Need to write some website content, emails, or marketing materials for your business? Here are 10 quick tips to get you going.

1. Know Your Audience

Are you writing to a group of scientists or to stay at home moms? This is the first question you should ask yourself before you get started. Think about how differently the brains of these two groups of people operate, and be sure to compose your content accordingly.

2. Be Clear and Concise

Nobody wants to wade through a bunch of embellished fluff to try to figure out what you mean. Say what you mean, and say it well, and then stop writing. Extra fluff doesn't sell. That's why it's called fluff.

3. Know Your Output

Are you writing a brochure or website copy? Are you writing instructions or a press release? How you format and write your content will vary widely depending on the final output. Take a look at a marketing brochure and then take a look at a press release for that same product, and you'll see the difference.

4. Watch Your Tone

Every business has a tone.  An amusement park might have a whimsical tone while an IT company would have a professional one. Make sure you choose the right words and construct your sentences in a way that conveys the tone you're after. Do you want to say, "We bring top quality service straight to you!" or do you want to say, "We pride ourselves in providing the highest quality service to our customers." There's a difference, isn't there?

5. Don't Plagiarize!

Why risk your credibility or even a lawsuit? While it's easy to plagiarize these days, it's equally easy to sniff it out in seconds using free tools online. So just don't do it. Period. 

6. Be Engaging

In an age of sound bites and tweets, you only have a few seconds to draw your audience in before they close their browser or trash your email. Make sure your content is engaging, especially in the first sentence or two, so that they'll stay for more.

Hint: Writing engaging content starts with Tip #1 (knowing your audience).

7. Write with Purpose

The worst thing you can do is put words on a page just to have words on a page (to somehow give the appearance of authority or knowledge without it really being there). Everything you write needs to have a purpose, both for SEO and for your marketing strategies. And don't forget that "be engaging" thing. You can have all the purpose in the world, but if it sounds terrible (or worse, is illegible) it won't sell.

8. Don't Inflate Content

Google's crawlers don't need you to artificially inflate your copy with keywords or links. In fact, they will punish you for it these days. So be smart, not superfluous. If you aren't sure how to properly use keywords for SEO, do some research or hire someone to help you.

9. Edit Your Work

If you want to almost guarantee a disaster, write something up quickly and just send it out the door. As a professional writer I will tell you that the first draft is never good, the second draft is often not good either, and the third draft usually still needs some work. And don't forget about grammar mistakes. Typos are a no-no! So be sure to take the time to read and re-read whatever you write. Maybe have someone else read it too.

10. If You Can't Write, Then Don't

Let's face it, not everyone was cut out to write. Some people are brilliant at math, others are brilliant at sales. If you aren't a writer please hire someone to do it for you. Your business will thank you for it, and you'll spare yourself a painful undertaking that will likely not produce any ROI.

What are your best tips for writing when it comes to business? Is there anything I left out? Please leave them in the comments below!

Being great at what you do doesn’t always equal success as a freelance writer.  In fact, good writing is only part of the formula.  Today I want to share what I feel makes a freelance writer successful as a business owner - meaning steady work, happy clients, and a comfortable income.

Educate Yourself

Maybe you already know how to write, but do you know how to work as a freelance writer?  Do you know how to manage your clients, report your taxes, and invoice properly?  Do you understand how to write for websites and to optimize content for search engines?  Do you know how to format a press release?

Step one is to educate yourself.  I highly recommend reading some books on the business of writing, my favorite of which is The Well Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman.  You can visit his website here.  Other good reads are The Anti 9-5 Guide by Michelle Goodman and An Insider’s Guide to Building a Successful Consulting Practice by Bruce L. Katcher, Ph.D.  Any techniques that you are unfamiliar with, like SEO or press releases, can be learned via the internet.  Just do a quick Google search and you will be ready to meet the needs of all of your potential clients.

Get Organized

If you want to be successful, you have to stay organized.  Find a way to manage your work and clients that meshes well with you.  I personally rely heavily on a CRM tool (I chose Salesforce.com) to manage my clients and marketing efforts, as well as a physical day planner, an electronic calendar, and Excel.

