Most writers aren’t SEO Specialists. But why not?

by Dusten Carlson

January 3, 2021

Writers that neglect SEO are leaving money on the table.

Here’s what you need to know to feel confident that your SEO knowledge is up-to-date and competitive in the freelance writing market.

I recently saw a job post on reddit. “Looking for an SEO expert and copywriter,” it said.

Though the OP admitted they weren’t sure whether they were in the right place, the post went on to list some pretty standard competencies: native english speaking, ability to write blog posts, and “expert in SEO.”

Imagine the OP’s disappointment when they read the top response, which begins, emphasis theirs:

An SEO Expert/Specialist is rarely a writer.

Looking at the title of this blog post, you might be thinking I’m going to pick a fight with this responder.

Not at all. This response is 100% correct.

The responder correctly identifies an “SEO expert” as a distinct role from that of a writer. This is an individual with skills in keyword research, technical SEO, and link building, among other things.

In that same response, the author also clarifies that a lot of writers market themselves as “SEO experts.” The problem is, their skills are outdated or questionable. Knowing how to keyword stuff content isn’t exactly a valuable skill, and it’s definitely not good SEO.

So far an SEO expert is not a writer, and writers are not SEO experts. Check. Agreed so far.

But what I want to do in this blog post is expand on something that the responder briefly mentioned, because I think there’s more to say there.

“A copywriter with a background in SEO, or skilled in keyword placement, usually has only a bit of knowledge about the above.”

This is also true.

But it just brings me to a question.

Why?

Why don’t writers know more about SEO?

And what should writers know about SEO?

(Okay, that was three questions. Bear with me.)

If a writer wanted to, they certainly could become an SEO expert. There are a lot of courses on the web that will teach you skills like technical SEO review, link building, and keyword strategy. As the responder notes, SEO Specialists charge a pretty penny for their services, too.

But that’s not for everybody.

Still, SEO is an in-demand skill that factors into a lot of freelance writing jobs. It’s mentioned as a preferred skill in most gigs we curate at our own jobs board.

And while we don’t have exact numbers on the freelance writing industry as a whole, we can give you a sense of perspective.

There are nearly 40,000 writing jobs on ZipRecruiter right now that ask for some kind of SEO competency.

That means there’s an opportunity here, and most writers are missing it.

Don’t just shrug those shoulders and go “SEO isn’t for me.” Every professional writer has to know something about SEO in 2021 and beyond.

So, what do you need to know?

Step one: Know more than your clients

As someone who runs a digital content agency, let me assure you:

Most clients who say they want SEO writers don’t understand how SEO works.

Some think it’s a magic formula that will make them “go viral.” Most of them understand it’s something they have to do, even if they’re not sure why. They just hear that it creates success, and they’ve heard it enough that there must be something to it.

Precious few know anything about SEO, and even in that group, most of their knowledge is out of date.

This is just one reason why I’m extremely critical of “learn as you go” advice for freelance writers. When I hire writers, a good chunk that sell themselves as “SEO writers” are full of outdated SEO “hacks” at best, or black hat tactics at worst.

These writers aren’t actually trying to trick anyone, either. They think they learned SEO on the job. But their SEO “knowledge” is the result of a bad game of telephone between themselves and low-pay, know-nothing clients that hasn’t changed since 2013.

To recap:

Most clients don’t know much about SEO
Most writers know bad or outdated SEO
This is a vicious, mutually-reinforcing cycle.

This is one reason why the SEO Specialist role that the reddit responder invoked is a real thing.

But as they mentioned, an SEO Specialist isn’t really a writer. It’s a more holistic role. They look at a website’s infrastructure, loading time, user experience, and a bunch of other checkpoints that have nothing to do with writing.

Insofar as they touch content, it’s mostly the look, the formatting, and the readability they care about. They might not know how to create great SEO content, but they know bad content when they see it.

Also, while an SEO Specialist is a real and vital role, it’s an expensive one. And it’s often out of the budgetary reach of a lot of small-to-medium-sized businesses, which make up the bulk of employers of freelance writers.

So what’s the solution for writers?

Know more about SEO than your clients do.

Don’t worry about becoming an SEO Specialist, but you should be the content expert in the client/freelancer relationship

There is nothing more empowering than knowing more about content than your client does.

So many writers look to their clients for instructions on how to do their own job.

This is a byproduct of the “learn as you go” model.

Skip that model. It has only lead to burnout and heartbreak for both clients and writers in the freelance market. You don’t need it.

Does this mean we’re telling you to become SEO Specialists?

Like we said above, you can if you want! But that’s not what we’re prescribing here.

Instead, your goal as a freelance writer should be understanding more about how SEO works (and your role in it as the writer) than your client does.

Being a content expert is about calling balls and strikes when your client asks you for questionable deliverables or to implement sketchy strategies.

If a client asks you for some reassurance that the content you’re writing them will “trend” or “rank,” you should feel confident saying something like this:

“Well, SEO success for you is going to have a lot more to do with things like continually publishing SEO-optimized content, your domain authority, the amount of backlinks you get over time, your site optimization, and a bunch of other stuff a writer doesn’t do. It’s not 2013 anymore, writers can’t really promise instant success. Google is too smart. What I can promise is the SEO-optimized content part, based on your SEO strategy. The rest, you might have to consult an SEO Specialist or do a little homework on.”

You, as the writer, should know how to write SEO-optimized content.

But there are no quick wins anymore. SEO requires a holistic, consistent approach.

