Content Writing Samples: 55 Examples & Ideas + 8 Tips to Write Yours

by | Jan 2, 2023 | Freelance Writing, Freelance Writing Samples, How to Become a Freelance Writer

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Get 8 tips and 55 examples and ideas to create content writing samples that’ll land you high-paying writing clients.

Content Writing Samples — Featured Image

No one will hire you as a content writer or freelance writer if you can’t prove your writing skills.

That’s why you need to create a few content writing samples.

When you’re starting your freelance writing career, your freelance writing samples are all you have to show clients.

So, you need to ensure they’re great — like, really great!

I previously wrote a blog post about how to create freelance writing samples. In this one, I’ll show you content writing sample examples and ideas.

I’ll also give you more content writing sample tips and answer the most frequently asked questions about writing samples.

Freelance Writing Sample Ideas + Examples of Freelance Writing Samples

Let’s start with what you came here for — content writing examples and ideas!

In this section, each idea will be linked to an example. Basically, I scoured the internet for great content you can draw inspiration from and compiled it into this post to save you time — you’re welcome.

The content writing examples and ideas are divided by freelance writing niche.

By the way, these aren’t actually writing samples, they’re published pieces.

But that’s exactly where you should draw inspiration to write your samples — published pieces that businesses in your niche are paying for.

Alright, no more introductions, explanations, and side notes! Here are 55 content writing sample examples and ideas.

1. Finance, Personal Finance, and Fintech Content Writing Samples

2. Technology Content Writing Samples

CNET technology content writing samples

3. Software as a Service (SaaS) Content Writing Samples

4. Digital Marketing Content Writing Samples

5. Business to Business (B2B) Content Writing Samples

6. Business to Customer (B2C) Content Writing Samples

7. Education Content Writing Samples

8. Health & Medical Content Writing Samples

Everyday Health — health and medical content writing samples

9. Legal Content Writing Samples

10. Real Estate Content Writing Samples

11. Beauty & Fashion Content Writing Samples

cosmopolitan beauty and fashion content writing samples

12. Travel Content Writing Samples

13. Food & Drinks Content Writing Samples

14. Cannabis & CBD Content Writing Samples

15. Fitness, Exercise, and Yoga Content Writing Samples

avocadu fitness exercise and yoga content writing samples

16. Survivalism & Homesteading Content Writing Samples

17. Camping & Hiking Content Writing Samples

18. Parenting, Pregnancy, and Postpartum Content Writing Samples

parenting content writing samples

Tips for Content Writing Samples for Beginners

Now that you have some awesome ideas for your samples, let’s take a look at some tips to create content writing samples to land your dream clients.

1. Content Writing Samples for Beginners: Understand Your Niche

⚠️ Before you start writing your samples, you need to understand the industry and audience you’ll be writing for.

Research your ideal clients. Find out which type of content they’re publishing, how they’re formatting it, and what’s the ideal length.

Show clients you can write for them and get results — that’s the key to creating great content writing samples.

2. Content Writing Samples for Beginners: Choose a Target Keyword

After you’ve chosen the topic you’ll write about, use Ubersuggest for SEO keyword research (it’s free).

Pick a keyword and write your blog post around it.

Knowing how to write SEO blog posts is one of the most important skills any freelance writer must have.

The good news is that you can learn quickly.

Download and use my SEO Blog Post Checklist to guide you through the process 👇

3. Content Writing Samples for Beginners: Don’t Overlook the Headline

⚠️ Fact: great content is worthless if no one reads it.

You need a descriptive and enticing headline that matches both your sample and the client’s website.

Use CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer to help you craft the perfect blog post title.

4. Content Writing Samples for Beginners: Hook Readers With a Great Introduction

The introduction is your opportunity to hook readers and get them to read your whole piece.

Usually, you should introduce the broad topic and then explain how your post will solve the problem at hand.

Some ways to write effective introductions include:

  • Asking the reader a question.
  • Using a shocking quote.
  • Telling the reader a story — storytelling “is one of the most powerful ways to influence, teach, and inspire.”
  • Using proven introduction formulas, like the “fear of failure,” AIDA, or PAS.
  • Using simple language and a conversational tone — this goes for all of your content, really.

5. Content Writing Samples for Beginners: Focus on the Body of Your Sample

Provide value by covering the topic in depth. Use simple language, a conversational tone, and short sentences and paragraphs to make it easy to read.

Use bullet points and numbered lists to further simplify your text.

Break it down with multiple headers and subheaders covering all topics needed and add images wherever you see fit.

You can check out the content writing sample examples and ideas I gave you above to get a better idea of how to write the body of your content or simply browse through my blog.

6. Content Writing Samples for Beginners: Craft a Useful Conclusion

Think about the goal of your sample blog post and write a conclusion that matches that goal.

You can summarize your blog post and/or draw conclusions or key takeaways.

⚠️ But the most important thing is to tell readers what to do next — now that they have the information they came for, what should they do?

  • Download your free resource?
  • Read another blog post that builds on that topic?
  • Buy a product?
  • Take a step in their lives or careers?
  • Share the post on social media?

➡️ Condense whatever action you want them to take into a simple and direct sentence — a CTA (call-to-action).

Always — and I mean ALWAYS — include a CTA at the end of your samples or blog posts.

That’s what separates a hobby writer/blogger from someone who means business.

