We've been talking some lately about article writing, and why it's something every freelance
writer should master.
A few reasons articles are such a great piece of the freelance writing pie:
- Articles are probably the quickest additions you can make to your portfolio as you're
getting started. Simply write about 500 words about a topic you know well, using all the best
practices we'll discuss today, and you automatically kill two birds with one stone. (Oh, don't you
hate that phrase? Birds are nice - very nice, and nobody should be throwing stones at them.)
- Writing articles can give you a leg up (don't even want to know what that one means) on
revenue modeling and pricing. If you time yourself as you write, you can begin to figure out your
pricing structure for similar articles. Articles like this are in constant demand, so you'll want to
be able to quote your price without even having to think about it. Working backward from your
monthly revenue goal, you can figure out how many articles you'd need to write to hit it.
- Um, like I just said: Articles like this are in constant demand. You could probably build an
entire business just writing articles. Internet marketers crave fresh content like my dog craves
gingersnap cookies. They want them; they need them; they must have them - and they will hire you to
write them.
- If you learn about article marketing (the ill-fated second bird referred to above), you can
put your portfolio to work for you before you even land your first writing gig. Anytime you can
write once and use it twice (legally!), it's smart business. (We talked about this a lot last week.
If you missed it, you can go to the WorkingWriterHappyWriter blog to get more info.)
So now, you've got the "why" behind creating great article samples. Let's move onto how you can
make your article samples even more appealing to prospective clients.
Include these three elements in your samples and you'll virtually grab hold of prospective
clients' shoulders and say, "Hey! I get what you're looking for - and I can deliver!" (P.S. You
don't want to try this in real life. Clients don't like it.)
Include:
- A catchy title: The title should practically force a reader to click and read. Readers love
lists, tips, secrets, and things they either must or must not do.
- A quick teaser summary: The summary is kind of misnamed. You don't actually want to give
you're your info, making it so readers don't have to read the article itself to get the info. It
should be a couple of sentences that surface "need" in a reader, identifying a problem they want
solved. Then promise that the article will help, if they'll keep reading.
- An "about the author" box: The author's resource box (of course, fictional unless you've got
a real website to link to), should be just a couple of sentences. It's supposed to have a call to
action, somewhere readers should click to get more info, a free report, or some other giveaway. It's
sometimes called the author's bio, but it's really not supposed to be a biography. Write it with a
reader in mind - and their prevailing question, "What can you do for me?"
Remember your readers, too, as you format your article. Internet readers skim, scan, and scroll.
They don't like to read big blocks of text (too much like work or school). They like bullets, lists,
headlines, subheads, and white space. They still want good, valuable content - just not all lumped
into a couple of really long paragraphs.
If you can demonstrate to your prospective clients that you can produce articles like this,
you'll be a shoe-in! (What on earth does THAT one mean?)
