Freelance Writing vs Blogging; Which is better?

With so many online earning opportunities opening up, it’s not surprising to see an increasing amount of people leaving the old 9 to 5 in favor of working from home. A lot of such people end up doing some kind of writing work (at the start at least), for example blog writing or freelance writing (for websites, individual customers etc.). Although related, the two are entirely different things. This post will focus on the pros and cons of both, and we expect you will make the right decision for yourself after reading this article.

Should I freelance?

Quite simply,  freelancing is doing office work, but at home. Meaning you have to work for an employer over the internet, who will then pay you for your services. Here are some disadvantages of freelancing.

Disadvantages

• Fixed earning – Freelance writing will only get you a fixed amount of money per article. So you will have to keep writing for the cash to flow in continuously.
• Continuous Work – A freelancer needs to work continuously to keep his stove burning. Take a day off, and it’s only your loss.
• Boss Issues – Yes. Freelancers have bosses too. Don’t think you escaped the old guy from office. In fact, your new ‘online’ boss might be more shrewd! That means you can expect him to be unhappy about your work at any given time.
• Deadlines – If there’s one thing programmers and writers hate, it’s meeting deadlines! Employers want you to hand in your complete work by a given time, failing which, you might not get paid.

Advantages

On the other hand…

• Freelance jobs are easier to find than real world jobs.
• No going to office 😀
• Work for as many employers as you like!
• A freelancer, unlike a blogger, can be sure of getting paid immediately after doing his work.
• Freelancing requires no initial investment of any sort.
• No messing your head around with SEO, web page designing, HTML, etc.

How about blogging?

Blogging these days has grown in popularity. In blogging, you basically have to create, maintain, and update your blog, and then earn money via various methods. Here is why you should blog.

The Pros…

• Bloggers have many opportunities – With a blog, you can earn money by affiliate marketing, advertising, selling products etc. There’s a whole lot of stuff that you can do, unlike in freelancing.
• There is no ‘boss-pressure‘. You can do anything you like.
• You can post articles (blog posts) at any time without fear of any deadlines
• Once a blog has a decent amount of traffic, a continuous source of income is set up.
• You gain popularity in the online community
• You increase your general knowledge on topics that you research and write about.

And now the Cons…

Blogging brings about some side effects, however.You should look at these carefully, as they might be of much importance to you.

• Initial investments have to made to get a blog properly set up and running.
• Blogging does not pay immediately. Amount of income (if at all) is determined by how popular your blog is. So you can never be sure what you will get the next month.
• Blogging requires some SEO, HTML and designing skills. If these things are alien to you, either learn them or go for freelancing.
• Blogging takes a lot of time – It takes months or in some cases, years, in achieving a decent amount of traffic.
• Blogging requires hard work every day – You should publish posts daily, or else you are going nowhere with your blog’s ranking. It also requires patience.
• Hard to drive traffic to blogs. You need to be well versed in some marketing strategies to be successful.

What we think?

No one can say the one is the better than the other. But for some people, one of them might be more suitable for them. Generally, if you are looking for a full-time profession, go for freelancing. It will guarantee you a reliable income.

On the other hand, if you have some  time (and patience) every day, think about blogging. But don’t go for blogging if you are hoping for a full-time income. Blogging is for part-time workers. Although you can blog while freelancing. That would be a great idea! And very profitable too 🙂

Hope this helps you out. If you have any questions regarding this post, then feel free to ask 🙂