Who You Are: Selling Yourself

Clients are going to buy when they are comfortable. This is true for when you write, and when you sell your SEO Copywriting skills. So think of your job as making them comfortable with you...you need to make them willing to do what you say, and trust your expertise.

What do you do you if you don't have that expertise? Sorry, but there are no shortcuts here. You will have to earn it. You have to prove you can write, and that your writing makes a solid business investment.

Get Working-- And Get Them Talking About Your Work
The best way to do this quickly is with a client list and some testimonials. It worked for me anyway--I had zero experience, but started building it. I had every satisfied client write a paragraph or two about using my services. At first, I traded work for a testimonial or two if it was worth it--and believe me, it was. Someone else's praise for me made potential clients feel they were risking less by using me--it's pretty obvious strategy. One I don't even use much anymore--you honestly need this less and less as your career grows. But when you are creating a new career, testimonials are like gold.

Another way I quickly pulled ahead of the pack was an ability to hit impossibly quick, huge deadlines. Why? Because I was hungry. But I never promised the impossible. I did what I said I could do, hardly ever flexed from an initial budget quote (which was always competitive, not too low or too high) and I was immediately better than other writers my clients had used. It escapes me, but it is true--simply deliver the goods as requested in a respectful manner, and you can quickly build a solid reputation. I am glad so many people suck at what I do--makes it a little easier to shine and not tarnish my slacker image.

A little bit of a reputation can go a long way in getting writing gigs. You have to have some work that is real, work that shows a benefit to the client or a Return on Investment (ROI). If it is too early in your career to be able to show this, you now have a goal. Pitching SEO is never easy, even when the audience is plugged-in and ready to bite. Demonstrate an ability to earn a dollar, and you will help pave your career as an SEO Copywriter...trust me. SEO copywriting is a financial question for many businesses so it is up to you to have the right answer.

If you haven't even yet begun to write, much less for money, get started.

There are a million places to publish stuff online, so you have absolutely no excuse not to write. From porn to poetry with all stops in between, get out there.

But do keep this in mind--writing for money is not like writing for a blog or website or something that you have control over. Don't go to a business meeting with your poetry, or a short story your aunt (who is a librarian) loves. You won't work like that, I promise.

Instead, write some articles specific to the area of work you are after. Give them away if you have to, but make them stellar. Make someone happy with what you have to say, and get them to say so. Just once.

Web writing for real business money is calculated. Tallyed-up at the end of each day. What you think hardly matters--you are a verb-churning monkey to a lot of the people you will encounter. So be it--wear it proudly. Certainly beats cleaning up after the verb-churning monkey, or possibly being married to the verb-churning monkey.

But like any good monkey, you must hurl your wares with care--this is after all, a career you are building.