How To Find Copywriting Clients Fast: A Tactical Guide For Beginners

You’re reading this because you want to know how to find copywriting clients fast.

The good news is I can help you. 

But.

…yes there’s a but.

Only if you don’t overcomplicate it and play to your strengths. 

In this post, I’ll break down all the ways you can find copywriting clients. I’ll also reference some of the strategies I’ve used to land my own clients, and how you can too.

Basic requirements before you start

Before you begin there are some requirements you need to meet. If you can’t meet the bare minimum then you’re going to fail. It’s as simple as that. 

Ronnie Coleman said it best.

Actually learn to write copy.

Do a course. Watch youtube videos. Offer free work to your friend's dad’s business. It doesn’t really matter, just learn to actually write good copy. Even if this is only a side hustle, you still need to take it seriously.

Believing in what you sell is one of the most important factors when closing clients. If you don’t believe in your ability to write then you won’t be able to sell your copywriting services.

There are so many free resources and tools on the internet now that the barrier to entry for a beginner copywriter is zero. If you’re a beginner, reference these three resources first:

• 12 Copywriting Exercises That Will Turn You Into a Pro in 30 Days
• Copywriting For Beginners – Everything You Need To Get Started Now
• 11 Content Writing Tips For Beginners (with free resources)

Build your credibility online.

Do you have an optimized LinkedIn profile?

What about your Twitter account?

Is your website clean with loads of social proof?

If your answer is no then you need to start building an online presence as soon as you can. Remember, the barrier to entry for copywriting is very low. There are thousands of others competing for business. 

How will you stand out?

It’s very hard for businesses to trust someone with zero social proof. 

But there’s no need to overcomplicate this step. You can build one-page websites on Carrd or Webflow without any code. 

Pro tip: If you want to remain pseudonymous I suggest building out a copywriting Twitter account and sharing loads of value. Here are some examples:

Here are the eight ways to find copywriting clients fast:

1. Reach out to your network

Ever heard of the Pareto Principle?

Where 20% of your efforts lead to 80% of the results.

This is exactly what will happen if you leverage your network first. It requires the least amount of effort and often leads to the best results.

But I get it. 

You already know this but you don’t really want to do it. 

Every freelancer experiences some form of anxiety when reaching out to their network. I’m not exactly sure why.

Maybe it’s it has to do with not being committed, or not believing in your skills. 

If you’re not confident or committed then your fear of failing is justified. The last thing you want to do is let someone you know down.

However, if you’ve done the work this should be a piece of cake. 

It’s the least time-intensive way to score new clients and build a portfolio. Even if you do the work for a cheaper rate it’s a great stepping stone. Remember, you’re here because you want to get copywriting clients fast.

I’ve been writing copy for my own sites for a while but when I decided to start offering this as a service the first clients I signed were from my personal network.

2. Leverage copywriting job boards & marketplaces

If you desperately need work then check out job boards and marketplaces. The jobs already exist, all you need to do is prove you’re the one to hire.

This is easier said than done. 

You’re competing against copywriters with years of experience and large portfolios. So before you shoot off applications make sure you have a strong pitch.

Below are the top 17 copywriting job boards and marketplaces I could find:

1. Pro Blogger Jobs
2. We Work Remotely 
3. Marketer Hire
4. Bark
5. Flex Jobs
6. r/hireawriter or r/forhire
7. Blogging Pro
8. Media Bistro
9. Simply Hired
10. ED2010
11. Freelance Writing Gigs
12. Who Pays Writers
13. CoroFlot 
14. Contra
15. Upwork
16. Freelancer
17. Fiverr

Marketer Hire and Bark are new ones on my radar that seem to be high-quality sources of work. I’d personally start there first. 

3. Submit guest posts on high-traffic sites

A guest post is a blog post written for another website. You’re added as a “guest author” and your author profile will be visible.

There are three core reasons why copywriters publish guest posts:

1. It builds credibility
2. You get a backlink to your site (usually)
3. You can score clients on autopilot

If you choose the correct blog to guest post on then there’s a good chance the article will get a lot of traffic.

Here are the criteria you should follow when seeking a guest post opportunity:

1. The blog itself gets more than 10,000 monthly visitors (check Similarweb or UberSuggest).
2. The keyword you're targeting has at least 200 monthly searches (check UberSuggest or Keywords Everywhere).
3. The topic you’re writing about has relevance to your copywriting services. Or at least showcases your ability. 
4. Your author bio includes that you’re a copywriter or content marketer with instructions on how you can be contacted.

The first guest post I ever wrote was for Zapier. I discovered that Zapier offered guest posts through a newsletter called Guest Post Juice.

I pitched a couple of various topics I thought would be valuable to the readers. Zapier responded and suggested I start drafting an article. 

So I did. 

The article went live 4 weeks later.

But it doesn’t end there.

I knew I needed to make the most of this opportunity. 

