After some more digging around into this niche, I found stories of other freelancer writers who were getting work relatively easily in this niche. As a freelance writer with 15+ years of experience, this was somewhat of an anomaly to me.

As I relay in the book, a few more things happened that made me take the plunge. After marketing for less than a week, I landed my first client – and several queries as well.

Lightning strike 2!

Now, Mary’s gone and done the same thing. After purchasing my ebook and following the steps exactly as I laid them out, she landed her first clients 6 days after she started to market.

Lightning strike 3!

We left off where Mary had to respond to some questions the client asked -- and she didn’t know how to respond.

Mary Gets an Email from a Potential Client

The client wrote (Client Query to Mary): "I don't usually respond to unsolicited offers in our RFP, but I am curious what you would charge to develop 6 pages of content for category pages at the top of silos. I would provide you with a tag cloud, keyword discovery reports and some keyword density guidelines."

Mary didn’t understand some of the more technical terminology he was using, ie, tag clouds, silos, etc. I gave her some advice on how to respond.

Now that you’re up to speed, here’s the latest from Mary.

Latest Email from Mary

Yuwanda, thank you SO MUCH. You are so generous. [NOTE: She’s thanking me for advising her on how to respond to the above request].

And I have some good news. My "bite" of yesterday actually may be truly partaking of my services. In my reply to him, in addition to my rates, I asked him for his deadline.

This is his total reply:
 
"I can have them trickle in over the week. I actually have 7 categories, but
I would prefer to work 2-3 of them and make sure we are both happy. Pick 2
and let me know."
 
Which reminds me uncannily of your first client, as you wrote in your e-book.

Another question for you, should I ask for half payment upfront. HE doesn't know I'm an SEO newbie, but I do and I'm nervous. What is the etiquette for a new client relationship? His company looks well-established, so I don't think he'd stiff me if I wait to ask for payment, but still....
 
What do you think? Ask for half or wait?
 
And on another great note, two more companies contacted me (emphasis added). One to say he'd keep me on file (which IS nice), and the other to say, and I quote - again sounds so much like your first client -- "I think we have a basis for working together."
 
He then goes on to ask me specific questions regarding my SEO experience. I'll go the route you did -- tell him I'm an experienced writing professional and going into a new niche. In fact, he asked me if I'd ever written complete websites before and if not, if I'd like to go in that direction?
 
Would I!!!?? :-)
 
If these things pan out, you were so correct -- I'm going to be slammed and I should start looking for writers to sub work to (emphasis added). Which brings me to another question: do you think the writers you sub to would be interested in some other sub work? I ask because if I could find trustworthy professionals lickety-split, that would help my stress level.

So, Yuwanda, your mentee may have jobs in less than a week of querying (emphasis added). If this is all a wonderful dream, don't anybody set that alarm and wake me.

[NOTE: Mary went on to land this client, with a hiccup in the road, which will be discussed in the final post on Monday.]

My Response to Mary

Mary:
 
First off -- congratulations! I feel like a proud mama bear. I think so many are skeptical about ebooks and the information in them, but coming from a firsthand source, as you can see, the info is valid.
 
As for payment up front from your client, I would NOT go that route. As he's asked you to do a couple of test categories first, do them, then bill him --- letting him know that it's customary to bill new clients immediately after the first few projects have been completed satisfactorily, and that once you've completed a few, then you can roll him over into your standard billing timeline (eg, ,weekly, monthly, bimonthly -- whichever works for you).
 
FYI, I bill on a weekly basis. Every Friday, I send out invoices for all projects completed during the week (ie, Sat-Fri).
 
In my  other work, I billed immediately after a project was completed, but with SEO work, you may do 3, 4, 5 or more projects in a week, so I've found that it works better for me (and clients too), if I bill them once weekly (use the invoicing function on PayPal). Or, send a paper invoice if they say they like to pay by check.
 
A note about checks: You're going to have to use your gut on this one. The big project I wrote about that I just couldn't get going on, he paid by check. But, I'd done a small order first, and he actually bugged me to send him an invoice, so I trusted him.
 
A large firm I did a few projects for in CA also pays by check. It took a few weeks, which kind of made me nervous, but my gut told me that it was going to be okay, so I didn't stress it. To date, I've been paid for all projects -- and usually within a week (fingers crossed).
 
I might get burned one day, but for now, this system is working for me. It's the way I've always worked and in almost 15 years of freelancing, I've only been burned by two clients -- years ago (and one was a lawyer!).
 
Most people are honest, but be careful of large orders up front, or anything that just doesn't "feel right." That's the best advice I can give in this area.

As for others, I haven't heard from anyone else about my ebook, other than the usual comments -- "great advice;" and "I can't wait to start." The problem with most is, they never start! You did, and that's made all the difference. Good for you!

[NOTE: This last paragraph addresses a question Mary had asked me about the experiences of others who bought the ebook].

Next Post: Mary landed her first SEO writing job. BUT, it hasn’t exactly gone smoothly. Tune in on Monday (2/18) for the final post in this series on how she’s handling it, and a bit more of what she’s encountered.

And once again, a big thank you to “Mary” for allowing us to be voyeurs on her journey to success.J

Sincerely,
Yuwanda Black, Publisher
http://www.inkwelleditorial.com/
http://www.inkwelleditorial.blogspot.com/
http://www.SEO-Article-Writer.com
http://www.SEO-Articles-For-Sale.com
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