in the world of the internet. You understand well, therefore, how important it is to keep a brand reputation on social media always at the top.
And how to do it?
The first thing, identify the social networks on which you want to make space, such as:
- LinkedIn (this social network is practically essential if you want to work as a web writer)
- TikTok
- SnapChat
Establish an editorial strategy for each social network, first of all defining your communication and how you want to appear in the eyes of your customers and potential customers.
This doesn’t mean creating a completely different character from who you are. It means outlining your belief system and your communication in a defined and homogeneous way.
Now offer all the value possible. Share only what is relevant to your professional image, your brand, your values.
Build relationships, respond to comments, spark conversations. Show that you are very active on social media. It is very easy to get noticed in this way.
Attend web writing groups and make yourself known in your industry.
Dedicate at least one hour a day to this activity and you will see that the first customers will begin to contact you spontaneously.
Don’t forget to keep your online reputation off social media as well. Search Google for your first and last name and check the information that is shown. If something isn’t in line with your image, you can ask for the content to be removed from Google.
Another tool that I recommend you use to monitor the contents of the web that talk about you is Google Alerts.
Just connect to Google Alerts and enter the keywords you want to track, such as your first and last name or your brand name. This way, whenever this mention hits the web, you will directly receive a notice from Google via email.
Taking care of your Web Reputation and your social networks is undoubtedly essential if you want to find new customers. To learn how to do it in the best way, however, it is good not to improvise.
Create your content portfolio
We’ve already talked about how to create a portfolio of content to show off to potential customers.
But what if we haven’t written anything yet?
The first step, as we have seen, can be to create your own blog. Doing so is very simple. Just follow my guide on how to create a website and in less than 10 minutes you can start developing your new blog.
Another solution is to create a portfolio of works from scratch on the topics you want to work on. I’ll give you an example.
Let’s say you want to become a web writer in the beauty or fashion sector.
So just go to Drive and create a folder (or more than one, divided by topics) and start writing your posts on a simple Word sheet. Write an article as if you were writing it for a client.
This way you can prepare a portfolio of content to show to your potential customers, in no time and at no cost.
Participate in online discussions
Another way to naturally attract people interested in what you do and find customers is to participate in online discussions about your niche.
We have already seen the importance of doing it on social networks, but there are other channels on which it is possible to do so, such as online forums.
There are many online spaces to participate in discussions, such as:
- Medium
- Quora
- Yahoo Answers
- forums of other websites.
In this way, in addition to positioning you as an expert in a given sector, there will also be many people who will ask you expressly for your opinion on a given topic.
Collaborate with web agencies as a freelance writer
When it comes to finding customers online, especially if you are just starting out, a great help can come from web agencies, a path that I also followed when I was not yet well known in this environment and did not yet have a rich portfolio of works and customers.
Even if you want to become a freelance web writer, in fact, collaborating with a web agency allows you to start creating a portfolio of works (and results!) Without having to bother to find clients personally.
And – no less important – to keep your back covered from an economic point of view.
Personally, at the beginning of my career as a web writer, where I then specialized in SEO copywriting, this is precisely the path I chose to follow.
For a long time, in fact, I collaborated with some important web agencies, which passed the clients on to me directly, but at the same time developing some online projects that allowed me to acquire new clients of my own.
The relationship created with web agencies also allowed me to maintain a working relationship with them based on freelancing. In this way, the same agencies I started collaborating with have become my clients over time.
Finding clients on freelance platforms
Another way to find customers online and start earning in the world of web writing is to rely on content marketplace platforms for freelancers.
But what exactly are content marketplaces? I’ll explain it to you right away.
Content marketplaces are platforms that connect the demand for writing articles and the offer of web writers.
I’ll give you an example so that this concept is clearer.
Let’s say I want to develop a new website, in which I want to implement a blog. If I don’t have the time or the skills to write targeted articles, perhaps SEO-oriented, what I can do is contact a marketplace.
I send my request specifying the number of articles I need and I establish the topic, a deadline, and guidelines for writing.
The marketplace looks for the most suitable freelancer for my project (in this case, you) and so we start working together.
Do not underestimate offline
Up until this point, we’ve seen tons of cool stuff, tips, and strategies for finding customers online. What else can we do?
Go offline.
In fact, the best way to be able to find customers is to get to know them offline.
The offline, in fact, has many advantages that people do not even dream of:
- You can build social relationships by looking people in the eye
- It is more informal and people tend to let go more, while online they try to maintain their rigidity at all costs (we already talked about digital reputation, right?)
- The relationships that are created are more authentic and deeper
- You have the opportunity to get closer with someone “face to face”.
Compared to sending a message on social media or an email, getting to know each other in person reinforces the memory of you in others.
The online route, therefore, is fantastic. But that of the offline is 100 times more effective!
Bonus tip: don’t stop growing
One last piece of advice I would like to give you before saying goodbye is as simple as it is important: never stop training yourself.
The reason is simple. When we talk about web writing, we are not just talking about knowing how to write well. Otherwise, we would be writers, not web writers.
A web writer always works for objectives, for results. He doesn’t just write to entertain the people of the web but he has goals to achieve. Those same objectives that we saw at the very beginning of this article.
If you write to sell, your items will have to sell. Being legible or being stylistically perfect is not enough.
And in this world, it is not enough to study once because everything always runs smoothly. The web is a place with very fast rhythms. Things change, they are transformed, they are constantly changing. Google’s own algorithm is changed every day.
For this reason, the best way to always stay on the crest of the wave is to go fast, to follow the accelerated pace of the web.
And this can only be achieved by always staying up to date on news, continuing to train daily, and never stop writing, not even for a single day.
There are tons of really amazing blogs to learn from, from Neil Patel to Copyblogger. Most importantly, stay informed about your writing area.
If you write about dogs, always stay informed about dogs. If you write about cars, follow car blogs and magazines. Always stay informed about all the news.
Only in this way can you become a super web writer.
Final reflections
Finding clients when working in the world of web writing is not difficult if you follow the right strategy.
And if you follow all the tips I have explained to you in this article step by step, I’m sure that finding customers from now on will really be easier.
Furthermore, once you have been able to develop your personal branding, you will move to the next level, that is, the one where you will no longer have to find customers but the customers themselves will find you and ask you to collaborate with them.
To your success!
S
