The freelancer life is hard, no matter what industry you're in. Freelance writing is no exception.
Apart from constantly seeking out and pitching to get clients, you also have to keep a pristine portfolio website. Potential clients want to look, first and foremost, at your existing work. Therefore, your freelance writer website is the most potent professional tool you have at your disposal.
But what goes into creating the best freelance copywriting website? That's what we're discussing in this article.
I'll go through some fundamental tips for putting together your content writing on your freelance website. But, most importantly, I'll set out 7 examples of how seasoned freelancers shape their entire website. If you want to create a website that showcases your writing skills to a particular niche (or multiple niches), these examples are the perfect place to start your research (take notes!!)
I'll also introduce you to a tool that can help you build a new website that your potential clients will absolutely love. The catch? This tool does almost 65-70% of the actual work for building said portfolio website.
But first...
• The only freelance copywriter portfolio that matters is one that gets you clients...high-paying ones. But with so many portfolios floating about in the digital marketplace, how do you create a portfolio that stands out?
• You start with the right tool. Since you're a copywriter, your portfolio should emphasize text - work samples, website copy, bio, description, testimonials, etc. Of course, the site should be pleasant to look at, but you don't need stunning templates or imaginative pre-sets.
• You need a tool that finds all your work samples, puts them together in a professional, high-grade portfolio, and keeps updating it. That is what copywriting clients are looking for.
• Next, you ensure that you meet the basics, and move on to incorporating best practices on top.
• Finally, you look at what the experts are doing with their portfolios. We've got seven such examples of freelance copywriter portfolios created and maintained by some of the industry's most successful copywriters.
Quick Tips to Create a Great Freelance Writer Website (to Get Clients)
Building a copywriter and content writer portfolio website, especially in today's digital market can be tricky. There's no specific formula, but using certain best practices (especially when you're getting started) will give you a better shot at attracting clients.
Choose the right tool to build your portfolio site
Do you want your portfolio to be easily created, managed, and updated? Or do you prioritize unique visuals and aesthetic appeal? These questions determine which tool works best for creating your copywriting portfolio site.
Website builders like Squarespace and WordPress work best if you want to create a site from scratch and have full control over visual customization. But putting a site together does take a fair amount of time and effort, and there's some recurring effort in updating the site every time you have a new writing sample, newsletter, website copy, or even a "call to action" to display.
On the other hand, there are tools (like Authory) that will give you a professional-grade portfolio with very little manual effort. The tool can screenshot web pages with your copy and import them to a database (and back it up forever), so that you can add it to a customized portfolio with a couple of clicks.
The latter option might not offer award-winning website templates (and so many Squarespace templates are astonishingly beautiful), but it will do most of the heavy lifting and auto-update your portfolio.
Easy to read/view
Your potential client is usually hard-pressed for time when looking at your portfolio during the hiring process. Hence, it needs to be as viewer-friendly as possible. So, make things obvious — use headers with self-explanatory text so that people know what they’ll get when they click on a link. Everything (not just the homepage) should be easily readable for interested parties, with no painfully tiny text.
Also, avoid using bright imagery that may aggravate viewers with visual conditions (or just people who don’t like being hit in the eyeball, metaphorically). Keep your website both functionally and aesthetically balanced.
Easy to navigate & search
Clients should be able to type in a couple of keywords and find relevant information (articles, audio/video files, and/or social media posts) within your body of work. Portfolio websites should ideally have a search function, so a potential employer doesn’t have to scroll endlessly and hope something catches their eye.
Contains ALL your past work
Traditional portfolio-building wisdom tells us that you only include your best work in your portfolio. However, contemporary employers want quality with quantity. People want to see that you do good work consistently and that you’re prolific in creating great work (in any format) at a decent speed. If you're a content writer, include every possible writing sample you have at hand.
Presents proof of skills
If past clients have given glowing reviews of your work, show that off with pride. If you're the one they come to when they need to create web copy, blog writing, sales pages, or anything that requires the written word, they will likely be happy to say a couple of words in your favor.
Caters to your niche
If you practice graphic design or web design, you need a richly designed portfolio site with visual representation as its reason for being. So, you use something like Adobe Portfolio or build your own website.
Writers, not so much. You can certainly put in the work to amp up your portfolio but bear in mind that clients from different industries value different things in your portfolio. In most cases, employers want to look directly at your previous projects, not your web design.
7 Best Freelance Writer Website Examples That Deserve Your Attention in 2024
Erika Fitzgerald
Erika Fitzgerald’s copywriter website
Erika Fitzgerald is a WFH website copywriter, strategist, and mentor. She works with digital-first brands to create copy that stands out and attracts user attention. To quote her site
Because with over 200 million active websites on the internet today, it takes more than good design alone to stand apart and connect with people. To hook your audience from page one, earn a living, and impact lives doing what you love... you need good copy.
