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Freelance Writers vs Bloggers...What's the Difference and Will Writing Software Replace Them Both?
March 9, 2021
Some of you may wonder what’s the difference between a freelance writer and a blogger. There is a difference, and quite a distinctive one too, which we will go into in more depth later in this article. Still, for what it’s worth, if you’re considering a freelance writing or blogging career, you may be on to something.
According to recent studies, there are over 1.5 billion websites and each month at least 70 million new blog posts appear on WordPress alone. Here are a few more statistics taken from Internetlivestats.com and Hostingtribunal.com:
➔There are currently -as of Jan 2021 - 1, 197,982, 359 websites globally. Just think, in 2013 alone, website creation increased by over one third: from approximately 630 million websites at the beginning of the year to over 850 million by December 2013.
➔The Most Visited Websites in the World is a list of global sites with visitors in the billions! One thing they ALL of the sites listed have in common is content. It's something to think about if you're considering freelance writing or/and blogging as a career or side gig.
➔The word “blog” originates from “weblog.” As the name conveys, previously it was simply a way to log your thoughts on to the Web.
➔ Generally, bloggers who publish often (more than daily) have the best results. In fact, 68.8% of the most active bloggers report strong results from publishing consistently. On the other hand, only 12.9% of bloggers who publish less than once a month reported an increase in visitors.
Freelance writers usually write for others besides themselves - more so than bloggers - so it would be more difficult to fit freelancers into a comprehensive statically published equation. In some cases, freelance writers are ghostwriters and receive no recognition for their work at all!
Blogger or Freelance Writer What's the Difference?
What freelance writers and bloggers have in common is that they both write. Moreover, if writing is their full-time gig, they write to earn money, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that.
Both spheres require a great amount of discipline. In addition, writers are most likely remote workers with a home office or possibly a publicly shared office just to break the seclusion that comes with the trade.
Both writers are usually independent contractors in charge of their own administrative tasks. Costs are normally taken care of by the individual which might include equipment for work like a computer, printer, Wi-Fi, website, accounting, taxes ,etc.
Now that we’ve touched on the similarities between freelance writers and bloggers, let’s focus on the differences with their inherent pros and cons.
A Freelance Writer:
-Writes on a variety of topics for businesses or private clients usually taking on individual projects for a fee.
-Is usually more flexible than a blogger and may write in multiple content verticals such as evergreen articles, ebooks, press releases, guides, resumes, product descriptions, etc.
-Will write for blogs as well depending on their preference and skill level. A freelance writer may also have a website and/or blog; however, if they have a blog it is commonly geared towards a number of topics and not a specific genre like bloggers.
-Has adept research skills as they must frequently search for data about multiple topics.
A Blogger:
-Typically specializes in a particular genre like vintage clothing, technology, making money online, world politics, pet psychology, etc., and will often have a blog associated with their particular field.
-May have some type of degree or higher-learning in their field, such as a degree in finance if they write about economics.
-Can command pay. It has been suggested that bloggers charge at least $150 per hour if they are an “actual expert” in their field. For example, a surgeon who blogs for cosmetic surgery sites.
-Can become very well-known perhaps rich and famous like the blogger Rand Fishkin who created a successful SEO optimization blog, turned it into a virtual empire, and raised $18 million to expand his ventures.
Are Bloggers or Freelance Writers More in Demand?
Well, it largely comes down to specialization. Unlike freelance writers who may write about a variety of topics, bloggers will more than likely stick to a particular genre even though they may be versatile within their chosen field. If a company specializes in vintage wines, they will probably hire a blogger with considerable knowledge about the subject rather than a freelance writer, who will probably write exceedingly well about vintage wines, but are not experts in the field as a blogger specializing in that area.
What’s more, many entrepreneurs and marketers are crap at writing so they need someone to be their voice. It’s much like a singer with a beautiful voice but no talent for writing songs. A blues singer will assumedly not hire a songwriter who specializes in classical music. They’d hire a songwriter much like a business would hire a writer familiar with their particular field. Business owners also know that they won’t rank high in search engines without high-quality content.
Oh Yeah, What About Quality Content?
Quality content is imperative in order to rank on search engines like Google and Bing. Both freelance writers and bloggers are aware of this. At one time, achieving web page rankings was as easy as writing the alphabet. Writing skills were not as important. All that was required was to throw in keywords repeated verbatim, add in a few spammy links and presto, it was a wrap!
Well, the party is pretty much over. Today, website rankings are determined by a complex algorithm or mathematical process that analyses over 200 factors. Furthermore, each search engine uses its own algorithm to rank web pages in order to keep rubbish content out. This method provides more relevant results for the user. Because of this and other factors like intense competitiveness, many businesses are deciding to choose writers who specialize in their field.
Both freelance writers and bloggers will find writing work if they put forth the effort and offer quality content.
Is Writing Software a Threat?
Probably not. Writers have been around forever, and if you consider the scope of the Internet and that at least 99.9999% of it is content, you can imagine why writers are in such high demand. Diverse classifications of software has been created to try and erase the need for the human-touch in content, but the software usually falls short. This is because software and/or machines are missing the natural creativity nor have the perplexities of the human brain required to produce genius pros, even with 5G. For chess, yes, for inventiveness, no.
