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!
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