After talking to dozens of freelancers, I’ve learned that few things cause more confusion than the topic of setting up a website.

And that’s because most people have all sorts of stories when it comes to creating their freelance writer website.

“I’m just not tech savvy.”
“I’m not good with design.”
“I don’t have a lot of money to spend on a website.”

If you’ve thought any of those things, then I have good news for you. You don’t have to be tech savvy, good at design, or have a lot of cash to spend to set up a freelance writing website.

In this blog post, I’m going to teach you how to set up a website that converts in 24 hours or less. Let’s get started!

My unpopular opinion on writer website

I’ve hesitated to write an article about setting up a freelance writing website for a long time. Why? Because I honestly don’t think it’s that important. (Gasp!)

I think most new freelancers spend way too much time worrying about this. And I know my opinion goes against the grain of what you’ll hear from other well-known freelancers.

But if you’re a new freelance writer, I think you should spend the majority of your time sending proposals and building your portfolio. Your website should take up exactly 5% of your brain space.

The reason you need a website is because it provides a form of social proof. Clients want to see that you’re a real person, you have some experience as a writer, and aren’t going to ghost them after a week.

And I do have potential clients come across my website and reach out to me about writing for them. So having a website is important to a certain extent.

But understand that nobody is going to hire you because you have a nice template or came up with the perfect domain name. You’re going to get hired because you reached out to potential clients and asked them to hire you.

I’ve written for Business Insider, Credit Karma, Quicken Loans, and many other big-name clients and honestly, none of them asked about my website. However, they did ask for some samples of my writing.

So by all means, set up your writer website. But just know that the biggest rewards will come from sending proposals and building your writing portfolio.

What you should include on your website

When you’re setting up your website, it’s easy to get hung up on what the website looks like.

But I want you to understand that your website copy is actually the most important part of your website.

Your website copy is what will connect with potential clients and let them know you’re uniquely positioned to help them.

Here are the main pages you should include on your website.

Home page

Your home page is going to be the first impression a prospect has of you. It should immediately answer their question, “Is this who I’m looking to hire?”

You can answer this question by immediately outlining your prospect’s problem and letting them know how you’ll solve it. From there, you should prompt that person to take the next step and contact you.

About page

Your about page gives your prospects an opportunity to learn more about you. So it’s okay to get a bit more personal on this page but with one major caveat -- you should only include information that’s relevant to the client.

Potential clients don’t care about the short story you wrote in high school or how you’ve always known you want to be a writer. They want to know what relevant experience you have, and who you’re writing for now.

I know it can be tricky to know what to write when you’re just getting started. If you don’t have any writing samples yet, be sure to check out this blog post:

Contact page

Okay, it’s finally happened! A potential client stumbled upon your website, read through your website copy, and knows they want to hire you. Now they’re going to visit your contact page.

My recommendation is to keep your contact page simple. Give the clients one or two ways to get in touch with you and that’s it. Personally, I include a contact form and invite them to send me an email if that’s easier.

3 steps to setting up your writer website

All right, now that you know what copy to include, it’s time to start setting up your freelance witer website!

Here are three steps you can take to set up your website in 24 hours or less:

Step 1: Choose a domain and hosting platform

The first step you’re going to take is choosing your domain and hosting platform. Personally, I recommend setting up your website on Squarespace.

I know a lot of people recommend WordPress, but I prefer Squarespace for a few different reasons. I have set up a website on both platforms, and I found the following advantages from using Squarespace:

It’s easy to set up and manage on your own, especially if you don’t consider yourself to be very tech savvy.
You can customize your site to look the way you want it to look.
It has built-in SEO capabilities -- no plug-ins necessary!
With just one yearly or monthly payment, you get everything you need from the start.

To get started on Squarespace, you’ll create your account first. From there, you’ll click “create a site” and choose your theme. If you sign up for an annual billing plan, a free custom domain is included.

Step 2: Pick your template and design

Now it’s time to choose your template and begin designing your site. One of the best things about Squarespace is that they have tons of beautiful templates to choose from. I recommend using one of the following themes:

Pacific
Hayden
Brine
Hunter
Skye
Bedford

When you’re designing your website, it’s important to keep it simple. Add plenty of whitespace, and don’t go crazy with your fonts or colors.

I recommend picking one or two fonts to use throughout your sites. If you’re unfamiliar with fonts, then just stick with what Squarespace recommends. Otherwise, it’s easy to make your site look amateurish.

If you’re looking for color inspiration, I recommend checking out Design Seeds. Choose two to three colors to use across your site.

Step 3: Add your content

Once you’ve built your pages, it’s time to start adding content to your site! You now have a professional writer website that took you minimal time and effort to set up.

Don’t stress out if you don’t love the way the first version of your website looks, or if you’re worried you didn’t get the copy just right. Your website is a work in progress, and you’ll continue to improve it over time.

The important thing is that you took action and got it done. Now it’s time to go find some clients!

Bottom line

When it comes to building your freelance writing business, your website is just one small piece of the puzzle. I want to reiterate the importance of consistently sending proposals and talking to new potential clients.

If you aren’t sure how to do this, I can help. My free webinar, How to Use Upwork as a Freelance Writer, will give you a step-by-step process for finding high-paying clients online. You can grab your spot here:

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