Where To Start If You Don't Have A Writer's Portfolio

What do I do if I don't have a portfolio or any samples of my writing?

This is a question I see a lot when people are just starting out on their professional writing journey. For good reason too, oftentimes clients will ask for samples of previous work to evaluate your writing style and get a feel for you.

When I first started copywriting I didn't have a blog, portfolio, or any kind of work I could showcase. I was starting out fresh, so I had to look for different ways I could prove myself and show off my skills. Creating your own blog is a good start, but new websites don't really do well when it comes to SEO. That means you're fighting an uphill battle if you're trying to display or test your SEO skills.

Where to Publish and Grow Your Portfolio

Since it can take quite a bit for a site to build authority, I figured I could explore different alternatives with more established websites. While there are a number of websites that you can start writing for such as Medium, I decided to go with Vocal for a few different reasons.

• It's free to publish your works
• You get paid for article views. The amount is small, but I was using the website to build proof, not make money. Of course, as my SEO skills improved I started seeing an increase in organic traffic. This meant I was earning money for what was essentially practice material.
• The site is very simple and easy to use
• The site is well established which can help with SEO rankings (This has allowed me to rank several articles in the top 5 of Google)

The biggest thing that interested me was the fact that you can actually get paid for your article views. That meant that I could build my portfolio while also establishing another stream of income that really didn't require much maintenance.

I started by just writing about things I was passionate about such as finance and fitness. I shared the articles on my social media accounts and got some views, but that was about it. But then I started testing out SEO strategies as I learned them. I started focusing on keywords, writing on trending topics, using headings properly, and other SEO best practices. And to my surprise, I started gaining organic traffic.

While I am by no means making enough money to live off Vocal alone, it feels great to see my daily views continue to tick up and increase as I get better with SEO and put what I learn into practice. This month I finally reached enough views that it actually paid for me to upgrade to Vocal+, the "premium" account Vocal offers that increases earnings, reduces the withdrawal fee, and provides a number of other benefits.

So for those who are just starting out, I highly recommend using Vocal or Medium as a starting point to build out your portfolio. Vocal even offers regular events where they will provide a writing prompt and writers can compete for prizes over $1,000. This can be a great way to improve your writing skills as well as potentially earn some cash and exposure.

Now that I have a portfolio, where do I go from here?

When I made the leap into the freelance writing world, I decided to focus on online freelance platforms. I started out with Fiverr since I had previously used it to purchase a number of different services prior. My experience had always been good, and it was a well established platform.

I started my freelancing journey in December of 2020, and ended up making $88 that month. I knew it would be a slow start so I focused my energy on building up my portfolio and improving my skills by taking a few different courses. (Fiverr Learn offers a number of great courses)

I had planned for a slow start, so when things suddenly spiked in January I was definitely surprised. I started my prices very low to attract customers and generate good reviews, but I was quickly overwhelmed with the amount of work. Fiverr has a few different "seller levels" that seller achieve as they reach certain goals with their revenue, order number, and reviews, so as soon as I hit the first level I immediately bumped up my prices.

The increase in price really didn't help to slow down the workload, so I had to go through two more price increases before I ended up establishing work order limits so I could manage everything. I am still trying to find a good balance and I'm figuring things out as I go, but overall Fiverr has been an incredible experience for me. It was provided me with a ton of opportunities that I never would have dreamed would be possible.

So if you've been on the edge about making the jump to being a freelance writer, check out Fiverr. Do a little research, and maybe even take a course at Fiverr Learn to build some confidence.

Fiverr also offers an affiliate program for those that might not want to directly sell their services on the site. You can promote a number of different services and get paid commissions based on the sales and traffic you generate. If you're a copywriter, this might be something right down your alley.

If you've got questions about making the jump into the freelance world, I'd love to answer them as best as I can. You can contact me on Twitter at CJ_3FW or on Fiverr.com.

Some of the links in this article contain referral links that provide a small commission to me without any added cost to you. All of the links and services I have promoted have been used by me, and I wouldn't promote anything that I did not find useful.