This is where most writers FAIL. There are plenty of great writers who are making no money, because they don't understand marketing. So it's important for you to think like a marketer if you want to make money as a writer.
Marketing is the process of sharing your enthusiasm for your business and your writing services. You’re excited about writing for others, right? Great. That’s all you really need. Well, that’s not quite true, you need a plan too. A marketing plan.
Earlier we gave an example of a writer, Anne, who wrote articles and published them on article directories. She also wrote a free report and made it available on her website. That’s marketing.
We also mentioned social networking earlier. That’s marketing too.
Your marketing strategy, which will be part of your business plan, might include:
Paid Advertising
There are other marketing tactics that have been left out, but these are some important ones for writers. Choose one, focus on it and do it well. Test and track your results and then add another marketing tactic.
For example, if you’re going to publish ten articles a week on article directories to drive traffic to your website then you’ll want a goal to strive for and a way to know if/when you’re successful. You might decide you want to earn one new client a week with your article marketing efforts. When you get a new client or a client inquiry you need to ask, “How did you hear about me?” or create a web form that asks that question. That way you can tell if your marketing efforts are paying off.
In the beginning, you may spend half your time, or more, marketing your business. Plan it well and implement strategically and your efforts will pay off.
Once you have a marketing tactic working well you can add another one. Focus on it. Get it to the point where it is achieving your goals and then add another one. By strategically adding one tactic at a time you can be assured that your tactics are getting the maximum opportunity to succeed. Try to do too many things at once and your attention will be divided. The results may suffer.
And of course, somewhere along the way you want to establish yourself as an authority in your field...
2. Becoming A Credible Authority
We buy from people we consider to be experts. It’s one of the reasons you probably want to specialize in a niche writing style, format or industry topic. Specialists are experts and experts not only make more money, they’re in demand.
So how do you become a credible authority?
Well the good news is that one of the best ways to become an authority is to write. Publish information and content about your industry or specialization. For example, if you’re a newsletter content specialist then publish information on how to create a great business newsletter.
If you’re a pet care specialist then publish information on how to build your pet care business or how to care for your pet. Show people what you know and they’ll turn to you for answers, information and your writing skills and services.
Another way to help establish your authority is to brag a bit. Make sure any high profile clients or projects become part of your online portfolio. Publish your testimonials and rave reviews. Connect with industry experts and become part of their network – credibility by association.
And of course, offer your opinion, insight and advice when someone asks for it (and sometimes when they don’t.) Be the expert.
The more knowledgeable and experienced you are in your writing specialization, the more money you can charge and the more clients you’ll have knocking on your door.
For more info on being the expert please see the exampleof Gary Vaynerchuck in this lesson.
So let’s talk about that next. Let’s talk about the thing that seems to cause many writers to stumble - setting your rates.
3. Setting Your Rates
This is often the biggest challenge to new writers. How much do you charge? It’s a balance, right? You want to charge enough to make a living and you want to make sure your rates aren’t so high that your prospects cannot afford you.
There are a few tips to set your rates:
#1 They’re not set in stone. You can change your rates at any time. You’re the boss so don’t feel like your committing yourself to anything.
#2 Take a look at your competition. What are other writers in your area and specialty charging?
#3 Experience. To be fair if you don’t have experience yet then you do have a little to prove. Gain the experience then raise your rates.
#4 Specialty. How many others are offering the same service? What’s the demand for your service? For example, business to business copywriting is a field that is short in supply and high in demand. New writers can probably charge higher fees in this field because there’s a shortage.
#5 Hourly Value. Take a look at what your financial goals are and the time it takes you to finish a project.
For example, if you want to earn $50/hour and you’re thinking of writing article and charging $10/article you’re going to have to write 5 articles an hour to achieve that hourly rate. That’s pretty fast writing! But if you charge $25 article then you only have to write 2 articles per hour.
Look at what you want to achieve. Look at what’s possible and find a balance. Now let’s talk about your schedule. In the beginning you might have a light work load. If you have financial goals and needs to meet then these next two sections are for you.
4. Filling In The Gaps
Earlier we mentioned that you might use freelance job sites to fill in the gaps in your schedule. These sites are easy and generally free to use. Register, create a professional profile and start bidding on jobs you’re interested in.
You can also fill in the gaps in your schedule by writing for pay sites. Sites like Demand Media, eHow, ConstantContent, and AssociatedContent have revenue sharing and pay per article arrangements. They can be a good way to gain experience and a bit of cash at the same time.
You can also create a few passive income streams.
5. Passive Income
Passive income is money that you make without trading your time for it. As a writer you are essentially trading your time for money. That means that you may need to set aside a lot of time to write.
Yet, if you create a few passive income streams you can relax a bit. You can enjoy income coming into your bank account. You can take the writing jobs you want instead of the writing jobs you need.
As a writer there are a few types of passive income that suit your skills.
Affiliate Commissions
An affiliate is a person who promotes a product or service and makes a commission. Most affiliates earn money by writing content for their website or on a separate blog or website.
Within the body of the content they include links to an affiliate product. The reader clicks on the link, which is coded to you and your affiliate account. If they make a purchase on the site then you earn a commission.
For example, let’s continue with Anne’s example. She write articles and published them on article directories. They included a link to her website. She also offered a free report on how to write a great business newsletter. Anne also has a blog where she talks about newsletters and email marketing. Once a week she publishes a blog post that promotes an affiliate email marketing service.
When people read her blog post they click on that link. If they become a customer of that service then she earns a nice commission. Anne has tied her affiliate income directly into her business. You don’t have to do that. You can create a separate blog on a separate topic and earn income.
AdSense and Advertising Revenue
You can also earn money by placing ads on your blog or website. Again, you might choose to do this on your business site or if you don’t want to draw attention away from your site you can create a separate website or blog and profit from ads.
Information Marketing
You’re a writer so why not write a book or home study course and sell it? Sure you may spend a month or two creating the product but each time you sell it, that’s passive income. Selling it as a digital product means you can sell your digital product to anyone around the globe with an internet connection and an email address and you don’t have to be home to do it – it’s all automated.
You can also use information marketing to build awareness and credibility for your business. For example, Anne could have written a book on how to create a profitable ezine. She could have sold it for $20. Each purchase is passive income. And because she wrote a book on the topic, she’s boosting her credibility as an ezine expert.
Information marketing is actually my specialty. For a complete course on information marketing please sign up here.
In Summary
There are many ways you can add passive income streams to your existing business. Or you can build a new blog or website to generate passive income. The choice is yours.
Before you start taking action, create a plan. Establish goals. Create a strategy to achieve those goals and then take action.
Each step you take to market and build your business will help you increase your income. It’s time well spent.
Are you ready to move on to the next step?
Do you understand the concept of marketing as a writer?
Have you chosen at least one marketing strategy to start with?
If you answered YES to these questions, proceed to PART 5: First Client
