Part 2 of How to Find Writing Clients on Craigslist discusses how to find wriitng cleints by browsing the Craigslist Writing Gigs section for legitimate ads.  Part 1, seen here, discussed how to create Craigslist writing ads to attract new clients.

If you don’t have the time–or don’t want to make the effort–to create your own ads to attract new clientele, there is another option: taking advantage of the site’s features to find clients already advertising writing work.

For writers, here comes a legitimate concern: how do you differentiate scammers from trusthworthy, real-paying clients?

First off, I highly encourage you to read my recent blog post on how to spot writing scams on Craigslist.  It has some excellent advice on how to avoid scammers on Craigslist.  Next, you’ll want to know what to look for in a legitimate ad (ads that contain real, honest clients).

Browsing for Writing Clients on Craigslist

To expedite the process of locating good clients, look for the following:

1. The company’s (or if it is a single client, the person’s) website. Most legitimate clients on Craigslist want to share some information about their website or company–sharing a website link eliminates the hassle of having to explain it in the Craigslist ad.  Not all clients will do this, but take it as a good sign if he or she chooses to.

2. A reliable email address. Most–and I must emphasize most–professional websites or clients who own a website won’t use Gmail or Hotmail to handle their business.  Look for professional email addresses, such as person1@abccompany.com or person2@cleintswebsite.com, when you contact a client on Craigslist.  Although some clients do handle business through free email addresses, it’s usually not the norm.

3. Specific information on the cleint’s proposed project. Be wary of clients who won’t divulge the details about their project via their Craigslist ad–sure, some details do need to be private, but it shouldn’t comprimise their security to say if they want a set of articles on diet pills.  Vague ads, such as “Looking for writer to write content for our website”, may be a sign the client is trying to conceal something.  Sometimes the client may actually be a spammer in disguise, hoping you’ll contact him so they can get ahold of your email address.

But does this mean you shouldn’t consider the client’s ad?  No, not at all.  Instead, email the client and politely ask for further details on the project.  If the client is still wary about divulging the deets, it’s time to move on.

Browsing Craigslist for Writing Clients: City by City

Once you pinpoint what to look for in trusthworthy positngs, it’s time to start scouring Craigslist.  It’s not a fast process by any means, but if you do find a client through this process, it does make it worth your while.

Here’s my step-by-step process for speeding up your search:

1. Look for listings by looking through all of the Craigslist sections separated by major city.  On Craigslist.org, you’ll see this listed under “US Cities”.

2. Narrow your search by looking in the “Writing Gigs” section of each major city first.

3. Look for Craigslist writing ads posted within the past three to four days.  There’s a good chance the client is still looking for writers during this time period; any further than this and your luck decreases.

4. If you have additional time after completing this process, check the “Writing Jobs” section of each major city.  Unforutnatley, this section sees more ads for physical writing jobs–a.k.a you need to go to the client’s location to complete the job–but some cleints do post writing gigs in this section.

And that’s all you really need to do to find writing clients on Craigslist.  Remember, keep you scammy senses sharp and search often for the best results.

How to Find Writing Clients on Craigslist is part of WJR’s series on Online Writing Tips.  To see the full series of tips, click here.