From a business perspective, “organic growth” focuses more on internal workings for improvement. This includes things like customer interaction, employee training, and creating new sales pitches. But what about freelance writers or bloggers?

It’s quite similar, actually. Instead of buying follows, leads, subscribers, fans, and other writing accounts, you should focus more on what you provide.

Today, I’ll show you some of the good and bad sides of growing organically and how you can immediately start.

It’s much easier than you might realize.

What is Organic Growth?

Every industry seems to have a bit of a different interpretation to organic growth. However, all of them focus on the same premise: to grow without buying external things.

For instance, when Facebook bought out Instagram and added the image system to its social media profile, that was an example of “external growth.” The company grew its customer base by buying an external platform.

Another example is if someone were to buy fans and followers for social sites like Twitter and YouTube. That is external growth to make a social profile appear more appealing than it actually is.

And yes, I have a strong bias against getting fake views, subscribers and followers. But, that’s a different blog post altogether.

Organic growth focuses more on what you can do internally to improve your business or personal interactions.

An example of this is if a business puts in the money to train its staff to better interact with customers. Perhaps the company dumps a bit of money to improve a service or product. Both of these work to boost engagement and sales, which translates to a superior online experience for everyone.

Organic development also includes social media interaction. For instance, I grew my audience on Twitter simply by being more active and joining conversations. As a result, more people have followed me in the last three months than in the last three years.

And I didn’t spend a single dime to grow the account. I simply became more social and formed better connections.

How Organic Growth is Better Overall

In reality, I personally view organic growth better overall for several practical reasons. And while this may be based on personal experience, the list has a lot of basis in reality.

It’s a culmination of what I’ve witnessed for myself as well as my clients over the span of more than a decade.

A Far More Receptive Audience

The growth of a business relies on a receptive audience. These are the people who are more likely to buy a service or product. And this is also true for freelancers and bloggers of all kinds.

For the sake of argument, let’s say you bought 1,000 fake subscribers on YouTube so you can monetize your channel. There is a very high probability that none of those subscribers will actually watch your content or buy your products.

Mostly because they are bots or stagnant fake accounts on the system.

When you focus more on your product or service, you gain a real target audience who is more likely to help you make money. This means a blogger focuses more on providing excellent posts or a YouTube concentrates on amazing videos.

Makes You More Appreciative of Your Target Market

One of the areas where many businesses fail to have a good reputation is because they really don’t appreciate their market. As long as some people are willing to spend money, these businesses will keep doing what they do…whether it’s good or bad.

When you focus more internally for improvements, it often involves the target market. Which then makes you appreciate the buyers more.

Case in point, I spent a lot of time honing my writing skills and customer interaction. It’s one of the biggest reasons why many clients love working with me. I provide a great service while being incredibly easy to work with.

It’s the appreciation of the consumer that often vastly improves an online reputation and helps organic sales growth.

It’s Vastly Cheaper in the Long Run

And lastly, it’s often much cheaper for organic growth than dumping money in external methods that may or may not work.

For example, I’ve mentioned how I greatly improved my Twitter account. I’ve also become one of the strongest writers on Textbroker and have created more than 8,000 pieces of content for businesses around the world.

The only money I’ve spent to accomplish all this is what I pay for my web hosting every year.

My point is that a lot of internal improvements won’t cost you anything more but a few minutes of your day. The audience is more focused, interactive, and more likely to buy what it is you’re selling…all without a huge marketing budget.

But, what about the saying, “Time is money?” If you’re someone who attributes every second of your life with a monetary value, then think of it more along the lines of a marketing campaign.

Drawbacks to Organic Growth

Like everything in life, growing organically does have its disadvantages. It’s not all a bed of roses with people immediately throwing money at you.

Some of the things you should consider include:

Often Takes Much Longer

Organic growth is something that isn’t going to happen overnight. I know, in an instant-gratification-seeking world, this really doesn’t connect well.

If I spent money on social marketing, bought followers, and paid for someone to constantly maintain the account, my Twitter feed would be in the thousands if not higher. But, that also includes fake accounts that don’t interact and an audience that is less responsive.

