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How One Freelance Writer is Finding
Success as an SEO Writer
by Yuwanda Black
[Want to start a successful career as a freelance writer?
Click here.]
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.
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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Originally posted
3/28/08.
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