7 Ways Writers Can Get Their First Client From LinkedIn

Once upon a time, I was like you. I tried every freelancing platform to get clients and deliver them quality work faster than a bullet train. But then something changed, and all the freelancing platforms got saturated. And it became nearly impossible to get clients from them.

But then my friend suggested searching for clients on LinkedIn. Seriously? Isn’t LinkedIn used to upload CVs and write all those amazing professional-looking statuses?

No, on LinkedIn, you’ll get quality clients who can directly afford your service and pay you handsome money.

Pretty amazing, right?

Last year I updated my profile on LinkedIn and did all the necessary things to get clients. And quite amazingly, just after a week, I was able to get my first client. From that day till today, as I am writing this blog post, I am talking with a potential client on LinkedIn right now.

After reading this blog, you won’t be begging people on Facebook groups to give you work. If you have the skills, you can get direct clients from LinkedIn.

Let’s dive in and share strategies that worked for me:

1. Begin With A Great Headshot

This is, of course, a no-brainer, but do you know that a study revealed that a professional LinkedIn photo gets 14X more views than a normal one.

Avoid a family selfie, fake smile, and staged photo.

Instead, ask a friend to make you laugh and naturally take the picture. That would attract more clients to your profile.

Your profile picture is the first impression on your client, don’t waste it.

2. Write An Attention-Grabbing Headline

I’ve seen great freelancers with the worst headlines that drive people away from their profile as soon as they land on it.

When you plan to optimize your LinkedIn profile for leads, spend 80% of your time crafting a catchy headline.

You don’t have to write something out of the blue. You need to be unique.

For instance, check these two headlines:

Headline 1:

Mario

Head Plumber at Mario Bros

Headline 2:

Yoshi

Helping business owners reach their destination quickly and safely. Loyal Friend | Transport Service

Which one grabbed your attention? The second one, right?

Because Yoshi is directly speaking with the potential client and solving their problem.

The best LinkedIn headline is the one that answers, “what’s in it for me” question for the client.

Take your skills and whatever you’ve done and turn it into a unique headline.

Before crafting a headline, ask yourself the following questions:

• How will you help people?
• What can you do better than others?
• What can you say that will impress your prospects?
• Add an element of humor to your profile.

3. Optimize Your Summary

Your headline is the hook that will attract your client, and your summary is the story that will build their interest and pick you for their job.

Neil Patel said it best, “If someone’s reading your summary, they’re interested in seeing what you have to offer.”

This means you need to lay down all the benefits that you can offer to your potential client.

Avoid using jargon or fluffy words to fill up your summary. Be authentic, straightforward, and personal—your summary is the mini-sales pitch that will decide your future.

You only have a few lines to impress the client because, after that, LinkedIn will cut it and replace it with the “see more” option. So get as much information as you can in the first few lines. Share your value proposition. Ask a question that directly hits the pain point of your client.

Check this perfectly optimized summary:

Here Marvin has clearly communicated his value proposition. What benefits will you get from him? Then he communicated the WHY. You can share what your story is. The more emotions you put into this, the more clients will be able to relate to you.

Use the white space to let readers sink in the information. Use shorts paragraphs to add personal interests and your love for pets or books or anything that people might find interesting.

LinkedIn keyword feature is the most underrated function that people ignore. Use bullet points to explain your core strengths, skills, and aspirations.

Avoid the old-school “self-motivated,” “experienced,” or “trustworthy” junk. What people are interested in is how you will solve their problem by using your skills?

An easy way is to add the “so that” statement in your text. Like, “I write web content for companies so that they can attract high-converting customers.”

4. Share Your Best Work

Your LinkedIn profile is a virtual portfolio where you can display your best work.

No need to show humbleness here, be proud of your work.

Here are some tips to show your best work:

• Add a video tutorial from your client.
• Share samples. Either upload them on Google Drive or publish your link on Medium and share the profile link.
• In the “experience” section, upload your work. Links, presentations, videos.

5. Be Valuable In LinkedIn Groups

Once you start using LinkedIn groups, you’ll forget everything about Facebook groups. Mostly, on Facebook groups, you won’t get direct clients. But in LinkedIn groups, you’ll be directly connected to the client and get full payment for your hard work.

Join the relevant groups of your industry. At first, you might be overwhelmed with tons of groups. Join few groups to begin with.

Now, ask yourself, “How can you add value to the group?” Look for the questions that are popping again and again and try to answer them in detail.

LinkedIn is a relationship-building platform. Help people in groups and build relationships with them.

You need to be patient. Building trust takes time. Spend at least 10–15 minutes in groups each day. Share your work in the group from time to time and ask people for feedback.

6. Share Valuable Content

The more you grow on LinkedIn, the more eyeballs will be on your content. If you are starting, you can share useful articles. Or you can write sample articles on Medium and share links on LinkedIn. This will help the client decide whether you are the right person for the job or not.

When you constantly create high-quality content for your connections, there is a good chance that they’ll remember you when they need a good writer.

With the right engagement, your post can even be featured in LinkedIn’s Publishing Platform, which will give a boost to your credibility.

To increase your conversion rate, include a call to action with every post or an alternate post.

So, whether you are posting blogs, infographics, or repurpose content, posting consistently on LinkedIn will make you an authoritative figure on LinkedIn, building trust and landing more clients.

7. Use Hashtags To Find Freelance Gigs

Writers often underestimate the power of hashtags on LinkedIn.

Use these hashtags to search for freelance or even full-time writing jobs on LinkedIn:

#Writingjobs#Freelancewriter#Freelancewriting#Freelancewritingjobs#Writingjobs#Freelancejobs

Once you search for a specific job, LinkedIn will optimize your profile for that search, and you’ll get suggestions related to your search. So, the more you search, the better suggestions you’ll get.

Closing Thoughts

Using the above strategies, I’ve landed more clients from LinkedIn than from any other freelancing platform. In the end, it’s all about how you sell yourself to the world.

And last but least, observe other people. Solve as many problems as you can, and people will love to refer you to their friends, family, and clients.

P.S: Article first published on Medium

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