When you're offering writing services, one of the most important sales tools you can use is samples of your work. People will want to see what kind of writing you've done in the past, what topics you've written about and just how good it actually is. The easiest way to offer these samples for people to review is through a portfolio website.
While photography and web design are probably the two most common types of portfolio websites, they work equally well for writing. Your portfolio should include enough examples to give potential customers a good look at your abilities. Ultimately you should include several different styles of content:
1. Articles 2. Blog posts 3. Short reports 4. eBooks 5. Longer training courses
Essentially, any type or style of writing that you offer should have examples.
There are a couple of ways that you can come up with this content. The obvious one is to simply write some sample content that you can post to your own website.
You can kill two birds with one stone by writing about topics that would be of interest to people viewing your portfolio. This can not only work as examples of your writing, it can also help your website get ranked in the search engines and generate more traffic - and more potential customers.
Another way you can generate sample content for your portfolio is to pull examples out of work you've done for past clients. This can work very well, since it shows actual examples of client work, but it's critical that you get the client's permission before using their content. If they don't want you to post their content on your website, just don't do it.
If you're dealing with web content such as articles or blog posts, you can simply post these directly to your portfolio site. But if you're working with longer content like reports or ebooks, it's usually best to offer a PDF download to make it easier for your potential clients to review it.
This lets you pretty it up a bit by paying attention to the layout and design. A good presentation is still important, even if people are just interested in your writing.
If a potential client is comparing you and another writer, don't you think they'd be more likely to choose the content that looks nicer? Even if your competitor's content is just as well-written as yours, chances are having a nicer looking design is going to tip the scales in your favor.
While photography and web design are probably the two most common types of portfolio websites, they work equally well for writing. Your portfolio should include enough examples to give potential customers a good look at your abilities. Ultimately you should include several different styles of content:
1. Articles 2. Blog posts 3. Short reports 4. eBooks 5. Longer training courses
Essentially, any type or style of writing that you offer should have examples.
There are a couple of ways that you can come up with this content. The obvious one is to simply write some sample content that you can post to your own website.
You can kill two birds with one stone by writing about topics that would be of interest to people viewing your portfolio. This can not only work as examples of your writing, it can also help your website get ranked in the search engines and generate more traffic - and more potential customers.
Another way you can generate sample content for your portfolio is to pull examples out of work you've done for past clients. This can work very well, since it shows actual examples of client work, but it's critical that you get the client's permission before using their content. If they don't want you to post their content on your website, just don't do it.
If you're dealing with web content such as articles or blog posts, you can simply post these directly to your portfolio site. But if you're working with longer content like reports or ebooks, it's usually best to offer a PDF download to make it easier for your potential clients to review it.
This lets you pretty it up a bit by paying attention to the layout and design. A good presentation is still important, even if people are just interested in your writing.
If a potential client is comparing you and another writer, don't you think they'd be more likely to choose the content that looks nicer? Even if your competitor's content is just as well-written as yours, chances are having a nicer looking design is going to tip the scales in your favor.
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