As several folks mentioned in the comments from the previous post in this series, having a good business plan doesn’t mean that your business is going to succeed. Now, NOT having one can have a seriously detrimental effect on your business, and even put it under. But the way you execute that plan has a lot to do with your success.
Today, I want to talk about the next step on your writing business journey. Once you’ve built that business plan, you should naturally start trying to land a writing gig or two. I’ll talk next time about where to find writing work, but for now I want to focus on something that will help you immensely when it is time to do that:
Building your portfolio.
A good portfolio is, in my estimation, one of the most important assets of your freelance writing business. It displays the quality of your work, demonstrates the depth of your skills and gives potential clients a reason to choose you.
In the print world, a portfolio generally takes the form of “clips.” Clips are, in many cases, articles that you’ve written that are literally “clipped” from the newspaper or magazine you’ve been published in. The challenge with online writing is that much of the writing you do will be “ghostwriting” – that is, you won’t get the byline.
This was one of the challenges I faced early in my freelance writing career. I started out writing in one niche for a single client. When it came time for me to branch out, I found that I had no work samples to show prospective clients. In my case, I worked around it by getting permission from my client to refer potential clients to my articles on her website. But I’d have been much better off if I had a solid body of work I could point to.
So, let’s get practical for a few minutes. What makes a good freelance writing portfolio?
A good freelance writing portfolio is accessible.
If you want to showcase your talents to a prospective client, you need to make it easy for the client to see your work. That means reducing the number of clicks required to see your portfolio. That might mean you set up a website with work samples. It might mean you keep copies of some of your work as MS Word documents, to be attached to emails.
My best portfolio tends to be right here. This blog is one of the most important resources for my freelance writing business. I found that, once I started including a reference to my blog on my freelance writing bids, my sales went through the roof. In fact, bids that included my blog outsold bids that didn’t by a margin of 2 to 1.
However you do it, though, you don’t want to make your client look under every rock on the Internet for your work. I’ve been published all over the web, including some big names in the writing business like Freelance Folder and Freelance Switch. While I could send clients links to those articles, it’s much more convenient for the client if I include them as attachments.
A good freelance writing portfolio is diverse.
Every freelance writer has his favorite style of writing. Certainly a part of what you can do to market yourself as a writer is to brand yourself as the expert in a particular niche or style of writing. Still, the Internet is a funny place. What’s popular today may not be tomorrow. To make it over the long haul, you must have a diverse set of skills. On top of that, having a diverse set of skills means that you have a more diverse set of potential clients.
I keep, at any given time, more than two dozen work samples in my portfolio. It includes the best examples of my sales writing, blog writing, website copy, SEO keyword articles and several other types of writing. I also try to vary the niches, as well, showcasing some of my areas of expertise and interest.
A good freelance writing portfolio showcases your best work.
It should go without saying, but your portfolio needs to be error-free. Even if it’s work you’ve published already, it’s worth an extra proofread to make sure everything is as it should be. Simple grammatical or spelling errors can cost you potential clients.
Along that line of thought, it’s important also to realize that, by including something in your portfolio, you’re saying “I can do this again.” As such, the work you do for a client needs to meet that same level of quality. There’s nothing more frustrating for a client than to see great work in the portfolio followed by a substandard deliverable.
So, what about you? Do you have a freelance writing portfolio for your business? If so, what kinds of things do you include, and what form does it take? Feel free to include a link to your portfolio in the comments section.
Follow The Journey: Other Posts In This Series
How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Introduction
How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Education
How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Honing Your Craft
How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Planning
How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Building Your Portfolio
How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Finding Work
9 comments ↓
I consider my blog to be a showcase of my work as well. I keep that thought in the back of my mind with every post I write.
Actually, it’s the reason I even have a blog on my freelance writing home page.
I’m also considering signing up for a separate strictly portfolio page on another site. It’s about $9 a month but I think it may be worth it. If I go that direction I’ll give you a shout!
Cheers!
George
Tumblemooses last blog post..Do you SEO?
Using Web 2.0 to showcase one’s portfolio sounds like a great way to accomplish the points in this blog. Utilizing some sort of collaborative site, or perhaps a series of sites that can be aggregated. Google Docs, Zoho, and Pownce come to mind.
And with other sites like FriendFeed, Google Reader and Facebook (with applications) all the various stuff can be easily accessed. Having an aggregate can point prospects to any number of writing “samples” from one spot.
I have a couple of blogs I write for that are excellent sources of my work. My main one is very political, so even though it is my love and passion, I don’t use it too often (too divisive). I also contribute to a women’s blog which is just right for showing to prospective clients. And I recently started one just to talk about the freelancing life – I felt it was time!
I keep my résumé on a link in that site, which is quite efficient, since so much of my work has been online. Some of it SEO, some content, some marketing – I try to put a variety in.
Wendy
Wendy Sullivans last blog post..Will Write for Shoes
[...] How To Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Building Your Portfolio: A portfolio proves you can do the job. The better the portfolio, the better the proof. [...]
[...] How to Start Your Freelance Writing Business: Building Your Portfolio [...]
[...] How to Start a Freelance Writing Business: Building Your Portfolio [...]
Excellent article. I think you’re right – a portfolio is an essential part of a freelance business (after all, what good business nowadays DOESN’T have a website?).
I’m a freelance writer and co-run Writer’s Residence (http://writersresidence.com/), an online tool that lets writers design and host their own portfolio. Hope you don’t mind the plug! I used it to create my writing portfolio at http://monicashaw.com. I also have a few separate blogs elsewhere, using Wordpress, which I link to from my portfolio.
monicas last blog post..Getting Published Without Writing Clips
Great ideas about creating a portfolio. I’m hoping to use some of your ideas mentioned here to start a Writer’s Challenge post on my blog soon. YOur post was inspirational.
[...] How to Start Your Freelance Writing Business – Building Your Portfolio [...]
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