If you're thinking of creating web content independently for a living, you've got a good idea. Website content and all other forms of high-quality digital content are in high demand since good content is the key to winning the SERP rankings game.
So, before you get started, it's important to know how to represent yourself in the online freelance business. Your writing website, whether a personal portfolio or a business website, is key. Whatever your content marketing or writing skills, you won't get to demonstrate them if your freelance writer website isn't up to par.
In this guide, I'll list 5 examples of individual portfolios, whether for freelance writing or full-time work histories. I'll also show you what a content or copywriting business website would look like.
Whether you want to work as an individual creating quality content or a team delivering professional content, these examples will give you benchmarks to use when shaping your online presence. This is what your potential clients want to see.
• Are you looking to make a living by writing and editing excellent content? Perhaps you know a startup that needs organic growth or visibility or even have a connection with a content or marketing manager who wants a freelancer (or three) to expand SEO-enriched content publication.
• Conversely, perhaps you are thinking of starting a business offering content writing/editing/SEO services... and you're not sure what "success" would look like in that domain. I certainly can't tell you that, but I can show you some websites representing such businesses. If you're starting out in the business, who better to take your notes from than the market leaders?
• In this article, you'll find two kinds of examples. The first five are examples of writing portfolios created and maintained by individual writers. They are veterans in their domain and have seen many years of professional success. If you are trying to make it as a writer in the intensely competitive content industry, I recommend studying what these experts do and how they represent themselves to potential employers.
• The last two examples are of websites offering content writing services. These are full-fledged businesses that hire multiple writers, editors, SEO experts, customer service teams, and so on. If you intend to be a business owner, aspire for the same success as these entities.
• Finally, if you are a writer and you're ready to attract high-paying clients, you need an industry-best portfolio. I'm here to help you create such a portfolio. A LinkedIn profile is good but not enough. And a WordPress website is too much. Hence, a portfolio builder where you can optimize your portfolio for your potential client is the way to go.
• Authory is a dedicated portfolio builder that imports your content from the internet, saves it forever, proves that you do not use AI to write, provides analytics data for your content, and so much more.
Writer websites for individual professionals
Susan Fletcher
Susan Fletcher is a public historian, writer, and artist. She is passionate about sharing the unfolding story of Colorado, and the history of toys and play.
Susan is the author of "Exploring the History of Childhood and Play Through Fifty Historic Treasures," the co-author of "The Glen Eyrie Story," and the co-editor of "Dawson Trotman in His Own Words."
In addition to her academic scholarship, she writes about visual and performing arts in "Springs Magazine" and "The Colorado Collective." When she isn’t doing mental time travel, Susan enjoys photography, drawing, painting, and hiking.
Hadji Williams
Hadji Williams is an award-winning copywriter with over $700 million in billing wins and retentions (according to his website). His approach to copywriting is both poetic and powerful,
If you can listen, you can sell. If you can write, you can sell a lot. So I started writing. Poetry. Rap. Songs. Stories... Then headlines. Then body copy... then taglines... and strategies... and brands... and scripts, events...
Be it landing pages, blog posts, or any other form of content, Hadji will write copy that will delight, interest, and convert the right people from browser to customer.
Needless to say, his clients are illustrious entities. A few names he has worked with are Absolut, Aleve, Allied Domecq, Auxilio, Inc., AT+T, Bayer, Bailey’s Cream, Bank Of America, Cleveland Clinic, Charter Communications, Coca-Cola, Diageo, Dominick’s Finer Foods, Ford Motors, Gillette, Glaxo-Smith Kline, Kraft Finer Foods, and so many more.
Ashlyn Carter
Ashlyn Carter isn't just a copywriter; she also teaches you how to create great copy. She has served 100+ clients and 8000+ students. She has appeared in profiles and features by Forbes, Southern Living, SELF, Style Me Pretty, and similar publications. She has also been on the Creative Live stage. Whatever your marketing strategy, Ashlyn can create copy that will compel each visitor and customer's attention without compromising optimization.
Her clients include Amy Porterfield, Jenna Kutcher, Katelyn James, and similar creative powerhouses. In fact, she has led and managed million-dollar launches as a conversion copywriter and brand and launch strategist.
Her copywriting website is THE perfect example of how a true industry giant does it all.
