Why You Need to Know SEO as a Freelance Writer
Doesn’t it seem like every time you go to apply for a freelance writing job, the job posting says something like, “Must know SEO,”“SEO knowledge required.”
So, what the heck is SEO and why do you need to know it as a freelance writer?
In this blog post, I’ll explain what it is and why it’s essential for you to understand it as a freelance writer. Keep reading to learn more!
What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization. SEO is both an art and a science. It is the art and science of customizing your website and your webpages in order to get Google and other search engines to rank your website.
Why would anybody do that?
Because SEO is a free way to get more qualified people looking at your website and, hopefully, buying your services or products.
And when I say free, I mean it’s free compared to paid ads on Google or social media. Of course, nothing is really free. You have to pay for someone to write content for you and put together an SEO strategy.
There are three types of SEO: on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO.
On-page page SEO is the actual written words that make up the content on a client’s website. Off-page SEO is the links back to the website. And, lastly, technical SEO is all of back end tech stuff, like submitting site indexes to Google.
The good news? As a freelance writer, you really only need to know about on-page SEO. (Pro tip: if your client asks you about the other types of SEO, then they need to pay you more since they’re asking you to be as SEO expert/strategist and not just a freelance writer.)
Why do you need to know SEO as a freelance writer?
There are three main reasons why you need to know SEO as a freelance writer.
1) Learning SEO makes you more in demand
If you know SEO, it opens a lot of doors for you. There are a lot more opportunities if you're a copywriter who knows SEO.
Not every type of copywriting requires knowledge of SEO, however. An example of this is copywriting that's not customer facing and published online, including printed materials like print ads, direct mail, flyers, and product packaging. But if your copy is going to be published online and it's customer facing, then it needs to be search engine optimized.
Besides blog posts, landing pages, sales pages, and product descriptions are things that all need to be search engine optimized. And since clients needs copywriters to make sure their content is optimized for search engines, that means there are plenty of opportunities for you.
2) It improves your clients’ results
Believe it or not, most clients and marketers don't really know that much about SEO. Maybe they read an article about it in 2015 and they're still just going off of that.
If you know more about SEO than your clients do, then that means you are valuable to them. As an SEO blog writer, I do the keyword research, come up with blog topics, and I put together a content calendar for them for free as part of my blog management packages.
Why do I do all of that? Because I know I can do it better than they can. Unless they're hiring some kind of agency or consultant to do their SEO strategy for them, they probably don't know what they're doing. But I do!
Better SEO results for your clients means you're going to make more money in the long-term, because clients are going to keep you around, you're going to have great testimonials, and they're going to recommend you to other people.
3) It helps you to get more business
When you know SEO, you can search engine optimize your freelance writing portfolio. Just think about how much business you can get if your freelance portfolio comes up first when you Google freelance copywriters in your niche!
Let me tell you a little story here. One of the major turning points for my freelance writing career was when my Upwork profile, which I had search engine optimized to the best of my ability, started coming up as the first search result for freelance beauty copywriter.
So, any time someone Googled “freelance beauty copywriter,” my Upwork portfolio came up first.
Even if you had ten people Googling “freelance healthcare copywriter,” or “freelance pets copywriter,” or whatever type of copywriting you do, and you came up first, think about how much business you would have. You'd be rolling in the Benjamins!
Take it from me: it can make a huge difference for your career. By learning SEO, you're not just helping your clients. You're helping yourself.
Next steps
If you want to learn more about SEO as a freelance writer, I have two video resources that will help: SEO Workshop and my SEO Blog Writing Tutorial.
SEO Workshop will teach you affordable SEO tools, what copywriters should know, SEO best practices, how to do keyword research, and more. When you purchase the one-hour video, you’ll get instant access to the content so you can continue your learning.
SEO Blog Writing Tutorial is an 85-minute webinar tutorial that walks you through my step-by-step process for writing a 500-word blog post for a client. If you’re ready to learn the exact steps you need to maximize your writing output so you can write and edit SEO blog posts for clients faster and more efficiently, then this video is for you.
Well, that’s all from me today. Check out my YouTube channel for more freelance copywriting tips and advice.
Bye, buddy!