There are several “non-writing” skills that make you more attractive to potential clients.

To uncover them, I spoke with people who work with freelancers and asked about what they look for when hiring content creators.

Here’s what they had to say.

1. Ability to work independently

Clients and editors value freelance writers who don’t need a lot of hand-holding.

“Writers need support and direction, but they should not need hand-holding after writing a few articles,” Owen Larkin, President at SnowPak.com said. “I need people who can do work without requiring a lot of my time.”

Clients and editors pay you to write, sure. But the underlying reason for them hiring you is to make their lives easier.

They want someone who can handle their content needs to free up time for them to run their business or publication. If you’re always reaching out with questions or issues, you’re doing the opposite of why they hired you.

Strive to be more independent when you’re working on an assignment.

Figure things out by doing your own research instead of asking the client or editor. Got a question about a company? Check their website, read their press releases, or look at their help page. Need more info on an employee? Visit their LinkedIn profile.

The key is to minimize unnecessary emails or phone calls.

Another way to avoid too many clarification emails is to scope out the work thoroughly at the beginning of the project. Determine the information or resources required to complete the assignment, then ask relevant questions early on.

Just be careful not to ask too many. Sending someone a long list of questions can be a turnoff. I usually stick to three to five questions when I scope out an assignment, and I phrase them in such a way makes it easier for my client to answer.

For instance, instead of asking, “What tone or style would you like me to use for this piece?” I would say, “I noticed most of your content is written in a casual tone. Would you like me to adopt the same voice or style for this post?”

This way, they can just respond with a “Yes” or “No, and here’s why…”

Keep this in mind for your next assignment. Rather than bombarding your client or editor with a ton of questions, do your research first. Or better yet, map out the project thoroughly in the beginning, and phrase your questions in such a way so they’re easier to respond to.

2. Industry knowledge

All the people I reached out to said domain knowledge or experience is a key factor in their hiring decisions.

“Between two freelancers with equally good writing skills I’d choose the one who has experience in creating texts on the topic that I need,” said Anastasia Sidko, Content Manager at SEMrush. “It is especially important when it comes to technical or very specific texts — deeper knowledge of the subject would be a significant advantage for the writer.”

You’re better off covering just a few topics instead of trying to write about anything and everything. Find your niche and own it.

When you specialize, you become an expert. And clients are willing to pay more for services rendered by an expert or thought leader, rather someone who just dabbled in their industry.

Being an expert also enables you to earn more per project (or per hour). If someone pays you, say, $400 to write an article, and you know the topic so well it only takes you an hour instead of two to finish the post, then you’re essentially making more per hour.

3. Nurturing the right connections

In addition to industry expertise, who you know can also be key to getting hired.

Poornima Apte, former Editor-in-Chief at Specialty Retail Report and GIFT SHOP Magazine, said that she often prioritized industry knowledge and connections over writing ability. “Editors can always fix poor writing but connections to sources are invaluable.”

Great content — and great client or editor relationships — can’t exist in a vacuum.

To take your writing and freelance business to the next level, you need to network and get to know other people outside your comfort zone.

Get on the radars of industry experts and influencers. Attend events. Connect with people on LinkedIn or Twitter. Take part in Twitter chats, meetups or other social programming in your industry.

If you’re working on an assignment, find ways to connect with real people instead of just doing research on your own. For example, instead of relying solely on Google, why not find and interview an expert to quote in your piece?

It takes more than writing talent to become a successful freelance writer.

If you’re struggling to land gigs, do an assessment of your own “non-writing” abilities and see if there’s anything you need to work on. Perhaps you need to communicate better. Or, maybe it’s a matter of narrowing down your niche. Be honest with yourself, identify your shortcomings, then take steps to improve.

Can you name other “non-writing” skills that can help freelance writers land gigs? Share them in the comments.

But this strategy, known as direct marketing, can be intimidating if you haven’t tried it before. Most of us don’t like marketing ourselves because we’re afraid to appear sleazy. Who wants to come across like one of those pushy door-to-door salespeople?

Here’s the truth: direct marketing is awesome.

While you may already use blogging, referral programs and social media to strategically position yourself in the market and allow customers to come to you, you can’t rely solely on this inbound marketing to get new business. If you want more clients, you need to use direct marketing: reach out to them instead of waiting for them to come to you.

Make sure that your direct marketing efforts make an impact by using the following strategies.

Do your research

Don’t just blindly send out emails or marketing messages. Look up every business or individual that you want approach. What’s their background? What are their goals? And more importantly, why would they need your services? Find out everything you can about your prospects.

For instance, whenever I reach out to a business to offer my writing services, I make sure to check their website, read their blog, view their latest tweets, etc. This research ensures that I’m totally clear on how I can help them and whether they’re a good fit for my business, and leads into my next step.

Direct your messages to a specific person instead of a general mailbox

Make sure the right people — the decision-makers — see your message. When pitching your services to a larger company, it’s best to approach the marketing department instead of customer service or the general mailbox. If you’re dealing with a small business or startup, the company’s founder is usually a good bet.

Go back to your research and figure out your ideal point-of-contact. Look them up on LinkedIn and Twitter, then figure out the best way to approach them.

Personalize your approach

Use the intel you uncover to customize your message. Show the prospect that you did your research by mentioning company-specific information or referencing recent blog posts or tweets. For example, if you read that the business recently won an award, include a note of congratulations in your message. Your thoughtfulness will impress the client and they’ll be more inclined to respond.

