Freelance Writing Value Proposition

Increase The Value of Your Freelance Writing

Freelance writers are, for the most part, not necessarily big fans of "sales." As professional writers we would prefer to crank out powerful new articles and content for our clients rather than "pound the pavement" or make cold calls to would-be clients. Unfortunately, sales is a big part of freelance writing, especially for those just starting a new freelance writing business from scratch.

In an effort to develop sales skills some freelancers turn to sales training seminars or sales training books. Most of these courses offer up the same core knowledge. Some of the best sales training manages to add on some additional sales skills or little sales tricks that can help make the process of selling easier. But, in the end, no matter how much training you take, or how many certifications you get, selling is still selling.

The Freelance Writer Value Proposition

One of the things that many freelance writers struggle with is what exactly is there value proposition as professional freelance writers. The simple idea that a certain professional writer is automatically better at writing any particular assignment than any other possible writer is not only unbecoming, it is not always true.

A value proposition centered around the concept of "high-quality writing" is accurate (hopefully), but also nebulous. High-quality writing is not just about getting the grammar right and making sure there are no spelling errors. It is about text that conveys its intended message in the best possible way. Defining what is high-quality writing is like defining high-quality art, you just know it when you see it. Or, in this case, the client knows it when they see it.

So, what added value can the freelance writer provide clients?

The value of freelance writers often lies in all of those little things that add up to big things. The ability to write for varying audiences, or with a different tone or voice, depending upon the occasion, is one thing freelance writers bring to the table, for example. Again, however, these things are traits of all good freelance writers.

Add Value By Going Beyond Writing

One way for writers to add additional value for their clients is by going above and beyond the writing itself. For clients who use a freelancer’s writing product primarily online, a freelance writer can help increase their overall value to the client by helping to make their quality content more visible. In the online world gaining visibility is done by directing additional readers the right way, and by increasing the value of the content in the eyes of the search engines. Both of these goals can be achieved by linking to your own content.

Consider a writer with a blog writing assignment. The ultimate goal of the client is for that blog to generate traffic for some purpose. While the freelance writer’s job is to create the content for readers, the value of the blog, and the writer’s posts will be increased if the blog attracts a larger number of readers. In fact, it is possible that the decision whether to continue the blog (and the freelancer’s assignment) may be based entirely upon how much quality web traffic the blog can generate. In this case, the freelancer can help both the client and himself by helping to ensure the project is a success.

Many avenues exist for writers to help increase traffic to their own writings. The best way to create extra links is also the most overlooked. Always look for a chance to link previous writings from new articles and posts. This not only builds more links, but it also provides a way for readers to find valuable information that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. Linking from one’s own websites or blogs is another good strategy. Freelancer’s who find themselves with a little free time (Hah!) can create high-level summaries of their articles or their underlying concepts and publish them, with links to the originals, on one of the numerous article directory sites like HubPages or EzineArticles.

Go one step further by building up THOSE links by linking to them from different places. For example, here is my freelance writer profile at HubPages and then my writer’s profile at EzineArticles.