How to Get Good Clients If You're a Beginner with No Portfolio

Jon Morrow

Jon Morrow

Founder and CEO of Smart Blogger

The best clients care about one thing: the quality of the content you create.

And by “quality,” I’m not referring to cleverness or eloquence. I’m talking about your skill with

  • Content frameworks: ever notice how many posts begin with “how to” or “7 ways”? There’s a reason why: it works! The best freelance writers know this and have practiced writing posts in multiple frameworks. 
  • SEO: as I mentioned in this post, the best clients are predominantly focused on ranking well in the search engines. They’ll expect you to know at least the basics of user intent, keywords, and on-page optimization.
  • Competitive research: ultimately, your job as a freelance content creator is ALWAYS to write the best post ever published on the topic. You’ll need practice at studying competing content and identifying how you can best it.

If you know those skills, you’ve graduated from the ranks of “freelance writers” to becoming a “content marketer.” And that’s immensely more valuable.

Of course, the big question is…

Where do you learn this stuff? How do you get good at it?

The Truth about Becoming a Content Marketer

There is a shortage of content marketers for a reason. Not only is it difficult to learn all the different skill sets, but it’s even harder to prove you know it.

There’s no university degree, exam, or certification program to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you know your stuff.

So, that’s why I created one.

Starting in January, 2019, Smart Blogger quietly began training, testing, and certifying the next generation of content marketers. Not only will we teach you the skills, but we will put the trust of the Smart Blogger brand behind you to help you get clients.

More on this tomorrow. For now, let’s assume you have the certification, and you’re ready to get the word out about your services. What should you do?

How to Get Clients, Starting from Scratch

If I were starting over with no audience or name recognition, here’s exactly what I would do:

  1. Pick a lucrative market. Yesterday, I emailed you a list of seven lucrative markets for freelance writers. I would pick one of those markets to focus on.
  2. Publish a few sample posts on Medium.com. Imagine you are writing for a client and create 3-5 sample posts, just to demonstrate your writing skills. Specifically, I would focus on list posts and how to posts, because those are the two most common types clients want. Publish them to Medium.com for easy reference.
  3. Write a guest post for a site your clients read. If you’re targeting small businesses, for example, you might want to write a guest post for Digital Marketer or Sumo – two of the most popular blogs for small businesses. In your byline, mention you are a freelance content marketer and invite potential clients to email you.
  4. Pitch industry podcasts. All seven of the lucrative markets I mentioned have popular podcasts that are always looking for interesting guests. Shoot them an email with an interesting idea for an interview with you. During interview, casually mention your work with clients. Afterward, also ask the interviewer if they know anyone looking for writers.
  5. Schedule a 30 minute call with leads. Before the call, ask them to read your sample posts on Medium. During the call, rather than trying to persuade them to hire you, ask a lot of questions about what they want to achieve and work together to see if it’s a good match. If it is, send them a short one page proposal with a quote.

And that’s it!

Starting from scratch, working only 5-10 hours per week, you can complete the entire process above in about 30-60 days and have your first client or two.

But here’s a question to consider…

What if there was an easier way?

There’s nothing wrong with following the process I just outlined, and I recommend you do it, but what if I just endorsed you as a freelance writer?

Probably sounds like a dream, right?

Well, that dream is about to become a reality. More details tomorrow. Watch your inbox. 🙂

Talk soon,

Jon