Is content writing still a good way to make a living nowadays?
This is the question most people trying to break into content writing or those currently waist-deep into the industry ask. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a simple answer. There are lots of factors that come into play and must play into your hand if you want to find a modicum of success in this field for years to come.
In this post, I’ll try to untangle the web of information regarding content writing from my experience this year. I’ll share things I’ve done amidst some of the challenges I’ve encountered as a writer, which is a lot.
Ultimately, I should be able to help beginners decide whether this career is still worth pursuing. The same goes for intermediate and even experienced writers on how they can get more clients and increase their income.
A Quick Introduction About Myself
Before we begin, why in the world should you listen to me?
Though I’m no influencer or any of that sort, I have been deep in the weeds as a content writer, with 15+ years of experience writing for niche site owners, consultants, and agencies. I started in 2007, making $10 per 1,000 words writing for article marketing sites (ezinearticles.com, anyone?).
I slowly but surely worked my way up the ranks as a content writer, having worked with SEO big-whigs like Steve Toth (SEO Notebook), Charles Floate (who personally recommended me as one of the content writers he trusts in his Legiit post), and Chris M. Walker (you know, that guy). This isn’t to name-drop people, but hopefully, this shows that people trust me with their content needs.
That said, content writing wasn’t and still isn’t a walk in the park. I’m constantly finding ways to generate more clients and increase my business. It starts with developing an appetite for writing articles and guides about various topics daily.
Unfortunately, the grind is made much harder this year, more than any other year I’ve experienced.
So What Happened? ChatGPT Happened
Early this year, I was earning a steady stream of income from content orders I received from various clients. Life was peachy, and everything was going better than I expected.
However, weeks into the new year, there’s an AI tool that people in the industry have been discussing. They said it can answer any query you ask with a well-written response. In fact, people have been using it to create content from scratch in minutes at no cost to them.
Initially, I didn’t think much of ChatGPT since it didn’t affect my earnings. But it was also around this time when some of my clients either stopped ordering from me or fired me from the job.
In just two months’ time into 2024, I started from having around six writing clients to just two clients left.
Now, I’m not here to put the blame solely on ChatGPT. After all, correlation is not causation–just because ChatGPT took the industry by storm around this time doesn’t mean it’s the only reason I lost some of my clients.
But when a content agency like Niche Website Builders (Make Lemonade) filed for bankruptcy this July and its founder cited "[t]he steep rise in AI content resulted in an incredibly quick decline in revenue," it’s difficult not to feel worried about the whole situation. This also goes for other freelance writers I personally know who lost jobs due to ChatGPT’s popularity.
If a big and successful agency failed to make ends meet due to AI content, am I in for a rude awakening?
Quick answer: yes. As of writing, I earned 47% less compared to last year, according to my PayPal report.
Note that this is just one of the many payment gateways I use to receive money from clients. Still, this is a bitter pill to swallow after having enjoyed a renaissance the previous year.
What I Did to Survive This Year
As mentioned, this isn’t my first rodeo as a content writer. I’ve gone through the different ebbs and flows as a freelancer scampering for clients and jobs from years past. This current setback, while a big blow to my income, is ultimately manageable, as I was able to save up money for rainy days such as this one.
But obviously, the rise of AI content got my work cut out for me. So, I didn’t just sit down and expect clients to come calling me. I also didn’t despair over my situation and cry about losing clients.
I did what any sane person would do in my situation–roll up my sleeves and get to work. Below are things I did that helped in my situation:
Reminded Old Clients How Good I Am
I reached out to previous clients who I hadn’t talked to or worked for in a long time. I looked at the articles I wrote for them published on their site and plugged them into Ahrefs’ Site Explorer. The idea here is to see whether the articles are ranking for their target keywords or are driving organic traffic to their website.
If they are, this gives me a good reason to contact them and see if they want to work with me again. Even if they’re not ranking or generating traffic, I can use them as work opportunities, which I’ll show you later.
I did this to client A multiple times. In the example below, I didn’t offer my services outright. I just shared the relative success of the post I wrote for him.
Doing this allowed me to build seeds of goodwill with client A that I can use for a gig later on, which I did!
In my following conversation with him, I mentioned a post that wasn’t performing very well and suggested creating supporting articles linking to it in the hopes of increasing its rankings.
