martin

My recent client’s B2B brand went from 19 sign-ups per month to 199 for his SaaS product.

Before the increase, the client was getting some credible monthly traffic of 69,000. But he only recorded got 19 sign-ups every month.

When a new content strategist came in, he started by analyzing the blog to get what was wrong.

He found out that the client’s content strategy was wrong. He was mainly focused on the Top of the Funnel (TOFU) content to get more eyes on his blog. 

While that worked, people were not signing up. 

So he suggested that we should now focus on the long-form bottom of the funnel( BOFU) content with a conversion-focused writing process.

With that simple change (and me in his content team) we turned the dormant blog into a cash cow.

In this guide, I’ll show you the step-by-step guide on how you can replicate the same content strategy in your SaaS business and get positive results.

If you’re looking for a conversion-focused writer who understands the power of well-written content for B2B SaaS brands, feel free to reach out.

Steps for Building a Content Plan for B2B SaaS Content Marketing

Ready to roll? Let’s get started.

 1. Know Your Audience

Trying to build a successful content marketing strategy without identifying your target audience is like building a house without tools.

That’s why this step is critical. It lets you get into the heads of your audience. 

Ask yourself these questions:

• What do they value?
• What they are looking for? 
• Why do they choose one service provider over another.

This process can be as simple as looking at your current customer database and seeing who they are. 

Or it could be more in-depth, such as conducting focus groups or interviewing current customers.

The insights you get will help you define your ideal customer and create a buyer persona. It’s what you need for your content creation.

Once you know who your audience is, you can begin to think about how you want to target them with your SaaS content marketing efforts.

2. Create a Content Based on Your Audience

After developing a successful content strategy plan, the next step is creating content that they want to see.

To ease your content creation process, create an outline for your blog posts or ebooks. 

It can be as simple as bullet points. You don’t need a novel, just the points you’d want to talk about. 

Once you have this mapped out, it is time to start writing!

Now, there are things to note here.

Remember my client who got huge traffic spikes with no signs-ups? You don’t want to make the same mistake.

First, determine where your readers are in your sales pipeline. This will give you an idea of whether to focus on TOFU, MOFU, or BOFU.

In each stage, including at least three pieces of content that speak to your customer’s specific needs so they will come back for more.

3. Evaluate Your Competitors

Knowing the ability of your competitors is a step forward. 

Evaluating your competitors can be challenging, but it is crucial to determine where your content will rank in relation to your competitor’s content.

The best approach to this competition aspect is to analyze your competitor’s backlinks. As such, you will know the type of resources they use to draw their traffic. 

In addition, analyze the published content in terms of the topics and the keywords used.

Researching your competitors helps you to know their strengths and weaknesses. Eventually, you will use such information to fill gaps and enrich your final content output. 

Develop a strategy to combat any deficiency while incorporating any strengths that you identify into your marketing plan. 

4. Identify the Pain Points

Another exciting content strategy plan is to know your pain points that motivate clients to buy the product. Tailoring your content strategy to their pain points means your audience will have a positive experience and return again and again.

How do you identify pain points? First, you should step into your clients’ shoes and develop a customer journey map. 

Start by drawing out a map that illustrates how your customer moves from initial awareness of the problem they are trying to solve to a final decision to purchase your solution.

This journey should lure your clients to do the following:

• Visit your website
• Develop an interest in your product
• Become aware of your product
• Sign up for a product demo or free trial
•  Drop or renew a subscription

After understanding the customer’s pain point, explain how your product will make their life easier in your content. 

5. Search and Define Keywords

When creating your B2B SaaS content strategy, search for the most relevant keywords to your content. Start by using third-party tools or by performing a basic Google search. 

Before you start typing in your keyword phrases, think about what questions your customers are asking.

Using the appropriate keywords in your content will help them locate your brand effortlessly. 

Use these tools for keyword research: Ahrefs, Google Keyword Planner, Ubbersuggest, and SEMrush.

It is more important than ever to understand how your customers research the products they buy in the digital era. 

This knowledge will help you create content, attract visitors looking for information, and be ready to purchase your product. One of the best ways to gather customer research is to use a keyword research tool.

It will be a waste of time and resources if you create content that none will see. The appropriate content should generate enough traffic to your blog posts.

The number one priority should be the organic search as you begin working on your content strategy. However, one should spice it up with a few tactics to get enough traffic and increase the number of conversions.

Similarly, you can use internal and external links as part of the organic search. However, let your linking come from reputable sources to make your content rank well on the search engines.

Not to forget, you can impact your ranking by meeting the SEO standards for your content, Meta information inclusive.

6. Determine the Type of Content You’ll Publish

Your content strategy might depend on your industry and the target audience. 

If you want to reach millennials, think about what content will appeal to them to subscribe. Here are common types of content.

• Blog posts
• Videos
• Images
•  Infographics

You can create self-service content for readers who want to solve an issue as quickly as possible. Present this content in a step-by-step format so that readers can follow along with no trouble at all. 

For example, if you’re a SaaS company that provides webinars for businesses. You could create self-service content by creating a post that explains how to start up a webinar and distribute it digitally. 

