Dear Writers: Where Do You Find Quality Clients?

Just open your own thread at warrior for hire and set your price at $2/100words..easy..

Don't take this the wrong way but you are your own worst enemy. Look at the first item I bolded. The world is full of horrible low rent people. Really?

If that's what you believe that's what you'll find, guaranteed. I've found the world to be full of really cool people. I once believed otherwise but that wasn't getting me anywhere so I changed my thinking and before long, BANGO! Nice people started showing up. Could it really be that simple? Yes.

People accepting low rent wages don't really believe they're worth more. You say you've been writing for years. And unlike many people who come here and complain about low rates, your writing is actually pretty good.

You do realize that there are literally millions of writers out there who are very well paid. Of course you do. So with your talent why haven't you stepped up the ladder to better paying gigs? Think about that. Take a look at the last line in your post where you're saying you'll work for two cents a word. Why bother? That's still a slave wage. You are your own worst enemy.

In the meantime here are a couple of ideas for you. Go offline. There are far fewer terrible low rent people there. A lot of them actually think writers deserve more than a penny a word, a lot more sometimes. Another thing you can try is searching for Web designers. Hit them up with an email proposal where you'll write content for their clients. They dig this because it allows them to offer more services and makes them more versatile and marketable.

Good luck.

Well, there is also a lot of shit writers out there. Are you able to give a resume of your work? I'm sure that would help.

I offer my services in Odesk and my rate is around $3/100. I think it'll really help if you establish yourself as authority in a specific industry. I started out accepting $1/100 words and even $3/500w.

Then I had this brilliant idea of using my work experience to my advantage. I work in the finance department of the family business so I started targeting clients who need my skills. Rather than bidding on all the writing projects I see, I sort them to find those that require my technical expertise. From then on, I got higher paying projects. What's even better is that I get to apply the things I've read about for my writing projects in my desk job.

Based on experience, writing projects with high paying clients
- business plan/ marketing plan
- forex/currency trading
- stock market/ investments
- software documentation/ manuals
- project documentation/ web development brief
- sales letters, proposals and other B2B documents

Aside from getting high paying clients, you typically have less competition when you bid on these projects. Hope that helps.

I do a bunch of overall ad posts for my writing as a high quality US Writer. I do postings on CL with some response, advertise on DP, use social media, and occasionally here. Haven't really found a lot of responses here though with 2 different ads posted. Don't price at .01/word though as you'll work for little $$. Just my two cents.

I get work from a few different sources. I got my first ever client from Odesk and we have worked together for over 3 years now. I have had a lot of work from vworker and most of that was well paid work.
I advertise on sites such as Gumtree and pick up clients that way. I also do resumes so that is a golden site for that wort of work.

I have gotten lots of work from people here as well and I often get referrals.

I have my own website (A MUST if you are a writer) because people want to see if you're a real human being.

I sometimes post on Facebook and get clients that way.

I set my minimum prices and am flexible depending on the client and the topic of the articles but I refuse to work below a certain amount.

If you don't have that attitude, you will always be trapped down there.
So raise your rates and let the clients who want quality work come to you.

Run an ad in this forum. That usually gets me more work as well.

Thank you for sharing. I will have a good read.
As a writer, I have learned that the more I learn, the more I have to learn.

There are a bunch of places you can find clients.

You can find them through a loss leader gig in fiverr.

Search for and respond to writing gigs on craigslist and make sure you get an upfront payment.

Look on online job boards such as odesk, vworker, freelancer etc. Set up an account post your profile, post your portfolio and begin bidding on jobs. accept cheap gigs at first to get experience on each site and then steadily raise your rates.

Look for other content mills such as mediapiston, the content authority, text broker etc

Set up your own domain and get ranked for writing keywords. If you cant afford hosting then just register a domain name and redirect it to your wordpress.com blog.

Start a blog related to writing and build a reputation as an authority on writing.

Do guest posts on other writing blogs.

Join online communities related to freelance writers.

Find successful freelance writers online and using google find out how they got there, where do they post etc and just imitate their success.

Contact other successful writers and see if they will give you their overflow or start a partnership/subcontractor relationship.

These are just a few of the things you can do to find quality clients and good work online.

Think outside the box and get busy.

I suggest going to Craigslist's writer section to get better payment for article. There are so many companies looking for quality writers. You might also check different cities, because so many companies would not require you to come to the office everyday or at all.

In my experience i recommend using forums such as this one or Digital Point to find work. I have sent emails to most of the people looking to hire writers on craigslist and very few have responded. Digital Point is full of spam but i have found 1 client who paid me 2$ for 100 words - unfortunately he didn't need a long term writer. I am still looking for good quality clients - i spend most of my day online searching for work. It gets frustrating at times but eventually you will find someone who will accept your rate and provide you with regular work.

It helps to have a blog as well

Stay and be active on webmaster and SEO forums, such as here.

People will ALWAYS try lowballing, if you were to offer articles for $1 a pop, rest assured you will get someone trying to get them for $0.50, and if you'd lower your price and sell them for $0.50, rest assured someone will try to haggle whether they can get them for $0.25.

I myself would not write for $1/100, it would literally be wasted time.

Personally, i would get away from the typical "500 words article" writing market and specialize, for example for web content, ebooks or similar. There might be MANY people out there writing garbage articles for $3...but those same people can usually not write an ebook about SEO..just as an example.

Side note: According to your signature, you write "professional articles for $1 per 100 words". If i had a need for a professional article (and i mean really "professional", whatever that might mean)...i would never hire you. For the same reason i would not go to the thrift store if i want to buy a new high-end PC.

Go to freelancer sites like elance, it's the best way to find your new clients.

