Guest Post: Michael Martine is the world’s #1 ranked blog consultant. In addition to the tons of free content at Remarkablogger, you can also take a free course valued at $49 on how to grow your blog traffic. You’ll find Michael on Twitter a lot (probably too much).
Do Freelancers Need to Have a Blog?
In a word, yes.
But of course, you want to know why freelancers need to blog. Blogging is a serious commitment of time and a little money (for a good design if you’re not a blog designer already). Freelancers need to blog for the same reasons any business does: to market their services. Can this be done without a blog? Yes, but not very well. All the other freelancers with blogs are going to clobber you: they will get more qualified traffic than you to their sites, they will rank higher in search than you, and their prospects will be more likely to trust and want to do business with them.
The truth is, it’s become something of an arms race. You’ve got to have a blog simply to play on par with your competition. But the reason this arms race began is because is blogs confer real advantages, and more and more freelancers (the web developers and designers first) wanted to have those advantages for themselves. Myself personally, I don’t know of a single successful freelancer who does not have a blog, period.
What Can a Blog do for Freelancers?
What advantages can blogging give the freelancer? Many, and they’re interrelated and they compound each other for even greater “emergent” or network effects.
- Blogs serve as living portfolios for your work. If you’re a writer, blog posts are mostly writing. If you’re an illustrator or developer, blog posts can showcase your latest creations and experiments. Because blog posts are frequent and recent, prospective clients know you’re active and that they’re seeing your very latest work.
- Blogs convey your personality to prospective clients far better than “normal” websites do. Blog posts are usually written in a casual voice. We write blog posts like how we talk, not like academic papers. It’s been shown in sales situations over the decades that people like to do business with those they like and who they perceive as being like them. This leads to trust, and trust leads to freelance gigs that pay the bills. This is why it’s perfectly fine to let a little bit of the “real you” out on your blog. Regular websites just don’t have this dynamic: they’re lifeless, and blogs are full of life.
- Blogs help clients find you. In a very basic, brute-force sort of way, the more content about a particular subject there is on a website, the better that site ranks in search for its topic keywords. Keywords are what people type into the search box at Google or Bing. The more blog posts you write, the more of a “search magnet” your blog becomes. A blog vs. a non-blog site is no contest in this regard, because the blog dwarfs a “normal” website with the volume of its content. And more gets created every week. Not only that, but from a technical standpoint, blogs provide better search engine optimization right “out of the box.” The very built-in features and structure of the blog give it better SEO than a “regular” website.
- Blogs make it easier for prospective clients to hire you. How? In two ways: one, by being technically easy to work with. A WordPress blog allows you add functionality in the form of plugins, which can provide you with contact forms for your clients to get in touch with you. You can create your services pages and portfolio pages easily. The second way has to do with the conversational nature of blogs. Blogs are a dialogue, not a monologue. Prospective clients can ask questions and interact with you easily, allowing you to handle objections, answer questions, and build up trust which precedes hiring.
- Blogs are easy to use. I’ve been able to teach the most technophobic old writers how to blog, and if they can learn it, anyone can. Writing a blog post is hardly any different (technically) than writing an email. Instead of a subject line, you have a headline. Instead of an email message body, you have the post content. Instead of a bunch of replies, you have blog comments. Instead of attaching a file, you upload a picture (if you want your post to have a picture). That part is easy-peasy.
A Word of Warning
The benefits listed above are very real and are enjoyed by countless successful freelancers. However, we’re not operating under any illusions, here. There are some warnings you should heed.
- If you’re not clear on your freelancing business, your blog won’t be clear, either. It’s not good enough these days to “just” be a writer or an illustrator. You have to specialize, and your particular client base needs to recognize instantly that you’re the person for them when they hit your site. But if you’re vague about what you do and who you serve, potential clients will just bounce right off you because they don’t see anything that speaks directly to them and their needs.
- Getting your blog set up right requires an investment. Whatever it is you don’t do, you’ll need to hire out for your blog. If you’re not a professional blog designer (and notice I said blog designer, not web designer), you need to hire someone who is to design and set up your blog for you correctly. Professional blogs nowadays are self-hosted WordPress blogs, not free blogs on Blogger or free blogs hosted on WordPress.com.
- A blog that’s never updated is worse than no blog at all. Nothing screams “I’m lazy and don’t care” like a blog that hasn’t been updated in months. Maybe you were swamped with client work, but that’s not what prospective clients are going to think when they hit your ghost town. They’re going to wonder if anybody’s home.
- Don’t fall into the trap of writing for your peers. The people most likely to leave comments on your blog won’t be prospective clients, it will be your peers. It’s great to have strong relationships with others in your field, don’t get me wrong. But those people are not your customers and they’re not going to give you any money to heat your house and feed your family. Remember who you’re writing to, and why: you are writing to appeal to your target market so they will want to do business with you.
