Freelance Writing Blogs: Location, Location, Location

Angela Booth’s Fab Web Writer has a recent blog entry on how to attract paid writing gigs via your writer’s site. One of the suggestions is to add your location to every page in your site. Although Booth doesn’t address the SEO value of regional keywords in the article, I do think using them is an excellent strategy–especially for those who live in areas frequently Googled such as Chicago, St. Louis, NYC, Boston, etc.

If you are a freelance writer in Springfield, Illinois, you might not get the same Google power from this tactic as you might from an address in Manhattan, but there is still plenty of networking value. How many other freelance writers do you know in your zip code? Chances are your fellow writers and editors search for other regionally-based freelancers, if only to see who else is out there.

Never ignore the power of NOT living in a major metro area–the isolation factor can sometimes work in your favor. If you are easy to find on the net because of city, state and regional keywords in your site, living in a writer-challenged area could turn into great relationships with editors near you who need the extra help. How many publications, websites and local blogs are in your area? How many freelancers? Making yourself more visible with city and state keyword and related SEO content could result in gigs you never realized were in your own back yard.

For those living in the big city, the Google clout is desirable. Are you taking advantage of these great keywords in your blogs? We here at FZ never thought of it until reading Angela Booth’s blog…thanks for the inspiration, Angela!