8. Determine the Frequency of Publishing Posts

One of the critical decisions you will need to make when establishing your content strategy is determining how often you publish new blog posts. 

There are a few things to keep in mind when determining what frequency is best for your business. 

First, you should not commit to a posting frequency unless it is a realistic expectation for your available time and resources.

Secondly, consider how often your target audience expects new content from your company.

To set the right expectations for your audience, ask yourself questions like:

a) How do my customers want to interact with me?

b) What is the purpose of my blog?

c) What is my goal with this blog?

d) Is there a consistent topic we will talk about on my blog?

9. Publish Your Content

The last section of your content strategy plan is to publish your content.

Publishing your content means sending it out into the world for all to see, whether that is via social media, email campaigns, paid ads, or any other digital marketing tactic.

Content should be published consistently and strategically across different channels to ensure customers come across it multiple times. 

You should also publish new product announcements, seasonal specials, or similar marketing messages. 

This ensures that you are always driving traffic back to your website and keeping people engaged with your content.

 10. Track Your Progress

A content strategy is not a one-time thing. It requires a plan and consistent execution. That is why it is essential to track your progress as you implement your content strategy plan.

You want to know how well your content is performing. If you are not tracking data, you will not tell if your changes are working or need to make additional modifications.

Some brands will audit their content and website monthly, others quarterly, and some annually. 

In addition, it will depend on how much change they need and if this is a new undertaking for them or not. 

The critical thing is that they take the time to measure the results of their content strategy to see if their changes impact the way customers engage with their brand.

Online marketing is changing rapidly, and brands need to stay ahead of the curve. If they do not, they will fall behind and be left behind in customer engagement and revenue growth. 

Update your business to withstand the market heat sparked by competition.  

Conclusion

A strong content strategy plan is a valuable tool for B2B SaaS brands looking to craft high-quality and successful blog or social media marketing campaigns.

It helps you to set goals and objectives, define guidelines and best practices, identify segmentation, research the current environment, and craft a blueprint for winning the engagement.

The more you know about your audience, the better you can engage with them. You could have the best product in the world, but if your content strategy is wrong, you won’t get the results you envision.

The key is to know your audience and create a system that works.

If you establish a good content strategy, you will create content that your audience wants to read, make them feel like they are part of your community, and build trust.

Social media marketing has grown significantly over the years causing stiff competition.

Only a little over 50% of businesses that have implemented robust marketing strategies for at least two years see improved sales.

Moreover, changes in social media platforms mean you have to keep adjusting your strategy to continue growing your business.

For example, you’ll notice that your Facebook newsfeed is showing you more content about your family and friends as opposed to ads. 

Plus, you are aware that Instagram removed the “like” count which has affected influencer marketing on social media.

While these changes are meant to keep users on these platforms, you might be wondering whether you still have a chance at growing your business through social media promotions.

Yes, you still can. Because 77.6% of small-sized businesses believe social media is the best platform to promote your business.

So in this post, we’re going to check out six ways through which you can use social media promotions to grow your business

1. Improve Brand Perception 

Let’s face it, social media is not that very “social,” and it hurts when your business is just another page in the crowd. 

But how do businesses like Starbucks or Uber have so many followers? They have created a strong brand awareness that speaks for them.

According to a study by Forbes, 35% of Millennials will first check reviews from social media before they purchase a product. 

When you speak of branding, you’ll ask yourself questions like:

• Who is my real target audience?
• Am I writing marketing materials that rhyme with my audience’s tone?
• How do I make my brand so different that anybody can recognize it?

Three main points will help you answer these questions.

i. Listen to Your Target Audience

The business is yours, but it’s not for you. 

To create effective content that resonates with your customers, read what’s on the mind.

Listen to their comments. What are they missing, and what type of content do they share? Getting this data allows you to know how your brand is perceived online and adjust accordingly. 

ii. Post Consistently

A famous quote by Michael Brenner, the CEO of Marketing Insider Group, is that content marketing isn’t a campaign but a commitment.

You can’t post on your Twitter page whenever you feel it. You have to show up every day. Even if no one likes or comments, continue posting and you’ll start getting traction.

iii. Develop Your Unique Voice

The problem with most businesses is that they keep it “too official” on social media that they miss out on their USP.

Your “USP” is your personality. 

Let it come out and freely develop a tone that represents you. Customers are more likely to resonate with businesses that speak their minds.

2. Generate More Leads

Lead generation is the first step of your customer journey. It allows you to get valuable information that you will need later.

This can be in the form of:

• Email address
• Occupation
• Employment
• Home address
• And more

With the right information, you can target them with relevant and high-quality content and later convert them into paying customers.

While lead generation might seem easy, it depends on the place you’re targeting. It’s advisable to target where their fish are.

The logic is straightforward. A fish breeding zone is a perfect spot to make some good catch. It’s even better if that breeding zone doesn’t have more fishermen. You want the right spot with less competition.

Contextually, getting quality leads could mean targeting two spots: Using your current fanbase or leveraging other people’s followers.

The first step is easy as you already have numbers. Still, they are not in your grip yet. For this, you’ll need to create clickable content like quizzes and giveaways.

