4 Winning Strategies to Find Writing Clients on LinkedIn

LinkedIn has morphed well beyond an online digital resume display to your coworkers or potential employers. It offers more diverse communication opportunities, ways to connect and network with others in your field, and ways to personalize your professional image. 

Today, active strategies are the key to finding success through LinkedIn, especially in the freelance writing game. Gone are the days of hoping to get noticed if you complete your profile and flash a nice headshot. LinkedIn is a source for you to build your confidence and curate your own writing client base, and this article will show you how to use it to your advantage.

1. Optimize Your Profile

Let’s start with the basics. LinkedIn is a professional networking platform at its core, which means any old selfie won’t do (especially that one from spring break back in ‘09). Highlighting particular skills and using professional, sharp, and personable language are also important. Optimizing your profile ultimately says that you’ve taken the time to present yourself professionally and haven’t just made another online profile with half a thought.

Basic tenants of optimizing your LinkedIn profile:

• Use a professional headshot if you have it.

  • If you’re taking your own, make sure you look neat and professional, with good lighting, high resolution, and a blank, neutral background. 

  • Remember to smile!

• Write your summary with a few keywords related to your niche—in this case, freelance writing. This way, potential clients can see your profile as a result in their searches.

• In the appropriate sections, highlight your relevant skills and experiences and show how you stand out from others in the industry.

• Share any testimonials or positive feedback from your work.

• Add any relevant certifications or links to other documents about your relevant accomplishments.

2. Build Your Network Connections

LinkedIn offers many ways to network and join community groups in various niches, interests, and industries. Joining groups or following companies is a great way to start connecting with others. You can get a feel for what industries prioritize and the language they use and get to know who you’re looking to work with. You can learn a ton about a company’s brand, values, style, and needs that you can offer as a freelance writer just by watching their posts.

Connection requests are a great way to build your network, but they are also very different from the familiar Facebook requests. When you start requesting connections, include a short, personalized message to say hello and introduce the benefit of connecting with you as a freelance writer.

3. Use Your Existing Network for Referrals or Recommendations

Remember that your friends are probably on LinkedIn, too! As you build your network, look through who’s on your list as someone who can vouch for your skills, refer you as a satisfied writing client, or recommend work for you. 

Don’t forget about making posts periodically. Keeping your LinkedIn page active helps the algorithms pick up on your profile and keep you in your network’s feed. Your posts could include recommendations, testimonials, or even simple examples of your freelance work. If you have a portfolio with other testimonials, including external links to these sites is also helpful.

4. Search for Remote Freelance Writing Jobs

Until now, we’ve discussed some active strategies for building your network and portfolio, creating your online presence within LinkedIn, and potentially making connections for future freelance work. It’s time to start searching the job board and applying for freelance writing gigs.

You’ll want to ensure you have a targeted resume to submit to job listings. That’s step one. You can build on right from your LinkedIn profile or have one on standby as an attachment. LinkedIn also has a handy Resume Builder program that’s free to use.

Step two is adjusting your search settings for remote jobs (not hybrid, not in-office); income in our pajamas is the goal here. Use keywords that describe the work you’re looking for (likely freelance writer, copywriter, freelance, or writing job). Adjust search results even more with the advanced settings. You can sort through listings by industry, hashtags, or service categories there. This allows you to narrow down prospects likely to be interested in your services.

Step three is reading the job description thoroughly. Some companies prefer you apply through their hiring website rather than submit your information through LinkedIn.

The job alert feature is a great way to save time and have notifications in your inbox. Set your parameters for job alerts, and LinkedIn will organize the best-fit jobs for you to check in a more streamlined way than the exhaustive job board. You can also save job listings to apply to later.

One More Tool in Your Toolbox

A successful freelance writing career isn’t built on the back of only one platform, content mill, or contract. You need a toolbox full of tidbits to navigate different avenues and keep momentum churning. Check us out on Facebook or browse our downloadable guides to add even more tips and tricks to your writing toolbox, and you’ll be hitting client home runs in no time. Let’s get you writing!