Oct
15

Why Using Tactics as a Freelance Writer Is Important – Part 1

By | Write Better, Writing

30 Comments

Tactics As A Freelance Writer

Now that my new site for freelance writers is set up and my latest eBook called “The Best Traffic-Generating Strategies By 10 Top Bloggers | A Tribute” is released and since I am a privileged bi-weekly contributor to WeBlogBetter and the community (that is YOU!), I can now focus more on writing, freelance writing tactics to be more specific.

Since my new site will become a community for writers with tips, tricks and tactics that every freelance writer can apply to his/her own writing and the general topic will be freelance writing tactics, I have decided that I would love to start a series of articles here on WeBlogBetter highlighting why using tactics and strategies as a freelance writer is important and how it will overall contribute in turning you into a better writer.

Using tactics and strategies will have you getting better results and be more effective as a freelance writer, blogger, copywriter or any other type of author if you will. Think of it as playing a game of chess. Without a strategy after analyzing your opponent to outplay him, you will likely have difficulty in beating him and may even open up opportunities for your opponent to outplay you. You need to put a plan together and stick to it in order to win the game. Every game needs a game plan. That’s just how winners became winners. This of course includes being successful at freelance writing.

Identify Your Target Audience

The first and most important tactic I want dig into is identifying your target audience. As a writer you write for people but more importantly you write for very specific people. Your article, blog post, publication or whichever publication it is, is meant to reach a very specific target audience with specific needs, wants, problems, interests or the likes. You want your publication to resonate with THAT specific people. In order to do this, you need to identify your ideal target profile.

Danny Iny from Firepole Marketing has written a very informative article called Finding Your ONE Person which goes into detail on how you should go about identifying your ideal target audience. In a quick summary I’d say this is to do a full-blown deep analysis of the ideal person you’d like to speak to with your article or publication. This involves creating a detailed demographical and geographical profile of the ONE person you need to talk to with your article.

Why on earth do I want to speak to only ONE person?

Yes that’s right, you need to speak to ONE person only when compiling your article and here’s why. Logically spoken, it’s a lot easier to convince one person rather than a group of people of your credibility or authority. You are much more likely to get through to one person than to a larger group of people in simple terms.

When you speak to a larger group of people your message in your article, or your idea of the article should be much more diluted in order to reach all of these people. Meanwhile when you speak to ONE person at a time, it’s “made” for THAT person and the shoe fits perfectly. You can speak to that person directly without having to generalize about anything as you know that person will be able to relate to what you’re saying; it’s written for him after all.

The nice thing about speaking to ONE person though is that there will more than likely be a lot of other people that fit that same demographical or even geographical profile. This means that although you wrote your publication with one specific person in mind, with specific needs, wants, problems or interests, there will more than likely be a whole lot of others who would also be able to relate to your article and feel as if it was written for them specifically.

Targeting your articles and any other publications for that matter, whether it is a digital information product, a report or even a blog post at your ideal person will ensure you build up relationships with a very specific targeted audience which is much more beneficial to you and your business/venture for obvious reasons.

Over to you

What do you think the importance is of targeting your writing at a specific targeted audience and how do you go about identifying your specific person you want to speak to through your work? Please share your thoughts with the rest of us in the comments below; we’d love to hear your ideas and tactics!

Until the next part of this series, all of my best freelance writing success to you!

You might also like:

Why Using Tactics As A Freelance Writer Is Important – Part 3 Why Using Tactics As A Freelance Writer Is Important – Part 4 How Our Woodburner Showed Me How To Blog Better Why Every Blogger Should Blog Outside the Comfort Zone in 2013
About Kiesha Easley

This is my blog - where I love to encourage bloggers. My hope is that you'll leave this blog with more than you came with; you'll learn something new or will at least be engaged and entertained.
In addition to teaching others how to blog, I'm also a college instructor who teaches students how to write for mass media.
I've guest posted on Problogger, DIYThemes and many others. I'm also the author of Highly Favored, a blog devoted to Christian inspiration & encouragement. Please follow me on twitter @weblogbetter or on Facebook.

