Some advice needed, please.

Hi guys.

OK, so basically I've decided I'm going to make myself a website to advertise my services in sport writing, but I'm just a bit scared that maybe the market isn't big enough for me to invest time and money into.

My other question is a bit different, website based actually. I've had a plan of running a sports blog, and then people having the opportunity to buy my services on the same website. Will this work? At least then I won't have to be writing samples, as I've got the blog set up and I can just direct people to that...

Thanks for your time,
Simon.

 

"No dreamer is ever too small; no dream is ever too big" so you may find difficult starting with small niches but succeeding in the long run, although sport writing is not necessarily a small niche.

There are countless sports forums, betting websites, aficionado blogs and more searching for specialized writers on this topic.

About your second question, blogs are useful as a sample of your work and help you to gain exposure.

 

Chris of chrisblogging.com has a website similar to what you describe. The landing page is a blog with links to "Hire Me" and "About Me" pages (among a few others). I'm not sure how if this is where he directs clients for samples, but you might PM and ask, he's KeywordsandCopy.

These are some other writer websites I like (hope you guys don't mind me linking to you): marketjunction, jhmattern, and Kristen King (I'm more impressed by her words and tone than the actual site design).

You can get ideas for how to structure your services website by looking at what others writers are doing with their pages. Look for links in their signatures.

As far as it being worth your time and money - most of the time invested in building a website is put in upfront. So in a few months, you won't even miss the 5-15 hours it takes to put together a services site. You will appreciate the ease of sending clients that way for samples, instead of copying and pasting text into emails and PMs. When it comes to the money, if you can bring in at least an average of $10/month from your writing services, then you've broken even on the cost.

 

Thanks for your help, guys. I've bought a domain, and am having the site made for me as we speak. Altogether, I've only spent around $30, so hopefully I'll be able to make that back pretty quickly.
Do you lot think that $0.035 per word is a good place to start, this would mean a 300 word article for $15. More or less?
+rep to you both for your time.

 

Nobody can answer how much you should charge, unfortunately. That rate is very low compared to most professional writers, but it is very comparable to many others. Check out JHMattern's article here.

It may seem like the freelance writing field isn't huge, but actually, there is always room for more writers! There are tons of sites being made everyday, plenty of magazines (check into a subscription to the Writer's Market, I think it is like $30 a year or something), etc... the demand for writers isn't going anywhere soon.

Congrats on getting your site built. It's a great way to showcase your talents. It is also convenient to have an online portfolio to link potential clients to.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the reply, vgal, and also for the link to that article. I reckon I will start off with $0.035 per word. At least this gives my first few customers the chance to see what work I can do, and I can always change my rates depending on how I see fit, so even if I judge it a bit wrong, it doesn't matter too much.

 

Are you going to do sports in general or focus on sports betting?

This happens to be an area I know a little something about, so perhaps I'll throw out a few words.

 

If there's going to be a good chance you'll want to raise those rates in the near future, you might be better off making your "regular" rates a bit higher (like $.05 / word), and using $.035 / word as a temporary sale rate for new clients. It saves trouble later in raising rates, and also gives you something time-sensitive to promote.

 

Hmm, I'm not so sure, I think if I did that I might get people taking the promotional offer and then leaving. I'll advertise my starting prices at $0.04 per word, and then hopefully I wont need to change them at all.
Also, on DP I send the articles and then recieve payment, how do you guys do it when you're talking about bigger money? Do you get the money before you send the articles???
Thanks
Simon

 

50% in advance is a good way to go about it.

Both your blog idea and deciding to focus in an area that you hopefully know and love most is a very good idea.
Do what you do best, not what would pay best.

 

I would start your rates higher than that, because I have been looking around and it seems that people are pretty stingy on the rates. if you are one of the best, then act it

 

OK, I was thinking about one of my previous posts: I said 300 words at $0.035 was $15, doh, it's $11. Hmmm, so is $0.05 per word a good place to start?
lightless- If I'm completely honest, I don't really want to do any other subjects. I love sport, so why write about something completely different???

 

u gotta compete with .001 per word sellers here.
And you gotta have hosting cost domain cost start up traffic cost *optional* Are u alone in the site or is it like a team thing. And not to sure if they do this but write your article and sell them to sports blogs/magazines and etc etc.

 

The whole point of this website is to get out of the $0.01 crowd. I don't want to be involved with that anymore. I'm working alone, so all work will be done by me, unless I can't handle the work, in which case I'll get a friend involved.
I'm targeting anyone who wants to buy sport articles, and, if I'm brutally honest, I don't care whether it's for a website or a magazine, I'd still give it the same care and attention...

 

sounds like a good business you better get on to some publishers and webmasters

Regards

S

 

Which brings me onto my next question: how do I get customers? Do I wait for them to come to me, or go to them?
I will probably try and get some links on visited sports websites, but, other than that, do I just wait? I was hoping if any of my blog readers has a site they might hire me, but I think I need more customers than that.

 

No one's "gotta" compete with the .001 per word sellers here. The smarter the OP is, the more he'll do to distance himself from that group, which seems to be his goal.

Do both. You'll need to market yourself a bit more "actively" in the beginning - look at sports sites and publications to see who accepts freelance submissions (search for sports listings on writers' market / writers' guidelines sites). Even if the site doesn't solicit writers directly, sending a query is a good way to bring in business (a lot of folks don't know they need to hire a writer until they're contacted by one).

 

I find it humorous as I read through alot and I mean ALOT, that people seem to think that Digital Point is the end all to finding jobs. I dont particularily like Elance or those other places because it seems to be hard to break into but what I do see happening here is that we really do expand our horizons and look at every rock and turn it over. I even suggest going offline, but then again. I like to consider myself an out of the box thinker. Makes my life go smoother..

Good luck, OP!

 

Thanks again for the awesome advance, Jenn. Yes, I am trying to distance myself from them, purely because every feedback I have had is that my writing is excellent, so why shouldn't I compete with the higher paid writers?

ItalianBred, thanks for the words