Is a question I ask myself each day.
Legendary copywriter Gary Halbert once said plastic surgery made him a world class copywriter. (It was a joke about him getting fat and growing bald due to writing so much.)
But Gary Halbert was hustling in era where he had a whole floor of people folding and licking letters to send by hand across the US.
We can do that today by pressing ‘send’.
In fact, the problem with content today is that there’s too much of it wanting our attention. A great freelance blog writer creates just one of the 4.4 million blogs published online each day.
I’ve written over 1,500 blogs and articles since 2016.
The first half of those were journalism articles. (I’m a trained multimedia journalist with the UK’s NCTJ.) Journalism teaches a writer the rules of writing compelling copy, writing it fast, and writing it factual enough to stand up in court.
But it doesn’t teach a writer to write viral content.
I learned that after the boss gave a bonus to the writer with the most monthly hits on an article. I tried crime, clickbait, showbiz, celebrity exclusives, the works. But the month I got the prize it wasn’t down to the scoop – it was down to following Facebook news groups, Reddit, Twitter, Google Search and cutting away all the fat on content the most people wanted to consume.
The best blog sparked a fire for the right audience at the right time.
The only problem: COVID-19. My wife is Spanish – I’m from the UK but we live here – and I had to choose between risking it on furlough, going back to gruelling night journalism shifts in London, or finding a middle path
I tried revitalising a friend’s website and brought in hundreds of thousands of hits and leads. I became a freelance blog writer on the spot, and have been blessed to continue raising my baby boy with a sea view!
If you’re in the business of helping people live their best lives, we’ll get along.
Here’s some of the top statistics I’ve achieved for freelance writing clients: