5 Reasons Why Your Freelance Writing Website is Important

If you are a new to freelancing and you don't yet have a website then you should get one as soon as possible. There are plenty of options for highlighting your services and showcasing your writing. Opening a site with Squarespace is one, although getting your own domain name and hosting package is probably better. You can build a website like this one here on Wordpress - even a free Blogger blog is better than nothing, but a website is best. There are any number of reasons why a freelance writer should have a website or at least a decent blog, and here are five of them.

1. You Can Help Others With Their Writing

One of the things that all the freelancers I know love to do, is to share their experience and knowledge with other writers or would be writers. There is nothing better than to have someone say, thanks for the advice, I've now started my own freelance writing business, or thanks, I'm now writing regularly. Helping others is a great way of sharing your own good fortune and of helping the writing community to grow. The more good writers there are, the more we all have to keep on upping our game, and that can only be a good thing. One of the secrets to better writing, is writing often.

2.Having a Website Removes Your Excuses For Not Writing

One of the things that seems to beset most writers at some time or other, is that they make excuses for their lack of writing. Whether you are a freelance writer, a novelist, a poet, or perhaps all three, you should know by now that writers write. What makes a writer is not how many words they can reach, how many clients they have, or even how many books they have written, it is the plain fact that they write.

Sometimes writing gets hard because we expect it to be perfect, and it never is, nobody gets it right the first time. The difference between a writer and a wanna be writer, is that a writer will work on what they have written in order to improve it, notice I don't say, make it perfect; that's because I think this desire to be perfect can become an excuse not to do anything, whether that is writing or baking a cake. A writer will do their best with what they have and then get it out there, a writer wants to be read. If you don't write anything and put it into the public realm, then there won't be anyone but you to read it.

3. Websites Help You Connect With Other Writers

When you have a website and you post useful or entertaining information, then you can bet that at least some other writers will read what you have written. When a person likes or disagrees with what you have written, they may often leave a comment. If someone leaves a comment on your site then you should reply to it. Conversations in the virtual world are one of the many ways that writers get to know each other and build writing communities.

4. A Website Shows Others That You Can Write

Very often, those who are new to freelance writing, find it hard to get work because they don't have any writing clips or samples. A website is a great place to showcase your writing. You can have a blog like this one, where you post on a regular basis, on a website you can also have a page that has snippets of your writing and links to anything else that you may have published online. When you apply for writing gigs it is good to have somewhere you can point potential clients to show them what you can do. Having your own blog or website can get you clients.

5. Let Potential Clients Find You

I had a nice surprise just a few days ago, someone contacted me through this website and offered me some work. I was more than happy to oblige, I completed that project, got paid the rate that I asked, and now have repeat work from that person. When you have a website clients can find you, and if you make it possible for them to contact you through your site, you could be in for an ongoing relationship. If you don't have your own site then why not take the plunge now? If you already have a website what reasons would you give for a beginner to have their own site?