In the screenshot above, I also offering 50% off for my writing services (this client ordered via Legiit). Normally, I’m against lowering prices for my services because it could set a precedent for the quality of writing you’re offering. But in this case, I don’t have much leverage since I suggested the client order from me. The discount encourages the client to take the deal, which he did!
I reached out to this client via Facebook Messenger because I built a relationship with him, and he’s fine receiving messages from me on this platform. Normally, I would take the conversation via email if I’m coming in cold with this client to appear more professional.
Offered Something Else Other Than Content Writing
Helpfulness is the currency of freelancing. If you have nothing to offer of value to prospects, they won’t hire you. You can be a good writer that fits their needs, but if they already have that position filled out, they can’t work with you.
Keeping this in mind, I tried to expand my services out of just content writing to get more gigs and jobs from prospects.
Since I’ve been writing about SEO, I learned techniques I can use as a writer to help win clients or get back in their good graces. In the case of client B, I offered a free assessment and audit of his site using Website Auditor by SEO Powersuite. I attached the reports and shared actionable insights about the findings to help him better understand how to improve his site’s search performance.
Ultimately, we decided on content rewrites. I didn’t offer this as an official service before, but I do now. This is where I rewrite an existing post on a client’s site by identifying its target keywords (using Ahrefs or Google Search Console) and optimizing for these terms using Surfer SEO’s Content Editor. The goal is to increase the score to 80 and above by rewriting existing sections and adding new ones.
Aside from reaching out to clients and offering them value, I created new product pages on my Legiit profile for my content siloing and case study writing services.
However, I didn’t receive a lot of orders from them. Chalk it up to me for not promoting both properly. Regardless, having them up here is better than not having them. Also, I could promote them to a much wider audience once I have the time.
Be Better Than AI Content
Publishers and website owners gravitate toward tools like ChatGPT for several reasons:
- Content reads relatively well - The generated text AI tools produce is fairly readable and arguably reads better than content written by non-native English speakers. Most of the text is also grammatically correct, so you don’t have to worry about basic mistakes that even the best human writers commit in their content.
- Reliable and scalable - If you don’t like the text generated by AI content tools, you can always refine your prompts as often as you want and get results instantaneously. Compare this to human writers, where you usually get a response hours or even days later. Even then, they might not be able to make the changes you want in the content, thus repeating the process of messaging them and waiting for their reply.
- Cheap - This is why people choose AI content over human writers. For $20/month, users get access to the GPT-4 model, allowing them to create much better content, as well as plugins to help boost their productivity. From here, they can generate text to turn into articles at a rate that’s faster than a human writer is capable of.
- Google doesn’t care about AI content - The search engine is only concerned about providing users with useful and helpful content. That means, even if the content is generated using AI, Google will still rank the page if it’s better than others for the search query.
Let’s be honest here: it’s hard to beat these USPs. Even if people don’t like the content produced by AI, they can at least edit it to create a version that suits their needs.
Given these factors, how could I convince people to choose my writing services over AI without compromising price and quality?
Narrow Down Your Niche
Google‘s Helpful Content Update prioritizes content written by people who know the topic from the inside out. As subject matter experts, they have unique and useful insights about the industry that not everybody knows, making their thoughts more valuable than others.
As a writer, I strive to become the go-to writer for a specific subject. In this case, my years of working with SEO clients gave me knowledge about the topic. Not only have I written about the different facets of SEO for clients, but I also own websites to put what I learned into practice, giving me additional insights about the industry. Not to mention, I was able to forge relationships with previous and past clients that have led to referrals and additional gigs.
I turned my experience and reputation as an SEO content writer into opportunities for more work this year. In particular, I became the Head of Content for Charles Floate Training.
Tip: If you’re unsure of what niche you should target, I suggest searching for writing job boards for writing gigs that pay the highest and interest you the most.
From here, learn more about the topic–watch videos, follow influencers, and read the latest news about the industry.
Then, put these things into practice by creating a blog and writing content about the topic. These should serve as your sample works and help you practice writing for the industry.
Leverage Tools
Tools can give you an advantage over AI content if used correctly. They add a layer of value to your content writing services,
In my case, I promise content optimized for their target keywords. If clients don’t know which keywords to optimize for their websites, I can brainstorm ideas and suggest which ones to prioritize. For these tasks, I use Ahrefs to research keywords with low difficulty and high client search volume. Then, for including words and phrases related to the target keywords, I use Surfer SEO.
