While a lot of freelance writing courses are out there, it makes you wonder if that is actually a sort of thing that can be taught to you. There are a wide number of writers who have got their work published in any form poem, novel, novella, short stories, memoir, etc.
You will hardly find any of them who had pursued a professional writing course. Although there is a chance that they had never pursued a professional writing course, it does not mean that they never sought a certain kind of advice for writing.
Further, when it comes to freelance writing, you just do not have to focus on your writing skills but also on your marketing skills. Freelance writing does not involve a fictional work. It consists in creating content for websites and blogs. Competition is cutthroat in the freelancing world.
Unlike story writers, you do not have to pen down your fiction and then go to a publisher who will either accept or turn down your work. In the freelancing world, you are to work for your clients, so the first thing you need to do is to grab a client.
You will have to invest money and time in branding and marketing to pitch a client. Freelance writing is absolutely a different stream, and therefore, despite the fact that writing is an art – an inherent talent that no one can teach you, you may need to pursue an online course.
Freelance writing courses will not teach you writing but how to do branding, pitch a client, and give other freelancers a run for their money.
Why is investing in a freelance writing course worthwhile?
Here are the reasons to justify why it makes sense to invest in a freelance writing course:
It teaches you tricks to pitch your clients
Pitching a client is a backbreaking job. You have won the half battle if you have pitched a client. As other freelancers compete for the same project, you need to set yourself apart from them. Many freelancers think that the lowest the bidding, the higher the chances that they get that project, but that is not true all the time.
A client wants to hire a freelancer at an affordable price, but at the same time, they want to hire someone who takes care of their business. You will learn some tricks to pitching a client by pursuing a freelance writing course. Not only will you be explained the right way to bid on a project, but you will also be demonstrated how you can stand yourself out from others.
The course will guide you in creating a portfolio and how to create a sales pitch. You will learn to make a client believe that you are the best candidate for their business. Whether you approach them through an email or a phone call, you must know how to elaborate main parts of your service without beating around the bush.
Your focus should be on telling how your service can take their business a level up rather than blowing your own trumpets. This is what you will learn from a freelance writing course.
It helps with personal branding
Personal branding is paramount to becoming successful as a freelance writer. Just because you have amazing writing skills, it does not mean that you do not need anything else to go ahead in your career. Personal branding will help you emerge as a brand.
People will get to know about you. Once you become a brand, people will automatically start pitching you. Emerge as a brand requires spending a lot of time and money. Likely, you cannot pay that much money. In that case, you should seek funding from a £5,000 loan in the UK.
A freelance writing course will teach you the most effective ways to help with branding. You will learn how to create a website that converts visitors, how to link your portfolio to your website to show your writing samples, how to write the “About Me” section, how to boast about your specialisation, and how to create a service page to pitch clients.
The course will also guide you to use social media sites for personal branding. Twitter and LinkedIn are the two most popular sites freelancers use to promote their writing services. LinkedIn is used to provide engaging content consistently for branding.
This will help you leave your impression on people’s minds. Branding allows you to spread your name around so your name will cross their mind when anyone looks for a writer.
It will teach you to stay organised
The online freelance course is crucial as it will help you stay organised. You may think that it is not that important, but the fact is that you will realise its importance as your workload grows. In the beginning, you will not have a lot of projects, but as your projects will grow, you will run out of time.
It is vital to learn to manage all projects simultaneously to not fall behind the deadlines. It can be quite tricky to stay organised when you have multiple projects, but you can learn the ways to stay organised through online freelance writing courses.
You will learn what parameters to consider while picking projects, how you should evaluate your priorities, and how much money you want to earn in a month.
Other tips to follow
Undoubtedly, freelance writing courses will help you learn various useful tips to grow in your career, but it is essential to know from where you are pursuing these courses. There are various online courses but make sure that you choose the one that is worth attending. Ask beforehand what the course will provide you, so you do not end up ruing the day.
The bottom line
Investing in a freelance writing course will definitely be a good option for you as it teaches the techniques to pitch clients, build branding, and stay organised. However, at the same time, you need to ensure that you invest in the right course that actually teaches you tricks in the area you want to do.