It’s also a good idea to get a filing system in place so you can organize your projects while you work on them.  I have a manila folder for each client or project, and two separate filing spaces – one for current projects, one for completed projects. Successful businesses of all sizes have processes in place, and your writing business should be the same way.  

Have a Portfolio

Every writer needs a portfolio even if it’s a small one.  If you don’t have samples, get some.  Today.  Well, yesterday!  One sample of each type of writing you want to do is enough.  Remember that if you’ve done it once, you can do it.  Sites like Elance, Freelancer or Guru are good starting points if you just need to get something published, but I wouldn't stay here long.  You can't live off what they pay on those sites.

I find that online portfolios are used 99.9% of the time.  I have mine on a tab on my website, but you can also build a portfolio using a number of websites.  One example is Contently.  Personally I like to have my portfolio available right there on my website so potential clients can see everything in one place.  Do you need a physical portfolio?  Yes, for those just-in-case scenarios.  I have used mine only once, but I sometimes bring it to meetings with new potential clients.  It should be professional, but doesn’t have to be expensive.  I simply printed text on really nice letterhead, put them in paper protectors, and assembled them in a matching binder.  Instant portfolio.

Be Available

That whole “you snooze, you lose” concept really applies in the freelance world.  You have a lot of competition so if someone reaches out to you via phone or email, respond promptly if you want to win the job.  Very few businesses have the patience to deal with a writer who is unresponsive or hard to get a hold of.  So when that phone rings, answer.  Because that may be your one shot at the project.

So if I had to list out my rules of availability, the first rule would be to answer emails quickly.  I try to respond within 2 hours during regular business hours, and sooner if possible.  Second, pick up the phone when it rings.  Answer even if you don’t feel like talking, because they might not call back.  Third, be responsive.  Don’t let clients ever feel like you are a black hole reincarnated on the earth.  And finally, provide good customer service.  This means being available to answer questions, being on time for calls and meetings, and proactively updating clients on status.

Market Yourself – Constantly

Many writers dread the idea of marketing because so many of us are introverted by nature.  But the deal is, if you want to get clients (and eat and have electricity) you have to go find them.  And this means marketing.

Do you have to do cold calls?  No.  So if this doesn’t appeal to you, don’t do it.  But you do have to reach out somehow, whether it’s through emails, direct mailings, networking on sites like LinkedIn, or applying to freelance postings.  You can’t just sit back and expect projects to drop into your lap.  The books I mentioned above provide some good tips on marketing yourself and finding new clients.  So check them out, and do some research.  Find what works for you.

Find a Niche

Yes you can be a jack of all trades writer.  And maybe you are.  But it’s to your benefit to find some sort of niche and try to develop clientele there.  You will be able to command higher fees for something you specialize in, and eventually your network will broaden because like-minded individuals like to collaborate.  And part of that collaboration might just be passing your name along to a colleague.

I don’t think you have to limit yourself if you truly enjoy writing about lots of things (like I do), but I do think you should find a niche to serve as your primary source of income.  Then you can supplement as you want with interesting projects.  So for example, my specialty is commercial writing.  My niche within commercial writing is IT.  But I also have a consumer magazine I write for, and a dental chain.  So I don’t limit myself but I do try to focus most of my work.

Have a Contract and Deposit

Nobody wants to be the writer who is staring at their mailbox waiting for an overdue payment.  The solution?  Have a contract.  You are a business so treat yourself like one.  You can likely find samples of contracts online (this is what I did) and then tweak your favorite one to your liking. 

Always get 50% payment up front and have stipulations around meeting cancellations, project cancellations, and overdue payments.  It’s not being tough, it’s just a fair business practice.  Will this prevent all unpaid invoices?  No.  But at least you’ll get some of your money by requiring a percentage up front, and will have some recourse if you need to take the client to small claims court.

