I’ve already discussed why you need to get a blog if you’re a freelancer, but now I’m going to pull out the facts and show you why you need to have a blog.

ProFreelancing has been up and running for 30 days now. You might think blogging is a lot of work and a big waste of time, but I’m going to tell you why you’re wrong.

Blogging for me has done three major things to benefit my writing career:

1. Build a name for myself online.
2. Get new clients for my business.
3. Find prospects for my information products.

I have written 25 posts in the past 30 days, most of which took between 30-45 minutes to complete. From a purely business standpoint, that’s approximately 15 hours of billable time. So, if I’m going to be spending that much time on a blog each month, it better produce results, right?

Absolutely…and here’s a breakdown of this past months ProFreelancing results:

Work

• 2 new clients with the potential for long term relationships.
• $650 of projects that I received through ProFreelancing visitors.

Networking

• Emailed back and forth with a number of people that are more “connected” than I.
• Found a number of great blogs through my readership that I now read and learn from.

Readership

• 82 subscribers and rising fast.
• Over 3200 unique visitors from 84 different countries.
• Over 7500 total pageviews.

Those numbers might not seem at all staggering, but remember… this was the first 30 days of this blog. I had no connections beforehand and I didn’t promote it through any pre-existing blogs that I run. All I did was read, write, and comment - here and on other blogs.

I encourage you to consider starting your own blog if you haven’t already. I’m pretty excited with the 30-day results and am looking forward to seeing the ProFreelancing community grow as I continue to dish out as much helpful information as possible.

Thank you to everybody who has subscribed to the RSS feed and commented on this blog - and even to those who have just stopped to see what’s up. I appreciate every one of you and look forward to having you visit in the future.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Batman is one of the greatest fictional superheroes of all time. He was a regular person like you and me, but yet he was able to accomplish amazing things by training himself to become great. He also just happened to portray all the characteristics of a great blogger.

You may not have realized that you could learn blogging lessons from Batman, but you can. Here are five ways that you can become a better blogger by simply following Batman’s lead:

1. Improve Your Skills: Bruce Wayne, Batman’s secret identity, witnessed the murder of his parents when he was a young child. After seeing the horrific event, he decided to train himself both physically and intellectually so that he would be able to fight crime. In the same way, you must be willing to put in the time and energy that it takes to improve your skills in writing and marketing. Improving your skills isn’t a one time thing, a great blogger is always learning new tricks and striving to become more complete.
2. Deliver the Pow: On the popular TV show, explosive words would pop up whenever Batman delivered a blow to a villain. In the same way, your words should EXPLODE onto the page and grab hold of your readers attention. In this way, you’ll overcome the greatest villain of all - poor writing.
3. Act Super: Whenever Bruce Wayne would go into action, he would wear his Batman costume to cover up his identity. While I’m not encouraging you to hide who you are, I think it’s necessary to put on a cape and become super. Act like an authority on what you’re talking about regardless of how much experience you have. While you don’t need to be a know-it-all, you do need to be confident in your writing.
4. Get a Sidekick: Whenever Batman felt overwhelmed with his opposition, he would have Robin by his side to help him out. You should also use the help of others to push your blog to the next level. You might want another full-time blogger on your site or you might just want to open the door for guest bloggers. By having others working with you to build your blog, you won’t have to face the daunting task on your own.
5. Become Rich: One of Batman’s primary characteristics is that he is extremely wealthy. The purpose of your blog doesn’t have to be focussed on making money, but you should still be able to make money through it. While putting up ads is an option, it’s not the only way to make money through your writing. You should make sure to have a “hire me” page so that prospective clients can find out more about you and how to contact you for work.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Perhaps you’ve considered starting a blog, maybe you’ve been hesitant. But one thing is for sure: if you’re a freelance writer, then you need a blog. It’s as simple as that.

You won’t necessarily make money off of it in the first year, you will definitely spend a lot of time putting articles together, and you’ll have to work your butt off to become known…but it’s all worth it in the end.

Here are five reasons why you need a blog if you’re thinking of freelance writing long-term:

1. Explore Writing Issues - By consistently writing blog articles, you’ll be able to explore many facets of your subject matter. This won’t only allow you to grasp a better understanding of your business, it will also help you become an expert.
2. Networking - Blogging isn’t just about writing articles and posting them, it’s also about developing an online community. To do this you’ll have to stay active on your blog as well as comment on others.
3. Gain Name Recognition - The more you write and the larger your reader base becomes, the sooner you’ll develop name recognition within your specialty.
4. Get New Clients - As you get more readers and gain name recognition, people will start to see you as an expert. This will help you garner new clients through first-hand readers as well as referrals.
5. Promote Your Information Products - Assuming you want to make it big as a freelance writer, you’ll need to eventually consider becoming an infopreneur…and what better way to market your information products than through your blog?

A blog can be a difficult thing to get going at the start, but if you stay persistent then it will definitely pay off. I’ve had blogs turn develop a solid readership in as little as one month, others have taken much longer. But one thing’s for sure, if you stick with it then it will come. One year from now you’ll be extremely happy with your decision to blog on a consistent basis.

Popularity: 17% [?]