It’s an easy lead generation strategy and a big hit on Instagram. The best example of this strategy was a campaign by hydroflask.

After reaching a milestone of 200k followers, they ran a giveaway by asking their fans to follow @hydroflask and tag two friends. 

The winners would be awarded a 32 oz hydroflask. The giveaway went well earning them more followers and sales in the long run.

The second approach of using other people’s fanbase is a long-term process and more of an indirect method.

You’ll join online communities like Facebook groups or Quora. Search for groups where your target audience hangs out. Offer valuable content first.

Answer questions, comment on posts, and create helpful posts. People will start getting interested in knowing who you are. Once they get hooked, weave your product to their pain points.

3: Collaborate With Other Brands

It simple; Iron sharpens iron and power attracts power.

The reason why companies merge is to strengthen their brand and increase their market size.  

While merges are for big companies, collaborative marketing best suits small and moderate-size businesses that want to leverage the power of social media.

It involves working with similar companies to promote your brand, increase sales, and minimize costs. 

Collaborative marketing is successful because it bolsters exposure through advertisement by competitors.

Influencer marketing is somewhat similar to collaborative marketing as they share the same theme. 

But influencer marketing is more significant and more effective. It’s expected to grow by $15 billion in 2022. 

Influencers can help you.

• Reach a blogger audience
• Grow your social following
• Generate more high-quality leads
• Get more traffic to your site
• Drive sales

Now, when many people hear about this word, what they think is that you have to be like Barrack Obama or Elon Musk to get influencers behind your brand. 

It doesn’t work like that.

Someone with 3000 followers on Instagram today can be more popular than your town mayor, who doesn’t have a solid online presence. 

Why?

People tend to believe in influencers. A good example is Russell Brunson, who has made a brand in the funnel building industry. 

He has thousands of entrepreneurs who wait on his every word. Having him recommend your product will make your sales dashboard go crazy. Read this article to get all the details about influencer marketing.

4. Convert More Leads Into Customers

If Content is King, then conversion is the queen.

John Munsell

Generating leads is good, but it’s no better if they don’t turn into paying customers. Indeed, getting more followers is at the top of a social media marketing strategy. But that isn’t enough.

If you don’t turn your leads into faithful buyers, you’re fighting a losing battle.

Sadly, according to a study by Econsultancy in 2016, brands spent $92 on acquiring leads and only $1 was incurred to convert them into paying customers.

How do you make sure your followers buy from you?

i. Check Out Your Competition

The worst thing you can experience as a business is to have billions of followers spending money on your competitors. You shouldn’t allow this to happen.

Start by scrutinizing your competition. Monitor their best-performing posts and measure their analytics to figure what they are doing that you aren’t. 

This will give you a few ideas on what to twist and what to change entirely.

ii. Use Testimonials from Happy Customers

Testimonials can improve brand perception and improve your revenue by 62%. You have a lot of followers who haven’t tried your product. 

So when they see someone (more so an authority) recommending your product, they won’t think twice before buying it.

You can even turn a few into brand advocates. This approach is mainly practical when you’re into a service business.

iii. Deeply Connect With Your Followers

How do you feel when a celebrity replies to your comment on Facebook. Don’t you feel special? You suddenly fall into a cloud of euphoria and start imagining that he knows you personally.

That’s the secret. It’s all about your followers. Don’t appear like you’re shoving your product down their throats.

Two ways you can do this. Firstly, add a “fan of the week page” on your most active platform. Mention them in your comments and tell them why they are special.

The second way is by fulfilling their requests quickly and showing appreciation. It’s these simple actions that make your clients happy which give you an edge over competitors.

5. Retain Your Customers

Have you ever heard of the saying that it’s easy to attain the first position but harder to maintain it? Yeah, that’s as true as steel.

Most businesses spend all their budget on acquiring new leads, turning them into customers, and then stopping there. 

Yet, they don’t know that a self-sustaining business is built on repetitive buyers, not one-time buyers.

Furthermore, it’s cheaper and easier to retain than to get new leads. Acquiring new leads means you have to start at the bottom and build your way up to gain their trust.

But a retained customer has bought from you. They have interacted with you, understand your brand, and won’t need a lot of convincing.

The best strategies to retain your current customers revolve around posting high-quality “non-salesy” content on your social media channels.

Plus, if you were used to posting one type of content, you can diversify into other forms of media like:

• Video
• Podcasts
• Webinar 
• Images
• Gifs

An excellent example of a brand that has leveraged this approach is Etsy. Check out their social media accounts and you’ll notice one thing. 

They’ll share an engaging post with a video or image and a text tailored to the audience. Their Facebook page has, in fact, become a learning hub for shoppers.

6: Improve Customer Service

Needless to say, customer service remains the backbone of any business. Unfortunately, a few businesses have not let this sink in yet. 

That’s why most of the 200 million businesses on Facebook have never made their desired ROI. It’s either they are not ready to produce the right content or be there to attend to customer’s queries.

And I know you can’t spend the whole day replying to comments and queries. But you still have to make your customers feel connected to your brand.

