As someone who helps others to become successful freelance bloggers, I encounter a lot of people who are struggling to succeed.
They are frustrated because they feel they can’t get out of a rut in which they are being paid pennies by clients, or because they are unable to find work at all. They even begin to doubt the notion that one can actually make a good living as a freelance writer, despite evidence to the contrary.
With the above in mind, in this post I want to reveal an oft-ignored yet common truth amongst struggling freelance bloggers. It’s probably something you don’t want to hear; in fact, you may have been subconsciously avoiding the possibility that this issue is hamstringing your efforts to succeed as a freelance blogger. Regardless, it may well hold the key to your eventual success.
Identifying Your Reason(s) for Failure as a Freelance Blogger
One of the wonderful things about successful freelance blogging is that you can distill the process into just a handful of constituent parts.
When someone comes to me for help, the first thing I do is break their efforts down into those parts and examine each one individually. If you can get each part to operate correctly, you’ll succeed — that’s the simple equation.
However, it is an unfortunate truth that most people are always in search of the quick fix. That is why most struggling freelance bloggers are interested in figuring out how to write the “perfect” pitch or how to create an awesome “Hire Me” page — those are the two vital elements required for successful freelance blogging that are most easily improved upon.
People are far less interested in what may be the unfortunate truth: that they need to tackle a more complex issue in order to succeed. That does not align with our desire for a quick fix. I know of people who will blindly hammer away at “perfecting” their pitches or endlessly adjusting their rates while entirely ignoring the real reason why they are not succeeding — even if that reason is revealed to them.
If you’re willing to embrace reality then you can begin to turn your fortunes around today. I can’t offer you a quick fix, but I can offer you long term success if you are willing to put the work in.
The Truth About Failing Freelance Bloggers
If you have applied yourself faithfully to your efforts in securing freelance blogging jobs but have been repeatedly faced rejection, the likely truth is that your writing may not yet be good enough.
Most people want to avoid this notion because it can sound pretty terminal. It seems to be commonly accepted that you are either a good writer or you’re not, with no middle ground for development and improvement.
However, the truth is far more promising than that. In reality, your dramatic improvement as a blogger could be secured with just a handful of simple adjustments to your writing technique. While it may take a lot more work than that, either way, the solution should be clear: you need to become a better writer. The sooner you accept that, the better.
Incidentally, this is a reality you should accept under any circumstances. After all, there is no such thing as the “perfect” writer, so we should all strive to improve. Speaking personally, I aspire to be a far better writer than I am now.
The best news is that you don’t actually need to be that good a writer to succeed as a freelance blogger. You just need to know the “rules” of successful blogging and you need to apply them faithfully.
How to Improve Your Writing Skills
If you’re willing to accept that you need to become a better writer in order to succeed as a freelance blogger, I’d say that your chances of success are pretty high. In my experience, self-awareness and a willingness to succeed are vital ingredients when it comes to succeeding.
My first suggestion is to buy yourself a copy of the Yahoo! Style Guide. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it’s is my bible. While it’s not entirely blogging-centric, it is an exhaustive resource for writing web content and includes most of what you need to know.
For more blogging-specific advice, I would refer you to the Successful Blogging guide available as part of my Paid to Blog course. That contains everything I know about writing good blog posts: from headlines, to blog post structure, to developing a voice and more.
Finally, check out my article on the 14 common blogging mistakes that I often observe. Preventing these mistakes represents perhaps the greatest opportunity you have to drastically improve your blogging skills with relatively little effort. Put simply, any writer who avoids these mistakes is invariably a writer that I’m interested in hiring as part of my team.
If you have any specific suggestions for how to improve as a writer (or more specifically, a blogger), please share them with us below!
Photo Credit: racheocity
debashish says
Great post, Tom. I think most aspiring freelance bloggers (including me) are frustrated because we assume that either we are successful or we have failed. But, as you said, it is a long, slow process of continuous improvement. And, it begins with being honest with ourselves. Thanks for the motivation to keep going on.
Happy New Year.
Tom Ewer says
The same to you Debashish 🙂
Tom Crawford says
Valuable advice. Facing reality, and honesty evaluating my own skills is always the key to making improvements. This holds true with all aspects of freelance writing/ blogging.
Unfortunately the idea of innate talent holds a lot of people back.
Tom Ewer says
Quite right you are Tom!
