During my time as a freelance writer, I’ve had the chance to speak to dozens of bloggers, entrepreneurs, and clients. Those conversations have often produced invaluable insights and taught me lessons that I would not have otherwise learned.

With the above in mind, I set about interviewing a number of people from different backgrounds for my freelance blogging guide, Paid to Blog. While I felt I could put together a complete guide on freelance blogging myself, I knew that including the thoughts and opinions of others would elevate the course to another level.

Besides many others, I ended up interviewing two of my clients. That’s right folks — I spoke to the very people who pay our bills to discover what they want from us. I thought their perspective would be refreshing and unique when complemented by my own experiences. I was right.

In this post, I’ve selected the most compelling and valuable points made in my interviews with them. Read on to see what I learned! 

For a freelance blogger, especially when you’re just starting out, creating a winning pitch or application may seem like nothing short of a shot in the dark.

What if nobody replies? What if you don’t know what you’re doing wrong?

At this point far too many would-be-freelancers give up, frustrated by rejections and lack of response to what they thought were winning pitches.

Thankfully, developing the pitching skills to achieve a high rate of acceptance doesn’t have to be difficult. By following a few simple tips, you can easily boost your chances of winning in the freelance blogging pitch game.

Here are 5 easy ways to increase your freelance pitch acceptance rate.

Ah, the blog post pitch!

The marketing cornerstone for any blogger who wants to have their voice heard in the blogosphere.

You know you’ve got to put yourself out there but just the thought of it makes your palms sweat. You fear creating something that’s junk in the eyes of a popular blogger: what if you’re not good enough?

You’re afraid you’ll be ignored or even laughed at. Controlling your nerves while writing the pitch is killing you, right? Your confidence is crashing even as you press the Send button…

Take a deep breath. Focus.

Being able to put words together in a coherent and catchy way is important. But to become visible and attractive to a large audience, there are so many character traits a blogger must possess to land that coveted gig or guest post.

Much like an actor auditioning for his big breakthrough. Besides talent and charisma to nail it, an actor needs preparation, confidence, resilience and focus.