Freelancing can be a difficult path to navigate, but not impossible. It’s difficult – but this is only natural and how many freelance careers begin. From trying to sort your professional indemnity insurance, to chasing client payments – it’s never a walk in the park. But, imagine this: client’s that seek you out? Have you considering using the power of your blog to attract new clients? A tactic that is successful for many prominent freelancers.

For those just starting out, here are a few tips for getting clients using your blog?

Develop A Brand

People rarely hire you because you’re a star writer at some fancy magazine. Sure, having an impressive portfolio helps; but, when it comes to finding great clients it simply come down to your branding. If they find you personable, approachable, with a writing style that fits their brand, then that may be winning formula above any writing accolade.

Creating a specific tone of voice and brand for your services can also help you to come across as a more legitimate business prospect. Ensure that whatever branding you do create is consistent across media, so the wording and tone on your blog is the same as on your social media channels.

Build Your Portfolio

Every freelance writer needs a portfolio, it’s a rule that barely needs repeating in the writing world. This is non-negotiable and something you will probably have had long before even a website. But, once you do have a website it can also act as your living, breathing, portfolio.

Not only can you show off the very best of your writing ability, but also your ability to manage and run a site as a whole. Attach social media, a little graphic design (creating your own visuals and even infographics), and you may find yourself a very attractive prospect to clients.

At the end of the day, your blog should be a living, breathing, portfolio for prospective client’s. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t also add a few of your client pieces into the mix. Even a link to their site can be valuable; for both you and your client, as you get to show off your writing and they get a link for their backlink profile.

SEO

This is an aspect of successful freelancing that a lot of writers would prefer to forget about. But, to be successful this is as necessary as breathing to your everyday life. After all, no SEO optimisation on your site means that you will find it very difficult to rank on Google. And being on page 56 for Google isn’t likely to attract any clients, let alone your first.

So, the key to good SEO on your freelancing blog is keywords. Knowing what potential clients are searching for and making sure you are on the first page of these searches. Luckily, Google Keyword Planner is completely free and easy to use. Making creating your own keyword list a breeze.

Once you have this down, it’s a case of making sure your website copy has enough of these keywords to make a difference.

Overall, getting your first client through your blog can take a lot of work. But, if you are serious about becoming a freelancer then this is all necessary work. Put in the time in the beginning and you should be sailing your way to your first client.