3 Things A Freelance Writer Can Learn From A Blogger

March 29, 2012

Over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed more than ever that people are talking separately about bloggers and writers. I’ve always known there has been somewhat of a difference between the two — it’s often said a freelance writer can be a blogger easily, yet a blogger can’t be a freelance writer easily — but I’ve not openly seen lots of comments or discussions about it.

One comment in particular I read on a blog post last week made me stop and think, as they basically explained why, as a blogger, they love blogging but could never be a freelance writer. That was arguably the first time that I’ve sat up and realised just how much of a gap between the two there can be.

Perhaps naively, I’ve always thought there wasn’t much a freelance writer could learn from a blogger, as most freelance writers I know blog.

Looking through some of the comments and discussions in recent weeks, however, I’ve noticed a number of things freelance writers can learn from bloggers and these three are what I’d consider to be the most important.

1. Bloggers are passionate

One of the most obvious differences between a blogger and a freelance writer is passion. There are plenty of passionate freelance writers out there who truly love what they’re doing, but this very often comes second to their business mind and I believe freelance writers — me included — would choose working on a generic piece that pays great over a poorly paid piece they’re really passionate every day of the week.

And understandably so — freelance writers are in business.

Whilst there are some bloggers who will have their business hat on first and foremost, I believe the majority write primarily because they love the topic. Finances do come into it and this becomes more and more obvious as a blog develops, but from the very moment they start blogging, it’s obvious just how passionate the blogger is — and this helps tremendously when it comes to everything from the blog’s reach to its on-going development.

2. They truly understand their audience

I’m not saying here that freelance writers don’t understand their audience — they more often than not do — but the problem with freelance writing compared to blogging is you can be working on two or three completely different projects at once and you’re understanding of one potential audience could easily, but wrongly, overlap with another.

Bloggers very often just focus on one audience first and foremost and ensure they understand their needs and expectations as best as possible before moving on to another audience. Due to this, they are therefore able to deliver the most appropriate content they can, improving customer satisfaction and increasing customer engagement.

3. Speaking their mind is very rarely an issue

In terms of freelance writers, I’m not talking about the work produced for clients here, but what is actually said to clients before any work is secured.

Bloggers say what’s on their mind. They’re not often afraid to take a step away from the masses and say what they truly believe, explaining what they feel, rather than what they believe people want them to feel.

For new freelance writers in particular, how many can actually say they’ve approached a client and said what they wanted to say? Asked them straight up for the price per word they would like, rather than what they think they want to hear? How about providing timescales that although possible, will mean they’re up all hours?

Bloggers may have a platform upon which they can shout about their personal thoughts and it’s understandable that as freelance writers, to a certain degree, we can’t say something too controversial for risk of it affecting our business, but we should never be afraid to push forward and go for something that we really want — whether that’s a project, money or even respect.

I haven’t created this blog post to make a divide between bloggers and freelance writers and I simply want to highlight the fact that, as bloggers are often expected to learn from freelance writers, there’s actually a lot that freelance writers can learn from bloggers.

Image: xkcd