How to Craft a Client-Magnetizing Guest Blogging Bio

This is a guest post by freelance blogger Alicia Rades.

If you frequent blogs like Be a Freelance Writer, you’ve likely heard countless times that guest blogging is a great way to boost your portfolio and land better clients.

You’ve probably even ventured to high-authority blogs and pitched your ideas, landed gigs, but have no new clients to show for it. Umm…how exactly is this tactic supposed to boost your freelance writing career?

Here’s the deal: To land clients from a guest post, you not only have to write killer content that will make them want you writing for their projects, but you have to reel them in with your author bio.

Ready to start seeing results from your guest posts? Follow these simple tips to write a client-magnetizing guest blogging bio.

Let Them Know You’re Available

If you don’t tell people you’re available for hire, how are they supposed to know? Sure, they could head to your website and figure it out, but you want to make things easy for prospects. They’re not going to visit every writer’s website to see who’s available for work. In your short bio, they should understand that you can write for them in addition to the site you’re contributing to.

Why is this important? Prospects might see your post on a popular site and assume your calendar is full of similar projects. Or if you simply state that you’re a writer, they might think you’re employed by another company and not taking on freelance work.

This doesn’t have to be a tricky addition to your bio. A few words can do the trick. Consider something like “Jane Doe is a freelance blogger for hire” or “Contact Jane at janedoe.com to see how she can help with your blog content strategy.”

Be Specific about Your Services

Not sharing what types of services you provide can prove to be a big mistake. What if you’re more than a blogger? Potential clients who would love these other services aren’t going to know this just by looking at your guest post.

Since I produce mostly blog content, I stick to sharing the topics I most love writing about. This way I don’t have people contacting me about subjects I know nothing about. If you provide services outside of blogging, add it to your bio. Something like “Jane Doe is a freelance writer specializing in blog content, press releases, and whitepapers” is great.

Link to Your Writer Website, Not Your Pet Project

Too often I see writers link to their hobby blogs or fiction works. They later don’t understand why they aren’t getting writing clients. This is perhaps the biggest (and most common) mistake you can make when your objective is to attract prospects.

While guest blogging can be a great tool for promoting these projects, don’t share them if getting clients is your priority. Instead, send prospects to your writer website or portfolio. In most cases, your landing page should include a “hire me” call-to-action.

Offer a Free Gift that Will Resonate With Clients

While this option isn’t a necessity, it’s a great way to reel clients in and get them to visit your website. When your services aren’t enough to attract prospects, a free gift can give them that extra push to click on your link. If your website is awesome enough, they just might stay, learn more about you, and hire you.

I personally offer a worksheet that helps clients decide which writer to hire for their project. Other awesome gifts I’ve seen include:

• How to Make Your Blog Posts SEO and Readers Friendly — whitepaper by Diana Marinova
• One Page Marketing Plan Template – worksheet by Jennifer Mattern
• 10 Warning Signs You Need a Freelance Blogger – guide by Bree Brouwer

The key here is to create a free gift clients will download. I see a lot of writers offering gifts to other freelancers. That’s great if you’re focusing on networking with or teaching other writers, but potential clients probably don’t want to read an eBook about how to break into freelance writing or download a freelancer’s business plan template.

Customize Your Bio for the Blog’s Audience

The same way you write blog content geared toward the particular blog’s audience, you want to make sure your bio speaks to that audience, too. Instead of going with a generic bio to accompany each guest post you write, tweak it to best compliment your post.

Your tweaks might involve emphasizing different credentials based on the post topic, or you might stress particular services depending on the blog’s audience.

Let’s say I’m writing a post about blogging tips. My bio will probably look something like this:

“Alicia Rades is a freelance blogger for hire backed by years of blogging experience. Not only does she love the art of blogging, but she has a passion for teaching others the ins-and-outs of the trade. Learn more about her and her content writing services at aliciaradeswriter.com, where you can grab her free Which Freelance Blogger Should I Hire? worksheet.”

That bio incorporates all the mentioned tips above, but it’s not appropriate for all guest posts. Along with writing about blogging, I also specialize in career topics. If I’m guest posting for a careers website, my bio might look more like this:

“Alicia Rades is a freelance blogger for hire who specializes in creating content on careers and freelancing among other topics. Learn more about her and her content writing services at aliciaradeswriter.com, where you can grab her free Which Freelance Blogger Should I Hire? worksheet.”

Writing your bio doesn’t have to be tricky. After all, it’s usually only going to be two or three sentences. But incorporating these few tips can lead to more contacts and better clients.

Want to see how your author bio performs? Share a sample bio in the comment section, and then make sure to leave feedback for others. When responding to others, consider if you would hire them based on their bio (if you were a client). If not, what can they add/take away to make the bio more client-friendly?

Alicia Rades (@aliciarades) is a freelance blogger, writer, and editor. When she’s not writing for clients, you can find her moderating comments on her favorite blogging forum, offering freelance and career tips on various blogs, or discussing blogging topics at aliciaradeswriter.com. Visit her site to learn more about her available blogging services and to grab her free Which Freelance Blogger Should I Hire? worksheet.