Working As a Freelance Writer vs. Writing for Your Own Blog – A Comparison

Internet offers endless opportunities for people who are good at writing. With each passing day, we see the boundaries of cyber world sprawling out as hundreds of new website are launched on daily basis. Almost all of these websites need to have some content, which means the demand for fresh and unique content is more than ever.

There are lots and lots of freelance writing jobs out there, and all you need is to get an account at some of those freelance jobs portal (e.g. Guru, elance, etc) and start bidding, very soon you will be getting the orders from interested clients (given that you really are good at writing). But there’s another option as well, which is, launching a couple of blogs and writing for your own blog, while trying to take it to a level where it will start generating some passive income for you. If done right, both of these options have the potential to become quite a money spinning business, but each has its own pros and cons. Let’s put these options side by side and compare

1. Income

The income from freelance writing work will depend largely on the number of clients you can grab, and for that you need to spend some time on honing your marketing and communication skills. If you are able to get hold of reliable clients, you will be earning some hefty income in next to no time.

On the other hand, whilst blogging do have good earning potential but it will take quite some time before your blog starts getting the kind of traffic that will help you monetize your blog. Good thing about blogging, if a blog gets established, you will be getting the passive income for years to come, whereas freelance writing is a job where you will be getting paid for working. No matter how good is the content, you will get a fixed amount, whereas some of your highly ranked posts at your blog will continue to generate some income even after years of posting.

2. Time

Blogging can be taken up as a part time task, but freelance writing is more or less a full time job. You need to write dozens of articles, blog posts, press releases or any other form of content to earn good. And not only writing, freelance writing will require a lot of management and communication with clients. However, blogging is not as simple as writing an article either, you will have to spend quite some time on keyword research, search engine optimization, and networking.

3. Stress

Blogging might appear a less stressful job because you don’t have to meet deadlines and turn up with the content before the cut-off date (as it is the case in freelance writing jobs). Not only that, but you will also need to do the revisions in some cases. But blogging as an activity has got its fair share of stress. To start with, it will take quite some time before your blog starts getting good enough traffic. For months you will have to write patiently with little or no income and you will have to fight with the urge of dropping the idea altogether.

You will also have to learn about Search Engine Optimization because hardly any blog can survive without getting some support from Google in form of unique visitors. Not to forget the horrifying moments when you discover that you’ve been dropped from a good ranking for some highly competitive keywords (e.g. diamond.com coupons or autotrader coupons) and then the uphill task of trying to regain the ranks.

4. Career

While blogging has good earning potential, it rarely develops into a full time career, unless you are equally good at SEO and marketing, and you are running a network of Blogs. In most cases, blogging can work as a part time job. On the other hand, freelance writing can easily turn into a full time and very rewarding career, especially if you are located in a low cost region.