When you're writing for others, one of the most important sales tools you should be using is some samples of your past 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. A portfolio website is the best way to offer these samples for your customers to view.
While photography and web design are probably the two most common types of portfolio websites, they work equally well for writing. Your portfolio site should have different examples of your writing. Ultimately you should include several different styles of content:
1. Articles 2. Blog posts 3. Short reports 4. eBooks 5. Longer training courses
In other words, offer examples of all the types of writing that you do.
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.
If you want to kill two birds with one stone, write about topics that would be of interest to the people who visit 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 to generate samples for your portfolio is to use some of the 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 posting it on your website, don't.
Web content like articles and blog posts can simply be posted directly to your portfolio site, giving clients the chance to read it there. 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 your work to another writer's, and yours looks a lot nicer, which do you think they'll choose? 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 site should have different examples of your writing. Ultimately you should include several different styles of content:
1. Articles 2. Blog posts 3. Short reports 4. eBooks 5. Longer training courses
In other words, offer examples of all the types of writing that you do.
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.
If you want to kill two birds with one stone, write about topics that would be of interest to the people who visit 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 to generate samples for your portfolio is to use some of the 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 posting it on your website, don't.
Web content like articles and blog posts can simply be posted directly to your portfolio site, giving clients the chance to read it there. 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 your work to another writer's, and yours looks a lot nicer, which do you think they'll choose? 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.
About the Author:
Learn awesome marketing strategies from the Internet Marketing Maven Marenda Taylor and It Works Distributor.
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