How I blogged my way to $100k UX writing freelance proposals

Slater Katz -

When you start a UX writing freelance biz, knowing how to find clients is a *struggle.*

You know they’re out there… maybe under a rock?

When I first got started with UX writing freelance, I felt super awkward promoting myself.

Posting hot takes on LinkedIn made me squirm.

So, I took to what felt natural to me — blogging.

I would write a blog post every day or so and put ‘em on LinkedIn.

It was the one way I felt actually OK putting myself out there. At least I was backing up my claims with some rationale and value.

Little did I know, this was the greatest growth hack I could have found for my freelance business.

Posting on LinkedIn drove traffic to my website. More eyeballs on my website upped my inbound leads. The traffic boost let Google know I was legit, helping me earn even more organic traffic and, eventually, clients.

After doing this whirlwind of goodness for about a year, ~85% of my traffic now comes from Google search.

Not only that, but I've gone from sending $5,000 proposals to $100,000+ proposals.

I get way more leads, and they're also higher paying.

The world needs to know this growth hack, so I decided to share my not-so-secret formula:

  1. Create a robust website
  2. Regularly write blog posts
  3. Post the blog posts on social media
  4. Drive traffic from social media to your website
  5. Get inbound leads from posts (over time)
  6. Gain domain authority and search traffic (over time)

Let me explain…

1. Create a robust website

This is key to this strategy working.

After a potential client reads your blog post, if they liked it, they're gonna wanna explore more.

You need a robust website for them to explore.

That means having:

  • Fully-fleshed-out homepage
  • Detailed about page (that's about the value you deliver and not so much about your favorite hiking trail)
  • Services page (that focuses on the result you deliver, not just the deliverable)
  • Portfolio page (that doesn't dwell on your process and is built for clients, not employers)
  • Contact page (so someone has a way to get in touch!)

If someone comes to read your blog post, and it's a dead end, you missed an opportunity.

Building a robust website takes time, yes, but the investment is critical.

Take a look at some of what I have on madebyslater.com:

2. Regularly write blog posts

The key is to write blog posts about what you do.

Your goal is twofold:

  1. Offer value to people who also do what you do
  2. Show clients you know your stuff

When you do that:

  • People who also do what you do like, engage, and share your posts
  • Clients find you through shared posts in their feed

For example, I'm a freelance UX writer, and on my blog on madebyslater.com, I write advice on how to do UX writing for startups.

Since my advice is novel and not generated (I'm looking at you, AI writing bots,) every time I post a UX writing blog post on LinkedIn, I get a lot of UX writers liking, commenting, and going to the post.

This generates buzz. And from that buzz, clients stumble across my post and head to my website.

The idea is the content is really valuable for UX writers, and it shows clients that I know what I'm doing.

A client doesn't need to know how to write an error message, but they need to be convinced I know how to.

4. Drive traffic from LinkedIn to website

~50% of my web traffic comes from LinkedIn (direct also = LinkedIn.)

This is a MAJOR boost in traffic.

Not only does LinkedIn get more eyeballs on my site, increasing my overall web traffic tells Google I'm the real deal.

Which creates this wonderful circle of clients then finding me on Google.

5. Get inbound leads from posts (over time)

Don't end your blog post with a closing statement.

Close it with a call-to-action.

Tell someone if they need help doing exactly what you wrote about to contact you.

Take a look at my form submissions over the past year:

Had I ended with “I hope you enjoyed this post,” I would have left business on the table.

You might not get leads on your first few blog posts, but give it time.

That's the key with this whole strategy — it's not an overnight success, but in the long run, it gets you ahead on autopilot.

6. Gain domain authority and search traffic (over time)

I went from having no pages on the first page of Google to having many pages on the first page of Google.

I'm even in the #1 spot for a few pages.

This tells potential clients I'm the real deal.

Not many freelancers or individual people get to the first page of Google with no ads. But it's entirely possible with time and dedication.

So, there you have it.

Like I said, this strategy got me sending $100,000+ proposals, and my client acquisition is pretty much on autopilot.

I did take TIME.

But the pay-off was huge.

Happy UX writing 🖖