SEO Copywriting: How One Freelance Writer is Finding Success as an SEO Writer

March 28, 2008

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Today’s update is on SEO Mary, which I’ve been promising practically all week. I’ve been so busy lately that I didn’t even query Mary. Sweet soul that she is, I think she’s come to feel some responsibility to readers of her foray into SEO writing, so she took it upon herself to email me.

Even though I would have gotten around to it eventually, I’m glad she took the step. FYI, this is officially Part VII of this series. Read it from the beginning here.

Series Note: I had put an official end to this series at Part V. Obviously, it’s gone past that and may go a few more. I’ll always have a post on my blog when I’m going to post an update to the series.

Mary Lands a Client Who LOVES Her Work – She writes:

Good afternoon, Yuwanda.
 
I’ve been wanting to e-mail you with an update, but wanted to wait until I had definitive news — and now I have it!

Things are progressing well. I have a client who LOVES my work. I’ve written seven articles for him so far, and he’s hoping to give me more soon. I know I should be marketing more but I’m going to be absolutely swamped with work over the next few weeks, because….
 
A former employer has contracted with me to write 280 pages of its website between now and July 1! Which is wonderful AND not so wonderful, because that will take ALL of my non-day job time. I’ll have little time for my family let alone other clients…;-) This 280-page gig could easily extend into some other work from my former employer, some very good part-time work and not one that is so deadline intensive. As I get closer to July 1, maybe around June 1, I’ll start marketing again. My hope would be that, depending on if my former employer truly does hire me on more of a retainer, I could market some more, get more SEO clients and by early next year, leave my day job. (emphasis added)
 
I suppose I could take a huge leap of faith — as you advocate in your blog post of today — quit my day job work part-time for my former employer and market like a crazed woman to get more SEO clients before this gig runs its course. But I’m truly the major breadwinner of my family right now.

My husband is working as a substitute teacher, which means sporadic income and no income from him this summer. And, with this economy — this is going to be one rocky recession — putting all my eggs into the SEO basket may not be a good idea. Working myself to the bone for several months IS the right way to go….
 
However, speaking of recession, it’s not a good idea to put my eggs in my current employer’s basket, either. After all, layoffs could happen. Having a second income stream IS the way to go. And I’ll find out pretty quickly how the SEO market withstands this bumpy time.
 
I think one reason my SEO marketing has not taken off as quickly as yours has is the fact that I didn’t have “another” free-lance writing business already cooking along well, as you did. You had tons of momentum built up. I’m building mine now.
 
Not that there isn’t a huge need for SEO writing. I can see that there is and I’d encourage any of your readers to take the plunge. Their business may not build quickly at all, but it WILL build – and more quickly than with the more traditional free-lance writing business of newsletter writing, news release writing, sales copy, magazine articles, etc.
 
Building a business trying to convince small- to mid-size businesses to spend money on marketing can be excruciatingly long — I know from my own experience. Go where the need and the money is. Go where you don’t have to convince clients of their need for your services. Go SEO.

Well, back to work! I’ll report back in every so often.
 
My best always,
”Mary” (a pseudonym used for this series)
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Read here how I routinely make $250+/day as an SEO writer – and you can too!
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MY RESPONSE:

Note: I sent Mary an abridged response, so I’m rewriting that response here, expanding on some points in her email that I want to point out.

Mary:
 
I am so very proud of you!

On holding onto her job: I wrote to here, “Do what’s best for you. If you think hanging onto your job is the best way to go, then do that, especially in light of your husband’s employment. I think you’re making very smart decisions.”

Regarding the recession: FYI, I don’t think SEO writing (or freelance writing in general) is going to slow down just b/c it’s a recession. In fact, I think the opposite, as I wrote about in this article: How Will a Recession Affect Freelance Writers.

On not marketing more: The wonderful thing about freelancing is that you can build this career to suit your needs. A “perfect storm,” of confluencing factors seems to have come together at the ideal time for Mary, given her family’s situation. That’s the beauty of freelancing – increase marketing efforts when you need to, ease up on the gas when you can.

As a FT freelancer though, I always advise having some type of ongoing marketing efforts in place. That way, dry spells won’t last long. Since I started SEO writing last fall, I think I’ve had exactly two days where I didn’t have any work.

On my “head start”: Mary wrote, “I think one reason my SEO marketing has not taken off as quickly as yours has is the fact that I didn’t have “another” free-lance writing business already cooking along well, as you did. You had tons of momentum built up.”

I agree and disagree with this statement. I agree with Mary in that I had another freelance writing business (I’ve been a freelance writer since 1993). However, I didn’t even know what SEO was before last year. So, I had NO experience in that field at all.

What I think helped me get such a fast start though was three things:

(i) My marketing ability: I’ve always had a knack for it, and have had several businesses. If there’s one thing I know, it’s small business marketing. In the ebook, I outline my exact marketing methods for acquiring clients.

(ii) My specialties: I write across several disciplines that not many freelancers can – eg, mortgages and real estate. The first SEO writing gig I landed I got because I had this experience. Since then, I’ve gone on to write about everything from ski chalets to how to make wire jewelry, but, my first SEO writing assignment was for a mortgage site.

iii) My rates: Based on my writing skill and knowledge, I could charge significantly more. But, the more you charge the longer it takes to land clients. My rates work for me. I stay very busy. The niches that I write in though are ones where the going rates are much higher. Because my writing is just as good, I don’t have a problem landing clients.

On “Building a business trying to convince small- to mid-size businesses to spend money on marketing . . .” The beauty of SEO marketing is that it isn’t a hard sell. If you send your marketing queries to the right clients, you don’t have to sell them on needing your service. They usually only want to know about your turnaround time and your rate. If these are amenable, you’re usually hired.

Thanks “Mary” for an invaluable update. And, congrats again. I look forward to the next one.

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