Freelancers’ essentials for a tip-top copywriting portfolio

Landing freelance copywriting jobs can be a difficult task, even for the seasoned freelancer. While there are a fair amount of opportunities out there, there's also plenty of competition, meaning that getting those jobs before they're snatched up by other freelancers is both a race against time and an undertaking to get noticed!

For this, you'll need the most essential tool for any freelancer and copywriter: a flawless portfolio that can showcase your work, as a bolt-on to the demonstrable skills that clients need. Don’t know where to start? Fear not, we'll give you a few pointers with our list of essentials for a copywriting portfolio.

Your Own Website

Having your own website is the first crucial step to scoring freelance assignments. While this is pretty common knowledge, a mistake too many freelancers make is that they have cheap-looking, free websites with too much information!

That's a combination that may put clients off after just a glance. Rather, your website should have its own domain name – those .wordpress suffixes can be regarded as the epitome of unprofessionalism, to represent the type of work you do. This doesn't have to break the bank either, there are tons of hosting plans out there from a number of reliable web providers, see 1&1 for example. These allow you to make an attractive and intuitive website that is easy to read. Once you have that, just ensure that the information on it is concise and to the point. Potential clients don't want to have to trawl through endless paragraphs just to find out what your specialty is!

A Reliable, Error-Free Body of Work

Your portfolio is all about showcasing your past work and proving that you're more than capable of copywriting. Therefore, it should feature an error-free body of work. For this, pick only your best pieces and comb through them to ensure that there are no mistakes. Typos, inconsistent grammar and factual errors are the difference between picking up a gig or losing one.

Ensure Your LinkedIn Profile is Up-to-Date

Your portfolio should have links to all your relevant social media channels. This could include Facebook and Instagram, but LinkedIn is an absolute must. Your LinkedIn profile is essentially your online CV and should therefore always be kept updated with your latest work info, the skills you have and the ones you're working on. It's an incredible resource for potential clients to find you rather than the other way around, and should therefore always be held up to high, professional standards.

Don’t Keep it to Yourself

It’s no good not mentioning your snazzy new portfolio thanks to the above three tips, in your covering letter or LinkedIn Profile. So ensure that all the literature you use to put yourself forward for freelance opportunities clearly invites the reader to have a look at your portfolio -- physically (so on email or in the post), or virtually (online with LinkedIn and your own website). And ideally, do both!