Many freelance writers understand the importance of having a website presence to attract clients, show off work and make it clear why you are the best person to take on writing assignments. But let’s be honest. The vast majority of freelance writer websites aren’t as good as they should be.

And the truth is, you are up against a heck of a lot of competition. Type ‘freelance writer’ into the Google search box, and you will reveal almost 11 million results. How can you possibly compete when you're new to the business or don’t have the time to work on your site 24/7 for a few months - or longer?

Well, there are a few things you can do that can make a huge difference to your online presence. In today’s guide, we’re going to go through a few simple things you can do today that will - hopefully - give you a better chance of getting yourself some writing gigs tomorrow. Let’s take a closer look at some of your options.

Explain your niche

What kind of writer are you? It’s important to establish your niche and make it crystal clear to any visitor that arrives on your site. Don’t mess around, and make sure your unique value proposition is the first thing that any prospective customer sees.

It should explain who you are, what you do and why someone should give you a shot at writing for them in less than a few seconds. Leave nothing to the imagination, and you’ll find you get better results than before.

Don't know your niche? Here's a guide to help figure it out.

Speed up your site

Another important thing to consider is the speed of your website. A slow, lumbering site that takes eons to load is not going to be good for business. Search engines will rank slow sites low in the results, ensuring you don't get seen. Aim for a load speed of around two to three seconds. 

First of all, think about upgrading your web server - while a lot of writers start out using free services, the reality is that they almost all have speed issues, and it’s worth investing in a service that gives you snappy, super quick response. If you need some assistance, look around for some local cloud migration solutions to help you transfer your data with as few hiccups as possible.

If you are using a lot of images on your site, it can cause severe slow-downs, so make sure you are optimizing every single image for the web, and your site should zip along quite nicely.

Also, nix unnecessary plugins. Plugins can slow speed down dramatically.

Google has a free nifty tool that can tell you how long it takes your site to load and what you can do to fix it.

Test CTAs and headlines

Do you want someone looking at your site to hire you, or at least to get in touch? Then you need to be implicit in telling them that’s what they should do. Creating Call To Action buttons - or CTAs - is essential.

People like clicking buttons, so give them every opportunity. Test your CTAs, too. The idea is to run A/B tests and see which button converts the best - and then keep on improving it.

Finally, do the same for your headlines. Believe it or not, the headlines you use on your website could make or break it. First impressions form incredibly quickly in the online environment, and it’s important to test your work to see what resonates most with your visitors.

Good luck - and why not share your tips in in the comments section below?