Kelsey O'Halloran
Kelsey O’Halloran has a sharp but stylish portfolio website, reflecting on her years of creating research-based copy with a track record of connecting and converting website visitors. As she puts it: "I help brands take the guesswork out of attracting the right clients."
Her background is in newspaper journalism, so Kelsey knows a thing or two about boiling down complex concepts and pitches into catchy, understandable language. In terms of her portfolio, Kelsey plays it pretty smart while keeping it simple.
A single screenshot with the name and designation of the client, accompanied by a direct link to the website with Kelsey’s copy. This is an excellent way to showcase your copywriting, and if you can do this, I recommend that you go ahead. Kelsey’s work here is fantastic.
Shanley Cox
Shanley Cox is a copywriter and photographer. She works with small businesses, creative entrepreneurs, and digital influencers. Her website mentions that she prefers clients with a collaborative approach who "aren’t afraid to be bold when it comes to their brand."
Kristin McIntyre
Kristin describes herself in a unique way — by delving straight into the money business. She mentions sales copy and conversion formulas and reveals how she went from teaching poetry to writing copy for conversion funnels.
Now I write copy that connects, communicates, and converts.
Her straightforward "About Me" makes her a content who understands the business side of things as well as the creative — an impression that clients will highly value. She also places a well-written testimonial or two, along with case studies so there's plenty of social proof.
Gio Marcus
While this image is not of Gio Marcus' website home page (it is two scrolls below the hero section), I wanted to highlight the way in which she presents her professionalism. She's not stodgy, but she doesn't waste her time trying to be "cool." Like Kristin, she gets straight to the point — she helps her rather well-known clients with sales copy that converts their customers every time.
Gio comes with a list of unusually stellar past clients, who have "written a total of 35 New York Times bestsellers — translated into 190 languages! — have their own Netflix series, are regulars on TV shows, win Academy Award nominations, and are guests of Oprah, Marie Forleo, and Sir Richard Branson." If a client wants to find the best copywriter in a competitive digital market, Gio is very likely to top that list.
Brandon Van Buskirk
Brandon Van Buskirk lets his quirk loose on his main landing page. He seems like a Jack of multiple trades (copywriter, creative business problem solver, and art director), and his web copy reflects exactly that. One look at his online presence, and every business owner will think about giving Brandon a genuine shot.
To quote Brandon,
Beyond foundational and long-term problem solving, I specialize in a few areas of thought – hospitality (restaurants, hotels), caregiving (medicine, insurance), active living (sport, adventure), and technology (communication, laboratorial). I have an insatiable curiosity, so I can research, understand, and write about anything. Some types of writing that I excel at include brand foundation/brand voice, script writing, UX/web experience narrative, and concept-driven campaigns.
Alaina Thomas
Alaina provides a plethora of skills: content writing, email campaigns, social media copywriting, website copy, SEO optimization, and blog content. Her website is clean, and precise and provides the exact information brands like to see.
Alaina doesn't spend much time trying to be whimsical, which is an indicator of how she works — she gets there, gets the work done, and that is her only priority. If you want one copywriter on your team who will say it like it is, and is there solely to put in the best work she can... it's Alaina.
Why Authory can help you create a professional freelance copywriter website (with very little effort)
Authory is a dedicated portfolio builder designed to put together 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 can also use it to import, save, and showcase email and website copy on your portfolio.
These sites are called "sources." You add as many sources as you want, and every single bylined piece from every single source will be imported automatically.
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.
Authory can import content from behind most soft paywalls (as long as it is a bylined piece) and some hard paywalls. However, it cannot be used to import copies of articles, podcasts, and videos you haven’t created or featured in.
There isn’t any need to manually upload/copy-paste your content. That said, if you happen to have any non-bylined content, you can always do so manually in those cases.
Automated backups (never lose your content, ever)
All the content that Authory imports from different sources is saved permanently. You'll never have to worry about losing any of your published work. 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. This is super important because it lets you search through your content database, making it a valuable research tool.
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.
Authory also sends email notifications for every new piece it imports, so you'll always know if something you submitted has been published.
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.
- All imported content can be downloaded as high-res PDFs or exportable as HTML files — no lock-in period.
- Get a custom domain and personalize your portfolio even further.
- Multiple, low-effort options for customization to make your portfolio visually appealing and easy to navigate.
- In-built analytics that provide real numbers on content performance (engagement, readership) across the web and popular social media sites every 30 days. You get to see how your readers/viewers are responding to your work.
- Allows creation of newsletters with a couple of clicks. After setup, Authory will automatically send your newly published content to subscribers.
- Widgets to display your personal portfolio on other sites, such as your personal website (if you have one).
Curious? Get started for FREE and see what Authory can do for you.
