You can earn money from both freelance writing and blog writing. If you need money right away, freelance writing is the way to go. Blogging, on the other hand, can produce much higher returns, but it takes much longer to start earning money with a blog.
I learned this lesson early on, even before blogs existed, but I have carried my knowledge forward because it relates well to our discussion today.
I started my writing “career” as a freelance writer. My first freelance job was probably 35 years ago. An older friend of mine, I was about 15-years old at the time, had started a local newspaper. It was a shoestring operation, but he had been working on it for a little more than a year.
He asked if I wanted to make some extra money each week, and of course, I said “Yes!”
At the time there were about 8 bingo games played around the city each week. He wanted me to report on any big winners by talking to the people who ran the bingo games and then write a short article describing the excitement of the games and the winners. He would pay me $25 per week to do this. His eventual goal was to get the bingo halls as advertisers in his newspaper.
I did what he asked and wrote a half-page article about a woman who won a whopping $500 coverall at the VFW Tuesday night game. It took me all of an hour to write, and another 2 hours to speak with all the bingo hall owners. When I gave him the article, he gave me $25 cash.
I did this a few more times, earning $25 just to make a few calls and write a quick article. It was easy money, but being who I am, it didn’t take long to wonder how much I could make if I started my own newspaper.
So, I did. It was a monthly newspaper (what could now be called a blog) focusing on the area schools, all the elementary, middle, and high schools in town. I even wrote articles about private schools. I consolidated all the sporting event times. I had a monthly article focusing on the happenings of all the PTAs. I also chose a couple of students every month to write a big, braggy, stories about their accomplishments, and future goals. The parents LOVED these feature articles.
It was a lot of work getting all the stories written and printed. It was even more work selling ads for the paper. In the first couple of editions, I didn’t make a dime. I even had to use all of my freelancing profits to pay for the printing.
But things got better. A lot better! Restaurants near schools started buying ad space in my little paper. Parents started asking to have their children be the featured student of the month. They even offered to pay, so of course, I accepted.
As things started rolling along, I was making around $600 profit every month after about 6 months. And this is where I circle back to your question. Freelance vs. Blog, Which is Better?
Pros of Freelancing
- The biggest pro of Freelance writing is it gives you the ability to earn money FAST. You can pick up a gig today, write it, turn your work into the buyer, and be paid on the same day. This, of course, depends on the platform you are using to get your gigs. Fiverr, for example, will hold your money for up to 2 weeks before paying you. If you set up your own gig, you can be paid as soon as you finish.
- Pretty much all you need to be a freelance writer is a computer and a connection to the internet. You can work from anywhere in the world as long as you have these two things. So the freedom to work where you want is a big plus for freelancing.
- Work WHEN you want. As a freelancer, you can take as many jobs as you can handle or you can only take a few. It’s up to you. If you want to wake up at 5:00 in the morning, work for 2 hours and then go back to bed, do it. You are in control of when you work.
Cons of Freelancing
- You are trading your time for money. There is only so much you can write and there is only so much you can charge for what you write. So, there is a cap on your earning.
- If you are freelancing full-time then you are on your own for insurance and other benefits that may come from a salaried writing position.
- It can be hard to get good, consistent freelancing gigs. You will always need to be looking for your next possible job.
Pros of Blogging
- The barrier to entry is almost non-existent for starting a blog. Anyone can start a blog (assuming they have a computer). And, it can cost almost nothing, except for that dang computer.
- Blogging is scaleable making earning potential almost unlimited. If you produce great content, you can reach millions of people with just a few blog posts. This audience can then be monetized with ads, affiliate links, ebooks, products, and many, many other things.
- You get to choose what you write about. If you like to cook, you can have a blog on cooking and you pick what recipes to add or leave out. You are not forced to write what others want you to write.
- Blogging is similar to freelancing in many ways, one of the great things about freelancing is the same for blogging. You can work wherever and whenever you choose.
Cons of Blogging
- It takes either a lot of work, a lot of time, or a lot of luck, and sometimes all three for a blog to get traction and start making money. If you need money fast, and I mean in less than 2 or 3 months, minimum then you have to do something other than blogging.
- Blogging is time-consuming. When you start a blog, your goal should be to become an authority figure in that subject. That is the only way people and Google will take you seriously. To become an expert, you need to spend a lot of time researching and doing. You can’t just blindly say something in a blog post and expect people to blindly believe you. In addition to the blog, you will need a presence on other platforms, and that will consume even more of your time.
Putting it Together
Freelance writing is a great way to use your writing skills to make some money. You can even build enough of a client base to freelance as a career, which can be quite lucrative.
You can also use the income from freelancing to pay your bills while you start your blogging career.
Blogging is another great use of your writing skills, but it does have the drawback of taking some time for you to make any money, which, by the way is the number one reason people quit blogging. People have unrealistic expectations of when a blog should start earning.
That is why my advice for you on the matter of Freelance vs Blogging is, Use freelancing to pay your bills today, while you build an authoritative, highly lucrative blogging business.
Thanks for reading and, as always….Earn what your worth…and MORE!
Anderson