While most businesses rely on social media managers, there’s a new and cheaper method. Facebook chatbots have changed customer service. 80% of companies were already using chatbots as their primary social media service provider in 2020.

Why are chatbots such a big thing now?

• They operate 24-hours a day, replying to comments and questions.
• They work on autopilot and can even make sales when you sleep.
• They are easy to create and manage.

Source: Convince and Convert

In short, they are like the salesman you’ll never get because they’ll never ask for a raise or demand a paid leave.

Chatbots aren’t the only way to strengthen your customer service. A new method that more businesses are using is creating online communities. This is a big hit on Facebook and Twitter.

These groups are created for customers to interact with each other, share opinions, and ask questions. If done well, your group will grow organically, giving you more people to sell your product to.

Plus, you can use the groups to update your customers if the company is going through a technical issue.

One important point to note is that customer service is not only about posting and replying to comments. 

How you do it also matters. A simple misunderstanding from customers might be the beginning of your downfall. Remember, when one mistake goes viral, there’s no turning back and the internet never forgets.

Conclusion

Social media marketing is not a choice now but a must if you want to grow your business. That’s why every other brick-and-mortar business is fighting for a seat on the bandwagon.

We still don’t know what the future beholds for social media marketing. But we know one thing for sure now – If used well, it can become a reviving point for your business.

There are more than enough strategies you can apply. The six points I have given you are more than enough to get going.

Content marketing! Digital marketing! Online marketing!

I know, they’re a bit confusing. 

But what is the fuss with content marketing? 

Every business is coming up with a “content marketing strategy.” Everyone on LinkedIn is branding themselves as a top content marketing expert.

Plus, content marketing is becoming a well-paying career with an average annual salary of $60,000.

If you don’t know what content marketing is, this is the guide that will shed light on this industry.

We’ll dissect the industry and figure out how it’s important in growing your business.

Ready to roll? Let’s start with a personal scenario.

The Idea of Content Marketing

Before I started my content writing career, I never heard of the word “freelancer” until I bumped onto a website on Google.

You know when you’re bored with your 9-5 job, you always find yourself browsing for the better part of your time at work.

That was me.

So I got interested in becoming a writer, and this website seemed to know everything about it. 

I delved into their blog, reading every post I could find addressing my need to become a freelance writer. I also subscribed to their mailing list which they kept sending me lots of guides and free training.

The guy had a paid writing course which I was quite sceptical to purchase at first. Why? I needed more convincing. But after ingesting the content for several months, I was sold. I easily purchased the course without batting an eye.

And that, my friend, is the power of content marketing.

So What Really is Content Marketing?

In simple terms, content marketing creates and gives valuable content to attract leads and transform them into paying customers in the future.

It’s a type of marketing that stands the test of time, compounds a positive ROI, and helps you attract leads and customers.

It can be in the form of:

• Blog posts
• Youtube videos
• Downloadable PDFs
• Social media posts
• Infographics
• Case studies
• e.t.c

Content marketing aims to entertain, educate, and inspire your target audience to be aware of you and connect with your brand.

As of 2019, 85% of companies in the US, with over 100 employees, invested in content marketing. Plus, 40% of global marketers believe that it is the most important part of their overall marketing strategy.

Now, here is where it gets interesting. Content marketing is not like traditional marketing methods where you’d expect returns instantly.

I have heard many businesses complain, “We posted one article on our blog. It’s three months now, and we haven’t made a sale. This thing doesn’t work!”

If you’re like them, you didn’t give content marketing a fair shake. It is a long-term strategy. 

Over at land and watersheds, we’ve been posting four articles every month. We put out youtube videos regularly and have created a lot of free downloadables.  

We’ve invested a lot of money since we started the affiliate business. It’s over nine months, but we haven’t got any good ROI. 

And you know what? We‘re still doing it. Why? We know our content marketing will soon pay off.

Why Is Content Marketing Importance to Businesses?

When done well, content marketing becomes the rocket fuel to your business. That means your business becomes more and more valuable to your target audience.

A perfect example is the Coca-Cola company. Though their beverages have many negative effects on their users’ health, billions of people still consume their products because of their powerful marketing strategy.

They have dominated every form of media with powerful content that makes everyone yearn for their products.

To get an idea of why they have nailed it. Let’s look at a few reasons why content marketing is important.

• Your Content is Your Virtual Asset

In one of his videos on YouTube, Spencer Mecham compares his hundreds of Youtube videos to assets. 

The same way the rich would store millions of dollars in real estate, bitcoin, or forex, that’s what content marketing is to your business.

Great content compels your customers to come back again whenever you have something new. The more you create helpful content, you consistently gain new customers in the long run.

• Content Marketing is Your Brand’s Voice

A study by the Content Marketing Institute in 2019 found that 81% of businesses believe that content marketing improves brand awareness.

If you can define your brand’s voice well, you tend to strengthen your relationship with your target audience. 

And when you consistently create helpful content without asking anything in return, your target audience is easy to trust and will easily go by your advice.

• Generate More and Quality Leads

That’s the goal at the end of the day. You want to bring some ROI.

Since content marketing is a long-term strategy, your audience will easily buy from you or buy your recommendations after they have gained your trust.