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Comments

  1. Krishna Parmar says:
    October 15, 2012 at 4:26 am

    Nice article you have posted here, yes freelancing is no more about buying and giving stuff, its more about quality and goodness.
    Krishna Parmar recently posted…Bad Piggies for PC : Free Download for Windows & MacMy Profile (dofollow)

    Reply
  2. Manoj Rawal says:
    October 15, 2012 at 4:40 am

    Hey, Ruan Oosthuizen this is really mind blowing points for becoming a productive freelance writer. i agree with most of your #2 points. now waiting for your next stuff.
    thnx a lot for sharing,,,

    Manoj Rawal
    Manoj Rawal recently posted…5 Best WordPress Plugins for Google AdsenseMy Profile (dofollow)

    Reply
  3. Steven Jude says:
    October 15, 2012 at 5:10 am

    I think speaking to one person makes your message more personal and as such, your message gets to the heart of your readers.
    Steven Jude recently posted…4 Steps To Flip a Website Successfully + A New Treatment For Low Blood PressureMy Profile (dofollow)

    Reply
  4. Mikkel says:
    October 15, 2012 at 5:31 am

    This is a really good point. You will end up writing a much more clear and precise article if you target a specific audience. It is also a very good exercise to go through actually defining your target audience.
    Mikkel recently posted…Er du overforsikret på rejsen? Spar penge på rejseforsikringen.My Profile (dofollow)

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  5. Paul Lee says:
    October 15, 2012 at 12:26 pm

    Freelance writing really helps you actually identify your true target market. It’s like a test driving for writing. When you are writing for another site, you get a chance to cover a wider range of subjects, and you can make a clearly identification of what works for you, what styles you like, and what you best write about.

    Reply
    • Ruan says:
      October 15, 2012 at 5:00 pm

      I think there’s a big difference in freelance writing for another site and paid guest blogging. Freelance Writing for another site usually means you ghost write for the owner of the site, you staying anonymous. I think this is important as you want to keep within your own niche of interest, especially to attract interest back to your own content/products/services, when you are known as the author of the published work.

      Writing for other sites I would say would be more of an income generator than much else and writing on various subjects has a few advantages like knowledge and experience increase, physical writing skills improve etc.

      Guest blogging however I think should be focused on your niche, or area of expertise and interest in order to get the maximum results from your efforts.

      Thanks for stopping by, loved your input!
      Ruan recently posted…New Release: “The Best Website Traffic Generation Strategies By 10 Top Bloggers | A Tribute”My Profile (dofollow)

      Reply
  6. Sam says:
    October 15, 2012 at 3:35 pm

    First off I’d like to congratulate you on starting off a new website. Coming back to your post, freelance writing involves huge competition. Thus it’s better to be equipped with effective tactics before entering the freelancing world. I really like your idea of creating our post around the needs of a single person. I pick a couple of streams that I’m passionate about, and try to fish something unique in each of those. Profound research follows.

    Reply
    • Ruan says:
      October 15, 2012 at 4:52 pm

      Yeah indeed it is very competitive Sam. The good thing is that entering a competitive niche is actually a good thing contrary to popular belief. When you enter the competitive niche, it makes it so much easier to spot little loopholes that you yourself can tap into.

      Thorough research is the key…regular analysis of your competitors comes next :)

      Thanks for the kind words about the site. I’m very excited about the new project! Be sure to come join us if you’d like, you do create content after all, right? ;)
      Ruan recently posted…New Release: “The Best Website Traffic Generation Strategies By 10 Top Bloggers | A Tribute”My Profile (dofollow)

      Reply
  7. taekwondo training equipment Lake Mary, Florida says:
    October 15, 2012 at 3:36 pm

    I am a fresher in seo field will u help me. I am about to become a freelance writer.i want to make a great future in seo life… Please give some thought…about the seo i have some knowledge… about if you have been a content writer before.thanks…for great support…
    taekwondo training equipment Lake Mary, Florida recently posted…Taekwondo at India Fest 2012My Profile (dofollow)

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  8. Steve says:
    October 15, 2012 at 5:35 pm

    I think one needs to establish oneself as a reputed writer offline in order to take online freelancing by storm. I’ve encountered some freelancers making more money than even most established offline businesses. Picking a niche, or rather as you stated precisely, picking a person to please is the crucial step towards freelancing success. Thanks for sharing. Hope your new website on freelancing tactics takes off well.