Be Real

Speak professionally, interact professionally, but don’t be afraid to have some fun with those clients who have a sense of humor.  Be real.  You are a human and so are they.  Bringing humanity and a personal touch to the job will help set you apart from the rest of the writing masses.

Is Your Freelance Business Ready?

Once you have properly established your business, if you can produce exceptional work (on time!) then your client list will flourish and your income will grow.  Great writing is essential, but running your operation as a business is the key to success.

There are millions of professional freelance writers across the globe.  These are people who make their careers out of writing words for a living and selling those words to others.  And to anyone working seriously in the writing profession, I would pose this question: Do you want to be valued as a professional, or do you want to be a commodity?

Content mills have portrayed writing as a laughable field requiring few skills, and only the basic ability to complete a sentence. The consequence of these mills is the perpetuation of the idea that writing is not worth paying for, and the false belief that it can be done by anyone who speaks English.  If you don't believe me do a quick search on a site like Elance or Craigslist.  You will find people offering (and expecting) to pay a measly $10 for a 500 word article, or maybe $100 for a 20,000 word manuscript.  Or people who expect a robust, SEO optimized website with 20+ pages of content for the "fair" rate of $300 for the project.  

Do the math on this (as all freelance writers have) and you will find that it's less than minimum wage.  In fact, in some cases you're talking about making a dollar or two an hour.  What's worse is you will find people actually accepting this pittance and performing the work, but then struggling to buy a loaf of bread and then bemoaning their circumstances.  

Do you have to work for those rates in order to survive and thrive in a freelance marketplace?  Is this the only way to compete? Many newbie (and some established) freelancers come from a place of fear.  Fear that nobody will hire them, fear that they can't compete, or fear that their skills aren't good enough.  And their answer to this question would likely be, "Well that's what I see out there, so that's what I have to take."  

My answer is an emphatic and forceful, "No."

Knowing your worth as a writer means running your operation like the professional business that it is.  You are offering a service to a person or company, and that service is often worth substantial money once it is put into place.  The return can be enormous.  And when you run your writing operation like a business - maintaining top notch customer service, providing error-free copy that meets deadlines, and really partnering with your clients to meet their needs - for you to not insist that those businesses pass a fair share of that ROI onto you is devaluing your profession.  And yourself.  Because the fact is, good writing makes businesses money. Period. 

Knowing your worth as a writer means being firm with your rates and demanding compensation that is fair.  It means requiring that potential clients pay you as the professional you are.  Will it be harder to find work this way?  Yes.  But which would you rather be?  The content writer working 10 hours a day, churning out lackluster content (because you simply don't have time to make it good), struggling to buy groceries, and building a portfolio of lackluster samples?  Or the professional writer spending 4 hours a day with a handful of clients, writing stellar content that pays your bills and brings in hard cash for their business, and building your network and future opportunities in the time you aren't wasting writing for $2/hour? 

Always remember that serious clients will recognize the value you provide and will pay you accordingly.  You choose what type of writer you want to be.  It's all up to you.  I choose to be a professional.   What's your choice?

I was recently negotiating with a prospect who was trying to start a company and he wanted some web copy created.  His first request was this: "I want you to write a 200 word marketing piece for me based on the product description I give you."  If you got that request from a prospect, how would you respond?

Well, here is how I responded.  I politely said that I do not do work for free, although I do provide a free 30 minute consultation and I will happily send him some proprietary writing samples that are very similar to what he is wanting.  I said that I also have testimonials and an extensive portfolio, and that this was all I could offer.  I said that if he wanted a free writing sample then it would be best to look elsewhere, as I have sufficient samples to more than showcase my abilities.

He accepted the samples and agreed to continue with the consultation, during which he asked me to include in the project quote two random web pages with an undetermined definition or scope.  I said that because those pages were undefined, how about we work with the pages that are defined and I can give him a quote, and once he defines the other two pages we can go from there.

He agreed, I created a quote that clearly outlined the 6 pages of content and how many revisions were included, and sent it off.  The next day he declined the quote and said that he was uninterested, as the price was fine but in his opinion I was not willing to work with him.  Was I surprised?  Not really. 