But this is not like the old push marketing where you’d write a 1000-word meaningless article and include a strong BUY NOW button.

These don’t work now. Consumers have changed. They want high-quality content that touches on concerns. When they see you’ve hit their pain points, they will easily buy from you.

• Your Business Becomes More Visible

As long as your business has a website, you have already entered the SEO battled field, which isn’t a walk in the park.

Content marketing plays a huge role in winning the SEO game. The more you create high-quality content, the more your business becomes visible on the search engines.

To do this, you need to develop a powerful content strategy such as pillar content, which helps you rank higher in search engines.

This takes us to the next step.

How to Create a Robust Content Marketing Strategy

Now that you’re convinced that content marketing works, Where do you start? With a content marketing strategy, of course. Sadly, 63% of businesses don’t have a documented content marketing strategy.

As a result, their content marketing strategy isn’t effective.

A content strategy is a plan for building an audience by posting consistent and educating content that inspires strangers into buyers.

The right strategy shouldn’t only be about maintaining your business brand. The vital thing is to make sure it provides helpful content.

To create a robust strategy, have the following points in mind.

1. Describe Your Target Audience

Russell Brunson is one of the most successful marketers we have today. He has a massive following of loyal entrepreneurs who wait on his every word.

The reason for this is because he has a deeper understanding of his audience. He knows what they want, why they want it, and how to give them an answer.

Describing your target audience is not simply saying they are in this age group and what gender they are. 

Ask yourself questions like; what are they looking for? What challenges are they facing, and how are they consuming content. Is it through blog posts, videos, or ebooks?

2. What Type of Information Are They Looking For?

Let’s take an example of me. My target audience is businesses in the SaaS, B2B, and digital marketing niches that need written content.

I might be tempted to write articles explaining why I’m the best writer (A little bragging isn’t that bad). 

But my target audience isn’t interested in knowing that. 

They’re busy looking for writers who understand their niche and can write informative articles flawlessly.

For this reason, I focus on posting content that’s about their niches, what they need to know when writing, and how they can write better content that beats the competitors in the ranking game.

3. Determine Your Type of and Posting Frequency

Blogging is the most popular type of content marketing because it can account for up to 13 times your ROI. The challenge is that every business has camped here, bringing a massive competition on ranking.

If blogging doesn’t work for you, why not try video marketing? Research by DataBox admitted that 74% of marketers believe that videos are better for generating leads than blog posts.

Still, if videos don’t work for you, you can try the many available options like infographics, downloadable content, webinars, case studies, and email marketing.

When it comes to posting frequency, it’s recommended to have a regular posting schedule. You can’t write one high-quality article and sit back waiting for massive sales. 

Post at least three 1 -3 times per week depending on the type of content you have chosen. And remember that you’re building your assets.

4. Establish Realistic KPIs

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are vital to any business. They help you know that you have achieved a milestone that you can check off.

In content marketing, the KPIs are your revenue over a specified time, traffic, SEO, sales, social media, and email marketing metrics.

These will have numbers attached to them. For instance, you may want to get 1000 email subscribers in a few months. 

Most importantly, you’d want to keep an eye on your expenditures to ensure they don’t cross a certain threshold. This means you must compare the cost of getting new leads with the sales you’re making.

Bottom line

Content marketing is the future of marketing. Why? More businesses are getting to understand the importance of having a solid online presence.

And it’s not only important to create a brand but also a new way to educate and inspire consumers. 

If you haven’t decided to incorporate it as one of your marketing strategies, I think it’s time to copy what the big dogs do.

Do you need content to kickstart your marketing strategy? Why not contact me for a quote.

What is freelance writing?

This is a common question people have asked me several times. A few guys that at least have an idea think it’s a “ridiculous” way to earn some little cash as you wait for an “actual job.”

But it’s not.

I have earned a good amount of income since I dived into freelance writing in 2018. Hence I don’t think it’s a career you choose when other options have failed.

I’m just trying to pass a message that freelance writing is like any other career. And it pays if you put in the commitment and hard work.

How I started Freelance Writing

The conversation is still vivid on my mind.

“So Martin, you’ll be going to University in a couple of months. How will you pay your fees and upkeep?”

I was working as a billing clerk in a hospital. I got this job right from High School, which was a miracle. Story for another day.

I was talking to my accountant, who we’d become good friends with. He suggested that I should continue working while studying. 

My experience working had not been the best. I hate the routine of 9-5 jobs. You can’t develop your skills. 

You’re caged in the office doing the same things over and over again. I’m different. I love learning and experimenting with new things. A job wouldn’t allow me to give my full potential.

Plus, working on weekends was a pain in the flesh. I passed his idea without a second thought.

Here’s a picture of me in the office.

But I Had to do Something

I pride myself on working hard and spending the money I’ve worked for. I settled on trusting God for a business idea that would allow me to study and still make money to support myself.

The first idea that came into my mind was starting a butchery. The idea got so real that I began doing reconnaissance from local butchers. But it didn’t just click (or I thought so).

Then one day, I was surfing the net about side hustles when I came across the word “freelance writing.” It was the first time hearing the word “freelancing.” I suddenly got intrigued.

