Readers’ 2015 Picks: Most Useful Posts for Freelance Writers & Bloggers

Need a shot of freelance writing knowledge to start the New Year off right? I’ve got it for you right here — our annual list of the most popular new posts that went up this year here on Make a Living Writing!
That’s right, many of the all-time most populars you see over in the sidebar from past years are out of the running for this fresh list.

Winners here must have been published for the first time in 2015.
You, my awesome blog readers, voted for these by coming and reading them.
The posts that got the most traffic clearly had the most compelling topics, and are ranked below in order of the views they got.
These are your choices for what you thought were the most helpful posts this blog put out in the past year for freelance writers and bloggers. A big thank-you to you for being a reader!
Without further ado, here are your picks for 2015’s top 10 best posts:

1. Websites That Pay Writers 2015: These 79 Websites Offer $50 and Up by Jennifer Roland — This one’s coming up on 30,000 readers to date! And reminds me that the top thing I can do around here to make myself useful is provide job leads. Which is why we’re laying plans to present market lists more often in 2016.
2. Writing an Article Vs. Writing a Blog Post: What’s the Difference? by Carol Tice — The raging debate over what makes an article different from a blog post, and how to charge for each as these two forms increasingly converge, made this a lively topic.
3. Think You Can’t Earn $100 an Hour on UpWork? This Writer Does by Megan Williams — While I spend most of my time warning people away from sites like this, clearly, success tips for profiting from the bid sites are appreciated.

4. How One Freelance Writer Made $11K in Her First Two Months by Jane Callahan — Tales of exactly how to have a rapid ramp-up to earning well have always been popular around here, and this guest post proves that out.
5. Want to be a Six-Figure Freelancer? Here’s What That’s Really Like by Carol Tice — Writers do love a peek behind the curtain at the ups and downs of the lifestyle they fantasize about, hm? Even if what they see there isn’t so glamorous.
6. How a $5 Article Writer Landed a $900 Article by Thomas Hill — Like rapid launches, descriptions of how to make the leap from low-earning to high-earning writer are always a hit.
7. One Writer’s Crazy Quest to Earn Six Figures Working Part Time by Elizabeth Haynes — Productivity topics are ever-popular on my blog, and this guest post had that part-time twist going for it. Work less, earn more = always a formula for a popular post.
8. One Shy Writer’s Lazy LinkedIn Strategy for Landing Great Freelance Clients by Amy Dunn Muscoso — Social media topics have been consistently popular since the day I launched this blog, and Amy’s guester adds the ‘this is easy’ angle for the win.
9. Here’s What the Six Figure Writers are Doing That You’re Not by Carol Tice — This post, which included a free download PDF of my Den 2X Income Accelerator Road Map, laid out what big-earning writers do differently from the masses of starving writers. (If you’re wondering, I’m launching a new Den 2X mastermind is starting up in January–apply now if you’re earning at least $20K from writing and you’d like to double that! I’ve only got about 5 remaining spots.)
10. 4 Freelance Bloggers Tell How They Earn $200+ Per Post by Jennifer Roland — Along with good-paying market listings, how to earn more at blogging is another popular staple topic.

I always enjoy looking this over because it gives me reminders about what’s most important to my awesome subscribers, and what I should cook up *more* posts about in the coming year. My takeaways this time:

• Earning big. Three of the top 10 have the phrase ‘Six Figures’ in the headline. Earning serious money from writing is a major theme we’ll continue to explore.
• Earning more from major online platforms is definitely of interest (despite my warnings!), so expect more on this next year, including a charticle roundup or two comparing different sites.
• Productivity — writers always need to get faster.
• Making the leap from day job to freelancer, or ramping up a freelance business fast, is of interest to the roughly half my audience that are aspiring or brand-new freelancers.
• Social media is suck a time suck that everyone wants to know how to use effectively and efficiently to get good-paying gigs. I’m always on the hunt for guest posts in this space (hint, hint!).
• Guest posts rock. Paying more for guest posts and curating them carefully paid off this year in some terrific posts that got mega-traffic. While many blogs have given up on the guest-posting model due to all the scammy pitches you get, I’m sticking with it in 2016 — and proud to have raised my pay to $75 a post. I think hearing from freelance writers at many different stages of their journey provides readers with more useful tips than if it’s just me, me, me.
• Blogging. Many freelance writers would love to learn how to make blogging pay off — and I’m hard at work delivering answers in the e-book I’m writing now, How I Earn a 6-Figure Income Off My Tiny Niche Blog. More details on that to come in January!