Make it Easy for Ghostwriting Clients to Find You
These days it’s standard procedure to start almost any kind of research online. Not sure what kind of office printer to buy? Ask Consumer Reports which is the highest rated. Looking for Chinese restaurant options in your neighborhood, Yelp can help. Trying to figure out how to record a Loom video? Google it.
This also goes for researching ghostwriters.
Most potential ghostwriting clients will ask their friends and family for ghostwriter recommendations and may then follow that up with some online sleuthing. Or, if no one in their network has worked with a ghostwriter, they likely head straight online to identify potential options.
Since this is one of the first places your prospects are searching for you, it’s important to be easily found online.
Many prospective clients will Google words like “ghostwriter,” “book writing help,” or “article editor” to try to generate a list of people who have the skills they need.
Armed with that list, they may then go searching for them online to learn more about their experience, background, and services.
Other prospects may turn to professional organizations, such as the Association of Ghostwriters (AOG) or the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), in search of professionals who have already been vetted.
The point here is that people who are looking for writing help don’t necessarily know the words to use to describe what they need when they start their search. The result is that they start with a broad search and then slowly reduce the size of that list, by qualifying or disqualifying ghostwriter candidates.
Don’t be hard to find
You can improve your odds of being found by making sure you are listed in every organization’s directory that you are a member of, affiliated with, or subscribed to.
Keep your alumni records up-to-date, should a classmate decide they’d like to track you down and offer some work.
Increase your visibility by blogging on your website or for websites you are connected to. Trade journals serving your niche or specialty are another good way to get found, if you pitch some articles of relevance to your top prospects.
Public speaking, podcasting, or being a guest on someone else’s podcast are other ways to become more visible and more easily found by the people you most want to work with.
In essence, you want to develop an online track record that yields multiple pieces of information about you and ways to reach you when someone types your name into Google.
That makes you easier to find.
Share your contact information
As prospects get close to deciding who they may want to hire, they may want to reach out to schedule a phone or Zoom meeting, to get to know you. They want to confirm that you are not a scammer, that you’re as articulate and brilliant as you appear online, and that they would enjoy working with you.
However, in order for that discussion to take place, they need to be able to contact you.
Make it obvious how people can reach you. Better yet, offer several ways to connect.
You might have a Contact Me tab on your website, where there is a form to be filled out and/or your direct email listed. Put your email and/or phone number at the bottom of every web page. Include your contact details in every directory listing you have. Include your contact information on your LinkedIn profile.
You will miss out on opportunities if you make it difficult to be found. Case-in-point: I recently spent more than 30 minutes trying to find the email address of someone who was perfect for a publicity opportunity I had come across. I wanted to help them and help the writer by connecting them. But when their LinkedIn profile didn’t offer an email address, they didn’t have a website, and several other Google results didn’t get me any closer to finding them, I gave up.
Don’t let this be the experience potential clients have when trying to connect with you.
Think of all the places someone might come across you online and then add your email or phone number so that it only takes one step to get in touch with you.
Because if you make it hard to make contact, your prospects are likely to give up on you and turn their attention to a different ghostwriter who obviously does want to be found.
This was a great article. Thanks for sharing such valuable information for a beginner ghost writer.
Ellen