It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginning or a seasoned freelance writer, having a professional-looking freelance writing portfolio is a necessity. A freelance writing portfolio is great for many different things. First, it allows you to showcase your work to potential employers without the need to send links or attachments. This is ideal because many potential employers won’t, or can’t, open attachments.
Second, a freelance writing portfolio in the form of a webpage can not only help you gain work when you’re applying for freelance writing jobs, it can also drive business to you. If a potential business client stumbles across your website freelance writing portfolio and likes what they see, they may contact you for work through your email. This cuts out a large portion of your time usually spent searching for freelance writing jobs.
The third benefit of a freelance writing portfolio is that it looks professional. A freelance writer with a website freelance writing portfolio, even a basic one, is going to look much more professional than someone who pastes their writing samples into the bottom of an email.
Creating a Portfolio
Creating a freelance writing portfolio is fun and easy. It can be done through any website building service, though I’ve found that Google Page Creator is the most user-friendly. Best of all, Google Page Creator and web hosting is free – all you have to do is sign up for a Google account. You may even need your Gmail account to post to your freelance writing portfolio that way you don’t have to worry about any spammers getting your main email address.
When you sign into your account, you’ll be taken to the main Google Pages screen. This is where you can control the layout of your website freelance writing portfolio and build new pages. You simply click the link to create a new page, choose your layout, and start adding your content. Personally, I choose to keep my freelance writing portfolio fairly simple, linking outside to my writing samples and blog rather than overloading my portfolio (Click Here for an Example). Remember, most employers are there to see writing samples, not read about all of your writing experience – other than a brief overview, these things should be reserved for emails between you and your prospective clients.
Break your work down into types that way employers can easily find what they’re looking for. For example, my freelance writing portfolio has five sections: websites, blogs, articles, oped, and creative writing. You’ll want to break yours up according to the areas you write in for a majority of the time.
If you have a personal blog, link to it as well. Employers like to see that freelancers are able to write in a variety of formats. In addition, make sure that browsers will be able to find your contact information easily. Otherwise, potential employers may not know how to get in touch of you.
Creating a freelance writing portfolio through Google Pages is fast, fun, easy, free, and worthwhile. Having a professional-looking website will earn you creditability in the freelance writing job market, and it may even bring you some business from its spot on the web. Since I’ve created my freelance writing portfolio, I’ve doubled the amount of work that I have coming in, and I’ve also gained several clients that made initial contact with me.
