Starting A Writing Career On Elance (Part 4 of 4): Creating A Great Buzz Piece

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In the past three articles, we’ve talked about the Buyers you meet on Elance.com, the kinds of work to find, and how to put up a great Elance profile. To wrap up this article series, we’ll be talking about a buzz piece, which can spruce up your profile, serve as a powerful business card, and more.

What’s A Buzz Piece?

Put simply, a buzz piece is a document of valuable information, usually presented in a 5- to 10-page report in PDF format. Freelancers, Internet marketers, and even brick-and-mortar businesses use buzz pieces to introduce their business to the public, helping them collect leads, identify prospects, and ultimately land clients.

Here are a few examples of buzz pieces I can think of, right off the top of my head:

• A ghostwriter who specializes in motivational e-books, and would like to help build the careers of small-time self-help gurus, may write a report entitled “How To Plan Your First Motivational E-book” and offer free copies to small-time gurus in the country.
• An article writer who knows how to gather tons of subscribers for health bloggers can create a collection of articles entitled “5 Ways An Article Ezine Can Establish Your Credibility As A Health Blogger” and offer it to health bloggers.
• A copywriter who helps “fix” unsuccessful landing pages for Internet marketers can write a checklist called “8 Skills You Want Your Copywriter To Have” and attach it to his e-mails to struggling online entrepreneurs.

I hope you can see how a buzz piece works! Your prospects take a look at the title of your piece, and they think, “Wow, I could really use this information,” and get in touch with you. Or they could visit your website and sign up for your e-newsletter.

A buzz piece offers free information, establishes your credibility as an expert in your niche, and attracts interested individuals and companies to your website and mailing list. In short, it’s a fantastic marketing tool that every freelance writer should have!

Your Very Own Buzz Piece

Coming up with your very own piece can very easily take a few days (or even a few weeks!), because you’ll need to make sure it satisfies three (3) requirements:

• Do your clients need — or better yet, WANT — the information?
• Will it make them consider hiring your services?
• And does it establish your expertise in your niche market?

And yes, please do take the time to think of an effective title. The most effective titles start with “how to,” or ask a question, or offer a numbered list of information (such as “5 ways to…” or “7 steps to…”).

It also helps to make your piece as easily readable as possible. You can break things up into chapters, sections, Q&A sections, interviews, stories, and photo captions. And use your own writing style — let it shine!

Oh, and feel free to dedicate a page of your buzz piece for your “bio page.” Here, you can write about yourself, your company, your offerings, and your contact information. While the rest of your piece should be chock-full of useful information, you can market yourself at your bio page without feeling too ashamed.

You can include your fee table too, but I wouldn’t recommend it too much — you might find it difficult to raise your fees in the future, especially if your buzz piece turns out to be a smash hit!

The Advantages Of Having A Buzz Piece

The main advantage for us freelance writers is that creating a buzz piece is FREE! While other Internet marketers struggle to find good writers to compose their buzz pieces for them, we can take our sweet time molding our piece to perfection.

Of course, having your piece on your Elance portfolio is a huge plus when a Buyer happens to look through your profile. The more closely-related your piece is to your services, the more likely they’ll get in touch with you!

But it doesn’t stop at Elance — buzz pieces also have their place in the real world. You can print out copies of your piece and attach a copy to your company profile, your business card, or your quotation. You’ll make an impact at networking events!

That pretty much wraps up this article series. Elance is a great place to find writing work, whether part-time or full-time, as well as to hone your marketing and management skills. Getting started is free — why not give it a try?

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Source by Mike Madrazo