Well, 2022 is just a few hours old at this point. The start of a New Year gives me a reason to do a quick review of my freelance web content stats to see how things went over the past 12 months. While I was quite certain that 2021 was a slower year for me, I was somewhat surprised to find that I was far busier than I thought I was. Not only did I end up writing a lot more than I imagined, but I also received jobs in the past year from some unlikely places. Here’s a quick breakdown of the actual numbers.
Far More Articles Than Jobs
My notes reveal that I accepted a total of 123 writing jobs throughout the year. That figures out to be roughly 10 jobs a month. Although that may not sound like a lot, it was the number of articles for the year that truly tells the tale. I wrote a total of exactly 500 different articles during 2021. To give you an idea of what that means, 500 articles break down to 9.5 per week. That is very close to an average week of writing for me. As for the word total, I have not figured that out but it will be pretty close to 750,000. A normal week for me is two 1,000-word articles per day, five or six days a week. There are days where I will only write one article and others where I will write three articles. The important thing to keep in mind here is that I just write for half a day. I’ll get started between 8:00 AM and 9:00 AM each morning and try to be finished between 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM at the latest. The odd day runs to 3:00 PM and there are times I will break up the day to where I may finish an article in progress sometime in the evening. I try to keep my afternoons and evenings open.
Where The Jobs Come From
In 2021, as has been the case for the past three years, the majority of my work comes from the contract I have in place with a web content firm in the US. Out of the 123 jobs I accepted last year, 49 of them were from that working arrangement. Another 28 jobs came from a handful of regular clients of mine in Australia with another 21 jobs coming from my Fiverr profile. I paused my Fiverr account for part of the year as I was receiving jobs that I did not want to do. For me, Fiverr is just a place for “extra” jobs that fill in my normal schedule. Every so often I will pause my Fiverr activity and work on other sources. The rest of my writing jobs in 2021 were from the United Kingdom (9 jobs), and other US-based firms that I write for from time to time.
Then There Were Some Local Projects
The most unusual thing for me in 2021 was the fact that I was hired for six local writing projects. I don’t normally receive much in the way of local business as my web content freelance writing is more geared towards large corporate websites using the material as part of their backlinking strategy. I don’t know of many local sites that employ that tactic. Anyway, I did get hired twice to provide articles to a daily newspaper in the region (both ended up front-page stories), I also accepted two writing jobs for marketing material from the local economic development office. I was hired twice to provide content regarding my congestive heart failure recovery for a medical app program. My story was also the front cover feature of a US-based medical magazine. Then there were two very unusual requests. One was from a local church that needed me to write up their history for a handout that was distributed at the final service of that church, and a local performing arts group approached me. The job they had allowed me to rely on some of my knowledge of local history and well, it should be a lot of fun once the group finishes creating the project.
And…Eight Years Later…
January marks an anniversary for me. It was on January 4, 2014, when I officially started what has since become my third career - a freelance writer. My goal at the time was to just provide content for website owners in the form of blog posts and articles. I also get asked from time to time to write product reviews or product descriptions. While I much prefer to stick with blogs and articles, I’m okay with some review work, depending on the source. I got past the point where I was more interested in certain topics when I started doing contract work early in my career. I found out quickly that there are a lot of different things that website blogs cover and I guess that is one of the things I like most about what I do - there is a variety.
Speaking of Topics
As I’ve indicated that there are some subjects I prefer writing about over others, the past year has included a lot of different ones. I write a lot about online gambling, including casino reviews, and articles concerning the legalities of online gambling in specific parts of the world. I write a lot about dentistry, with a particular focus on false teeth. I write about automotive services ranging from basic car maintenance to specific repairs. I also write a lot about home humidity, sleep apnea and the products to aid with that, cats and cat care, SEO (search engine optimization), online business development, and random things that clients need for various in-house or other projects they outsource the writing to me to handle.
Where Will 2022 Take Me?
Well, I would be happy to see much the same activity this year as I experienced last year. I also took a bit of time off here and there, so I suspect I’ll be doing the same this year. Typically, I just take a weekend here and there, but I may halt writing projects for a couple of weeks during the year to accommodate a holiday or a couple of getaways. It depends on what I am up to and how much time I need to take off. Currently, I get at least a day off each week, but since I just write half days usually, it often feels as if I have more time off per week than I do. Regardless, I know I will need a bit of time off to deal with a couple of health issues if they end up getting resolved in 2022. Otherwise, I’ll keep the pace and see where it takes me!