After all, Zapier is one of the largest sites I could write for. 

So I went a step further and embedded a tweet in the post from the owner of another site I wanted to write for.

A couple of weeks later I decided to send Pat, the owner of Starter Story a Twitter DM. 

You can read it below.

We briefly discussed an opportunity that would benefit us both. I started writing and the post went live shortly after.

You can read the article here: https://www.starterstory.com/pas-copywriting 

4. Invest in SEO

There’s no doubt that this is the hardest way to land copywriting clients. 

I’m speaking from experience. It took at least six months before I saw any traffic to this site. 

Are you willing to wait this long? Or even longer?

If you’re disciplined enough to make this work then you should continue reading.

The goal here is to build a blog targetting high-intent keywords that a potential client might be searching for. Here’s an example:

Once the relevant keywords that are “still easy” have been identified you can write content. The content should be significantly better than the articles already ranking #1 on Google. The only way to start outranking the competitors is to write content that is genuinely useful.

SEO is one of the more technical approaches and would require a detailed tutorial. I don’t suggest SEO unless you have experience or you’re willing to commit to it for at least one year.

However, if you’re wondering how this might look, here’s an example of the term “eCommerce Copywriter”.

5. Become a thought leader

According to Wikipedia the definition of a thought leader is “an individual or firm recognized as an authority in a specific field”.

You want to be this person in the copywriting field.

But it’s almost impossible to become a thought leader without publishing content every day. This is why those that do publish content become thought leaders in the first place. They may not be any better than you and I, they’re just perceived that way.

The benefit of becoming a thought leader is twofold. You’ll learn to write better copy and you’ll attract businesses who want to work with you.

Here are three thought leaders you can reference:

Harry Dry, Founder of Marketing Examples (LinkedIn)

Eddie Shleyner, Founder of Very Good Copy (LinkedIn)

Andrew | Copy & Conversions (Twitter)

Notice how many times their posts have been shared, retweeted, and commented on?

A lot! I’d argue that each post they make lands them one new client. 

A recent post on Reddit confirms how lucrative becoming a thought leader is. The post is titled “How To Actually Win Clients On LinkedIn” and goes deep into the strategy and execution of LinkedIn. The Redditor even mentions how successful it's been for their agency.

That’s where I come in, to give you the rundown on everything I do from start to finish for myself, my clients, and my mentees. It’s made me well over $50,000 since March 2021 from private inbound clients alone, and made my clients even more.

u/katari_creative

It's clear that if you're in this for the long run, you should become a thought leader on social media.

6. Cold email outreach

This one is super effective when done properly. 

Remember, you’re competing with all the other digital marketers and copywriters. 

You need to spend time executing this properly. 

There are two avenues you can take. The first is cold email outreach at scale with software and the second is manually pitching brands you know already pay for copywriting services. 

Cold email outreach using software

This is a bit more technical. 

But still very possible.

It’ll take a minimum of two weeks before you can start sending emails. 

I personally use apollo.io to execute this.

I could write a 5,000-word article on how to execute this but instead, I’ll link two really helpful videos. 

Basic TLDR 

More advanced:

Related: Ultimate Guide to Email Copywriting.

Manually pitching brands you know already pay for copywriting

This requires a little more creativity. 

Here are two ways to go about this

You can leverage different tools to tell you exactly which businesses 

• https://gumspy.com/
• https://www.unicornads.com/
• https://bigspy.com/
• https://adspy.com/

7. Join a business community

Business communities offer loads of value. 

The right community can help validate your idea, offer advice, and connect you with like-minded people.

It’s also the perfect place to find clients. 

Business owners are always asking for recommendations. And if you’re constantly offering value, you’ll be recommended

The best business groups I’ve joined at Trends by The Hustle and Trends VC. 

8. Growth hack your way

This is for the copywriters who just can’t wait and need some sort of hack.

I understand and I love the urgency.

There’s a secret resource on the internet literally called “Top F#$king Secret”. It’s a site built by one of the best growth hackers I know – Jared Codling. It hosts over 30 different growth hacks with video tutorials on how to execute them.

The site is now free and open to anyone. To get access you need to click on the key and fill out the details. Otherwise, try this link. It should work just fine.

Some of the growth hacks might be slightly out of date although there are some gems. 

One of my personal favorites is the Medium Article Smasher tactic:

All the youtube videos are unlisted so the only way to access them is through the site.

Here's the TL;DR

Finding your first few copywriting clients will be challenging. You can approach this in a tactical way or you can simply start reaching out to your network. Either way, I suggest playing to your strengths.

Here are the eight ways to get copywriting clients quickly:

1. Reach out to your network
2. Leverage copywriting job boards & marketplaces
3. Submitting guest posts on high-traffic sites
4. Invest in SEO
5. Become a thought leader
6. Cold email outreach
7. Join a business community
8. Growth hack your way

Good luck ✌️