How to Encourage Prospective Clients to Engage With You Online

FREELANCING | WRITING

by Sharon Hurley Hall

One of the best developments so far in my freelance writing career is moving from bidding for work on jobs sites to having clients find me. It’s what Jenn Mattern calls “query-free freelancing”, and I’m a fan. Here’s how I’ve made that happen.

Engage Clients with a Website

Having my own website is a key component of client engagement. It’s my home on the web, and the one place where clients are guaranteed to find out what they need to know about me.

You can’t just throw up a couple of pages and hope for the best. To attract clients you website needs:

• a professional design (I’m currently using WordPress with the GeneratePress theme)

• a home page that gives potential clients information on who you work with and what you do right away

• information about your services (and, if you’re so inclined, your rate)

• examples of your work (I have a portfolio page, but also use Contently)

• information about how to contact you (if you’re working in your home country a phone number is good; if, like me, you’re not, then an email address or contact form will work just fine

• a blog — this is so you can publish content regularly and make sure your site appears in search results. Some people don’t bother, but I think it’s a must. If you’re a writer, it’s a great place to show your skills.

One tip when posting to your blog. Remember to focus content on potential clients, not other writers.

Engage Clients via Social Media

Next, there’s the social media part. Over the years, I’ve tried many social media sites, and here’s what I’ve found:

• Facebook does not bring me clients at all. I have a page and a profile, and I’ve experimented with ads, but it’s been pretty useless in that regard. Plus visibility declines all the time.

• Twitter is a great place to connect with other writers, and I’ve had a couple of referrals that way.

• LinkedIn is my best source of client work, especially since I got more serious about posting there.

On LinkedIn, I post a mix of content. Sometimes I share challenges and wins. At other times I share links to bylined work. And I also share interesting work by other people I know. I try to spend more time conversing than promoting, and that seems to work well. (Of course, now that I’ve started doing anti-racism writing, I don’t get as much visibility.)

How often should you post? That depends. I tend to post original content no more than once a day on LinkedIn, and even three times a week works. On Twitter, content comes and goes so quickly that I share content multiple times. I use MissingLettr for that.

Note that this is what works for me. You’ll have to assess the data from your own social media profiles to see which ones work best for you.

Own Your Username

If you want to foster client engagement, you need to be where your clients are. If you don’t know where your clients are, make it possible for them to find you wherever they hang out online.

Secure your username on new social media sites and set up a bio. Again, be strategic; you don’t have time to use a million sites. What you need to do is use those sites to funnel your potential clients to the places where you are.

This is as simple as putting a bio link to the place you prefer to connect. It’s also good to include this information in your email signature, so that when your current clients forward your details to other people, the contact info is within easy reach.

Say Yes to Marketing Opportunities

I’m a big believer in writers getting paid, but sometimes it makes sense to do something for free that gets your work to a wider audience.

For example, a few years back, I wrote a free article for a search marketing blog once a quarter. It had a huge readership, and people who’d seen my writing contacted me about working with them. What I earned as a result was worth the time I’d invested in creating that content (which is the only way it makes sense).

Similarly, if people want to interview me or have me on their podcast, I’ll assess the marketing potential or the fit with my core topics. If they match up, and I have time, I’ll likely say yes.

Go For the Byline

Related to that, one thing that’s worked well for me is paid writing that offers a byline. Ghostwriting is great, and can be lucrative, but sometimes you need something with your name on that potential clients can find. Over the years, I’ve written for many B2B blogs on that basis, and they ALWAYS lead to more people approaching me with offers of work. For me personally, this keeps the client funnel full.

All these methods have really paid off for me. I usually get several inquiries a month, and can choose the clients I want to work with. I hope they work for you, too.

© Sharon Hurley Hall, 2020

Sharon Hurley Hall is an anti-racism writer, a professional B2B writer and blogger, and co-host of The Introvert Sisters podcast.