Offering these services allows my clients to receive ready-to-publish articles with increased chances of ranking on Google for their keywords.
Other services to incorporate into your content writing and tools to use for each include:
- Keyword clustering - Keyword Cupid
- Website/content audit - Website Auditor by SEO Powersuite or Screaming Frog SEO Spider
- Content editing and proofreading - Grammarly Premium
- Image creation - Canva, DepositPhotos
- AI content checker (for clients who want to ensure that you’re not using AI to create content) - Originality.AI
One thing to know about these tools is they most of them come at a cost. You may consider using more affordable alternatives to some tools, like Frase and NeuronWriter for Surfer SEO. However, since Surfer SEO is the de facto SEO content tool most professionals use, you may risk not attracting clients if you use a less prestigious tool.
To compensate for using premium tools as part of your writing services, increase your prices to include the cost of using the tool in your arsenal.
Add Your Personal Touch
AI content tools can only do so much. As mentioned, they may not produce the most ideal content even with the best prompts.
This is where I come in. I make sure to create that meet their editorial guidelines. I always read the directions they provide me carefully and stick to them at all times.
Another factor I used to personalize my writing services to clients is customer support. I reply to their messages as soon as possible, usually within minutes if I’m awake. Part of customer service is my accountability for the deliverables I promise to clients. If I told them I could submit the content at a specific date, I need to deliver it to them on said date, no questions asked.
Finally, and this is a case-to-case basis, be a friend to clients.
To be clear, not everybody wants to be buddies with people they work with, which is understandable. But if the opportunity presents itself, and they seem to want to connect with you on a more personal level, they go for it! This is what I was referring to earlier when forging relationships with clients. It helps you stand out and encourages them to return more for your services.
I’ve been working with client C for years, but it was this year that we started talking a lot about the music we listen to. Obviously, it has nothing to do with my work for him, but it adds a human interest in our relationship, allowing me to be on top of his mind when he needs content for his websites.
How is Content Writing Looking in the Next Year
I’m no seer and can’t say what’s in store for our future as content writers. But judging from the current trends, below are some of the things we can’t deny:
- AI content will only improve - GPT-4 and Claude are just some of the more advanced language models helping people create content for their sites. Unless you level up your writing skills and take cues from some of the strategies I shared above, getting and keeping writing clients will be a tall order.
- Embrace AI - I’m not talking about creating content using AI exclusively. I’m referring to using it to brainstorm content ideas, unstuck yourself from writer’s block, and simplify workflow. This way, you can get more content done faster.
- Clients demand a bang for the buck - Keep in mind that you’re up against AI content tools, which create faster and relatively passable content at lower costs. Therefore, give clients a reason to order content from you. Overdeliver by providing excellent content quality and additional services like keyword ideas to optimize for their next order and others. This may be difficult at first, but once you produce content that your clients like, things will be much easier from here.
- Personalization is key - One thing that AI can’t do but humans can is building personal relationships with others. It’s something that no software or learning model can ever replicate. Cultivate your ability to provide excellent customer support through accountability and offering added value to clients.
Is There Still Money in Content Writing?
If you read my journey for this year so far, you should have a good idea of the answer to this question.
Personally, and this is me talking from my experience, there is always money to be made as a content writer. The question now is how much you can earn.
Let’s first address the elephant in the room: if your content isn’t better than what AI content tools generate, forget about it.
As mentioned above, find ways to produce content that are notches higher than what ChatGPT and other tools produce. It should have a better flow, provide valuable information about the topic, and offer things that your prospects are looking for in articles. This way, even if you charge premium prices for your services, somebody will be willing to pay for them!
Also, the strategies I used to keep myself afloat this year may not apply to everyone, especially if you don’t have past clients. Nonetheless, the idea is to always aim for low-hanging fruit opportunities.
In this case, ask your contact if they’re looking for writers for their business. The fact that you already have an existing relationship with them means closing them into clients should be much easier.
Finally, content writing is a grind. Once you reconcile with the fact that content writing is producing high-quality articles or guides without fail day in and out, the sooner you will understand what it takes to succeed in this field.
Yes, it can get boring writing about the same thing repeatedly or talking about a topic you have zero interest in. But there’s no way around it–either you’re all in on content writing, or you’re already one foot out the door.
To end this piece, I have a question for you:
Are you ready to make money as a content writer?
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