As the content expert, knowing SEO in 2021 and beyond is about knowing what you’re responsible for and what you’re not responsible for.

Good SEO requires good content. You, as the writer, are a critical part of that and cannot be replaced.

But it’s time to change the paradigm in the freelance market:

Clients need to be educated on the difference between good SEO and bad SEO.
Writers need to understand what they are and are not responsible for in SEO, and help educate clients.
And, writers need to write the killer SEO-optimized content that helps clients succeed.

What do writers need to know about SEO?

If you want to upgrade your profile as a freelance writer and beat out all the schmucks selling SEO snake oil, I have two pieces of advice for you:

Understand how SEO works holistically (so you can confidently explain what you are and are not responsible for).
Learn how to write SEO-optimized content (you’ll be much more impressive to employers if you can format and optimize your own content).

Learning technical SEO might not be your cup of tea. I get it.

But anyone can understand how Google works, what is involved in SEO, and who’s responsible for what.

You don’t need to design keyword strategies and identify ranking opportunities. That’s a different job.

But you should know best practices around using keywords, headline optimization, web readability, and formatting.

Those aren’t mystical digital skills you can’t learn. They’re basically the same principles of copywriting that professional writers have used since the dawn of time.

Don’t promise anything you can’t deliver. Be honest with clients. The only way to climb the ranks in Google Search is with high-quality content over time.

But that assumes the client’s site is SEO-optimized (read: NOT your job). If it isn’t, that will hold them back, but that’s not your responsibility.

If your client has a bad content strategy for ranking pages, that’s also not your responsibility (unless you’re being paid to design the content strategy).

Being a content expert isn’t about knowing everything there is to know about SEO. But it is knowing enough about how it works to understand the writer’s role within it, and where to advise your client to help them succeed as they improve their overall SEO.

If you want to learn more about SEO, and the writer’s role in it, you can check out our paywalled guide here. We’re also rolling out a course that covers SEO writing in more depth in a few months. You can sign up to be notified when it’s available here.

Career Help

Is freelance writing a good side gig?

by Dusten Carlson

December 7, 2020

Trends continue to show growth in freelance markets, but is a writing side gig all it’s cracked up to be?

This post will help you understand the opportunities in the freelance writing space, and point you in the right direction to get started.

How we work is changing fast. A recent study by Upwork showed that the freelance market has outpaced the overall workforce since 2014. It also suggests that freelancing will constitute the clear majority of the workforce within a decade.*

Whether you’re a working professional who has transitioned to remote, a college student looking for experience, or a stay-at-home parent trying to enter the workforce, millions are exploring freelancing options for making extra cash.

But maybe you’ve heard horror stories about freelance writing. Shady employers that ghost without paying writers. Being trapped in a “content mill” writing low-quality content for pennies.

There are plenty of posts like that on reddit and Facebook. If you’ve seen them, you just might be wondering whether freelance writing is all it’s cracked up to be.

Is freelance writing a good side gig?

If you want an opportunity to make some extra cash, desire a flexible schedule, and can find space to work at home, freelance writing can be a very rewarding pursuit. But don’t go searching for jobs just yet. Many new writers lack the skills employers are looking for, which can result in a rocky start to your side career.

There are a lot of perks to being a freelance writer. You work from home, your schedule is your own, and you can pursue writing in fields you either have subject matter knowledge about from your education or career background, or simply find interesting, whether it’s pop culture or a personal hobby like gardening.

But making the wrong career decisions early on can lead to burnout and frustration. If you want to avoid those landmines and improve your chances of finding the kind of success you’re hoping for, read on.

Why freelance writing?

We cited some broad statistics about freelance market growth at the beginning of the post. But the numbers get more interesting the closer you look.

Though economic trends suggest that many are turning to freelance work out of necessity, the majority (61%) became freelancers by choice, and 51% say they wouldn’t go back to a normal 9-to-5.

Even if professionals turn to freelance to meet a short-term financial need, many find that the freedom and flexibility associated with a freelance career beat having a boss.

How hard is it to find work? About 25% of freelancers in the same study said that they can find a gig in a day.

You can be stuck in a bad job for months or years until you manage to make a change. Whereas in freelancing, moving on from bad gigs to the next thing is a weekly, if not daily, occurrence.

Of course, freelance writing only encompasses part of the freelancing space as a whole. There are graphic designers and web developers, and workers like rideshare drivers that make up the $1 trillion freelancing market.

Why should you look to freelance writing for opportunities?

For starters, the barrier to entry is a lot lower than computer coding (but it’s not zero — put a pin in that, we’ll talk about it in the next section).

The earnings vary depending on experience and what kind of work you do. But to give you some idea of what to expect, statistics from Upwork show that content writers on their platform earn between $15-$80 per hour.

There’s also a ton of low-hanging freelance writing work. You just need to know where to look for the right opportunities.

If you’ve already done some searching, you might have an impression that the only freelance writing jobs are at low-pay content mills or writing technical copy you need a PhD to understand.

Where are the good jobs? The jobs that are closer to $80 an hour?

In content marketing.

Content marketing as an industry has shown consistent and significant growth year over year for the past five years.

Content agency CEO and industry thought leader Julia McCoy notes that businesses see the value in content, and are continuing to invest heavily in it. She goes so far as to call content marketing “the future of marketing.”

There’s an incredible amount of diversity in content marketing, as well. Not only are there jobs available in every industry you can imagine, but the variety of assignment types is impressive as well.