    Reply
    • Ruan says:
      October 15, 2012 at 5:51 pm

      You are spot on, Steve! There are really quite a few freelance writers making a killing online. I started my freelancing career like that. Although I mainly wrote for my existing web hosting and web development clients, I usually went out and had meetings with them face to face. Of course this is only possible doing it locally for all practical reasons.

      Then came the internet…

      What’s exciting is that you don’t need to meet someone face to face anymore to establish that trust relationship.

      Like you correctly pointed out, identifying a certain target profile’s exact needs and wants, working out a tactic to satisfy that need and then delivering that solution to them on a personal level; that’s when success as a freelance writer follows.

      Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts on this!
      Ruan recently posted…New Release: “The Best Website Traffic Generation Strategies By 10 Top Bloggers | A Tribute”My Profile (dofollow)

      Reply
  9. Robert Koenig says:
    October 15, 2012 at 7:50 pm

    Thanks for the write-up on freelancing. It’s interesting to hear other’s methods for creating quality blog posts.
    Robert Koenig recently posted…Bumble Bee Tuna Worker Found in OvenMy Profile (dofollow)

    Reply
  10. Easton says:
    October 16, 2012 at 8:12 am

    Friendly tone writing pays off of freelance writer, now a days employers looking for writers who used to deliver articles in smooth and friendly tone so that they can engage with readers emotionally. And thank you Ruan for letting us gain some light on various tactics in freelance writing. Eagerly waiting for your next of the article.

    Easton
    Easton recently posted…Rock Star – Holidays In LanzaroteMy Profile (dofollow)

    Reply
    • Ruan Oosthuizen says:
      October 18, 2012 at 1:47 pm

      Easton, I believe that when an emotional and personal connection can be made with your reader, that’s when you are able to build on a relationship worth working on for life.

      The best thing is, in terms of email marketing, even email broadcasts could be constructed that make a personal connection with your reader, even though some might be automated replies. That’s an article for another day though, maybe a few books and then some ;)

      A person I love to learn from in this regard is Derek Halpern at Social Triggers. Mixing psychology and marketing together makes awesome marketing cakes, although a completely different recipe than the normal was used!
      Ruan Oosthuizen recently posted…Interview With Bamidele Onibalusi: Unleash The Freelance Writer Inside YouMy Profile (dofollow)

      Reply
  11. Increase Site Loading Speed says:
    October 16, 2012 at 10:00 am

    Yea! Freelancing always depends on the quality of the article. One must target the audience or visitors rather than targeting search engines for traffic.
    Thanks for sharing
    Increase Site Loading Speed recently posted…5 Best WordPress Plugins To Increase Site’s Loading SpeedMy Profile (dofollow)

    Reply
  12. Aditya says:
    October 17, 2012 at 4:06 am

    Although i am not into much freelancing stuff but still i think,one has something to show as his work privileges to the client he is going to write for so that he can get paid according to his experience in writing.Unless just believing someone to write some post is the task anyone can do.
    Aditya recently posted…MLM Software in NoidaMy Profile (dofollow)

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  13. bert says:
    October 18, 2012 at 6:03 am

    I agree. Marketing principles of a freelance business is not much different than any other small.
    bert recently posted…Eigen bedrijf starten? MKB Marketing geheimen voor de startende ondernemerMy Profile (dofollow)

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  14. Skeet thrower says:
    October 19, 2012 at 1:40 am

    Keeping the target audience in mind while writing is very important for all writers. I’ve worked as a freelance writer for some time and I completely understand the need to identify the target audience.

    Reply
  15. NGO in Islamabad, Pakistan says:
    October 30, 2012 at 11:11 pm

    PIHDO is an NGO in Islamabad, Pkistan. PIHDO, Panacea International Human Development Organization is a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) located in the heart of Islamabad Pakistan with the Goal of Promoting Health, Education and Environment Protection and preservation
    NGO in Islamabad, Pakistan recently posted…Hello world!My Profile (dofollow)

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  16. Wedding Photographer says:
    November 13, 2012 at 10:32 am

    interesting- thanks for sharing
    I like this site tips – I started to use some of them and my PR is now PR3 after last PR update :) thanks
    Wedding Photographer recently posted…Portugal, Algarve, Perfect place for Wedding PhotographyMy Profile (dofollow)

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