One thing led to another, and a week later, I found myself on Walter Akolo’s writing course on FreelancerKenya. As they say, the rest is history.

What have I achieved in the last three years?

• I’ve made a good amount of money and self-funded my university education.
• I’ve worked with huge companies and award-winning digital marketing companies around the globe.
• I’ve networked with incredible people from around the globe, i.e., clients and other writers.
• I’ve become a better writer and am still improving myself every day.

Breaking the Myths in Freelance Writing

Freelance writing is not a walk in the park. If someone told you that you’d be making thousands of dollars in your first few months, then they were lying to you to sell you their course.

Besides, writing is more of an art than science. Not everyone can write. It’s about an inner talent that compels you to convey your ideas in written rather than spoken words. The good news is that anyone can learn.

The thought that writing is a side-hustle or a “by-the-way” career also concerns me specifically. 

I’ve interacted with influential people who have managed to make a lifelong career through this. 

My role-model Jon Morrow, who can’t move any part of his body except the face (you read that right), was once in demand with companies wanting to pay him $5000 per article. Yet, he still refused since he was making more money with his blog.

So really – What is Freelance Writing?

Freelance writing is divided into two; article writing and academic writing.

Academic writing is writing to help students with homework and college assignments. You’ll do tasks like essays, academic projects, and thesis. Though it’s a good form of making money online, I don’t prefer it for personall reasons.

Article writing is a branch of content marketing. As an article writer, you’ll be writing content for businesses around the world. This can be blog posts, product descriptions, web copy, landing pages, product reviews, e.t.c.

Article writing has recorded significant growth in the past few years. More and more businesses need content to strengthen their brand and make more sales.

Research has it that 4.4 million blog posts are published every day. Check out this live counter to know how many blogs have been posted today so far.

Plus, research has it businesses that post 16 blogs every month get 3.5 more traffic to their websites. Besides, 89% of global marketers believe that blog posts are the most effective content marketing strategy.

The Honest Truth of Making a Living as Freelance Writer

I’ll be honest with you. If you want to make it in freelance writing, you must be ready to break your back.

It’s not all cozy in the way. You’ll get many rejections; your work will be brutally edited, most of your job applications will be thrown into the spam folder. And the worst of all, you might get scammed. I once lost a clean $300 to a scammer.

So prepare yourself for a bumpy ride in the first year. Am I throwing cold water on your back? No. I’m just preparing you mentally if you’re serious with this freelance writing thing.

If you have your heart set on achieving, I have six tips to help you get started.

1. Specify Your Goals

Why do you want to start freelance writing?

Is it because you’re broke? Or maybe you’re tired of your 9-5 job and want the flexibility of working from home.

I advise people to think big. Don’t get into writing to make a few bucks as you wait for a “real job. Let it be your real job. You can branch later into more prominent and related careers like;

• Affiliate marketing
• Selling courses
• SEO 
• Blogging
• Virtual Assistance
• And much more.

Apart from having a SMART goal, have what we call STRETCH goals. These goals inspire you to think big and stay focused on what you want to achieve.

As said earlier, my goal was to get a little money for my university upkeep. I enjoyed writing for money, but as I continued connecting with other writers, I started to see this as a potential career.

For you, I want you to sit down and deliberate your goals. Figure out why you want to start freelance writing. Write them down and figure out if they make sense and are if they’re attainable.

2. Get Trained

Most beginners are skeptical about getting trained. And I get it. There are a lot of scammers prying your hard-earned cash. Plus, you’ve heard horrible scamming stories.

At this point, you’re even afraid of giving someone your email address.

I still prefer getting trained as it gives you the confidence to start hunting for clients and getting your first dollar. Training costs money. A little investment is just a tiny dent in the returns you will get when your career takes off.

While the stories might be true, some legitimate trainers will hold your hand. I recommend Walter Akolo from FreelancerKenya. He’s the one that trained me. His freelance writing course is affordable, reliable, transparent, and newbie-friendly.

Once you’ve gained enough experience, you can advance to more technical courses like SEO and copywriting.

3. Join Relevant Facebook Groups

You’re now a freelance writer; you want to be in the same community with people who have a similar goal.

Joining an FB group allows you to network with established writers. The most important of all is that it’s the easiest way to land your first gig.

While there are hundreds of freelance writing Facebook groups, not all are good for a new freelance writer. Most of them are filled with spammers, and you might easily get conned.

I’m a member of 58 FB groups. I’ve bagged clients from these groups and connected with awesome people from all over the world.

I’ll give you my best seven. Click on them if you want to join.

Local Groups

• Awesome Transcribers in Kenya
• Remarkable Freelance Writers in Africa
• Online Article Writers in Kenya

International Groups 

• Cult of Copy Job board
• Writers in charge
• Freelance Writers
• The content marketing lounge

4. Start Pitching on Job Boards

Have you concluded your freelance writing training? Awesome! It’s time to start getting real clients and earn your first dollar online.

I will give you one piece of advice. Don’t sound like a beginner when applying for these jobs. Get it from me. No clients want to work with a newbie. They need experts. Fake it till you make it.