Content marketing writers create:

Blog posts for brands and businesses
Email copy for marketing campaigns
Product descriptions
Website content
Case studies
Video scripts
Social media content
And more.

If you’re feeling like content marketing isn’t for you, don’t click off just yet.

I meet a lot of new writers who seem crestfallen when I talk about opportunities in content marketing. “That’s not really the kind of writing I want to do,” they say.

Many are creatives with dreams of writing novels, screenplays, or comics. Some are hoping to build a name for themselves in opinion writing for magazines and digital publications.

I tell them the same thing.

“That’s great! Keep at it. But content marketing pays the bills.”

Helping a company tell their story and sell more widgets might not set your soul on fire, but it’s widely available work that pays well.

Whether you want to launch a career as a freelance writer or are just looking for a profitable side gig right now, content marketing is where it’s at.

But don’t rush out and start applying for jobs just yet.

How to get what you want out of freelance writing

It’s probably safe to assume that you want to know more about the $80 an hour writing jobs, not so much the $15 an hour writing jobs, right?

The problem is, those gigs are competitive.

But just because they’re competitive doesn’t mean you can’t get them.

As freelance writer Alice Genes notes, writers should worry less about competition in the freelance writing space and focus on increasing their “hireability” instead.

As an employer of writers, I couldn’t agree more.

The freelance writing market is absolutely oversaturated. But it’s oversaturated primarily with unqualified writers.

I’ve managed a digital content agency for the last five years. Whether I hire for a big brand content marketing project or a new media outlet writing listicles about cat memes, well over 90% of the applications I typically receive are unusable.

It’s not that the applicants are just not good fits for the job. It honestly seems like most of them are from people who decided to “try it out” and put out a few applications. “I’m willing to learn,” many say, without providing any samples, much less links to a writer portfolio or previous work.

A lot of new writers just assume writing is easy and anyone can do it. They don’t seem to really connect with the idea that freelance writing is a job, and that freelance writers are skilled professionals.

If you take one thing away from this blog post, it’s this: don’t go applying for jobs until you have the skills employers are looking for.

Good professional freelance writers are actually hard to find.

But it’s only these few professionals who have put the time in to understand SEO, copywriting, formatting, and more of the skills today’s employers really need to make their content marketing projects a success.

So, how do you get what you want out of freelance writing? Ideally, the $80 an hour jobs you want for extra cash, to justify going freelance writing full time, or to pay the bills while you pursue your passion projects?

It starts with professionalism. It starts with skills development.

Freelance writing is a real job. Treat it like one.

More resources

If you want to go deeper into the topic of becoming a freelance writer, check out our free How To Become A Freelance Writer guide.

You should also check out our free video course, which gives an introduction to the skills writers need to be successful.

Lastly, if you’re ready to start finding your first gigs, you can check out our Jobs Board which curates gigs from all over the web, and also hosts unique jobs from ProWriter employers. If you’re looking for bylined gigs in industries you want to make a name in, try searching our Submissions portal.

Also, our newsletter “Who’s Hiring?” will send the top jobs to your inbox each Monday. Sign up for that here.

Finally, if you have any questions or feedback for me, you can reach me directly on LinkedIn.

*Bear in mind that this study was published two years before the COVID-19 pandemic, which some experts have argued will accelerate certain economic trends. To wit, more recent analyses have shown millions more Americans finding freelance work for the first time.

Career Help

5 smart tips for first-year freelance writers

by Dusten Carlson

August 17, 2020

Freelance writers need to make the right moves in their first year to set themselves up for a long, rewarding career.

In our experience as freelance writers and, later, the employers who hire them, these 5 things make the biggest impact on a writer’s long-term success.

The day you decide you want to try and make money as a writer kick-starts a whirlwind 12-18 months that treats most writers like a kite in a hurricane.

Just in case you think I’m picking on you, I’m putting myself in that group, too. I had no idea what I was doing. I wrote free articles for a short-lived local Nashville music paper nobody read, thinking somehow someone at Gannett Media would notice me and give me a prestigious column somewhere. And if they could do it sooner rather than later, that would be great. The rent is due.

It didn’t happen. Instead, I waited tables and wrote tons of “trending news” content for various sites, worked 10-12 hours a day, every day, and eventually, gave up for a normie 9-5 desk job.

Sure, I kept up with some freelancing on the side and eventually found my footing, but at that time in history, 12-18 months in, a success story in the industry I was not. And that’s because at that time, in my early 20s and fresh out of college, I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

This is not an uncommon story for freelance writers. Recent data on the market is pretty bleak, with a majority of freelancers making less than $10,000 a year and very few who make it to year three without giving up.

Still, it is possible to claw your way to the top tier, make a good living, and not one that requires 80 hours a week to accomplish.

But how?

We’ve written at length about how hard it is to find good information on becoming successful in freelance writing. There are hundreds of millions of articles about freelance writing online, but how many of them are really, truly helpful?

What if you don’t want tips on building your own website, or vague advice like “just sit down and write!” How do you start making money now, and, what things do you need to do in that first year to keep your earnings increasing into year two and beyond?

In my experience as a writer, and more importantly, someone who eventually made a career out of hiring them, here are 5 tips that, if I could go back in time to that Nashville-based waiter/wannabe writer, I’d give him.

He did find his feet eventually. But he could have done it a lot sooner, and made many fewer mistakes.

If you’re considering a career in freelance writing or are stuck in your first year, I hope these tips help you as well.

