Q. Should writers still primarily target local markets or has the Web changed that? Having seen all of this take place, what advice would you give a new freelancer who has some published clips and wants to start making real money? Stay local or storm the World Wide Web?
A. I say you’re confusing two things. Forget the online writing sites, if that’s what you mean by “Storming the World Wide Web.” Overwhelmingly, they’re a waste of time, IF your goal is to maximize your income. Yes, the Internet has neutralized geography, so absolutely you can market everywhere, but what I’m talking about is commercial writing (marketing brochures, ad copy, newsletters, web content, case studies, white papers, etc.), not articles (except maybe trade articles).
I still stick to the local market for most of my work, but that’s less a strategy than a logical thing. As you say, it’s easier to build closer human relationships and hence, long-term clients, face-to-face. There’s plenty of work here for me, so I don’t need to go all over the country. Fact is, I have worked with plenty of out-of-town clients over the years (and am doing so now), but they’ve come to me; I haven’t sought them out.
If you’re specializing in a particular industry, then any given geographic area will likely only have a limited number of prospects in that industry, so in those cases, it makes sense to expand to other markets. That would be effectively targeting.
And just a P.S. about your comment, “A few published clips.” What I talk about in my books has nothing to do with writing articles. If that’s all you have, you’re not going to find many commercial clients who’ll hire you. You need to beef up your portfolio with more commercial clips before those kinds of clients will take you seriously. The only exception is if you focus on, say newsletters, trade articles, case studies, or white papers – all of which are, in a sense, derivatives of The Article.