Writing Tips: Impress Potential Clients
March 7, 2008 Labels: for writers, tips for writers, writers, writing 1 commentsThe next time you send off a letter of interest to apply for a writing or blogging job consider the following writing tips to impress potential clients:
Visit their website or blog. When potential clients announce a writing or blogging job, some provide a link to the website or blog they want you to write for. Many do this to give you an idea of the type of writing you will be doing. Don't look over the link, instead visit it and study their style -- just like you would a publication, before sending your query letter. If the link sends you to a blog, read a few of the posts. If you believe you can add additional tips, do so by leaving a comment. Be sure to give your full name so potential clients will recognize it when you send them the letter of interest for the writing or blogging job. Others may not leave a link, but if they provide an e-mail address, the link may be attached to the end of their e-mail. Take mine for example; it ends mistisandefur.com, which is my website, of course. Furthermore, if they fail to leave a link and the end of their e-mail address is of no help, read the job announcement closely for mention of a company name. If you come across one, Google the company name and see what pops up.
By studying your potential clients, you'll be able to tweak your letter of interest to fit their style. You could also mention something that lets them know you visited their website or blog.
Last night I applied for a blogging job, but the potential client didn't leave a website address. However, he did leave his company name, and the end of his e-mail address was the link to his website. In his announcement for a blog writer, he said he wanted someone to write for his company's blog, which was the website I was on. Once there, the website had the link to the company's blog. I clicked the link, read through some wonderful posts, and left a comment with a few additional tips. Maybe when he gets my letter of interest he'll recognize my name and see from the additional tips that I am qualified for the position. It's worth a shot, right?
Tweak your letter of interest to fit the position. If the potential client needs a writer to write or blog about small business, don't send samples of parenting articles you've had published. Instead send links to samples related to small business. In addition, try to focus more on your small business experiences rather than your parenting experiences.
Send your best samples. Potential clients may request links to samples of your articles or blog posts to get a feel for your style and etc. In this case, send links to your best samples, and make sure your samples are relevant to the job. Last night, for example, I sent links to three of my best blog posts that I had written for a client, and those three blog posts were not only relevant to the job, but they were the ones that generated the most comments.
Give potential clients what they ask for. Read their ad thoroughly and deliver everything that they request. If they want a link to blogs you currently write for, as well as your profile and your resume, send them all three links.
I hope the above writing tips help you impress your potential clients, but most of all, I hope they aid you in landing the writing or blogging job you apply for. Do you have any further writing tips you'd like to add? Please share them in the comments section.
Great advice here. I try to follow all of this in my own queries and job responses. It amazes me how many writers send out boilerplate templates and don't even visit a website before responding.