In this post we’ll cover:

Why your portfolio is your career’s secret weapon
Securing recurring work from satisfied clients
Complimentary skills to develop and how

Let’s go!

No. 1: Use your real name

I do not know what it is about a pen name that is so alluring. I think maybe it just makes you feel more like a writer.

Of course it doesn’t actually make you more of a writer. And it might unintentionally hurt your career.

Let me explain.

As someone who has spent a good chunk of their career in this space hiring writers for various projects in every conceivable vertical (for publishers, for brands, for marketing campaigns, you name it), I can’t tell you how many times I’ve received an application from someone I couldn’t verify.

This means, they send me a pitch on their services, but I can’t find them anywhere else online.

This application always ends up in the trash.

Employers don’t have the time to roll the dice and take a chance on someone who can’t provide proof of concept. We’ll get into how your portfolio plays into this later on, but first and foremost, be a real person with a digital footprint. Not having that in this day and age is a red flag.

Now you might have good reason to not want to be published under your real name. That’s fine. But don’t conceal who you are from the person hiring you. Once you get the job you can let them know your byline preferences.

But on that note…

No. 2: Get bylined work early

A lot of newbie freelance writers get stuck in low-pay ghostwriting work early on.

It might not be right, but it’s normal. I can’t change the game, but I can help you play.

One of the best ways to break out of this part of the market is to seek bylined work as soon as possible.

Ask current clients for bylined opportunities (the worst they can do is say “no”), submit to sites that allow for an author byline, and if worst comes to worst, self-publish a bunch of content on Medium or elsewhere that looks a lot like the kind of writing you want to make a career out of.

Slowly but surely you’ll build up your clips.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Ask current clients for bylined opportunities. The worst they can do is say ‘no.’ #writingtip #writingcommunity” quote=”Ask current clients for bylined opportunities. The worst they can do is say ‘no.'”]

From an employer perspective, ghostwriting clips aren’t worth much, especially for higher-paying gigs. You only need to hire a writer who stole good ghostwritten clips from someone else once. Thereafter, you’ll always be skeptical of writers who can only provide ghostwritten content.

Believe me, this happens a lot, and it drags the whole industry down.

If you’re committed to publishing under a pen name, just make sure you get bylined consistently with that pen name. Those still wouldn’t be preferred clips for me personally, but it’s better than the alternative.

No. 3: Strategically build a portfolio

I cannot stress enough the importance of a writer portfolio. We take this so seriously at ProWriter that we built one that writers can use for free.

Your portfolio is not a museum where you hang trophies. It is the most important tool you have. It’s more important than a good pitch. It’s more important than nailing an interview.

Employers get bombarded with hundreds of applications, and most of them are from writers who are not qualified for the gig. So these employers, busy with their other responsibilities, have to optimize how they work through applications. And for the most part, the portfolio is the first place they start.

They need proof of concept. They need to see you can write.

Will any ‘ol portfolio do? No. I’ve seen hundreds of applications with links to Google Drives and Dropbox folders containing Microsoft Word documents that are articles the applicant supposedly wrote for some client.

How can I, as an employer, know that this is something the applicant wrote, or that a client even accepted and used it?

I can’t.

It’s much better if I can see something published somewhere under your name. If a client of yours liked your content enough to publish it with your name on it, you must be the real deal. Even self-publishing on Medium shows me something a Dropbox link doesn’t. It’s not easy to just rip off someone’s writing and put it up online somewhere, especially with how sophisticated plagiarism checkers are getting.

Your portfolio is key to your success, and every link you can put in it with your name on it is a building block in the fortress of your career. Find bylines jobs, do a great job with anything with your name on it, and get a portfolio to show it all off. It makes it easier for employers and it makes you look a lot more professional.

No. 4: Make the ask

The number one thing writers can do early to start building a steady, recurring client base is this: when a job is done, ask for more work.

That’s it.

Don’t say “let me know if you ever need a writer again.” Say, “do you have another job you need my help on?” Don’t split the difference and hope they call you. Get a “yes” or a “no” (a “let me poke around and email you in a week” is fine too).

This is not an obnoxious thing to do. You’re not putting your client out by asking for more work.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”‘The number one thing writers can do early to start building a steady, recurring client base is this: when a job is done, ask for more work.’ #writingtip #writercommunity” quote=”The number one thing writers can do early to star building a steady, recurring client base is this: when a job is done, ask for more work.”]

Let me tell you a few things from the employer side of this point:

Whenever, whenever, a writer has asked me for more work, as long as I was happy with the work they did, I either found something for them to do or passed them on to someone who needed a writer.
Whenever, whenever, a writer has said “keep me in mind for future jobs,” even if I was happy with the work they did, I forgot all about them.
Out of hundreds of writers I’ve worked with in my career, I can name the ones who consistently ask me directly for more work on one hand. ONE. HAND. And I always go to them first. That means just asking is a HUGE advantage.

Yes, you will hear a lot of “no.” But “no” doesn’t kill you. Just move on, keep asking, you will hear “yes” enough to build a client list.

No. 5: Seek out complimentary gigs

On any number of jobs boards you’ll see part-time gigs for things like “part-time editor” or “communications/marketing intern” or something. While these jobs might not be your dream gigs, I highly recommend a few months in as many different content production roles as possible.

Writing tweets as an unpaid intern for 10 hours a week right now doesn’t sound that exciting, and writing press releases for small companies might sound pretty dull too, but these are good gigs to cut your teeth on early in case a better (paid) opportunity comes up later.

