What Should You Blog About If You’re a Freelance Blogger?

In our survey last year, one DailyBlogTips reader asked:

“I sell myself as a blogger so do I need to blog myself?? What would I write about? How to write a blog article? That’s what I do!”

This is a common dilemma for bloggers who offer a writing-related service. Even if you don’t offer writing services, this question raises a wider point: what should you blog about in order to attract clients to your business?

For freelance bloggers, there are three options:

1. Choose a big, popular topic that you’re interested in (and one you’d want to write about). It could be parenting, personal development, food …
2. Aim your posts at people who are fairly new to blog-writing but need help – e.g. the online marketing team of a big company.
3. Don’t have a blog of your own at all – just guest post on other people’s blogs in order to raise awareness about your freelancing services. (You’ll want a website they can come to, though, to find out about what you offer.)

Any of these approaches can be successful, and I’ve used all three in different ways and at different times during my blogging career.

In the first case, you’ll have a great portfolio of on-topic work when you approach blogs in that area. (This is why it needs to be a popular topic, so that you’ve got a good chance of finding paid work.)

In the second case, you’ll attract clients who may hire you so they can go beyond simply reading your tips: they’ll realise you know what you’re talking about and that you can help.

In the third case, it doesn’t matter if your website only gets a few visitors – they’ll be highly targeted (and you may also pick up word-of-mouth referrals).

There’s one mistake you should definitely avoid, though…

…and that’s making your blog all about how to be a freelance blogger.

If you’re getting into freelancing, writing posts like “how to set your rates as a freelance blogger” or “writing articles for clients” might seem obvious. But if you do that, you’ll attract an audience of fellow freelancers – none of whom will want to hire you!

And the same goes for anyone providing a service. Don’t aim your posts at your peers, i.e. people offering the same service as you. Instead, think about who your ideal client is, and what sort of content they want to read.

If you’re new to freelance blogging or if you’re just thinking about the idea, we have two great guest posts from freelancer Tom Ewer on DailyBlogTips: 7 Lessons from a Full Time Freelance Blogger and How to Make Money Blogging (It’s Not What You Think).

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