Hi Melanie,

Remember that your website needs to be geared toward your target audience – and the overall message has to make sure that it makes sense for that audience. It’s not likely that you’re going to find many clients who simultaneously need both copywriting and illustration help since the two services are used in very different arenas. I’d suggest building out separate sites so that, when you’re pitching copywriting clients you’re sending them to the copywriting site and when you’re pitching illustration clients, you’re sending them to the illustration site. That way, you can target each site to those particular types of clients’ specific wants and needs for each service.

Thanks for commenting!
Nicki

In your expert opinion do you think this will work? I want to keep my illustration work going on a very part time basis and supplement with copywriting as I have a knack with words.

I would include a navigation link to my copywriting services and a separate one to my illustration services. I have a blog (illustration based so far) and an about page (geared toward illustration – this would be updated to reflect both services)

Thanks in advance!! 🙂

Hi there! Great question. I wouldn’t overthink it. *Doing the work well* is what will make you a professional, not an email 🙂 I’ve used my Gmail for 10+ years and clients have never mentioned or batted an eye. What clients care about its you delivering great work. You may also be interested in these posts on naming a business: The Big Secret About Naming Your Copywriting Business and How to Name Your Copywriting Business

Thanks so much for the response. I also have one other question:

What is the most professional business email address to have?

1) FirstNameLastName@gmail.com

2) MyBusinessName@gmail.com

3) FirstName@MyBusinessName.com

I wanted to go with Option 2, but that option is not available for me, and I’m not sure whether potential clients would view me as MORE professional with Option 3 rather than Option 1.

I’m not sure whether it’s worth the cost of paying a monthly fee for a custom email address but some sites suggest that your freelance copywriting business will be perceived as more legitimate with Option 3.

Hi! Yes, you can absolutely work with clients completely through email and Zoom! You don’t need a dedicated “business phone line”. Cell phone works too!
Hope this helps!

What do you mean exactly when you say that you don’t need a dedicated phone line? Does this mean that you can work with clients without using a phone at all, and instead just communicate through email and Zoom/Skype?

Thanks in advance 🙂

Hi Bradley,

PayPal still works perfectly well for most clients! There are also a variety of different platforms that can let you put together invoices and receive payments (Wave comes to mind) but there’s no need to complicate things unless you need to offer a more sophisticated way to take payments. Most clients will be fine with PayPal. 🙂

Thanks for commenting!
Nicki

What about taking payments through your site? What are some other methods for billing?
The percentage per transaction rates seem reasonable for some and exorbitant for others. I’m going to have to invoice my clients and I want them to remember how painless I made it for them to part with their money.
I just need some advice about what I should do (not trying to pigeonhole you with a platform recommendation). Thanks so much.

Hi Julie,

It’s great if you can, but not essential. A lot of the hosting sites will make it pretty easy to set up an email address for your URL that you can have forwarded to your primary email address (so you don’t have to constantly be checking two) and that can be a good idea so there’s consistency between your email address and your portfolio but, again, it’s not an absolute must-have. 🙂

Thanks for commenting!
Nicki

Thank you for what you do!!!