A part-time editor position should be paid and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Learning content production from that side of the table will make you a better writer a lot faster than your competitors.

Final thoughts

There’s no changing the fact that the first year for many freelance writers is a slog.

But don’t get stuck in a rut. Use that time to flatten your learning curve and you’ll be ahead of 90% of the market.

Most importantly of all, do good work. Especially if your name is on it.

If you don’t have a writer portfolio, you can set one up through ProWriter for free here. If you’re looking for your first gigs, you can check out our jobs board or follow us on Twitter where we post writing gigs daily.

Happy hunting!

ProWriter Freelance Economy Covid-19 Survey

Uncategorized

This is how freelancers are managing unique COVID-19 challenges

by Dave Polykoff

April 14, 2020

We asked over 1,000 freelance writers all over the world how they’re doing in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. They also shared:

Industries where the work has dried up the most
How freelancing will change 3, 6, 12+ months from now
Pearls of wisdom for younger freelancers unsure of what to do

It’s been several weeks since the COVID-19 pandemic radically changed daily life the world over. Most of us are sequestered in our homes adjusting to new realities and trying to stay healthy as the story continues to develop.

While the complete effect of social distancing on both the spread of the virus and our economy is not yet fully understood, many are out of work and facing an uncertain future with more unemployment claims filed than at any point in our history.

Out of the millions of workers impacted by the pandemic, freelancers are in many ways among the most vulnerable.

From “gig economy” breadwinners to contractors with revolving sources of income, widespread economic shutdowns do more than just compromise earning potential; they leave exposed professionals who don’t have the same protections salaried or even hourly employees may be able to take advantage of.

That’s why we wanted to do a quick pulse check on the freelancer market.

We sent a survey to over 1,000 freelancers, mostly professionals working in content marketing, graphic design, writing, and editing. Responses came in from affected countries all over the world.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”ProWriter sent a survey to thousands of freelance writers to see how this pandemic is affecting the gig economy. Here’s what they said…” quote=”ProWriter sent a survey to thousands of freelance writers to see how this pandemic is affecting the gig economy. Here’s what they said…”]

They gave us a boots-on-the-ground look at what kind of work has dried up or picked up, how concerned they are about their finances, and what kinds of opportunities they see on the other side of the pandemic.

Many also offered great advice for freelancers less secure in their careers who might be struggling.

If you’re a freelancer reading this, hopefully, you’ll come away strangely encouraged (we did) and if nothing else, know that you are not alone in what you’re facing right now.

How hard has the freelance market been hit?

Roughly half of the respondents (46 percent) said that they had lost work due to economic slowdowns caused by the pandemic. Many freelancers told us that steady work had started to dry up or that contracts fell through at the last minute.

“I’ve had one digital marketing client that was just on the cusp of signing a deal and has now completely stopped responding to me,” said one of the respondents.

For others, the loss of work was absolutely devastating. “Eighty percent of our retainer revenue was lost in 48 hours,” said one agency marketer. “We have several content creation contracts and every one of them canceled (hopefully temporarily) because of closing their businesses.”

(Click the image above to share to Twitter)

Like so many others affected by the outbreak, many freelancers are worried about their financial prospects.

Half said that they do have some emergency savings. But a majority of those without a nest egg are looking at limited options.

For example, roughly 56 percent of freelancers we surveyed do not have full-time employment elsewhere to rely on when freelance opportunities dry up. Among that cohort, 64 percent do not have a partner’s income or family help to fall back on, either.

Despite these numbers, only 23 percent of respondents said they are somewhat or extremely concerned about their professional income and earnings prospects during the course of the pandemic.

What freelancers are saying:

“Frankly, this has been a positive shift for me career-wise because it’s forced me to think more creatively and take some risks.”

— Jana, Portland OR.

Nearly 37 percent were only moderately concerned, with the rest feeling fairly optimistic.

Though public stimulus policy will certainly help the struggling cohort, most of the freelancers we talked to had what we can only describe as a kind of noble grit about their situation.

“Dwelling on stress doesn’t actually make the problems go away,” said Jessica, a full-time artist and writer in Mexico City. “If you’re not making money and there’s nothing you can do about that, put your energy into a passion project. Doing that will only make your life better.”

Where is the work right now?

Many businesses are in the midst of making difficult cuts to stave off recession hardships. Because of this, it’s tough to get a real idea of the actual economic impacts on various markets right now.

Still, many of the freelancers we talked to saw work diminish in some of the same industries. Others pointed out impacts that may become a bellwether for other freelancers looking for work.

Most respondents said their online publishing gigs (ranging from “celebrity puff pieces” to viral listicles) had either reduced workloads or disappeared overnight.

(Click the image above to share to Twitter)

Other markets that seem to be struggling include travel, food service, and nonessentials. One writer remarked that the hospitality industries are “practically non-existent right now.”

Casey, a writer and editor based in Ontario, said that the legal field has been a surprise casualty. “Work based on legal decisions is drying up fast because most courts and administrative tribunals have stopped hearing non-urgent cases.”

Some writers said that while direct client work had taken a hit, agency work was still flowing. A Vermont-based writer said that they have more work than ever.

“The content has changed to go with the times, but more and more people are online, so I have more work,” they said.

Rita, a freelancer based in Chicago, said that while she’s moderately concerned, she hasn’t seen a dip yet that falls outside the norm. “Last week, I had almost no work. This week, I’m overloaded again. It’s about the same as usual; feast to famine and back every other week.”