Do you have a blog? How’s that working for you? Any concerns or issues? Let us know in the comments!
Photo courtesy KatieKrueger on Flickr
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
One other reason “blogs make it easier for prospective clients to hire you” is that a blog gives you a place to showcase your expertise – and show your own approach – to the questions your audience wants to hear about. Think about your potential readers and prospective and existing clients; what are their “pain points” that you can help them solve. Put yourself in their shoes – give them reasons to walk up to your door and ask for your help. A blog can pave the way, as it were.
Also there are tools on LinkedIn and Facebook to pull each blog post right into your profile for people to find. Those blog posts have brought people to my website, were they have contacted me to hire me. It works!
One last thing about SEO (search engine optimization) – blog post titles offer powerful search opportunities and can bring clients to you. Investigate your blogs (especially Word Press) Settings, Permalinks, Custom Permalinks – set up with category & postname (a tech tip, but wordpress shows you how & there are blog posts out there too, or have your blog pro handle it). Also, use one of the SEO plugins too – like All-in-One SEO pack.
Also think before you title: A social media pal of mine just wrote a great post on “How to Block Facebook Apps like Food Fights” only he titled the post: “Keep those Garlic Fries to Yourself” – his title was fun, but will not likely attract much search traffic from people wanting help with how to use Facebook – my option probably would have.
Cathy Larkin
The “writing for the peers” risk is huge. I don’t know that a freelancer really needs a blog. I have one, but my business runs with or without it. I’m a bit of a freak in that regard, but I’d say 15-18% of my business (which is selling blogs) is generated through a blog, and the rest WOM.
Yeah, you just gotta be the exception, dontcha?
Oftentimes, people are finding the blog comes in handy after initial contact has been made, which not a lot of people are talking about.
I’m not sure I’d agree 1o0% with the premise of this post. I blog, but am not a freelancer. I don’t blog to market my services or raise my profile although I recognise that both of these do happen as a by product. I good blog does market a freelancer. Agreed. Do they “need” to have one? No. “Should” they have one? Yes!
I’ve come to realize that blogs are for prospects who need them. Not everybody who visits my site looking for my services needs/wants to read my blog. Some might only need a few pages from the site before they decide to talk product with me. But, some people are window shoppers, and I think those are the ones who need something of a more editorial nature to stare at/connect with while they decide if they want to come ‘in’ and talk product with me.
So, yeah, I could live without a blog, but I live better with one.
I don’t agree. Show some numbers why the time spent on blogging wouldn’t be better spent on sales letters and follow up calls. I’m ready to be convinced and start a blog.
In 15 years and hundreds of clients I’ve never had anyone ask me if I’ve had a blog, note that I didn’t have one, or give me reasons to have their info in a blog rather than a formal website.
Interesting post, and the same subject as my own blog post this week.
My post deals more with the subject of “author’s platforms” and how all experts in the publishing industry insist that authors have fully established platforms that include a professionally designed website, a blog, FB fan page, Linked In presence, and Twitter account.
I’ve spent dozens of hours over the past year building mine and am quite pleased with the results.
I’m a successful freelancer without a blog – two years and going strong! However, I appreciate the value of having a blog and I want to be MORE successful, so I’m in the process of adding one to my site.
I’m interested in more information related to your comment about hiring a *blog* designer versus a *web* designer. Care to elaborate?
Cathy makes great points about blogs and SEO. The more you blog, the higher up the search engine returns you will go (as long as you’re blogging on a focused topic). Take that title example a step further and use the creative title on the post and write the keyword rich title in the “meta-title” offered by the SEO plugin.
I also agree completely with the point about writing for your peers. As writers, it’s easy to offer writing tips. While these posts might be good for demonstrating expertise, they really aren’t going to appeal to your target audience.
Think about the problems your potential client is facing and write blog posts that help them solve their problems.
I also don’t date my blog posts. That way you can take advantage of the long-tail nature of a post without the ghost-town effect.
I highly recommend WordPress on a self-hosted site. I’ve built entire websites (not just blogs) with it. While a designer might be nice, there are enough themes out there and it’s easy enough to use that you can build a nice site/blog without one.
If anyone needs help with WordPress, drop me a note. I’d be glad to lend a hand. We’re all in this together.
@Cathy – I’m sure your friend loves ranking for “garlic fries.” LOL.
@Colum – Well, at least we know where you stand… I think.
@Jason – That’s true. How it’s true depends on particulars. In my case, for example, I have clients who found me because I rank number one for blog consulting and they never even looked at my services page. However, without my blog, I wouldn’t rank number one.
