How do you find freelance copywriting work

[hayleybeach]

Where do I find freelance copywriting/web content writing work?
I set up on my own six months ago and have had nothing.

I'm a trained journalist (15 years) with marketing and business experience. I'm teaching myself social media skills SEO etc (anyone know of free courses??)

Thing is that I'm not really sure how to find potential jobs. I initially targeted start ups locally but they find they have no budget for content writers (I believe it's money well spent - but then I would!)

How do I go about searching for work? Tried my old contacts - zilch. I'm not keen on setting up my own website as it puts me out there too much!

Word of mouth doesn't seem to be getting me anywhere. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Agencies? Just keep ringing round firms in hope? Really know I could make a go of it if I could get a my foot in the door. Thank you.

I dip in and out of freelancing when I’m between jobs. I usually work for ex-employers and contacts though. Frankly, if you’re not going to get work that way, you’re shooting yourself in the foot by not having a website.

Why should anyone who doesn’t know you give you any work when they can’t see what you can do?

Have you joined this group on Facebook? www.facebook.com/groups/freelancelifestyle/ it's very good and the person who runs it has a free course designed to tell you how to be a freelancer and where to find work.

Start ups are a good idea - branch out from the local area and look at technology hubs and innovation corridors across the country. Also look at www.lepnetwork.net where you should be able to gain access to free courses and networking events.

Networking will be an excellent customer base - local meet ups for example www.meetup.com and also get onto Eventbrite for local networking events. This should be followed through with robust social media accounts -lots of people are on Twitter and will tweet these sorts of events and will network through twitter pre and post event. Get involved. Make sure you're on LinkedIn with up to date skills.

Contact publishers and magazines and reach out to the like through their websites as well as Twitter. You can often find the most appropriate people to contact within businesses through LinkedIn and twitter.

There are websites out there too such as people per hour and upwork...there are more too. A website will be your best bet though.

MaverickSnoopy - Excellent advice. Thank you so much!

I'm already on Linkedin (connected to all my old contacts) and on Twitter. I'm a member of a local women in business group also so networking there.

Guess I need to increase my networking some more and look into a website. How much does a website roughly cost? Got loads of clippings/blogs I could upload.

Might look at people per hour too. I've just focused on local business really so it seems I should widen my search. Finding it hard to keep motivated.

It is a tough market at the moment. And it is hard to stay motivated. That’s why I dip in and out. Keep your chin up - you only need one client to start the ball rolling

I'm trying to do the same thing .... offering content creation, proofreading, editing and internet research. Things are just dead at the moment. Established businesses have no budget for this kind of thing anymore and start ups are saving money by doing it themselves. I've been picking up small jobs on a semi-voluntary basis - for friends and charities / community groups - to try and build contacts but it's not really taking off. I have a website in my own name so will maybe try offering something new via that. (Get a website!) I've invested a lot of time on social media and have a fair number of contacts already (550+) so hoping to find a freelance service that is more in demand with those people who have shown some interest. Sorry, no real help .... just wanted you to know you are not alone!

Thanks for the support everyone.
Aimee - do you get work through your website? Is it costly?

You really do need your own website
It’s the first thing prospective employers or clients want to look at in my experience - especially if it’s web copywriting you’re after, you need to be able to demonstrate you are familiar with the platform and understand how it all works

I’ve been on both sides and wouldn’t even look at someone who didn’t have their own website.

Sian Meades who I found on twitter does a weekly email of writing jobs that she's aware of... maybe worth signing up? mailchi.mp/69d207801f23/freelancewritingjobs

Thanks everyone. I'll sort a website. Thanks for all those links too.