What does the future of freelancing look like?

One of the questions we asked freelancers is how they think freelancing will change, both during and after the pandemic.

We asked for both positive opportunities they see, as well as fears and anxieties (not directly related to their health) keeping them up at night.

The responses were polarized. Freelancers seemed evenly split between optimistic outcomes and worrying challenges ahead.

What freelancers are saying:

“There is work, but you must go out and build relationships to find it. And for the love of everything, stop taking less than 5 cents per word.”

— Elizabeth, Nashville TN.

In the positive outcomes camp, many saw the economic disruption as an opportunity for the freelance market to grow.

As businesses adapt to remote work, they’ll find that freelancers are an excellent and cost-effective resource they can turn to for a variety of jobs they may have relied on in-house, salaried workers for.

Many are also seeing a surge in demand for content related to the pandemic itself.

“As a writer, there are a host of opportunities to write about COVID-19 and all of its impacts. Demands have actually gone up,” said Gary, a writer based in Los Angeles. “There seems to be no shortage of demand for content, so I am keeping extraordinarily busy.”

But many freelancers are worried that massive layoffs will create more competition as formerly-salaried professionals begin seeking freelance work.

“I think (worry, really) that a lot more people will be working from home, and that the platforms will be flooded with new talent and people willing to work for less,” said Jessica, a freelance writer and editor from Coudersport, PA.

What freelancers are saying:

“You have time now, and lots of it. Build your portfolio. Write that fiction story you’ve had tumbling around in your mind for years. Journal your thoughts in a daily or weekly blog.”

— Jeanette, Boise ID.

Industry vets like Keith, a freelance writer with 18 years’ experience, worries that writers just starting out will have a harder time. “The competition just got a lot harder. The crisis might help well-established freelance writers. Anyone else might find it difficult to land gigs.”

However, some writers, though moderately concerned, think there will be an opportunity to make up for lost time. “I really believe that the economy will surge after this,” said Alicia, a part-time writer based in New York. “I am hopeful that I will make up any lost income.”

What younger freelancers should be doing

Lastly, we asked the full-time industry vets to provide some advice for the freelancers who are just starting out, haven’t built up a reliable client base yet, and might be more worried about their prospects.

Many responses recommended that new freelancers focus on new opportunities and keeping busy.

Ultimately, we identified 5 key takeaways from the responses for freelance writers to focus on:

(Click the image above to share to Twitter)

Though it might be tempting to make compromises to keep the lights on, some responses cautioned against this.

“Stay calm, showcase your talents clearly, and don’t reduce your rates just because of the current global situation,” said Jake, South Africa-based writer. “You’re worth your rates (probably even more than your rates). Don’t belittle your worth simply due to an epidemic.”

Some respondents who work with freelancers suggested that this might be the time to carve out a niche.

“Specialize!” wrote Jason, a Marketing Strategist from digital media firm Mediastead. “There are hundreds of thousands of freelancers hustling for $50 jobs writing blog posts. The more niche your services, the more likely you will get high dollar value monthly retainers.”

Above all, most veterans wanted younger freelancers to feel reassured that there will be a tomorrow.

“Don’t panic.,” said Mandy, a writer based in the UK. “Every year there’s a time where work load is low. What we do know is that this will be over at some point.”

How to keep the conversation going

At ProWriter, our mission is to foster support for freelance writers by establishing a community designed to increase their knowledge and skills, build reputations for quality and professionalism, and establish rewarding careers.

Our thanks go out to everyone who participated in this survey. Efforts like this help us engage with the real challenges facing freelance writers so that we can better serve our growing community.

We’re always looking for feedback on how we can help freelancers with the problems they are actually facing. If you have some thoughts or feedback, or want to get in touch with us, you can do so here.

Getting Started

These Tips Will Make You Better at Landing Blogging Jobs

by Dave Polykoff

February 3, 2020

You’re focused on earning a bigger paycheck as a freelancer, but you can’t find clients. Or when you apply for jobs, someone else is selected for the position.

Those situations aren’t fun, but they don’t have to bring an end to your writing efforts.

While finding clients can feel overwhelming, there’s no reason to panic. We’ve got a brief list of things that successful bloggers do to land more work. Some of them may work for you.

Engage in job boards

In order to apply to jobs, you’ve got to know who is hiring. That’s where job boards come in. They offer an indispensable service for writers because they collect a list of potential clients all in one place.

As another bonus, most of the listings on job boards clearly state the details of the job including the focus area, the word count, and what they’re paying. That makes things more efficient for everyone.

If you see the perfect job, act fast.

There’s a lot of competition for the best jobs on a job board. If you see one that’s a good fit, don’t sit on it.

It means something to a potential client that you’re eager enough to be one of the first respondents to their ad.

In addition, sometimes they receive so many answers to a job post that the first ones they read make the biggest impression on them. Everything else is a blur.

If you get in early, you’ll have a better chance of being considered.

Put your best foot forward in your application

There are a few ways to make a stellar impression on your application. For starters, when you’re responding to an ad remember that everything you write for your application is a sample of your work. Be sure that these are clearly written and error-free.

Secondly, when you’re writing your cover letter, don’t shy away from showing off all your expertise.

Are you great with SEO? Do you have a working knowledge of WordPress? Do you have a track record of creating engaging content with metrics that back up your claim? Mention it.

Include samples

You also want to make sure that each application includes samples of your work and/or a link to your portfolio. Don’t skip this step. It shows you’re experienced, capable, and ready to take on their job.