@Rick – Who’s the better client, the one you chase down or the one who chases you down? Where does the chase begin? Often at the Google search box. Who wins that contest? Usually blogs. It’s another tool in the toolbox just like cold-calling and referrals. Without this blog and social networking, do you think Pete, Steve, and Ed would have sold out of all available copies of The Wealthy Freelancer at Amazon? Look at every (and I do mean every) major copywriter out there and you will find a blog.
@Doreen – What’s starting to happen now is that publishing companies are less willing to take a risk on an author unless she comes with a built-in buying audience on the web. It’s a much safer bet for them.
@Marlene – There are designers who are proficient with more than one content management system, no doubt. Here’s an alternate example to help get an angle on this: let’s say I need direct response copy written. Would I hire a generalist freelance writer? No, I would hire a direct response copywriter. So, if I want a professional blog design, I want the best results possible for my money. I’d hire a blog designer. Make sense?
@Jim – Good points. Achieving and maintaining search rankings is a never-ending process, and constant content creation chock full of the right keywords keeps feeding that hungry monster. Blogs and social sites help with this.
Thank you, yes, that does make sense!
My own business blog has “pre-sold” my services a number of times actually. Yes, I believe freelancers need to have a blog. While not every potential client is currently asking the question “Do you have a blog?”…I think they will be at some point. If you start a blog now, by that time your blog will be well-developed and ready to market your services.
Plus…
Your well-developed blog can be written to attract a certain type of client you would want to do business with, so as much as it “pre-sells” you…it could also be written to “pre-qualify” your potential clients as well.
Great post Michael!
Good timing with this blog for me. I feel like I’m going through yet another metamorphosis with my business and some of that has come through my blog.
I have tried to make my blog focused. The initial idea was to write about writing (helping writers with info, or potential clients understand more about writing as a profession to help them see the value in hiring a professional writer). What I’ve found, thought, is that people are connecting more with my personal blogs. I didn’t meant to make my blog a platform for personal thoughts but when my mom passed away last year I had to write a tribute to her. So where could I share it? My blog ensured that people would see it and it would get published in some form.
My hits went up exponentially after that posting and I still get comments on that one piece.
A friend of mine (another writer/author) recently wrote a blog on care giving. I posted a comment and she said it was amazing and that (in her opinion), the blog I wrote about my mom was the best piece I’d ever written.
I guess, from a personal perspective, I can connect easily with people but I do believe that my freelance writing articles are good, for the topics I wrote about. Still, my friend encouraged me to write a blog about being a care giver. I did that yesterday and my responses are up again.
It’s hard for a writer to divide what we love to write, or what we write best, from the business side because the other writing is always present. Even what could be categorized as the most banal topics or pieces we may write – website copy, sales letters, etc. – will be infused with our personal writing voice. But I wish I could package up that very personal voice that connects with people and be able to make a living writing pieces like that all the time, and make a decent living doing that. That would be heaven.
@Suzanne – Lucky for you, everything you write is, well, a piece of writing.
People want to do business with those they like, and more personal writing will do a better job of that than impersonal writing.
I have noticed that a great many freelancers do not know how to write on their blogs in a way that attracts qualified clients. I’m not saying that’s you, I’m just saying it’s generally true in my experience.
It’s important to not fall under the spell of high traffic. What you want is qualified traffic: people who hear about your services via word of mouth or who find you via search. This may give you lower traffic numbers overall, but a higher percentage of them will be inclined to hire you.
The best places to showcase your other writing, besides your own blog, are other blogs. Consider guest posting on other blogs. You can add these samples in with client work for your portfolio.
Hello,
I read all you said about blogs and the comments…Thank you very much you answered all the things I was wandering about. As free lancers we always have the feeling to work alone and it is nice to know others meet the same issues – sorry for my poor english, I am much better at translating.
I think this is a very good conversation. I wasn’t sure why I needed to write a blog for my website until a friend told me ‘Google loves blogs!’ And that was enough to convince me. I am, as one gentleman pointed out, under the spell of ‘high traffic’. Yet at the same time, I realize that it is easy to over-invest my time in blogs when I could be using that time to make calls and to network! For me as a rookie blogger, I figure that two blog posts a week is sufficient. I find that it is important to use my time wisely since blogging is only a part of the whole marketing strategy.
I like what Michael Martin says about qualified traffic vs high traffic. That makes a lot of ‘cents’ to me.
I was thinking about this discussion the other day and along with all of points about blogging above, it might be that one of the most important things it has taught me is how to create a website and how websites work.
As a copywriter, blogging has helped me develop my internet writing style, learn SEO and build websites for others. All very valuable skills as a freelancer.