5 Ways Your Queries Are Killing Your Freelance Writing Career

If you "cold email" webmasters in your niche in an attempt to attract them to your freelance writing service and you aren't getting any nibbles don't just start blaming the economy because it could be your email that is killing your pitch. Here are five tips to help you recognize an out-of-whack pitch and bring it...well..back into whack.

1. You send the same letter to each webmaster and just change the name of the website. You need to sit and craft a query that you think your target will identify with. You need to talk about their website and use a voice that you think they will respond to. Remember, people, it is sales. A-B-C. You would sell a doll to a child using different methods than you would to sell that same doll to an adult.

2. You aren't doing your research. So, great, you are sending Webmaster X a query. Fantastic. Did you Google him or her? Did you check out their LinkedIn profile? Doing these things can give you crucial information about the person you are approaching and can help you tailor that query to them. Imagine seeing a quote on their LinkedIn page by some business guru...they obviously like that business guru-why not work something into your query about how you work within said guru's favorite tenet? Don't be fake, smarmy or sycophantic, find an honest way to utilize this information.

3. You can't back up your claims, and it shows. I can't tell you how many people say they have "proven results" in fillintheblank discipline (copywriting, social media, advertising sales, etc.) and yet, the proof is nowhere to be seen. If you make claims that you have a proven track record of creating successful ad copy, you'd better have some proof, and it better be in your query. It should at least be on your website. Think about all those Twitter messages you get about how you can obtain 50,000 followers overnight. What is the first thing you do when you see one? The first thing I do is go see how many followers that Twitter user has. Almost none have as many followers as they claim they can get you-so they immediately lose potential sales. You can't wrap dog poo up in pretty paper and pretend it isn't dog poo, because it still smells.

4. You don't know what you can offer the person. So you contact a webmaster and tell them that you can make their copy/content/blog better and then you attach clips. Okay...that's nice, but why should they care? What difference is it going to make? What is it going to do for them other than cost them money and pad your wallet? Tell them how you can help them and why your work justifies your expense.

5. You make vague statements about how you will help. "When I revise your content, your traffic will increase and your brand will become stronger." Okay....how? Seriously, you can't just say things and then expect your potential clients to roll over and go, "Oh, okay, freelance writer XYZ said it, so it must be true!" You have to know why and how your claims will come to fruition.

6. BONUS: You are querying webmasters who don't need you. Yeah, sure that keyword-stuffed copy on their website is almost unreadable--but does it work? Does it convert? Does it bring traffic? If so, then you are wasting your time by approaching them. Instead, why not check their Alexa rankings and compare that with their competitors? Not only can you find out whether or not you are redundant, you may also come up with a great angle for your sales pitch.

And yes, your query is a sales pitch.