Where do you find high-paying freelance writing clients?

In this video, I discuss that ways that you can find high-paying clients.

Remember, your time is limited. Don’t waste it by going after companies who don’t have the budget to pay for your services. Instead, focus your efforts on finding clients who are more than happy to pay you what you deserve.

So, how do you find them? Three words: follow the money.

Businesses that are spending a lot of money — specifically in advertising and marketing — are more likely to pay top dollar for freelance writing services. Find those companies by:

1. Looking into industry events

Pick an industry that you want to write for (say real estate or technology), and search for find big events like expos and conferences for that industry. Found one? Great. Have a look at the companies exhibiting at that event, and take down their info because those businesses are great prospects to reach out to.

Why?

Well, exhibiting at events isn’t cheap, so if they have a booth at the expo floor or if they’re sponsoring the conference, chances are they have a sizeable marketing budget and they won’t balk at top-tier writing fees.

2. Perusing industry websites or publications

Get your hands on a trade publication or industry website, and take note of the companies advertising in it. Reach out to those companies and offer your services.

Advertising costs — especially for print magazines — can be quite high, so if you see a business buying these full page ads, there’s a solid chance that they’re willing to pay good money for content.

Speaking of which, companies that make an effort to have a presence in magazines and industry websites likely see the value in content marketing. That’s great news for you because it means these prospects will likely be more receptive of your content offerings.

Here’s another bonus: while you’re reading those publications, keep an eye out for company roundups or lists. Look for posts like “top 10 fastest growing companies in XYZ industry.” If a business made it to a list like that, then they’re probably doing well — and that makes them a good prospect to reach out to.

Not to mention, these lists sometimes have estimates when it comes to revenue and company valuations. Be sure to pay attention to those numbers, as they can indicate whether a company has a sizeable budget or not.

3. Checking out press release websites

Why should you browse press release websites such as PR Web or BusinessWire?

Simple: companies that publish press releases want to put their name out there. They want their content to be picked up by search engines and news outlets, so again, this means they see the value in online marketing and probably even content marketing.

That increases the chances of your pitch being more well-received because you won’t have to educate them about why writing content is important.

Plus, if a business is using these PR services, then they’re obviously already writing articles. That, again, is awesome news for you.

Because, who knows? They may need help with their PR writing, and you could be the person they turn to for that.

I’m speaking from experience here. A few years ago when I was struggling to find clients, I spent a lot of time on these PR websites just reaching out to companies that are publishing those articles. I got a decent amount of responses, and even landed a client that paid me $800 a month to handle their press release writing.

One more thing about this topic — Publishing and distributing a single press release can cost hundreds, sometimes even thousands of dollars. If a company is willing to pay that amount of money, then you can bet that they’re going to be ok with hiring a top-tier writer.

Final words

There are plenty of high-quality clients out there just waiting for you to contact them. Stop wasting your time on content mills or low-quality sites, and instead devote more energy into looking for companies that have the budget and willingness to pay you top dollar for your services.

The pointers I mentioned in this post are just some of the many ways to find those clients. There are other methods to land high-paying gigs (e.g. content marketing, looking up clients in directories, etc)., but the three sources discussed in this post are solid places to start.

Good luck!