If you are a freelance writer who is trying to figure out the best way to create an online portfolio for potential editors to look over, or you need ideas for marketing yourself in a professional, yet personal, manner, check out Mridu Khullar's website. Complete with links to her portfolio and blog, along with specific resources just for writers, this is an excellent example of how to effectively market yourself and your work.
Key points to why this site works:
- Notice the home page. The author has chosen a format and template that evoke an exotic feeling, while remaining calm and professional. I'd rather see a professional photo of the author, frankly, but this personal one is friendly and makes her appear to be open and truly welcoming the visitor to the site.
- Marketing: see those cover shots? Editors can tell in an instant where she's been published recently...and they are glossies, not little black and white newsletters. From an editorial standpoint, that tells me she's a professional, and she's probably got plenty of clips in her file that will interest me.
- More marketing: check out the portfolio pages! This gal's features are in glossy publications and books that run the gamut from writing magazines to wedding publications to a Chicken Soup book. If you are a specialist, tout it. Become an expert. If your claim to fame is being able to be versatile, show it off like this. An editor who likes your style will be willing to assign you a piece on spec if it is obvious you are willing to do some research, even if the publication isn't in an area you've written for before.
- A free e-newsletter and a free e-course for writers...this is gold! Establishing an area of expertise by teaching those in your own field is much like declaring a major and a minor for your degree. Create two streams of income for your writing by sharing what you've learned along the way; the best part is you'll always have the "minor" to fall back on if the "major" isn't working out all the time.
- The blog: note how Mridu's tone becomes more familiar, but no less professional in presentation. Spell check, keep a clean look, and be yourself. It can be done!
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