Best LinkedIn posts about Freelance writers

I was a "normal freelance writer" for two years until I discovered that I'm not: ❌A commodity. ❌just helping companies put words in their blogs. But I'm: ✅A professional. ✅Helping companies hit their revenue goals using my words. So stop: 👎Charging mediocre rates. 👎Putting up with clients who think they're helping you by hiring you. And start: 👏Working with clients who value you. 👏Working on projects that you love. And then you'll: 💪Make enough money and save more. 💪Make a worthwhile career as a content writer.

How we write blog briefs for freelancers at Dock 🩲 When I teased this post, Michael challenged me to write about underwear briefs too. I know you expect only high-brow content from me, so apologies in advance for this breech(es) of trust. — As a freelancer, I’ve received hampers full of stinky briefs. Most commonly something like: 👉 ”A guide about [topic] to rank #1 in the SERPs” 👉 One or two short-tail keywords 👉 An outline made from the People Also Ask questions 👉 Three competitor articles to emulate (they’re always 3 articles jockey-ing for top position in the SERPs) Of course, briefs like this get my knickers in a knot. — Here’s what I include in our blog briefs for Dock instead: 📍 A link to the writer’s Dock workspace: I link back to the onboarding workspace I shared yesterday. 🧠 Topic summary: Detailed description of my vision for the post. This includes… - What the post is about (e.g. “An SEO-optimized guide to creating a great sales proposal.”) - The format of the post (e.g. “Feature high-level best practices, actionable tips, example screenshots, and a walkthrough of Dock’s sales proposal template. All the SERPs are very example-heavy.”) - Key themes for the post (e.g. “Should touch on achieving personalization at scale, speeding up the proposal creation process, and moving away from static PDFs.”) - What the post ISN'T about (e.g. “We have another article about sending price quotes, so focus less on the pricing aspect and more on creating a proposal.”) - Takeaways for the reader (e.g. “The reader should feel compelled to try our free proposal template if they fit our ICP.”) 🎯 Target audience: Who the post is for, what problem they’re trying to solve, and what pain points they have. (e.g. “Mid-market sales leaders who want to scale up the proposal creation process for their team. Dock’s audience is mid-market and therefore less interested in consumer-esque DIY tools, or enterprise-oriented proposal management tools.”) 📏 SEO stuff: Target word count, 2-3 keywords, and a Clearscope link or two (I’ll share more about that in a future post). 📘 Existing content: Relevant first/third-party I think is good (not the top SERPs). 🤝 How Dock fits in: Super important. Here we discuss: - What problems Dock solves re: this topic - What products should be discussed and how - How Dock is different than other tools - Our strongly held opinions on the subject - Examples from our experience ✍️ Starter outline: I provide a really thorough outline. I could imagine some writers feel boxer-ed in by this, but others love it. I include as many examples and opinions as I can—underwear?—under each heading because these are the hardest things to come up with as a freelance writer. Whereas I have intimate(s) knowledge of the subject. I also slip in links to our existing blogs with sections that can be repurposed easily for this article. (e.g. "Why [topic] matters now", with 5 strong opinions from our founder) K that was silly.

Freelance writers! I am going to tell you this because I really do care. If you are applying to a professional writing role, spend a few minutes on the application. The way you express yourself matters! We review hundreds and hundreds of applications, and I see the same mistakes over and over again. Personality is great, but don't act like you are texting your pals or use "ur" or "u" when reaching out for a professional writing role. If you do not have specific writing samples for that niche, mention that. Better yet, create a sample! Share something from your Medium account. You don't need to share every sample you have. Take a few minutes to hand-select the writing samples you want us to see. Getting hired is not necessarily a numbers game. It's better to spend the time applying to specific roles you know you'll shine instead of mass sending out many applications. Thank you for reading—a tired recruiter.

Freelance writers don’t need to be an expert in your industry.   What they need is to be great researchers who leverage the expertise of others. Then they need to distill that expertise into words that just about anyone can understand. That doesn’t mean writers shouldn’t specialize.   Niches allow writers to work at specific rates, lean into topics they enjoy writing about, focus on a single target audience, and more. But only hiring writers with experience in your industry is a limitation you don’t need to place on yourself. #writing #freelancecontentwriter #contentmarketingtips

