Don’t feel bad. I was a big dummy for a long time. After developing and building my writing skills for some years, I figured that I should market myself to everyone.

Sure, everyone can use a writer. Authors need qualified people to copyedit, ghostwrite, and proofread their works. Magazines and other publications need great articles for their pubs. Businesses need help creating brochures and sales materials, and websites need quality keyword articles to perform better in search engine ranking.

But what is your specialty? Do you have one? Lots of freelance writers claim to do and write it all, and it’s true for the most part, hence the terms “freelance” and “writer”.

I wanted to do it all for a long time. I used every avenue possible to spread the word. I created fancy signatures for my emails and made sure I did the same for forum postings. I kept in touch with all my writer friends and put my name out to everyone I knew. I frequently visited writing sites to contribute content and post on their message boards.

These are all great efforts, and the best part? It's free! But unless I was planning to copyedit and proofread for the rest of my life, my efforts were useless. Although I certainly can proofread and edit, the places I was marketing to were full of other writers, which means that no businesses or web entrepeneurs had a clue as to who I was.

Since my specialty is copywriting and web content, I decided to specifically target these people without spending any money. I started hanging around business-related forums and websites. I spread out business cards to everyone I came across at my day job. I wrote dozens of articles on all types of subjects. I posted them throughout the web on reprint websites. Why? Because people looking for articles are generally webmasters, publishers, and site owners. If Mr. GreenThumb of Gardening Ezine decides to reprint my article on rosebushes for free on his website and loves what it's doing for his search engine ranking, he might hire me to do a few other keyword articles.

Of course, free methods aren’t always effective. After all, each business must advertise to bring in customers. As a freelance writer, you are a product of your own business. Spending a little money on marketing isn’t a bad idea. It doesn’t mean that you have to spend a ton of money; it could be as simple as paying a little extra for a featured listing in a web directory, the yellow pages, or newspaper, or writing a few free articles that may somehow reach potential clients. Business cards, brochures, and websites are also small costs that are vital to your freelance writing business.

The lesson: don’t be a dummy. Your marketing efforts are nothing if you don’t present it to the right people. You might as well give the rabbi a crucifix pendant.