Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
Although a lot of people don’t mind writing for the sake of writing, there are ways you can boost the attention of what you’re creating. For me, I like to engage as large of an audience as possible. I want to share everything I’ve learned about any given topic. Even though I am just starting to take my personal writing seriously, I’ve learned a great deal about promoting content in the past few years. Here are the methods I use for myself as well as clients.
How to Build an Audience and Market Yourself as a Writer
When you market yourself, there is a bit of a difference than if you were to demonstrate a product or service. However, many of the processes are quite similar. Essentially, you’re demonstrating your abilities to the general public. If you’re a freelance ghostwriter such as myself, this could be greatly beneficial. It helps create an identity and boost the reputation of your brand – you. Here are six easy ways to get started getting your name out there in the world.
Social Connections
Marketing yourself on social media is quite easy, especially if you have the right tools. Although it could take a bit of time to build a large following, the prospect of keeping a social account active takes less than 60 seconds per day. However, the more engaged you are with others, the more loyal those followers become. I have made a lot of clients a great deal of money by helping set up social media accounts. While my personal accounts aren’t the most profound, there has been a steady growth of interaction from others.
Sharing Tools
There are so many social sites on the Internet that it could take a great deal of time to market yourself on all of them. Personally, I use tools such as Buffer to broadcast my updates to Facebook, Twitter and Google+ from Crossing Colorado. Writer Sanctuary also posts to LinkedIn. If you want to share en mass with social media sites but don’t want to create a whole new account elsewhere, WordPress and Jetpack can do it all automatically for you. For example, I use Jetpack for “Publicize” and installed the WP Bitly plugin to shorten the links. This way, I have up to 111 characters to create a message for Twitter as it will also share the link. As soon as I hit “Publish,” the status on my social accounts gets updated.
Regular Blogging
I’ve created a ton of content for many clients. If there is one inescapable truth, it’s that regular content matters. As long as you can keep your blog active, you can begin to see a trend as you market yourself. For some, this could be simply offering information regarding your specific industry. It helps develop a professional appearance while demonstrating to others your skills as a writer. I’ve seen a lot of ghostwriters use their blogs as a form of portfolio in order to land more lucrative gigs from high-paying clients.
Interacting With Others
Engaging others on sites can also be a great way to market yourself. It can engage others as you offer information to help. For example, I used to do a lot of work on forums when I operated my computer repair shop. From that aspect, I grew a reputation which helped generate a few extra sales on our website. It only takes a few minutes of your day, and it could greatly impact your success.
Guest Posting
Guest posting on the blogs of others can not only help generate visits to your site and improve search engine ranking, it can also demonstrate your skills as a writer for those who may not know you even exist. I’ve created a vast myriad of guest posts for other people, and am getting ready to do a few for myself. I find it motivational to see my name in a by-line on someone’s website – not just my own. I feel more accomplished, which helps feed into my confidence. I’m sure it would do the same for you.
Self Publishing
Now, I haven’t actually published anything myself in a professional manner – outside of my blogs. However, I am currently working on a few pieces that are going up on Wattpad and as a purchasable book through Create Space. The Internet is a wondrous tool for authors. So many companies have self-publishing options available that won’t cost you a single penny. I’ll go deeper into this at a later date, but organizations such as Create Space can get your work published for free – you just need to give them a slice of the proverbial pie. There are a ton of options available, and I’m currently excited to give this a try. In either case, it’s one hell of a resume booster when you put “Published Author” in it.
There are many ways you can market yourself as a writer. I like social media because it can help you create a buddy list of those who may help you later on. It’s one of the reasons why I like LinkedIn, as the connections I make there may be able to land me a more lucrative opportunity. In either case, getting your name out in the world is important if you want to gain success as a writer. All of these methods are free. The only thing you’ll lose is a bit of time it takes to market yourself.
- An Evening with Drea Talley on After Hours - September 16, 2024
- An Evening with Maddi Bluhme on After Hours - September 9, 2024
- An Evening with Ian Thomas Healy on After Hours - August 22, 2024