Exceptional writers are finding themselves at a disadvantage these days because of the marketing techniques of content mills. They advertise to pseudo-writers, and accept content from any Joe, Jill or Harry, without any regard for quality. Take eBooks for example; when clients request send me a request for outlines , I always consider what has already been written on the topic and how can we improve on that info and bring more value. Now that's the mindset of a seasoned writer, yet these content mills focus on creating quick eBooks, with questionable quality to make a buck.

Your work must stand out. Also, investigate where your competition is advertising. Find where they pull clients from and throw your hat in the mix.

Elance...I use now and again, but I've chosen to take very few jobs because of all the low-balling going on. Clients hire writers who cannot perform and in the end, they complain. What do you expect to get for a $99 eBook?

The Content Authority...the administrators there choose who will write the eBooks and many times, the writer never knows there was a request. Only when they cannot find someone for a specific topic do they post a request in their forum. When this happens, the client loses.

And for those seeking writers to create magic, look at a proposal and bypass all the graphics and lovely colors -- pay attention to the quality and look for the message. If you can't decipher the message, its not a good book.

Really? My clients pay what I ask for...

It's pretty simple man, just tell em how much you charge. Dont negotiate unless its an odd job or someone you are trying to hook in with for the future.

I love my clients!

I talk after they pay, its simple. As most writers here will tell you, 50% of people are just tyre kickers. Once I tell them where to pay, you never hear from them again... but I dont care... It's a numbers game. The way I see it, anyone that wants to "negotiate" for something that costs less than a meal at Maccas is a class D customer.

I class all my customers even if only mentally. A, B, C & D. I can smell a D coming from a mile away. Sure im polite, but unless they want to do real business they dont get my time.

I work my ass off and my clients can appreciate that. Some days Im a walking zombie Im so tired because I have been up all night writing, up early writing, filling the middle part in with work and family. And so I expect to get paid for it.

In every industry there is the cheap no frills product, the most expensive with all the bells and whistles and everything in between.

Look at cars as an example. You can go and buy a Great Wall which is a chinese vechile that is now popular here in Australia for 18K as compared with a standard Toyota Hilux Or Nissan Navara for about 60K. But if you honestly think they are the same you are delusional.

My brothers father in-law is a chippy and he just bought one, found out later that it can't even towe 1 tonne, doesnt have 4x4 so when he parks it on wet grass he gets stuck and knowing the quality of the car he would probably die instantly if ever in a crash seeing as it took Great Wall a couple of years just to pass Australias safety measures...

Then go a step further and you have your mercs, porsche, lambos....

Right now Im drinking a glass of Jim Beam.

The bottle cost me about $45 from memory. I remember looking at the other brands, you know the cheap ones that you buy when your too old to give a s**t.

Some of them where about $21 a bottle!!! That's a recipe for a headache and your head stuck in the toilet all night... and why do you ask is JB so much better... and more expensive? JB uses all natural ingredients, sweet water from above Kentucky's famus natural limstone shelf, secret 75 year old yeast, all the mixing and mashing you can think of, the double distilation and finally the aging process which takes place in fine American charred Oak Barrels.

Set your standards higher bro. Write high quality articles and charge what it's worth.

Or dont... hehe.

You need to find business clients who need content written for websites and blogs. Professional people do not balk at paying $20 - $75 a pop per page of content.

I agree that SEO/Website Building companies are a great way to find writing work that pays higher rates. I'm pretty lazy these days when it comes to freelance writing, but I'm still making way more than the OP just for writing a few blog posts for a couple of clients - both from SEO contacts I made.

Pick up the phone and call Local/State/National SEO companies, or send them an email stating that you're a professional writer available to assist them. Chat with the owner or manager and get to know them some. When they ask what your rates are don't lowball yourself by quoting slave rates - that's just your insecurity, which you can overcome.

You can start out at say...$20 per 500 words and increase from there once you've proven yourself. I would say that $25 - $50 per page is easy to earn working with offline business clients.

Also, you should have a website of your own, even a simple one so that you can post samples for prospective clients to read. When you email firms, include links to your samples. Also, give them a phone number to call you. Be open and available to helping them out with business client content needs and you'll find some good writing opportunities.

Open a free Skype account so that you can communicate quickly with clients.

Oh yeah, and in your spare time when you're not writing for clients, I highly recommend you open an Amazon Kindle publishing account and begin writing ebooks. This is what I'm doing and
soon will be able to kiss freelancing goodbye for good. There are a few good courses here on the forum that show you how to get started with kindle writing/publishing. Writing for yourself is more rewarding and can provide a steady residual monthly income.

i suggest you to find work at digitalpoint forum.

Hey Joe, I hear you, but my clients aren't in NYC so rates are all relative to the situation for each client. I make myself flexible for each individual situation. Hey, for the little bit of writing I do, I'm not complaining about what they pay me.

If I were interested in building up my freelancing biz, I'd aggressively pursue higher paying clients. But, I'm not motivated to do that. Got Kindle fever now.

Here is a real example in an unrelated field.

My husband and I run a law business. When we first started it, we needed money due to a redundancy and new baby soon to arrive, so our prices were cheap because we were scared of charging too much and not getting the work.

Frequently, clients would say, "why are you so cheap?". I remember one client even paying extra because he felt he was ripping us off at the price we quoted!

Now, we charge a fair price for a damn good service, and if anyone asks us to reduce the price, we say "No, that price allows us to give you the service you deserve without us having to cut corners." - it's amazing how many people respond to that answer by confirming their booking with us.

My point?

Maybe you're scaring off the decent clients by pricing yourself so low.

Katie

About pricing, I would say that fix it neither too high nor too low, should be reasonable and unchangeable too.