Yes, you need to be online
Here are some things to consider about setting up a website, including links to hosting sites and alternatives to full websites
Hi Friend,
“Do I really need a website to be a successful freelancer?”
That’s one of the main questions I get emailed these days from people starting out in their freelance career.
The honest response is, probably not. You could probably still run a successful career without one. But given how prevalent the internet is in business, my response is usually, “Why wouldn’t you want one?”
A website not only markets you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all the days of the year, it gives you a short-cut in the vetting cycle.
Potential clients have a way of finding you at the moment they’re looking for you, rather than when you happen to reach out to them. So if they wake up at 2:00 am thinking “Oh god, I need to find a freelancer who can write finance articles ASAP or our marketing plan is shot” they can find you at 2:00 am even if you’re not online.
Those who have been referred to you have a way of verifying that you do what they’ve been told you do and that you can meet their needs with a quick visit to your website.
Everyone has an easy way to validate your skills, through the copy on your website itself and, if you have one online, your portfolio.
A website also opens you up to a wider audience. If you’re willing to write for international clients, they can more easily find you online if you have a website.
When people ask you questions about your work or services, you can direct them to your website, rather than taking the time to repeatedly write out answers to their questions (and yes, you will get many of the same questions over and over).
A website gives you a platform on which you can establish and raise your profile.
I’m a fan of social media for marketing your business (I really love LinkedIn, which I’ll go into in a future post) but I still think a website separate from social media is an important tool.
With social media, you have to be active to be found. This means having a profile, posting, responding to other people’s posts, and sending out connection requests. A website markets you whether your sick for a day or not. It’s always there.
You also don’t own your social media platform. If the powers that be decide you’ve posted something they don’t like or violated their terms (or if you’re accused of unethical activity by a group of angry self-identified revolutionaries as I was) you could have your account suspended for an indefinite period. Just like that, you’ve lost access to all the followers you’ve built up and you may never get them back.
You have much more control over your website than you ever will over social media.
Here’s what often happens with me: a potential client connects with me or finds me through a search on social media, checks out my profile to see if I have the experience I claim to have, then hops over to my website to get a bit more information about me. Once they’re satisfied I do, they reach out to see if I’d be interested in working with them.
You don’t need a particularly fancy website. It can be basic, so long as it showcases your skills and your services. Unless you’re also offering services as a designer. If that’s the case, you need a bit more razzle-dazzle on your site.
Now, whether you go with a full website or a portfolio site is entirely up to you.
What’s a portfolio site? It’s a simple website that hosts your portfolio so clients can verify that you’re capable of producing the work they need done. You can host a portfolio site at places like Contently (It’s free for freelancers; I have a small portfolio there). You have a short section to briefly state what you do, then a place to house your work or link to your publications offsite.
You can also look into other portfolio sites such as clippings.me, Journo Portfolio, and Writerfolio.
Portfolio sites are easy to create, but they require you to have some samples (see below for my suggestions if you don’t have paid samples). They also don’t give you room for testimonials, but you could put those on your LinkedIn and link to your portfolio site through LinkedIn.
If you go with a full site, some things you’ll want to include are:
A list of your services
Clients want to know whether they can hire you for the activities they need. Plus, listing your services can help you for SEO. So everything you do that is related to writing and/or editing should be listed. If there’s confusion about what some words mean (clients don’t understand the difference between copyediting and stylistic editing, for example) include an explanation.
Writing samples
You can include samples as part of a portfolio or include links to your published work, which is what I typically do.
Samples of your work show your skill. The benefit of a portfolio is you always control it so the samples can theoretically stay up for as long as you like. Links typically go to outside pages you don’t control, so once the pages you link to are taken down, your links become dead ends.
If you’re a writer and have no paid work yet, consider either volunteering or creating writing samples based on the work you want to do. For example, if you want to write blog posts for banks, write some unpaid blog posts for banks (make sure it’s clear that you haven’t been paid for this work).
If you’re an editor and have no paid work yet (or your clients won’t let you use their documents in your portfolio), ask ChatGPT to write some documents relevant to the types of clients you want and edit away. ChatGPT is great at creating terrible content that you can use to showcase your skills as an editor.
Testimonials
Testimonials show you completed the work and had a happy client. It also gives the potential client a more full view of what it’s like to work with you. To get testimonials, you can do a couple of things.
When the project is finished, if the client seems happy ask if they would be willing to write you a testimonial for your website and social media.
If they send you an email expressing their delight at your work, respond by thanking them and asking if they would be willing to allow you to share their kind words on your webiste/social media. If their words require slight revision, include the revision in your response. “Thank you so much for your kind words. I’m glad the project came together so successfully for you. Do you mind if I share your thoughts on my website and social media, so other clients can see the work I do? Here’s what I would share [include revised testimonial].” (Feel free to use this as your template.)
About page
It’s nice for people to learn a bit about you. It humanizes you and makes you relateable.
Contact information
This one is pretty self-evident.
If you choose to go it alone, you can use Wix, WordPress, or Squarespace as starting points (though I’m sure there are other website builders as well.
Final thoughts
I’m not going to pretend I love website building. The last time I did it on my own I wound up in tears. Thrice. After spending hours writing my pages, I somehow lost everything (don’t ask me how because I’m still baffled by it). I couldn’t figure out how to get the proper links and contact forms in. Every adjustment to one page required an extra hour of adjustments to other pages.
It was a nightmare, one I never want to relive again.
So I hired someone to do my website for me. I wrote the copy and she built the website. And for the hours of time and tears I was saved, it was fully worth the experience. I now pay her a couple of hundred dollars a year for website hosting and updates and I don’t have to think about it until I’m ready to change it (which I’m in the process of starting now).
Whether you have a portfolio site or a full website, you need a way to be found online beyond social media. While potential clients will use social media to connect with you, your presence beyond social media helps build trust and credibility.
Here’s to your freelance success,
Heidi