Far More Articles Than Jobs
My notes reveal that I accepted a total of 123 writing jobs throughout the year. That figures out to be roughly 10 jobs a month. Although that may not sound like a lot, it was the number of articles for the year that truly tells the tale. I wrote a total of exactly 500 different articles during 2021. To give you an idea of what that means, 500 articles break down to 9.5 per week. That is very close to an average week of writing for me. As for the word total, I have not figured that out but it will be pretty close to 750,000. A normal week for me is two 1,000-word articles per day, five or six days a week. There are days where I will only write one article and others where I will write three articles. The important thing to keep in mind here is that I just write for half a day. I’ll get started between 8:00 AM and 9:00 AM each morning and try to be finished between 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM at the latest. The odd day runs to 3:00 PM and there are times I will break up the day to where I may finish an article in progress sometime in the evening. I try to keep my afternoons and evenings open.
Where The Jobs Come From
In 2021, as has been the case for the past three years, the majority of my work comes from the contract I have in place with a web content firm in the US. Out of the 123 jobs I accepted last year, 49 of them were from that working arrangement. Another 28 jobs came from a handful of regular clients of mine in Australia with another 21 jobs coming from my Fiverr profile. I paused my Fiverr account for part of the year as I was receiving jobs that I did not want to do. For me, Fiverr is just a place for “extra” jobs that fill in my normal schedule. Every so often I will pause my Fiverr activity and work on other sources. The rest of my writing jobs in 2021 were from the United Kingdom (9 jobs), and other US-based firms that I write for from time to time.
Then There Were Some Local Projects
The most unusual thing for me in 2021 was the fact that I was hired for six local writing projects. I don’t normally receive much in the way of local business as my web content freelance writing is more geared towards large corporate websites using the material as part of their backlinking strategy. I don’t know of many local sites that employ that tactic. Anyway, I did get hired twice to provide articles to a daily newspaper in the region (both ended up front-page stories), I also accepted two writing jobs for marketing material from the local economic development office. I was hired twice to provide content regarding my congestive heart failure recovery for a medical app program. My story was also the front cover feature of a US-based medical magazine. Then there were two very unusual requests. One was from a local church that needed me to write up their history for a handout that was distributed at the final service of that church, and a local performing arts group approached me. The job they had allowed me to rely on some of my knowledge of local history and well, it should be a lot of fun once the group finishes creating the project.
And…Eight Years Later…
January marks an anniversary for me. It was on January 4, 2014, when I officially started what has since become my third career - a freelance writer. My goal at the time was to just provide content for website owners in the form of blog posts and articles. I also get asked from time to time to write product reviews or product descriptions. While I much prefer to stick with blogs and articles, I’m okay with some review work, depending on the source. I got past the point where I was more interested in certain topics when I started doing contract work early in my career. I found out quickly that there are a lot of different things that website blogs cover and I guess that is one of the things I like most about what I do - there is a variety.
Speaking of Topics
As I’ve indicated that there are some subjects I prefer writing about over others, the past year has included a lot of different ones. I write a lot about online gambling, including casino reviews, and articles concerning the legalities of online gambling in specific parts of the world. I write a lot about dentistry, with a particular focus on false teeth. I write about automotive services ranging from basic car maintenance to specific repairs. I also write a lot about home humidity, sleep apnea and the products to aid with that, cats and cat care, SEO (search engine optimization), online business development, and random things that clients need for various in-house or other projects they outsource the writing to me to handle.
Where Will 2022 Take Me?
Well, I would be happy to see much the same activity this year as I experienced last year. I also took a bit of time off here and there, so I suspect I’ll be doing the same this year. Typically, I just take a weekend here and there, but I may halt writing projects for a couple of weeks during the year to accommodate a holiday or a couple of getaways. It depends on what I am up to and how much time I need to take off. Currently, I get at least a day off each week, but since I just write half days usually, it often feels as if I have more time off per week than I do. Regardless, I know I will need a bit of time off to deal with a couple of health issues if they end up getting resolved in 2022. Otherwise, I’ll keep the pace and see where it takes me!
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