Job boards.

Just hearing their name makes you feel a rush of irritation, doesn’t it?

But not all job boards are useless.

In fact, many pro freelance writers still use them, along with several other effective ways to land clients.

Without further ado, here are our top 6 powerful ways to land high-paying clients.

#1: Stalking Your Competition

Nick Darlington, Co-Founder of WriteWorldwide, has recently discovered a very smart technique to access a goldmine of high-paying clients by stalking his competition.

By simply cold pitching the clients of his competitors (after finding them via Google), Nick was able to land several gigs including a high-profile client who paid him $0.20 per word.

#2: Marketing Your Services on Social Media

When I first heard of freelancers landing clients through social media, I wondered, “How the hell do they get clients to chat with them?”

You may have the same idea right now.

But it’s not true.

In fact, gazillions of freelancers land high-paying clients on LinkedIn.

In addition to his post on how to find freelance writing clients on LinkedIn, Richard also shared a breakdown of his winning LinkedIn pitch that he used to land most of his current clients.

Plus, Carol Tice from Make A Living Writing put together a step-by-step guide to getting noticed as a freelance writer on Twitter, and how it helped her guest post on Blogger and land a high-paying client.

#3: Cold E-Mailing

Bamidele Onibalusi and Jorden Roper, two of the most influential freelance writing mentors use cold e-mailing as their main marketing strategy.

A few months ago, Bamidele Onibalusi helped hundreds of freelance writers from all around the globe to land high-paying clients using cold pitching with his Earn Your First $1,000 from Freelance Writing challenge.

Cold emailing has gained popularity in the last few years, and as a result, has become less effective than it used to be. To stand a chance of landing your first freelance writing client you should pitch a few hundred prospects.

#4: Using Junk-Free Job Boards

As I mentioned earlier, not every job board is full of junk.

Problogger Jobs Board, for example, features dozens of quality writing opportunities every week. Not all the offers on the site are high-paying, but you can always find a few high-quality clients in the mix.

You can also reach prospects through other job boards such as Blogging Pro Jobs Board and The Freelance Writers Den.

#5: Guest Posting

Linking to your freelance writing website from a famous blog or publication can take your business to a whole new level. For example, if you’re a freelance writer in the business niche and you publish a post on a famous entrepreneurship publication such as Entrepreneur Magazine, chances are you’ll get at least one or two clients.

Therefore, you should always shape and write your guest posts in a way that will help you attract and land high-paying clients.

Marketing, especially in the digital world, cannot be limited. You can always invent and discover new hacks and techniques to boost your freelance writing business and land new clients.

Do you know any other techniques to get new freelance gigs? Share with us below in the comments section.