Promote your proofreading website: write, post and blog like crazy!

Promote your proofreading website: write, post and blog like crazy!

Finally, we’ve reached Step 4 of our ‘Where to Start’ list I set out in my earlier article (here…), and if you’ve stuck with me this far, this should be a perfect summary of where you’re up to:
 

• You’re crammed full of knowledge from The No-Nonsense Proofreading Course
• You’ve signed up with every online freelance marketplace you can find
• You’ve created your own proofreading business website
• You’re now ready to shout about your proofreading business online!

 
The essence of this article is to write, post and blog like crazy. But where specifically?
 
Before we get started, lets call this activity for what it is… Marketing!
 
Yep, marketing. “But I’m not a marketer!” I hear you cry.
 
It’s a fair comment, and in the No-Nonsense Proofreading Course, Mike has a chapter called: ‘WHAT A PROOFREADER DOES AND DOESN’T DO’ and, to be fair, marketing isn’t listed as a requirement.
 
Hopefully, this won’t come as an uncomfortable truth, but in order to become a self-employed proofreader, you’ve got to become an effective marketer because ultimately, if your customers or prospective employers don't know you exist, you won't get any proofreading work, regardless of how good you are.
 
However, having worked your way through the previous three steps of my ‘Where to Start’ list, the building blocks will all be in place and you should already be well armed with much of the information you need to start confidently marketing (promoting) your proofreading business.
 
If you remember, in Step 2 (here…), I asked you to take a pause before jumping in and ‘signing up with every online freelance proofreading marketplace you can find’ to focus on creating your personal profile.

If you did that recommendation justice, you’ll have a fantastic resource to dip into for your self-promotion efforts. Having done that, you should have variants of your personal profile depending on which freelance proofreader website or which social media platforms you chose to sign up with.
 
Thankfully, much of what you’ve done already from Step 1 to Step 3 can be considered marketing or self-promotion in one form or another, and all you have to do now is ramp up your efforts.
 
Your Proofreading Business Website and Linking…
 
This is primarily where your best work will be displayed and should form the central pillar of your promotional (content marketing) strategy.
 
Searching on the internet is one thing, but being found is another thing entirely, especially if your business is in a competitive niche. The following suggestions will definitely raise the profile of your proofreading business and should ensure that your website is better placed than most when a proofreader is needed.
 
When you post and share articles on your blog, they really should be your best work.
Any article you write should always be high quality, relevant and be of great value to the reader. If your articles tick these boxes, they are much more likely to be shared.
Whilst I’m talking about sharing, it should go without saying, that your own blog posts should have social share buttons featured conveniently at the end of your articles.

Re-write your blog articles and post them on external article or Q&A sites such as Medium (.com), Quora (.com)  and Reddit (.com) to name just a few. These sites have very good authority and receive plenty of traffic, but when posting here, really do include value to your articles, especially on Quora where visitors are looking for genuine solutions, not spammy nonsense!
 
Still include backlinks to your blog or specific landing page, even though some sites (Quora) are ‘nofollow’ for backlinks.
 
If readers really do like the content that you’re referencing in your article/answers, they may use that (‘nofollow’) link in their own blog post or mention it online on some other platform (which could have ‘dofollow’ links), meaning you could actually generate new ‘dofollow’ links simply by placing your links in all of the articles/answers you post.
 
Be careful!
 
If you fall into the trap of over-stuffing your articles with keywords and backlinks, your efforts will completely bomb. Content marketing isn’t a quick win strategy, nor should it be. The aim of the game is quality, relevance and authority.
 
Building a quality blog in your proofreading niche will help to drive traffic by piquing the interest of Google in whose eyes you will be positioning yourself as an authority and publisher of quality and relevant proofreading information.
 
By becoming an authority in your industry, you'll attract the attention of consumers and business owners alike, which will only be good for your proofreading business.
 
On the subject of backlinks in general, whenever you write a post or comment, you should try to include links back to a corresponding page or post on your website. Be aware that not everyone will allow you to include a ‘dofollow’ link back to your own website, but do it anyway, as a great many will.
 
Posting articles elsewhere…
 
Social sites:
A really good tip I picked up some time ago was that on each and every social site that you choose to promote your proofreading business, head straight to the ‘Privacy & Settings’ section and turn off any option that allows any ‘Viewer of this profile also viewed’ feature or similar.
 
Why? Because you want your profile/page to focus on you.
 
If you don’t turn this feature off, your page, depending on the platform, may well display any competing business or potential employer who’s looked you up or is following you!
 
This is especially true of LinkedIn.
 
Use LinkedIn to connect with LinkedIn groups which are a great way for quickly connecting with others in your industry or niche to start laying the groundwork for your efforts in establishing yourself as an authority. LinkedIn is an ideal platform to promote your content as long as your articles once again tick all of the quality boxes.
 
Conclusion
This strategy is the basis of content marketing and in this instance, your website should be the primary source of all of your best work. Over time, your articles will provide you with a legitimate and related destination to direct people to, when you respond to answers (or post your own questions) on external article or Q&A sites, without appearing spammy.
 
Coming soon…
 
Your Proofreading Business Website, SEO and Google
 
Bye for now.
Jeff
 
Full disclosure & disclaimer…
Mike and I are not affiliated in any way to the social media, article or Q&A sites listed above.
This information is presented without condition or for personal profit in the hope that, having bought The No-Nonsense Proofreading Course you can make money proofreading without delay.