Lisa Byrne says
Tom, this is so true and the basics of it can be transferred to many aspects of our lives.
My world and reality is in helping people become a better version of themselves in the world of physical activity and physical well being.
Talk about a jonesing for a quick fix, yesterday.
I try to bring this to the attention of people:
What do you really want: short term results or long term success.
The word ‘results’ sell but in my opinion it’s synonymous with ‘quick fix’.
Like you said it’s about tackling that more complex issue. Which is deep.
And it is the Work.
thanks for this…it all comes back to self awareness. In anything.
Cheerio~
Tom Ewer says
You’re welcome Lisa, thank you for commenting!
michael says
If you look more closely at the reasons why people need blogs, you might be halfway to becoming a better writer.
wendy mccance says
This is a great article. I like how you stated it honestly. I have suggested this article to my readers. Hope they stop by because your advice is well worth hitting on the link.
Tom Ewer says
Thanks Wendy!
Jawad Khan says
The bitter truth presented with a coating of sugar!
Great post 🙂
Tom Ewer says
Haha, thanks Jawad 😉
Ragnar says
It’s funny, even though I’ve known for literally months exactly what I’m doing wrong, I keep getting sidetracked.. I even started reading more about the subject again, only to realize.. “What I already know this stuff.”
I’ve started with checklists, got an accountability partner, and I just had a brief experiment with beer. As in I was drinking a beer to relax and I thought “Hey I should pitch this magazine with this idea..” And it was painless. Maybe I discovered the quick fix to all my troubles! (sarcams)
I just need to start writing checklists again, and actually commit to them from the first thing when I wake up in the morning. No more pretending this is going to work out all on it’s own, or if I get that course, or if I just read 5 more articles about it!
Tom Ewer says
Sounds like you’re on the right track Ragnar. It is tough though, I feel your pain!
Vukasin says
Too bad I always sucked at writing. It is really hard to pull up a good blog with lot of grammar mistakes. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t manage a successful blog. I’m practicing my writing everyday and I was able to see lot of improvements.
One of the reasons why I improved a lot is that I was reading lot of good blogs that has been written by great writers. Like yours Tom!
Again, your writing rocks!
Keep going!
Tom Ewer says
Thank you Vukasin!
JoDavies says
Great article Tom!!
It’s too true that people often ignore what the real issue is. I love the links that you provided though to improve your writing. They are great tips for people. The only thing I have to add is to improve your writing you just have to keep at it… keep writing… moaning and complaining gets you nowhere! Put yourself out there and your writing will improve and evolve over time!
jo
Tom Ewer says
Quite right Jo!
Ahmad Jenkins says
Great advice Tom, I’ve been working my own blogging skills and find a lot of what you referred to true as far as becoming a successful blogger. I’ve gotten a lot more interest in my work from editors, and blog owners. I look forward to more of what your site has to offer. 🙂
Tom Ewer says
Glad to read you’re progressing Ahmad!
Konrad Sanders says
Nicely said Tom. I think working hard is the key, but following blog writing strategies that are proven to work will really give you a lot of mileage. And that’s why coming here and learning from experts like you is exactly what aspiring bloggers should be doing! Just wondering… is there any point at which you would just advise an aspiring blogger to ‘give up the game’ because it’s not for them. Or can anyone succeed?
Tom Ewer says
I’m not sure I believe that anyone simply “can’t” succeed. However, someone might require so much education and experience that to pursue the path might be folly. Where that line is, who knows!
Fran Civile says
The truth is hard to take sometimes but anyone interested in writing online should appreciate getting so many good pointers in a free article.
Have you considered getting affiliates to sell your course? The $149 price you have now is good enough for an affiliate to be interested at 50% and the two lower prices could be an introductory way to start the sales pitch. I believe the sales could increase enough to justify giving up the 50%.
Fran
Tom Ewer says
Yep — I’m working on it!
Iva Ursano says
Being new here to the Freelance Writing neighbourhood I have to tell you, Tom, that out of all the gurus out there, I continually and faithfully follow you. I love the way you get your point across in easy ways, for us newbies to understand and you aren’t salesy or intimidating. I appreciate that. Your posts are extremely valuable and most helpful! Thanx.
Tom Ewer says
Hey Iva,
Thank you very much for your kind words! Having said that, the last thing I’d call myself is a “guru.” I just hope I can pass on some of the more useful things I’ve learned from my experiences…
Cheers,
Tom