4 Ways Freelance Writers Can Inspire Confidence in Their Clients

Posted by on October 4, 2019

Making the decision to hire a freelance writer or content creator can be a difficult one, especially for a small business owner or solopreneur. They are paying you, someone they’ve probably never met, to write material for their business.

As a writer and business owner there are several things you can do to make your client feel more comfortable with the process and inspire confidence. Here are some of them.

4 Ways Freelance Writers Can Inspire Confidence in Their Clients

Disclosure: Sometimes my work here (and all around the web) contains affiliate links. Find out what that means here.

Be Transparent

Publish all of your general fees, policies and procedures online. That way your prospect knows what to expect from working with you. They also get the impression that you run a professional business and take your clients and services seriously.

My inquiry rate went up substantially when I published my rates on my site, and the leads I did get were better qualified (that is, they were already prepared to pay my rates). By publishing my rates upfront, clients felt more confident contacting me. Not publishing rates can make a client feel like they don’t want to get in touch, in case you use that initial contact to talk them into something too expensive.

You can present your rates and policies in many different ways. You can include an inquiry form on your website that automatically sends new prospective clients an email with all the details. You can have a FAQ page on your website. Or you can simply include all relevant information a page called Hire Me, or Work With Me, as I do here.

I recommend the latter as you’ll immediately inspire trust, and weed out those who can’t afford you.

Be Knowledgeable

Strive to continuously learn about your industry, niche, target audience and writing styles. The more you know, the more you can share and help your customers. When you share your knowledge with your customers it reassures them that you are a provider they can trust with their business.

Share your knowledge in conversation both online and off, and also through social media if that is a channel you use to communicate with current or potential clients.

You could also consider sending your clients tidbits of information as you find them online. For example, if you are a copywriter for the health and wellness industry and you come across a relevant recent study, you might email it to a few clients. You can even suggest a new article or some extra web copy based on the results of the study.

Set Higher Rates

This may sound like strange advice because writing is a competitive field. However, when you set your rates too low, your clients actually see you as less professional. Set your rates a bit higher and they get the impression that you know what you’re talking about. Of course you have to back up those rates with great customer service, quality writing, and a solid knowledge of the industry.

I’ve written a whole article about why you should increase your rates regularly. There’s also  a free download you can grab from CoachGlue.com, on this very topic. It’s aimed at coaches, as that’s predominantly who they serve, but the principles apply to freelancers as well. Grab your free copy here.

Raise Your Rates and Charge What Youre Worth

Publish Your Testimonials

Testimonials are one of the first thing clients look for. Just as anyone online wants to read the reviews before they make a purchase, a prospective client wants to read what others think of you before they work with you.

This can be really hard when you’re starting out, which is why new writers have to hustle hard, and often provide samples of their work. But as soon as you start getting clients, you can start politely asking for testimonials, and posting them on your site.

A simple testimonials page can contain just a few snippets from clients you’ve worked for, with a link to their site or maybe the project you worked on. I link from my editing testimonials to the book I edited, which is good for me as they tend to have good ratings on Amazon. You can see my testimonials page here.

These are just three ways to inspire confidence. How you communicate, your professionalism and of course the quality of your writing all play an important role in attracting and keeping top notch clients. The more confidence you inspire in your customers and prospects, the easier it will be to build a solid writing business that fits your needs and goals.

*****

Want more training on freelance writing? Check out the Write Your Way To  Your First 1K course to help you make your first $1000 from your writing.

While you’re here, feel free to check out lay the useful writing tools I use every day to run my successful freelance writing business, or download my FREE list of freelance markets that pay writers, along with a few other free gifts.

Posted in: Writing

Comments

  1. Leave a Reply

    Suzana Barton
    October 18, 2019

    GREAT reminder to publish testimonials. How could I not have thought of that! 🤦‍♀️
    ~ Suzana Barton

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