Freelance writing tips on winning the job
Making a good pitch when applying for a job is fundamental to freelance writing success. Often a freelance writer can be in competition with dozens, sometimes hundreds of freelance writers, all eager to win the work. Your pitch must stand tall in among this competition and be well supported by good, relevant examples of your previous work.
When I pitch for a job I have a template in my mind of points I need to include. They are:
Who I am and where I'm from. Sounds obvious, but many jobs specify someone from the English speaking world, and this shows that I am.
My experience. I normally state the number of projects I have been involved with. the more work I complete the better this looks.
My approach to the work, including gauging tone, keeping the copy interesting and informative, and to engage the reader.
My CV/Resume. This contains a cross decision of my previous work, along with testimonials. Both of these are significant.
A link to my website. The writers website provides a means of displaying their talents together with an opportunity to showcase what they can do. This recently won me a job and has done so in the past.
Depending on what the ad has asked for, depends on how I construct my pitch, and I mention any previous experience that I feel is relevant to the job.
Your bid is also an important factor in winning the work. Often, there is a budget specified for the job, and to stand a realistic chance of winning the work, it is best to put forward a bid that is within it. I have found that bidding slightly lower than the maximum, tends to give you a fighting chance.
Good luck!
Teahon Freelance writer
This curious title is not me taking an ego trip but purely for SEO purposes. The hope is that Google will link anchor text in my website, "Teahon", "Freelance writer", and simply put two and two together, and make me climb the page ranks for searches under "Freelance writer". There is another reason for this post, and that is to knock down the technoratti tracking code at the top of the page. How embarrassing! Had to be done though, its all part of spreading the freelance writing word.
Copywriting seems to be in demand at the moment, and with a little luck I have landed a job from freelancer.co.uk. This will hopefully lead on to other work with the same orgnaisation. In the first instance, I shall be writing about team building.
Chris Satchwell of Digitpedia fame, liked most of my suggestions for "How To" guides, so that gives me good scope for at least another six articles or so. With the run up to Christmas, I am hoping he will need more of them.
Cowinkidink are still getting articles from me at a rate of two a week. They feel they are closer to launching and the screenshot I have seen is very clean, web 2.0, kind of look. Hopefully, the site will launch this year and earn yours truly a bit of cash.
That was the week that was for Teahon Freelance writer.
Freelance writing, a freelance writer, and a site where I posted a comment
Ok, ok, I know it is not the best title I have ever created, but it is late, I am tired, and I need to strike the road a cruel blow of indifference and hit the hay. Before I do, I just want to tell you about some fresh, new developments, that have happened, over the last few days.
A woman has been in touch via facebook, wanting to find out more information about writing for me. Going by her messages, she is quite eloquent, and has a good command of English grammar. This is particularly impressive as English is not her first language. I have offered her the Precise English work which I spoke about a few nights before. We shall see what happens.
Tonight I have completed two articles for Dreamtemplate, in pretty fast time. They are good articles on blogging, listing common errors which bloggers make. I found it interesting, that with the exception of two of them, I do not make those mistakes. But enough of my modesty, in the process of researching these articles, I found a good website, called problogger.net. This site is for freelance writers that wish to make money problogging, and I watched a video of a guy giving people tips on how to become a problogger.
It was good stuff, with some useful tips. It did not however, list what is in my opinion the most essential element of landing blogging work, and that is to treat it as a numbers game. The more you apply for, the more you land. For me this is the golden rule, not just for blogging, but for freelance web content work in general. I have applied for hundreds of jobs, all of which I thought I had a good chance of landing, and not heard anything from, then the few you label as outsiders, get in touch and give you the work. Logic seems to be absent, at least the way I understand logic.
I actually believe that there is something in your writing which appeals to a reader, regardless of the genre of writing, and this is what lands you the work. It is your style above everything else that will appeal to someone, and though the quality has to be there, obviously, it is not quality alone that is going to get you that job.
The Blackmark Trilogy
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