Almost any freelance platform requires you to write a competitive proposal to get a chance to be chosen as the freelancer to do the job. This is why it is so important to know how to create the perfect freelance proposal. Here are ten tips to help you craft the perfect proposal for your next freelance job.
1. Capture Attention Fast
The first thing your proposal should do is capture the attention of your potential employer. You should do it fast or they will simply start reading another proposal and ignore what you have to say. This is why it is crucial not to start from afar and get to the point immediately.
Think of a catchy one-liner to put at the very beginning of your proposal. It can be an unusual rhetoric question or a claim about your services that you will elaborate on later in the proposal. As long as it grabs the attention of the reader well and doesn’t mislead them, the sentence should work perfectly fine.
Also Read: Tips On How To Differentiate Yourself As A Freelancer.
2. Keep It As Short As Possible
Many amateur or inexperienced writers tend to make their proposals way too long. Your potential employer doesn’t have all the time in the world and needs to read dozens of other proposals they will be choosing from. This is why keeping your proposal as short as possible is the key to making it work.
On the other hand, don’t forget to include all the necessary elements. Use them sparingly and don’t make the proposal feel crowded, but remember to maintain a balance and find that perfect word count to stick to in all of your proposals.
3. Use Writing Tools to Help You
It is no wonder that every writer needs to use special tools to perfect their writing. Sure, talent and practice are important, but the end product depends on other factors too. This is why you can benefit so much from such tools and services as:
- Grammarly: A web tool to check your text for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.
- Trust My Paper: An online writing service to write your proposal for you.
- Hemingway Editor: A web tool that highlights adverbs, passive voice, and complicated sentences in your text asking you to get rid of them.
- Best Essay Education: Another online writing service that creates high-quality written pieces.
- Plagiarism Checker: A plagiarism checker that provides you with a report on the uniqueness and originality of your text.
- Grab My Essay: Yet another great online writing service that has a lot of experience behind its back.
- Google Docs: An online word processor for sharing and editing documents in real-time.
4. Include Examples of Your Work
Including examples of your work will show your employer that you are really the awesome writer you claim to be. If you said that you know how to use words in a quirky way with jokes that don’t border on dark or perverse humor, your past examples should reflect it.
Make sure that you include at least one or two paragraphs from one or more works of yours. They don’t have to take up the majority of your proposal though so don’t insert huge amounts of text that no one will read in the end.
Also Read: Top 10 Destinations For Digital Nomads In Africa.
5. Explain Why Someone Should Work With You
Remember that your aim is to persuade your potential employer that you are the one they are looking for. You are the freelance writer that will help their dream come true and put all the words on paper in a way nobody else can.
Answer the question every employer has, “Why should I hire you?” Tell them the reasons why you are so great and why you are perfect for this particular job that they have. Be creative about it and stop using buzzwords because those only prevent you from sounding authentic as everyone uses them.
6. Be Professional and Friendly
“Remaining professional at all times is crucial for any beginner or an experienced writer. You have to learn how to stay calm and friendly even when you are fuming on the inside. This skill is valuable so don’t discard it just yet,” says Kristin Savage from WOWgrade.
Being professional and friendly should be your motto, but it will still be enough if you take it at least as a rule of thumb. If you sound like an amateur writer in your proposal, nobody will want to work with you even if you are actually an experienced professional with thousands of articles written during your eight years of work.
You have to show that you know how things are done by using proper grammar and wording your sentences in a formal way. It is fine to joke a bit, but remember not to go overboard with it. At the same time, don’t use weird terminology as it will only confuse the reader.
7. Don’t Use a Template
It may be very tempting to find and use a template for your proposal but refrain from doing so at all costs. If you use a template, you will join other beginner writers who use a template and the potential employer will quickly detect you. You can read a few freelance proposal templates for inspiration but never copy them outright.
8. Back-Up Your Claims with Testimonials
Using customer testimonials is a practice that every freelance writer should start using. Nothing can prove your skill and quality of work better than positive reviews and examples of your work. By the way, just like with the latter, don’t include too much of the former as you can accidentally make your proposal too long.
Also Read: How to Write a Business Proposal for Clients (2019).
9. Understand Your Potential Employer
Understanding your potential employer is crucial for you to be able to give them what they want. Think the way they think and tell them not only what they want to hear but also what is true about you. Most of your clients will probably be entrepreneurs and small business owners, so to better understand their minds, read articles with small business advice on various blogs and websites you can find.
10. Focus on the Benefits
Last but not least, always focus on the benefits. If your only downside is the price you charge for your services (which is probably high because of how great you are), include it at the end. If you need more time to complete the order than your competitors do, try not to give it too much attention. Always focus on the good rather than the bad.
Final Thoughts
All in all, writing an awesome freelance proposal will be much easier after you practice a bit, but make sure to keep in mind the advice from this article. These are the proven practices that every successful freelancer uses on a daily basis.
Author’s Bio:
Bridgette Hernandez is a Master in Anthropology who is interested in writing and is planning to publish her own book in the near future. Now she is a content editor at SupremeDissertations. The texts she writes are always informative, based on qualitative research but nevertheless pleasant to read.