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About 5 years and 291 blog posts ago, I have published an article How I Increased My Organic Traffic By 500% In 10 Months (And Doubled Them In A Year). It was all about ORGANIC TRAFFIC.
And I have explained how I started blogging in 2007 and averaged ~ 300 organic visits a day, and then how I changed my Editorial Philosophy in 2012 and multiplied the traffic by 10x in around 5 years — without spending a penny.
And now in 2020, the blog’s traffic is down quite a lot from its peak in 2017.
SPOILER: It’s got nothing to do with COVID-19. And I never wanted it to happen. Not even in my wildest dreams.
Long-form content (especially long-form articles and blog posts) is currently trending on the web among brands and bloggers because they're proven to bring more search engine and social media traffic.
However, long-form content is not something new. They existed as e-books, whitepapers, guides, etc. for a very long time. It's just that now it's everywhere --- on blogs, e-zines, news portals, etc.
That said, it's also true that our attention spans are getting shorter --- thanks to smartphones and social networks. Long-form content possibly gained its traction among bloggers because of the Google Panda algorithm update because it started rewarding high-quality content and penalized low-quality content (mainly content farms).
Now what's high-quality and what's low-quality? Well, it depends and varies.
There are not enough freelance writers. Seriously. Whenever I come up with a freelance writing based topic, I mention that it's extremely competitive. If there's a writing gig on a freelance writing marketplace such as Upwork.com (formerly oDesk.com), Fiverr.com, or elsewhere then there will be a ton of applicants --- even if it's just a micro-project.
Today I have a perspective that contradicts the statement "freelance writing is extremely competitive". Over the past many months I have successfully failed to hire an affordable writer for this very blog --- no, It's not that I am going to make my blog multi-authored --- I just happen to want to write and publish blog posts in a consistent way.
You might already have noticed that neither do I write regularly nor do I focus on a single topic. I only write about things that I find interesting at that point of time. Therefore I don't have any plans to hire an army of content writers to publish 100s of blog posts a month --- like the Mashables and BuzzFeeds of the world are doing.
I was just looking for someone --- preferably a contributor or an editor --- who could help me finish a blog post much faster. Because now I take several days to finish an in-depth or lengthy blog post (like this one). So I thought I could outsource the "writing" process and focus only on research and editing by myself --- to save a lot of my time and effort.
And you know what happened? It never worked --- at least for me!
If you have been following my freelance topics then you probably know that I'm not a freelance writer myself --- but I wish I were one. However, as you can see I can write for myself but definitely not the way someone wants me to. And yet, I got a ton of writing opportunities in the past --- by way of guest blogging, SEO writing, web content, etc. and I was forced to deny all of it. :(
So what's the point?
Simple! You don't have to be a native English speaker or a best selling author to make money writing.
If you can write, then money can be made. Absolutely!
But no, that doesn't really mean that you can become a six-figure writer in few months/years just because you know how to write few sentences. It doesn't work that way at all!
The real questions are... Can you write quality content? Can you write content that meets the criteria or guidelines set by your client? Can you write error free (both grammatically and technically) content? If your answer is 'Yes' to all the above questions then you can become a successful freelance writer. Guaranteed!
Don't Miss: The Freelance Writer’s Handbook — 75+ Tips, Resources & Guides
First Published: June 25, 2012; Last Updated: Monday, August 27, 2018
Freelance blogging is a great way to make money writing articles online because there is immense demand for awesome blog posts, always! But that doesn't make it easy! The problem is... finding high-paying freelance writing jobs will take time and loads of efforts, especially if you're a newbie. In fact, if you visit any of those freelance marketplaces or job sites, you can see that it's crowded with hundreds of thousands of writers/bloggers. And if you don't have an author profile or pricing that is not attractive enough then your would be clients can easily find a dozen of other writers. Another problem is, content agencies or clients on freelance sites do not pay much. Even if you meet their criteria you may not earn more than $10-$15 per 500 words (unless you are a native English speaker).
I know you are here because you are looking for freelance writing jobs and want to make money by becoming a freelance writer, right? Freelance writing is one of the best ways to make money online from home and you don’t even need a website to get started. That said, if you own a blog (or even a portfolio website) it gives you instant credibility and a lot more exposure because you will be able to showcase your skills and your portfolio.
Okay, let's get to the basics. Who is a freelance writer? Well, a freelance writer can be anyone who writes content for another individual or for a company. And the content can be blog posts, web content, press releases, infographics, ebooks, whitepapers, product descriptions, etc.
Don't Miss: The Freelance Writer’s Handbook — 101+ Tips, Resources & Guides
A blog post by Jim Connolly inspired me to write this very blog post. In that blog post he mentioned about a best selling Kickstarter book written by the awesomest Seth Godin. When people said it took Seth 3 hours to write that book Seth said it took him around 8 years.
Yes!
That’s how long it took him, writing blog posts almost every day, to build a big enough community to reach his Kickstarter target in 3 hours.You know what? It applies to blogging as well.