So yes, organic growth does take quite a bit longer. However, the long-term results are still far superior in terms of online reputation and making money.

Being Judged By Social Proof

One thing that a lot of “experts” tout is how social proof is a selling factor for many consumers online. And it’s true. People are more likely to trust a social profile that has 6 million followers over one that has 16.

It falls into the “fear of missing out” mentality. If so many people are following this social account, there must be a reason, right? In many cases, that reason is because the owner bought most of those numbers.

Still, there are many people out there who will judge a social media profile based on the number of followers or subscribers alone. This makes organic social media growth quite difficult.

More Legwork is Involved

Instead of simply buying external growth methods, it takes an awful lot of work to organically grow. Training, self-improvement, product development, and other elements take time and effort.

Take the Instagram example I mentioned earlier. How long do you think it would have taken Facebook to create its own image app? It’s easier and faster to simply buy one that already exists and call it a day.

However, this also means that Facebook didn’t tailor the app to its target audience or create something unique that is more recognizable.

Instead of buying YouTube subscribers and reaching the coveted 1,000-sub mark, I focus more time and effort to create videos I think my audience wants to watch. It’s far more involved and takes quite a bit more time.

The point here is that growing organically takes a lot more effort on your behalf, whether you’re a blogger or own a restaurant.

6 Ways to Boost Organic Growth

You have a lot of methods of organic growth at your disposal on the Internet. And many are more industry-specific. For this list, I am focusing more on the freelancer like myself.

Of course, I can see how a small business can adapt some of these strategies to fit. At any rate, these are the six biggest methods that have helped me succeed since 2012 as a freelance writer.

1. Improve What You Offer

Perhaps the most prolific in my case was improving what I offered to clients. This included a better handling of AP Style English, customer relationships, networking, SEO content writing, and improving my abilities on a daily basis.

Improving what you offer sets the foundation for a strong reputation. Its what separates experts from professionals.

2. Engage Your Audience

Don’t simply sell to your target audience; engage them. Some of my favorite gas stations have friendly and interactive cashiers, and a major reason why I return to those stores.

By engaging with your market, you learn about what they want and how you can improve even further. Have a conversation with people. It’s not like it takes a massive amount of time from your day.

3. Blog More Often for Organic Growth

What? A blogger needs to blog more? Actually, yes. And it’s not just bloggers, either. Blogs are far from dead and are capable of drawing an audience. This is especially true if you offer something of value.

Case in point, you’re still reading this. Which means you found value in what I am writing.

Now, you’re probably thinking you’re going to leave the website just to prove a point. I understand, but you’ll miss the last few points in this list.

4. Include Video Content

I’m not saying that you need to jump on YouTube. But, video is the fastest-growing type of content on the Internet. And creating your own can vastly improve organic growth.

Every niche has value when it comes to making videos. For example, let’s take a local daycare facility. Do you think your customers would appreciate tips and how-tos when it came to kids?

5. Be Less Salesy

There’s a reason why so many people have installed ad blockers. I remember dreading commercial breaks when I used to watch live TV. Being less salesy makes you appear more human.

For instance, I follow an account on Twitter that used to do nothing but post strictly on her product. It wasn’t until recently that she started joining in conversations, becoming more approachable in the process.

You can sell your services without seeming like an advertisement.

6. Join Relevant Communities

Another of the biggest changes I’ve made was joining various communities. In my case, it was the #WritingCommunity on Twitter. As a result, I’ve networked with a lot of writers.

This would probably be awesome if I had something to sell. And I suppose I do, in a way. I help people learn how to do what I do for a living. The biggest difference though is that I am giving away information for free.

Anyway, the point is joining relevant communities is a great way to engage an audience for organic growth. Just make sure you’re active and contribute to conversations.

It’s all about being social, after all.

Invest Time in Organic Growth

I know that many of you want riches today. And organic growth is going to take time. However, the end results are far worth the effort as you could put yourself into a position with an awesome company that pays you well.

What kind of things do you do to organically grow your profession? I’d love to hear from you.

For more information about freelancing, you can always visit WriterSanctuary.com or its YouTube channel.