So I sat back and thought about these types of requests and what they mean, because honestly most of my prospects are large clients and do not conduct business this way.  And what everything boiled down to was this:  because I didn't provide free work or agree to a set price for work that had not been scoped yet, I was labeled as a bad businessperson.

And what I would say to that accusation is that it's actually the opposite.  If you're a good businessperson, you value your time. You have sufficient samples to show your skills and you have people to vouch for the quality of your work.  And you don't work for free.  And similarly, you don't expect others to work for free.

That would be like going to a job interview where they tell you that while they appreciate that you have great experience and samples, they want you to create some marketing collateral for them before they will consider hiring you.  And it's on some products that currently do not have any marketing content.  So this honestly means that they can turn around and sell the free work you perform for them.  And if they were really shady, they could bring people in for "interviews" and slowly get all of their marketing work done this way for free.  

That doesn't sound ethical to me.  Does it sound ethical to you?  So why expect a freelancer or consultant to do the same thing?

Which brings me to my final thought on the subject, which is whether or not there are any situations where I would write for free.  The answer?  Maybe.  Working on spec is much more normal for publications and books.  And if I had a prospect that I was really interested in and I didn't have relevant work samples that fairly illustrated my abilities, then yes maybe I'd write something.  But it would only be a few sentences or a paragraph.  I'm not going to write a 200-300 word document for them.  If I was being considered for an instructional design project, and they asked me to provide feedback on some scenarios and how I would design them (and it was clearly a "test" and not materials yet to be developed), yes I would do that to an extent. But beyond those things, my working for free stops there.

So let me ask you.  Do you write for free?  What are your thoughts on the subject?

A lot of inexperienced writers looking to break into freelance or book writing wonder...how can I become a good writer?  What does it take?  Is there some kind of formal process I need to go through in order to write well and get my work noticed?

Good writing vs. great writing
The truth is, good writing takes practice.  I believe that most people are capable of good writing, and that only a few people are capable of spectacular writing.  No matter what the genre (business, creative, non-fiction, etc.), this theory seems to hold true. 

Case in point #1:  Of all the books published every year, many are good (obviously, or they wouldn't be published at all right?).  But how many become best sellers?  And of those, how many actually win literary awards?  There are plenty of good book writers, few great ones.  This is a trend that goes back to the ye old days of Shakespeare, who in his time never achieved the literary acclaim he has now.

Case in point #2:  I have seen non-writing business colleagues create marketing materials or implementation guides that were actually fairly good.  But I've also re-worked documents from colleagues (including colleagues supposedly specializing in marketing communications - yikes) that lacked flow, structure, and general grammatical accuracy.  Good writing exists, great writing is hard to find.

So what can you do? 

Practice, practice, practice.  Writing with correct structure, and with interesting words.  Break out the thesaurus (there is one available in Microsoft Word) and find a different way to describe something.  This is one of the best tools you can use to make your writing more interesting.

The importance of good communication
Beyond grammatical accuracy, interesting content and language "rules" (which honestly, good writers sometimes completely ignore), a good writer is first and foremost good at communicating.  If you have trouble communicating via speech, you will have trouble communicating via the written word. 

Whether you are writing marketing collateral to sell something, training materials to teach something, a book to tell a story, or an RFP for a client...if you cannot get your message across with your words, you have failed as a writer.

How can I improve my writing?

My three biggest guidelines:

#1: Read.  And read a lot.  You will increase your vocabulary and your ability to craft material.  I recommend reading some of the classics, or some of the award winning novels you can find via the New York Times listings.  These books will have the best examples of excellent writing, not just good writing.

#2: Practice.  In all my years of writing, I still have things to learn.  New approaches, new techniques, new presentation.  It takes practice to create something truly engaging for the reader.  So write, and write often.

#3: Consider a writing class.  If you don't know where to start or are interested in creative writing (novels, poetry, short stories), a class at your local community college can help you get moving.