When I lost my last full-time job in 2007, I turned to freelance writing full-time – and haven't looked back since. Has it been easy? No. Has it been worth it? Most definitely yes.

My Freelancing Journey

Before we get into the specifics of how to market your freelance writing business, let me give you a brief overview to put what I'm about to tell you into perspective.

I've been a freelance writer since 1993. I worked in legal publishing in New York City for a decade, which meant I had a network of contacts that I could tap for work. So when I first started, it was easy compared to someone who's just starting out cold. This is extremely important to keep in mind, because you have to market to keep the jobs flowing in.

Eventually, my "network" dried up because I didn't actively work to sustain it. Eventually, I had to practically start from ground zero to get work flowing in. In short, I had to learn how to market.

Following are seven techniques I've used successfully over the years.

5 Ways to Market Your Freelance Writing Business Online

i) Email: This is one of my favorite ways to market because it's quick, easy, free and you can get instant results. I got up to a 25% response rate from some of my email campaigns when I first started doing SEO content writing back in 2007.

The most laborious part was putting together a list of prospects to contact. I did mine by hand, manually conducting searches online for the types of companies I thought could use my services, eg, web design firms, internet marketing firms, search engine optimization companies, etc.

I'd find their contact information, then craft a short, custom email to send off. I landed 14 writing jobs my first week as an SEO writer, which catapulted my career to a whole new level.

FYI, you can purchase mailing lists and sales leads from reputable companies like InfoUSA.com.

ii) Free Classified Ad Sites: This is a severely under-utilized marketing method that can yield great results. The main reason to try sites like Craigslist.org and Backpage.com is that they get an astounding amount of traffic.

What I've noticed about these sites is that prospects are usually looking for someone who can do a job quickly and cost-effectively. So keep this in mind if you decide to advertise your freelance services via this medium.

iii) Newsletters: We live in the age of content marketing. And publishing a weekly, monthly or quarterly newsletter is one effective form of this.  It helps to keep your name in front of prospective customers, and it reminds existing clients, "Hey, I'm still here!"

Newsletter Writing Tip: Effective newsletters solve problems for clients. So ask yourself, what "pain points" can I address in each issue? Some common ones many clients have are:

Finding time to write content; 

Knowing what to write about; and 

Turning prospects into paying clients.

All of these are problems you can help them with as a freelance copywriter.

iv) Blogging: This is just another form of content marketing.

Blogging Tip: If you struggle coming up with topics to blog about, start by answering some of the most frequently asked questions your clients have. Also, encourage readers of your blog to send in questions. You'd be amazed at some of the stuff they want to know about that you would never think to address.

v) Social Media: Although this is a relatively new form of online marketing that hasn't proven to be effective in bringing in business directly, it's grown to the point where it can't be ignored.

Remember, the key to success in social media marketing is to keep the emphasis on "social."

Social Media Marketing Tip: I once read a study that said that only 20% of your social media interaction should be promotional. So for example, if you use Twitter and send out 10 tweets per day, then only two of them should be about you and/or your product/service.

2 Ways to Market Your Freelance Writing Business Offline

vi) Chambers of Commerce: This is effective because it's where the business leaders in your community are. By joining, you get to be face to face with them on a regular basis (usually at least twice per week). Cost: $150 to $500 per year or more (depends on the Chamber and the type of membership you choose).

vii) Cold Calling: Although this sparks fear in the hearts of most, it's one of the most effective ways to drum up business quickly simply because many freelancers don't do it. They key to being successful with this method is to get your "phone speech" down pat. Then practice.

Would You Pick Up the Phone for $40,000+ Per Year?

To lessen your fear, look at it this way -- if you make just five cold calls per day, that's 100 per month (assuming a 5-day work week). That's 1,200 calls per year. If you landed just 12 clients (a 1 percent return on your investment of time) and each one spent just $300 per month with you, that's over $40,000 per year ($43,200 to be exact).

If you believe in what you're offering (not selling, "offering"), then cold calling can be thought of as just another way of helping prospective customers. And as you can see, it can be very lucrative.

Advertising Your Freelance Writing Business: 2 Important Things to Keep in Mind

I want to leave you with these final two pieces of advice...

(i) Can You Afford to Repeat It? As in, can you afford to repeat the marketing method you're thinking about using. If you can't, then don't do it. Why? Because the success of marketing lies in repetition.

(ii) Consistency Is Key: Piggybacking on the last point, studies estimate that consumers see between 3,000 and 20,000 marketing messages per day (yes, you read that right). What's the chance that they'll not only see your message/ad, but act on it, if they see it just once or twice?

This is why marketing has to be consistent to be effective. Never forget this.

Conclusion

I've only given you seven ways to market your freelance business here. Of course, there are many others. So put on that thinking cap – and get busy marketing!

Author Bio
Yuwanda Black heads New Media Words, an SEO writing company. She's self-published over 50 ebooks and is the webmaster of InkwellEditorial.com, a leading portal for information on how to start a successful, home-based freelance writing career. She can be found on Twitter at @InkwellEditor.