Before you know it, you’ll be developing your blogging client list and you’ll have just the amount of work you were hoping for.

Getting Started

How Much Money Do Freelance Writers Make?

by Dave Polykoff

November 18, 2019

The Surprising New Trend with High Earning Potential

It’s becoming more and more popular to be a freelance writer in the gig economy. The industry is being flooded with potential. From stay-at-home-moms to young professionals to travelers, the freedom that freelance writing provides is endless.

But how much does a freelance writer actually make a month and/or year? You may be surprised at the writer earnings potential. Take a look at some of the information provided below to see if you should leave your office job and start freelance writing.

The Writer Salary Facts and Figures You Need to See

In a study conducted in 2015, most freelance writers were making over $50,000 annually. Many facts and figures have been released to provide freelance writers an idea of rates and market value. Some of the most successful freelance writers had very consistent marketing of their talents and skills.

The potential for higher writer earnings all depends on what you want to accomplish as a freelance writer. If your goal is to escape office life, travel the world, and write during your free time, then you may take a bit longer to receive a higher writer salary. However, if you want to build a brand and take on more difficult writing pieces, you may climb that freelance salary ladder a bit faster. In 2017, more technical writers have reported a writer salary over $70,000 annually.

How to Stand Out Amongst the Freelance Writers

Clients looking to hire a potential freelance writer for their project are looking for experts. In order to earn more, you have to stand out as the best. This will support higher rates and increased business. In addition, as a freelance writer, you will need to invest time, energy, and some money into yourself. You will need to treat your freelance writing career as a business whose success is dependent upon the dedication of its owner.

A writer’s salary is not earned overnight. However, if you choose to leave your full-time office job to follow a more flexible career doing something you enjoy, then fully dedicate yourself to that decision. The more effort you contribute to your freelance writing the more benefits you will reap in writer earning potential.

Content Strategy

2020 Writing Trend: More Content

by Dusten Carlson

November 7, 2019

By their nature, trends come and go and are rarely permanent. For freelancers, there’s one trend currently in play that may be here to stay: the trend towards longer-form, higher-quality content.

This is content that starts at approximately 1,200 words and can range to as many as 10,000 words. It is, polished, nuanced, creative and likely to stick around because it can offer some great benefits to brands, consumers, and freelance writers.

Brand benefit: Better SEO, more leadership positioning

The first benefit of longer content for brands is fairly straightforward: more length allows for more space to include keywords that give content a higher search engine ranking. Ideally, that translates to a higher number of eyeballs and elevated attention for a product or service.

What kind of keyword frequency increase are we talking about?

Depending on how it is written, a smaller article may have a handful of keywords while something longer can include a keyword as much as 15 to 20 times.

The second benefit of longer content is that it allows brands to place themselves in a leadership position within their industry. The added length allows them to highlight their expertise as they present their knowledge on a subject in detail.

Audience benefit: More information on a given topic

One of the biggest benefits to longer-form content is the opportunity to provide an increased amount of information on any given topic to audiences.

With added pages for an article, writers can include an additional story or statistic that they wouldn’t have had the room to place in a shorter-form piece. This allows the audience to gain more knowledge and to more deeply understand the nuances of an issue.

Writer benefit: Deeper storytelling

For freelance writers, a longer requirement for content is like a deeper sandbox where they have the chance to use a range of “toys” to help audiences understand something in a new way.

They can play around with descriptions and examples, use creative metaphors to make a point, and experiment with word choice a bit.

They can also weave in quotes and information from experts that contribute to a fuller development of their story.

Writer Tip

How to Find Images for Freelance Writing Work

by Dave Polykoff

November 4, 2019

As a freelance writer, there are many challenges that you face in your pursuit to provide a powerful product for your clients, especially if you’re trying to keep your costs low.

One such challenge is finding the right images that will add context and value to your content without breaking your bank.

The following is a quick and dirty overview of how you can find images for your clients:

#1 – Use Royalty-Free Images

Royalty-Free images are stock photos that are a part of a service like Shutterstock, Getty Images, and iStock. You pay license one time and then can use it as much as you’d like. Searching for the perfect image is easy, as there are numerous photos on most any topic and featuring all sorts of people, animals, products, places, and more. If your budget is limited, this option may be a bit pricey — if so, reach out to a sales rep and see if they can give you a deal. Sometimes they are willing to work with small companies and freelancers.

#2 – Public Domain

There are some images that have copyrights that expired or never existed. You are free to use these photos for both personal and commercial use. Just make sure you understand that public domain laws are different for every country.

In the United States, public domain images are free to be used throughout the world. When using an image, make sure you read their disclaimers. Visit Flickr Commons, USA.gov, 1 Million Free Pictures, Free Stock Photos, and My Public Domain Pictures to find tons of great images.

#3 – Creative Commons

Creative Commons refers to image licenses that are free to use but have restrictions based on type. Types include Attribution 3.0 and Zero.

Attribution 3.o images can be found on:

Zero images can be found on sites like:

As you navigate through the realm of finding images, try to think out of the box. Have fun with the process, and you’ll be amazed at how thankful your clients will be!

Career Help, Writer Tip

Simple Tips to Keep Freelance Clients Happy

by Dave Polykoff

October 24, 2019

No two freelance clients are alike. Any freelance writing veteran can tell you keeping clients happy can depend on a number of factors, including a company’s size, the industry, or personalities involved. Still, there are a few tips for keeping freelance clients at peace that seem to apply to most of them.

