So you’ve decided to become a freelance writer. Good for you. I need the competition. We all do. It keeps us on our toes.
But now you’ve discovered the same problem the rest of us have. How do you market yourself as a writer?
One of the traditional ways to do that is with a writer’s portfolio. But now the internet has gotten involved. The internet has opened up the field to you. Now your customers can come from all over the world not just your town or city. And even clients in your area will check you out on the internet. So how do you market using the internet?
One of the best ways is with an online version of the writer’s portfolio. So how do you create an online writer’s portfolio?
First off, you’re going to need a domain, web host and all those webby type things. If you don’t know how to do it already — relax. It’s easy. Get someone to show you or just hire someone. You won’t need a complex site so it shouldn’t cost very much.
One of the things you’ll soon realize is that the web is a visual media. Even more so than your offline writer’s portfolio you need to think visually. So you need to present your words visually. Given that you are presenting writing this can seem like a problem.
Remember that most of the places you have sold your writing to already have logos. So take a copy of the logos and put them up on a web page. Then link those logos to their websites. That way you won’t need to worry about explaining who I.M.Small & Co. is. Of course, if your previous employers or clients are no longer around that may be difficult. Hopefully you will still have copies of their logos on paperwork. If so scan them. By the way, if they are clients… it’s always a good idea to include the right to use their logo in your advertising as part of your contract. In any case, you should have their agreement before using the logo and you should never break a non-disclosure in order to use the logo.
If you have a number of tear sheets (or clip sheets if you prefer that term) from traditional sources, scan them to a picture rather than try to convert them to a readable format such as TXT (text), RTF (rich text) or DOC (MS Word). Create a collage of your tear sheets. Be artistic. Again remember that you are dealing with a visual medium. Let your inner artist out.
You may find that many of your writings — originally written for offline or otherwise — are now online. Tear sheet pictures can be directly linked to those pages. So can simple lists of titles. However, if you link to someone else’s website you need to monitor the links to ensure they are still available and located at the same spot. Domains change as do web pages within those domains.
You may be tempted to use a simple bibliography as part of your writer’s portfolio. It’s a great idea… just not as part of the portfolio. Keep your bibliography separate from your portfolio. In your portfolio you want to include some examples of the types of writing you do. Again use links if possible. If not and if you have the rights add it to your website and link the title from the samples page. You should also consider linking the samples pages to short excerpts rather than the whole article.
If you use a bibliography — and you should — keep it on a separate page. Wherever possible provide a hyperlink to the specific article on line. That way your potential client can read a sample of your writing. They probably won’t use it — that’s why you have a samples page — but they can if they wish. At some point you may find that you are better off removing these links because so many of them have gone obsolete. But while they are active you may as well make use of them.
Immobilienmakler Heidelberg Makler HeidelbergSource by Glen Ford