Before we go too fast, what are freelance writing job boards?

These are authoritative freelance writing websites that allow clients to post jobs for free or at a fee. You can compare job boards to the Linkedin job section. 

The best job board I’ve loved so far is ProBlogger. I got two long-term clients here (still working with them). One of the clients even made me his partner. Check what we’re doing.

Other job boards include:

• BloggingPro Jobs Board
• The Freelance Writer’s Den Junk-free Job Board
• FreelanceWritingGigs.com Writing Gigs Category
• Indeed
• Simply Hired Writer Category
• Flex Jobs Writer Category

5. Create Your Writer Website

I won’t lie. I didn’t consider creating a writer’s website a vital thing when starting my writing career.

I thought only experts should have websites. Besides, I’m not a coder and didn’t even take computer classes in high school. How wrong was I? 

A writer’s website sets you apart from the competition. You’ll appear like a professional and get an edge over other applicants.

You don’t need a technical and extensive website like this one. A three or four-page website is good to go. The most important sections are the portfolio page, homepage, contact page, and services page. You can create a blog section later.

Do you need to hire someone? Not really. I created this website alone and saved $150. I ended up using $60 only for domain hosting.

Here’s the video guide I used. It’s easy to follow and comes with a free template you can customize to your liking.

Lastly, My Take on Writing Accounts

A friend of mine reached out to me the other day as he was interested in freelance writing. He said he was ready to invest $500 (ksh 50,000) to purchase a laptop and a writing account.

He didn’t know which account to buy, so he was asking for advice. I advised him to buy a laptop and forget about buying an account.

First, purchasing an account is against those sites’ terms and conditions. There is a lot of “hiding” that you have to do. You get caught, you’re thrown out. Plus, you can easily get scammed by rogue account sellers.

However, there are good writing accounts you can start with. Two of them are Upwork and Fiverr. They’re free to open and quickly grow your career with.

I used them in my first two years of writing. I made some good money but dropped them to look for direct clients.

My Final Take

You’ve probably read tons of articles on how to start a freelance writing business. While this guide follows the same approach, I’ve added a personal touch so that you can see that it’s actually a thing.

It is a rewarding career, but it will take time, investments, hard work, and dedication before you start getting results.

Do you have any questions? Are you stuck and need some advice? I would be glad to know in the comment section.

Let me tell you a shocking and painful secret.

The people you think are your audience never read most of your articles. They’ll either skim through it as you would to a tasteless meal. Or they’ll click on it, read the first paragraph and bounce back.

Why? 

Let me introduce you to the walking-dead. They try to read your content only to be whisked away by the slightest commotion. 

You think I’m lying? 

No. I’m just saying as it is.

Let’s Take An imagery Example.

Agree with me if this is what you see on public transit in the evening.

You see dead-beat and miserable workaholics coming from jobs they hate. They take out their phones and start scrolling through their social media accounts.

They blink up in surprise when they come across something interesting and put back their old-bored faces when the shock is over.

Now, take a deep look at their eyes.

Their mind is definitely on the other end of the cosmos. Somewhere along the way, their heart and minds drift to sleep. 

Their body is on autopilot mode, and they’ll only come back to life when you pat their shoulders.

Guess what? These are your readers.

So if you’re not getting people to read your epic posts, it’s not your fault. And it’s neither theirs. 

They just need the right content to act as rocket fuel to their adrenaline and keep them soaring above the clouds until they reach the last full stop.

Now, getting people to read your content covers a lot of parts:

• Your headline
• Your intro
• The body
• Conclusion.

We’ll only take a look at the headline as it’s the first thing a reader comes into contact with. 

The internet is merciless. If your headline doesn’t pique your target reader’s interest, another blog headline will do so.

Hopefully, if I get time in the future, we’ll look at the other four parts of an article. For now, let’s keep rolling.

On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar. 

—David Ogilvy

1. Numbers Make the Delicious Chocolate Cookies

Marketers use a strategy called psychological pricing to increase sales. You must have fallen into this trap once or twice.

The strategy involves pricing products ending with “9” or “99.” It tends to allude and tell our conscious self that $49.99 is less than $50.

The reason why marketers use this system is because numbers are powerful communication tools. 

Smart bloggers and content marketers understand this trick, and they incorporate it in any of their content to make it more clickable.

The Secret Behind Numbers

Nick Kolenda, a psychologist, says that our brains trigger sensory elements when we come across numbers.

Numbers also make it easier for our brains to organize information logically. In addition, they give us an idea of how long it will take to read an article.

If you’re an avid reader like me, you’ll agree that your brain behaves differently when you come across a headline like “50 ways to become a better chef, and “5 ways to become a better chef.” 

Below are three reasons why numbered headlines pique more interest.

• It promises something specific

How do you feel when you click an article only to find out that the content is far from what the headline promised? You feel as if you could rip the writer’s head off, right?

Creating a headline with numbers gives the readers some assurance that even if the writer is half-baked, they’ll still get what the headline promised.

• It simplifies reading

Our brains love order. That’s why we find it easy to read an article divided into paragraphs that block texts. Organizing content in numbers guarantees your audience that they’ll have structure. 