Deliver on Time

Always meet given deadlines seems simple. Make it a habit by properly planning ahead, and this super-simple tip pays dividends on a broad scale. Remember, time is money in business, so lost time equals lost money.

Know Their Wants

It can seem easy to get a topic and keywords and go off to the races to deliver. Not so fast: first you should truly ascertain what the business does, and what it wants. Knowing the end goal should help in producing the content, whether its more leads, more sales or just more attention. Acquaint yourself with all the client information you can to truly know the audience and purpose of the content.

Provide Quality

It seems a no-brainer, but learn to be consistent in weaving in search engine optimization best practices into colorful and engaging content, and you limit opportunities for complaints. Think how your client’s audience might type phrases into search engines, and lace that into paragraphs.

Compete Well

Along the lines of No. 3, go the extra mile to ensure your content uses top-quality, credible sources, and information from high-traffic websites to solidly back up your writing. Properly research topics, validate your work and compare well with the many other freelance writers out there.

Communicate

Never hesitate to ask clients questions if you have them, and try early on to establish an easy and comfortable line of communication. It doesn’t have to be lengthy conversations, either. Send one-line progress reports, ask a question well before deadline, or just post-submission feedback to keep communication lines robust.

Finally, try to go above and beyond what is asked. Spend extra time to consider what clients may need or want next. Simply suggesting new topics can do wonders toward making freelance clients happy. And nurturing satisfied clients keeps jobs coming and helps bring even more work.

Writer Tip

How Grammarly Can Make You A Better Writer

by Dusten Carlson

October 17, 2019

All professional writers would love to be complete masters of grammar. However, creating flawless first drafts isn’t a natural skill. Producing nothing but error-free work is nearly impossible. Even those who are well-practiced at proper grammar can still make handfuls of mistakes in their work.

Although applications like Microsoft Word can catch grammatical inconsistencies with a fair amount of accuracy, they don’t necessarily help improve your relationship with proper grammar across the course of time.

One superb program, Grammarly, could be your long-term solution to not only correcting your grammar upfront but learning how to avoid mistakes and write more effectively in the future.

How does Grammarly work—and how can it make you a more adept writer?

No first draft is perfect.

However, writers often struggle to look at their own work with a critical eye. That’s what makes Grammarly such an essential tool for writers—it helps you recognize your mistakes and turn any first draft into a grammatically-polished gem. From exposing misused punctuation to pointing out misspellings to identifying errors in sentence structure, Grammarly ensures that your final drafts are free of any errors that turn audiences off of your writing.

It’s extremely easy to use.

Signing up for Grammarly is completely free (unless you want to upgrade). One phenomenal feature of Grammarly that competitors haven’t matched is that you can plug the application into your Google Chrome browser. Grammarly will then help you with your grammar, vocabulary, and general writing across all online platforms, from your work emails to your Google Docs files.

How does it work? Grammarly jumps into action while you write. The platform catches grammatical errors in real-time and suggests a number of thoughtful solutions to improve skewed sentences, misused vocabulary words, and incorrect usage of punctuation.

A major plus of the program is that Grammarly is both highly useful for improving individual pieces of work and for helping you achieve artistic success in the future. In addition, the application can help you develop essential skills for constructing well-written pieces on a deadline.

How does the solution-based application help you become a more skilled writer over the course of time?

Grammarly helps make your writing both error-free and effective.

The application doesn’t merely seek out issues with the simple grammar of your work. A unique feature of Grammarly that sets it apart from other grammar-checking software is that it also helps you find ways to improve the pre-existing, grammatically-correct writing on the page.

For example, if Grammarly notices a string of words that could be more concisely summarized in one word, it will suggest that you replace them in order to make your work more succinct (i.e. suggesting that you replace “a great number” with “several”).

Features such as these (i.e. recognizing a need for conciseness) can help you produce writing that communicates more effectively and is consistently engaging. In addition, as Grammarly reinforces practicing effective sentence structure, word choice, and punctuation, it’s training your brain to recognize how to make more effective writing choices on your own in the future.

Grammarly Premium offers even more ways to improve.

If you choose to upgrade to Grammarly Premium, you’ll be treated to a plethora of useful features that can vastly improve the quality and content of your writing. Grammarly Premium has all of the same tools as the free version, yet includes features that can take your text from great to outstanding.

These include suggesting thoughtful and unique vocabulary words to replace bland ones, scanning your writing for genre-based stylistic choices, detecting plagiarism, examining your document for readability, and much more.

The upgraded version also provides logistical insight about your writing process (number of unique vocabulary words, your average sentence length, etc.) and facilitates access between yourself and a human proofreader ($.02 per word). The prices for Grammarly Premium currently sit at $29.95 per month for a monthly subscription, $19.98 per month for a quarterly subscription, and $11.66 for an annual subscription. While you may feel that this application is a bit pricey, it’s difficult to place value on an application that is a virtual editor, a grammar checker, and a writing coach, all in one.

Final thoughts

Grammarly can help you improve both your finished pieces/works-in-progress and expanding your writing abilities, making it one of the best grammar-checking applications available on the market.

Not only does Grammarly help you improve your writing in real-time; the application also enriches your writing skill-set over time.

Whether you go for the free or paid version of the program, Grammarly’s reinforcement of proper and thoughtful grammar, sentence structure, word choice and more is certain to help you become a more effective, succinct writer in no time.