Sally Bacchetta
Sally Bacchetta writes training content and design instruction for online and face-to-face deployment for clients in multiple industries: pharmaceutical, healthcare, security, financial services, and business services. She also writes articles for publication, website content, corporate communications, marketing collateral, promotional pieces, press releases, and white papers.
Sally has ghostwritten a business management book and edited a medical book on CNS drug development and clinical trials. She is also a contributing author to a few other books.
You can search for her articles in Computer Link, Country Business, Home & Yard Handbook, Genesee Valley Parent Magazine, Pharmaceutical Executive, Livestrong.com, Pharmaceutical Representative, Phenomena, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Selling Power.com, SPBT Focus, Vermont Kids, and Yahoo!.
Caroline Gibson
Caroline Gibson has been a freelance copywriter for over 20 years. Her clients include international brands and small businesses alike. Before going freelance, she worked with more than one major ad, branding, and design agency in London.
Her clients include GGK, O&M, M&C Saatchi, Partners BDDH, Landor, Rufus Leonard, SomeOne, Wolff Olins, Ziggurat, and more. If you hire her, you are in good company.
To quote her website,
… right now I can chat to you about how VU.CITY uses AI to help architects and developers map out a city’s future, why there’s no need for sanding or a primer with Rust-Oleum chalky finish paints, how Pagerie in LA identified a gap in the market for the most divine pet accessories, and about the magazine I launched for London Hilton on Park Lane: The Journal.
Sites advertising website content services and content creation
WriterAccess
WriterAccess hires freelancers for its database from native countries so you can access the best content, depending on the language and expertise you expect from a freelance content writer. However, nothing comes without the requisite price, and services from this website will take up quite a bit of your budget.
Writers are ranked from 2 to 6, and the best content writers charge around 6 to 10 cents per word. Employers also need a monthly subscription to access the platform; plans from $39 per month to $499 per month.
SEO Butler
SEO Butler is like a supermarket for SEO and marketing folks. You can go to the site and order any type of content — general articles, reviews, category descriptions, guides, etc. You can also order specifically optimized content, but it will be expensive (I've seen review sites mention something like $1.35 per word).
Employers don't need to search for writers on a job board; they can just enter their requirements and receive finished pieces. All writers are native English speakers, and there is a customer support team and a team of editors that verifies every piece before delivery. You also get a money-back guarantee if the results are not satisfactory.
Bonus Section for Writers: Create an industry-best writing portfolio in minutes with Authory
Authory is a tool designed to create and deploy an industry-best portfolio for writers (and multiple other professionals) as fast and conveniently as possible. If you sign up for an Authory account, here's what you get:
A self-updating portfolio (no need to keep adding new work manually)
Authory will AUTOMATICALLY import a copy of every bylined piece from every site into its own database. You don't have to track down links to your published work (especially older pieces). As long as you remember the URL of the site where your work exists, Authory will collate all your content for you in one dashboard.
Automated backups (never lose your content, ever)
All the content that Authory imports from different sources is saved permanently. Even if the original website where it's published goes defunct for any reason, you'll always have a copy safely stored on Authory's server. All backups are in the original format — text and/or media. No screenshots.
Continued importing of past and future content (less effort for a 100% updated portfolio)
Once you enter a source, Authory won't just import your existing publications. Anything you publish on the same site (after you've fed its URL into Authory) in the future, will also be imported automatically. In other words, Authory will import your past and future content.
Apart from these, you also get a slew of miscellaneous but necessary features:
- Ability to search through both your portfolio and your content database to find articles/audio/videos based on keywords. Prospective employers and hiring managers can use this to look for topics on your portfolio, and you can use it to find specific pieces within your Authory content bank.
- Ability to create a custom domain with a click.
- Get a custom domain and personalize your online writing portfolio even further.
- Multiple, low-effort options for customization to make your portfolio visually appealing and easy to navigate.
- In-built analytics that provides real numbers on content performance (engagement, readership) across the web and popular social media sites every 30 days.
Authory has been chosen by several well-known writers, people who could have picked any tool in the world. There's six-time Emmy award winner David Pogue, Steven Levy, Editor at Large at WIRED, and Brian Fung, a Technology Reporter at CNN, to name a few.
Get started with Authory for free and see for yourself what works for you!