• It sticks to the initial script

Using numbers promises your reader that your blog post will end with the same idea it started with. 

It’s easy to veer off-topic when writing about a vast topic. But numbers will keep you in check so that you finish clean as you started.

2. Incorporate Big Names in Your headlines 

Elon Musk has been making headlines since he became the world’s richest man. Indeed, he’s a charming young entrepreneur and everyone’s favorite Billionaire.

What’s interesting is that his simple tweets are moving markets. For instance, Bitcoins markets jumped 20% after he changed his personal Twitter bio to #bitcoin. 

The messaging app, signal, recorded a 438% increase after the billionaire “mistakenly” urged people to use it. 

These are just a few examples of the massive shifts he’s made to the company’s assets by mentioning them.

What do I mean?

Big names are trusted. People view them as demigods, and they live up to their words. 

This is an idea of authority. Our psychology is created in a way that is easily swayed by an authority. 

There is a reciprocal effect in our minds that makes people perceive those in authority to be taller than they actually are.

For example, when your best friend gets a managerial position at your workplace, you must develop respect for him even if you spend the weekend pranking each other.

In Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence, he says that one of the best ways to influence many people is by becoming an authority.

Here’s why;

• They’ve gained trust from the public.
• They have extensive knowledge of a particular niche that makes them a pivotal reference point.
• They have a colossal raving fan base screaming their names.

It’s this knowledge that you use to craft your headlines. I’m not saying you work on becoming an authority yourself. If you can, well and good, but it will take you time.

For now, leverage other people’s authority to make their followers read your content.

Instead of writing an article with a headline, “how to become successful,” you can write “10 tips Jeff Bezos has used to become successful.”

The name Jeff Bezo triggers curiosity in the reader. The things in their minds will be.

“Oh yeah, I want to be successful like Jeff Bezos.”

“He must be doing something I’m not doing.”

“This article must have something I don’t know about Jeff Bezos.”

Check out how I incorporate this strategy in this article.

3. Make the Headline About You

I know, I know.

It’s been said many times that your readers matter a lot more than you, and you shouldn’t appear anywhere in the article. 

While this still works (for some), we have to agree that we are in a generation where a goldfish is more attentive than a human being. We’re constantly bombarded with life issues that affect our attention.

And you know what keeps the attention of readers glued to your content? When you talk of personal staff unique to you.

Without a personalized story, your article is just another dry story full of borrowed quotes and dry facts you’ve been Googling for the last hour.

• Readers want to know how you were scammed online.
• They want to know how you grew your business to a six-figure empire.
• They’re interested to know how you struggled with drug addiction and overcame it.

Weaving personal stories to your headline elicits interest a great deal. Readers want to know your process of solving a problem they’re also currently facing.

They’ll gain trust if you employ this. Why? They’re getting help from a real person who understands their pain points. 

They’ll believe that your solutions are not Googled but the actual step you took to find a solution.

4. Make use of Headline Analyzers

Over 180,000 blog posts were published in the last hour. What magic will you use to be different?

The most popular format for headlines is the “how to.” Most content creators love it because it guides readers out of a pain-point in a step-by-step process.

Though too familiar, you have to think outside the box and avoid being among the crowd. You can make the headline less dull.

For instance, instead of writing “how to use zoom,” you can write “how to use zoom – 6 tricks and tips for better video meetings.” Remember, we’ve incorporated a number into the heading.

One way I’ve managed to do this is by using the different headline analyzers. There’s a bunch of them like:

• CoSchedule Headline Analyzer
• Advanced Marketing Institute
• BlogAbout Impact
• Portent Content Idea Generator
• Answer the Public

I specifically prefer Sharethrough headline analyzer. I not only use it to get my headline score but also helpful suggestions to make your headline better.

The suggestions are unique. If you can think outside the box and let your imagination go wild, you can develop an article that gets shares you never expected.

5. Use Emotional Adjectives or Power Words

Power words can do magic to your blog traffic. Add one or two to your headline and this might be the end of your low blog traffic.

So what are power words?

According to Jon Morrow, power words are persuasive, descriptive words that trigger positive or negative emotional responses.

In short, these are words that can do the unthinkable and revive the unreadable. 

Power words aren’t only used in headlines. You can incorporate them in your call to action, testimonials, tweets, sales pages, tutorials, and case studies.

But in this case, we’ll look at the once to use in headlines – which are mainly adjectives. They describe the nature or a procedure of how an action took place.

The words can make your readers excited, cautious, angry, or impressed. All these emotional reactions lead to curiosity, which is the first win in making clickable headlines. 

A few examples of power words include:

• Effortless
• Free
• Essential
• Strange
• Shocking
• Ground-breaking

Below is a screenshot of Jon Morrow’s headline that uses three different power words.

Bottomline

Blogs are producing content in large numbers every day. But the sad fact is that there isn’t that large audience to consume all that content.

You need to be smart to get a piece of the pie. And you don’t have to do much. It’s just the simple act of rewording or reorganizing your headline that does the magic.

What do you think I’ve left out? Let me know in the comments.