Quick tip: To easily find information about your potential clients, check out Rapportive, a nifty browser plugin for Gmail that shows handy social information about your contacts right from your email interface. While you’re composing an email to Jane Doe, the plugin will display her social media accounts, blog, and recent tweets, so you can quickly find info that you can use to personalize your message.

Be specific and sincere with your compliments

Flattery will get you nowhere — true or false?

Compliments can further personalize your pitch and help you get off on the right foot with your client — as long as you’re being genuine.

A good way to demonstrate your sincerity is issuing specific compliments. Don’t just say “cool website!” or “I love your company.” Be more detailed. What exactly do you like about their company? Which particular website features do you love?

Giving genuine and specific words of praise will help you make a stronger impression and increase the chances of hearing back from the potential client.

Offer tailored recommendations

Go beyond the compliments and tailored messages to show exactly what you can do for the client. Give them useful information that will help them improve their content — no strings attached. (Click to tweet this idea.)

It’s a powerful client outreach technique because it’s incredibly effective. Personal finance and behavioral psychology author Ramit Sethi calls it the “Briefcase Technique,” because you’re pulling an incredible menu of ways you will help the client right out of your briefcase.

Before pitching one prospective client, I studied their archived blog posts, then suggested headlines, topics and even some formatting tips.

The result? The prospect got back to me after a few weeks and hired me to write eight blog posts per month.

What are your best tips when it comes to approaching potential clients?

Topic fatigue is normal, and it can happen to any writer or blogger whose work depends on the ability to to come up with unique content on a regular basis.

If you’re having one of those “I can’t think of anything to write about” or “All my ideas suck” days, try taking a breather for a few hours or even a day to let your creative juices kick back in. If that’s not an option (read: looming deadline), check out these online sources that can serve as goldmines for article ideas:

LinkedIn Groups

Look up your target audience on Linkedin and join the groups that they belong to. Once you’re there, read the latest discussions in each group and take note of any questions or concerns that you can address.

For example, this guest post for Lifehack about freelance writing entry points was inspired by a question that I saw in one of my LinkedIn Groups.

Plus, mining Linkedin for article topics can also give you a networking and exposure boost. Once you’ve published your article, remember to share the link within the group discussion to answer the original question!

Blog Comments

This idea comes from freelance blogger Sophie Lizard. One of her favorite idea generation methods is to read through the comments of her blog posts and take note of any questions that she can answer or comments that she can build on.

“When I publish a post, somebody will pop up and go, ‘This is really cool but I wish you wrote more about this and that’, and I’ll go ‘Okay, then I will.’”

Clever, huh?

Go back and read the comments of the previous entries on your own site or on your guest posts and see if there any reader questions you can answer. Also consider whether there are any additional discussions, anecdotes, or points that you can write about.

Sites that make stuff go viral (BuzzFeed, Reddit, Upworthy, etc.)

Read about the events that are making waves in the mainstream realm and try to relate them to your topic. Being able to come up with a post that’s somehow linked to the latest box office hit, viral video or [insert most recent celebrity/political scandal here] will help you kill two birds with one stone.

Adding a timely element will help you get rid of your topic fatigue and be able to come up with an article. In addition, since people are more likely to read and share content related to trending topics, you’ll be able to increase the reach and traffic potential of your post.

Your inbox

Okay, so if it’s a really slow news day and you can’t find a good enough trending topic to write about, consider taking your search closer to home. Browse through your own inbox for any interesting conversations. Did a colleague send you something funny recently? What are the most common questions that you get?

Perhaps you can share a client success story and write about how it happened or how you did it. Case in point: Last month, I sent out an email that helped me land a new freelancing client. It was a big win for me, so I was feeling pretty proud of myself and I wanted to share it with the world. So I wrote about my experience, pitched the article to another site, and my post went live a few days later.

Let ideas come to you

You don’t always have to go looking for article inspiration. If you set up the right systems, you can have ideas landing on your lap on a regular basis.

If you haven’t done so yet, set up Google Alerts for specific topics or search terms in your industry. This nifty service sends relevant search results straight to your inbox whenever Google indexes a new page pertaining to your search terms, so you’ll always get a heads up whenever something new comes up in your field. (Hat tip to Carol Tice for the idea.)

You can also subscribe to industry mailing lists to receive curated news bits and events in your niche. For instance, since I write for many companies in the startup and eCommerce realms, I subscribed to StartupDigest for my weekly dose of startup news, and I signed up for IRNewsLink, Internet Retailer’s newsletter, to keep track of the latest stats and news releases in the eCommerce industry.

What are some of the mailing lists and newsletters in your niche? Find them and hit subscribe.

Bottom line: There are plenty of ideas to go around

Don’t let the slow news day bug get you down. Know that there are always new angles, topics, and events that you can write about. Finding them is just a matter of keeping your eyes and your mind open. (Click to tweet this idea).

You can also think of it this way: Having trouble coming up with new topics to write about can be a sign that you need to take things a step further and level up as a writer.

Perhaps you’ve found ideas in the same places and exhausted your resources. Or it could be that the communities or thought leaders that you follow just don’t fit your knowledge and expertise level anymore, and you need to join better groups or learn from more challenging books and courses.

In any case, if you’re stumped on what to write about, it doesn’t help to dwell on it. Instead, see it as a wake-up call to challenge yourself and explore new things.

How do you find new ideas during slow news days? Share your thoughts in the comments below!