Unpopular Opinion: The worst set of employers you can have as a freelance writer are niche site owners. Even if they make $30k+ monthly, one of the most painful cost points they know is paying freelance writers what they are worth. Especially if you are from a third world country. When althea tweeted about this a couple of weeks back, it was not so obvious. However, something happened that has brought this in focus. Let me share a story. I am in a Affiliate marketing group on FB. Someone made a post asking for tips on how to tell if content they get from their freelance writer is AI written. After sharing how I would tell, I dropped a sweet pitch (check pics). The comment was a bit popular and several group members sent me DMs. Now, here is where things get interesting. All of these persons follow the same script. Step 1 - Ask for your WhatsApp number Don't get excited and think this request means they are serious. The goal here is to know which country you reside in so they can low-ball you accordingly. Some are so plain that they do not even bother to switch the conversation over to WhatsApp. Step 2 - Now they know your country, they ask for your rates... Give them your rates. Watch how they express shock at even the most generous rates you quote. They will say you are too expensive. This is where you should walk away with dignity. If you are feeling brave, or feeling curious like I was, proceed at your own risk. Step 3 - Ask for their budget Brace for it. You will hear crazy budgets like $0.02, $0.03 or for the elites, $0.05 per word. Well, you can't say I did not warn you. Now, thank them for their time, and leave them gaping at the dust you leave in your wake. But, why? #affiliatemarketer #affiliatemarketing

Hey freelance writers, Just a reminder you should probably raise your prices. Don’t think I’ve worked with a writer yet who is over-charging. ---------------- Like this post? Give me a follow. Tap the bell 🔔 Ready to make $100k as a writer? DM me and let's talk! --------------- #entrepreneur #businessowner #businesscoach #copywriting #writer #contentwriter #copywriter #mindset #growthmindset #coaching #businesscoaching #freelance #freelancer #freelancing

Friend: "What do you do for a living?" Me: "I'm a freelance writer." Friend: "Right, but how do you pay your bills?" Me: "...I'm a freelance writer." I've had variations of this conversation more than once. There's this assumption that gig workers, #freelancers, and the like are broke. But the gig economy is alive, well, and very lucrative — if you know how to leverage it. Here are three things I refuse to compromise on: -I don't sell. I help. I solve my clients' problems, and that's how I earn a living. -I'm not cheap, nor do I want to be. This ensures I work with the right clients and form fruitful relationships. -I am constantly learning how to be better at what I do (writing). My goal is to offer the best service I possibly can. The gig economy is the reason why I make really nice money doing something I love. Want to learn more? Comment GIG and I'll send you my video. Are there horrible gigs/freelancing jobs out there? Of course! But those aren't the gigs for you. Play your cards right and #freelancing will lead you to freedom. xo

If you work in content marketing, you know how much effort it is to conduct audience research, create a strategy, draft content, and come up with a promotion plan. It’s too much for one person, or often even one team. You may have tried to hire freelance writers in the past, but ran into trouble as you onboarded them. Maybe they never understood your brand or delivered lackluster work. Maybe they felt unclear about your objectives, audience, and/or product. It IS possible to scale up your content team–you just have to know HOW. I’ve seen content marketing teams that can scale effortlessly thanks to a pool of talented freelance writers, and others that struggle to find and keep quality contractors. That's why I've been (quietly) helping companies scale up their content marketing efforts over the past 18 months by building a strong team of freelance writers. The result: They put out more high-quality content, showed up more often in organic search, and developed a sustainable, realistic path to growth. Need help with this? Send me a message.

If employers are hiring you independent of your location, they should also be willing to pay location-agnostic prices. One person told me to “deal with it.” The “it” is willing to work for $5 to write a blog for a US-based client.  I disagree.  Why should writers from the developing world work for peanuts when their counterparts are paid 10x the price for doing the same work? Why should first-world people prioritize “native English speakers” over people who learned English because their countries were once colonized by those same first-world people? Why should this discrimination exist in the first place? One argument for location-agnostic is that the cost of living varies between the East and the West. Yes, that’s true. But proxying "a similar standard of living" is harder than it sounds because compensation data can be incomplete or statistically underrepresented, especially if you're looking globally.  People are only worth what they are worth to the business, no matter where they are.  Someone's work product is worth a certain amount of money to the business, which the business can pay that person for their work. In other words, if your work produces a value worth dollars, you should be paid compensation comparable to the value you bring to the company.  Several global B2B SaaS companies like GitLab, Help Scout, and Basecamp has location-agnostic salaries for their employees, so it is not just freelance writers who are “ranting” about it on LinkedIn.  It’s time to change your mindset and know your worth.  Do you agree that location-agnostic rates are fair pay? #freelancing #globalbusiness