How to be A Good Content Writer that Clients Love to Work with, Again and Again
Bidding, bidding, and bidding! That is part of my job description as a freelance writer. The idea of sealing a deal with a client is great but it takes a good content writer to retain their clients. Here´s what you can do as a freelancer to make your potential clients love to work with you again, and not even looking for a second choice.
1. Be excited when writing your bid
If you are bidding on a project, make sure you know exactly what you´re bidding about. And don´t copy paste your proposal to every project you bid.
Provide samples related to the requested topics. If you are new and inexperienced, you can create a short paragraph for the client to review. Clients love passionate writers who are (or seem) interested in their project by adding the details in the proposal.
e.g. I visited your website and view the Kitchenware products for professionals. Maybe we can start by blogging about the types of knives that professional chefs are using? Feel free to contact me to discuss further!
2. Ask for details
Before you “say I do” to a project, ask your potential client about the details.
What type of content does he/she need?
Blog?
Landing page?
Product description?
Are the contents going to be written in bullets?
Narrative?
How about the deadline?
Any other reference you can check out?
Ask a lot of questions in the beginning and you´ll get yourself out of trouble.
You can do quick research (okay, Google!) and find out the business competitors, or anything related to it so you can be more informed.
3. Can you do it? Or, can you Not?
Both, you and your client should know what to expect and agree on the term before you even start writing. This is where honesty plays a great deal. I had once been asked to write about Tax and Accounting topics and with all do respect, I turned the offer down. Not because I´m already rich — but because I know exactly what the topic is not part of my field of expertise.
Don’t waste your client´s (and your) time writing something you absolutely know nothing about. For me, topics like Tax and Accounting, or Legal — are quite specific that require long-term learning and practices.
Be honest with your client that the topic they requested is not in your area of expertise and then you can add: However, if you are looking for a content writer with general topics like budgeting tips, or marriage/divorce tips — kindly contact me for your next project.
4. Take a very deep… deep.. breath (when dealing with difficult clients)
Yes, at some point in your career as a content writer, you will have to deal with difficult clients. Usually, it starts with the clients who look for tiny holes to bargain your rate. Of course, bargaining is a universal thing but you can explain to them why you ask for that particular pricing to raise your value.
Patience, people!
Don´t give up!
You can share your past works or, explain how many hours you would spend to do the research for the content. A blog about healthy lifestyle should be easy but if you narrow it down to vegan lifestyle, yoga poses, keto-diet — then it becomes more specific and needs more time to research.
5. Earn their trust
Potential clients (even the difficult ones) can turn out to be our loyal clients without a doubt. I have a few who had been uneasy in the past but now we´re in a great term because simply “I walk the talk”
What does that mean?
If you say you´re going to submit the work on Tuesday, don´t delay it till Thursday!
If you say you´re going to give a draft, then do it!
If you say you provide 2 times revisions, then revise it!
6. Give more than what is expected
I have this deadline trick that I´ve been using for so long. If a client asks you how long it takes to complete the task, ask yourself, how long will it take for you to finish it? If it takes 2 days, tell them, “Roughly 3 or 4 days, but I will try to submit earlier.”
This way, you´ll have an ample of time to schedule your work, and even go through your work once again to make sure there´s no typo!
As a bonus, your client will be surprised of how fast you work! Consider it, a great feature of hiring you as a writer!
7. Don´t hesitate to ask for the payment method
New freelancers usually feel hesitant to ask sensitive questions like, how the payment is going to be done. Is it daily? Monthly? Per project?
Hey, you have every right to ask! And a good client will not delay nor refuse to explain what the payment term is going to be like. You can even suggest how you would like to be paid.
Do you have any other tips and tricks working as a freelancer?
