Comments on: When Freelance Writers Should Work For Free

By: Dumaji

Dumaji — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 07:31:18 +0000

I think writing free for your own blog is good. As you are promoting your own content through blog and will help you monetize your blog in future.

Sometimes i write guest post for outside blog for generating good backlinks for my blog. But nowadays quality of content on some of the famous blog are going down. The main reason is content is not relevant and nicely written.

I would say if you are getting good exposure for your blog or website. I would always opt for writing free.

Thanks for the good article.

By: John Soares

John Soares — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 22:16:42 +0000

In reply to Lisa Manyon. Great examples, Lisa!

By: Lisa Manyon

Lisa Manyon — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 22:08:24 +0000

It’s never really FREE if it’s time well spent with a clear strategy. For example: Writing an article for a publication that helps you break into a market you’ve been wanting to play with is smart business. Not only do you get exposure to the readers, you get exposure to the advertisers, and your article gives you a reason to further the connection, showcase your talents and add another clip to your portfolio.

Write on!~

Lisa

By: John Soares

John Soares — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 17:17:39 +0000

In reply to Tom Bentley. Great way to use free writing to land clients, Tom. And it was fun!

By: Tom Bentley

Tom Bentley — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 16:59:13 +0000

John, I don’t often write for free, but once in a while it’s helpful. But it’s even better if it’s fun to do the writing. Since one of the things I do is write marketing copy, I read some industry voices like MarketingProfs. Because I love Mark Twain, I wrote a guest post for them a few years ago on Mark Twain’s marketing tips, and with their broad exposure, it got me a couple of copywriting gigs.

I just wrote a parody of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” for MarketingProfs (titled “The (Marketing) Maven”) that took me a while to write, because I was mimicking the meter of Poe’s classic, but using a bunch of marketing buzzwords. But it was fun! They are going to publish it in the next couple of weeks, and there’s a fair chance I’ll get some client attention from that. So, exposure in some circles good; exposure in same while the writing is fun—even better.

By: John Soares

John Soares — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 15:31:30 +0000

In reply to Marcie. Marcie, your free Forbes piece really shows how writing for free can pay off. Good for you!

By: Marcie

Marcie — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 15:25:04 +0000

I was not paid for my article in Forbes, but “How to Write a Captivating Bio” is definitely paying off now. I get at least four requests for bios every month. And I know when someone has read the article when I get a purchase notification from Smashwords.

Also, Karma is a beautiful thing. I wrote a bio for a “seasoned” author who has no website. I truly believe that bio business picked up because of that service. Now, I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I do believe that what goes around comes around, and I’m reaping what I’ve sown.

By: John Soares

John Soares — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 14:41:13 +0000

Anne, I completely agree that free work should not interfere with paid work.

By: Anne Wayman

Anne Wayman — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 14:22:21 +0000

John, I agree. I occasionally write for free for good Karma mostly… but I don’t ever let it interfere with my paid work, ever.