Here are some CTA examples 👇

how to create content writing samples — CTA examples

7. Content Writing Samples for Beginners: Create a Variety of Writing Samples

This depends on the type of writing services you offer. If you only provide blog posts, for example, you should only write blog posts.

But if you create more than one writing type, create a versatile sample first, like an SEO blog post, listicle, or long-form guide.

And, then, create something tailored to your niche, like sales or landing page copy, emails, white papers, case studies, social media content, ads, press releases, or product descriptions.

8. Content Writing Samples for Beginners: Show Off Your Freelance Writing Samples

You won’t always be on the hunt for freelance writing clients.

Sometimes, they’ll find you. Make sure they can easily come across your samples by displaying them on:

8.1 Your Website

Here’s my current portfolio section on my freelance writer for hire page as an example:

example of a freelance writing portfolio website

8.2 Your Contently Portfolio

Here’s my old Contently portfolio. I was still writing for the cannabis industry at the time.

freelance writer portfolio example on Contently

8.3 LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social media platform for business. Every single writer should have a LinkedIn profile.

You can write articles on the platform as your samples and link to them in your profile’s “Featured” section.

You can also include your own blog posts, published work, Medium articles, guest posts, and more in your “Featured” section.

It’s one of the first things anyone sees when they visit your profile — make the most of it!

example of a freelance writer portfolio on LinkedIn featured section

8.4 Medium

Another option is Medium. The main advantage is that it comes with a built-in audience that can give you instant feedback on your writing.

You can use this platform to create and display your writing samples and simultaneously start building an audience and email list (if you want to).

Take a look at my Medium profile to draw some inspiration and sign up for Medium if you want to start writing there.

FAQs About Content Writing Samples for Beginners

Finally, I’ll answer the most frequently asked questions about content writing samples for beginners.

Why Do You Need to Have Content Writing Samples?

You need to have content writing samples to show clients you have the writing skills they’re looking for — be it your writing style, SEO skills, or topic knowledge.

Having your samples neatly presented in your writing portfolio immediately makes you look more professional.

What Kind of Jobs Do You Need Content Writing Samples for?

Typically, you’ll need content writing samples for any writing job (unless you personally know the person hiring you or in some other rare exceptions).

Some freelance writing jobs that’ll require you to have samples include:

  • Blog post writing
  • Copywriting
  • Email writing
  • Social media writing
  • Case study writing

What Are Some Types of Writing Pieces to Include in Your Content Writing Samples?

You should have at least one writing sample for each type of writing service you offer.

Let’s say you want to write blog posts and email newsletters for your writing clients, you should have at least one sample blog post and one sample email newsletter.

Here’s Alice Lemée’s portfolio as an example:

Alice Lemée Portfolio — What Are Some Types of Writing Pieces to Include in Your Content Writing Samples

The writing pieces most commonly included in portfolios are:

  • Blog posts and articles
  • Long-form webpage copy
  • Social media content
  • Video or podcast scripts
  • eBooks

How Long Should Your Content Writing Samples Be?

Your content writing samples should be around the same length as the content you want to write normally is.

You can find this out by researching what your ideal clients are publishing.

Below are some suggestions of how long your content writing samples should be. If your writing type isn’t included, do a quick Google search to find out the ideal length.

  • Blog posts: 800 to 1,500 words
  • Long-form blog posts: >2,000 words
  • Emails: <500 words
  • eBooks: >10,000 words
  • Case studies: 500 to 10,000 words, depending on the topic (but if you’re just writing a sample, aim for a short one — 2,500 words max.)
  • White papers: 6 to 8 pages (but they can be shorter or longer depending on the topic — again, aim for a shorter one)

However, you need to remember that people are busy.

⚠️ If you want to showcase long samples, it’s better to include only an excerpt of the best part or the part that better showcases your skills and a link to the full piece.

How Should You Format Your Content Writing Samples?

In rare cases, clients or agencies will request you to format your samples a certain way.

But, generally speaking, you’re free to format them however you want.

You can also choose to send a link to a Google Docs file or publish them on your website or LinkedIn, Medium, or Quora page.

Honestly, there are so many possibilities to format your content writing samples, it deserves a blog post of its own — coming soon.

What Are Examples of Content Writing?

Content writing is the process of planning, writing, and editing web content, typically for digital marketing purposes.

— Backlinko

Here are some content writing examples:

  • Blog posts and articles
  • Scripts and titles for podcasts and videos
  • Social media posts (e.g. tweets or threads for Twitter, Instagram captions, and Quora answers or posts)
  • Email newsletters
  • Landing and sales pages

How Do Beginners Write Content?

If I could go back in time and give my beginner self one piece of advice, it would be: just write.

It doesn’t matter where or about what. Create a blog or start writing on Medium. You can even start writing on Twitter, Quora, or LinkedIn.

Just write.

It’s nonsensical to be insecure about your writing skills or what people will think because 1) everyone was a beginner at some point and 2) we shouldn’t care about what strangers on the internet think about us.

I say “we” because it took me a long time to get out of my shell and start writing anything that wasn’t client work — and I regret it a lot.

Just 👏 Write 👏

P.S. Don’t plagiarize anyone’s work and make sure you use images legally.

How Do I Practice Content Writing?

The best place to practice content writing is Medium.

Pretty much everyone there is a writer, so, you can get instant feedback on your writing while connecting with like-minded people.

Content writing sample on Medium by Ines S. Tavares.

You can use Medium for free but if you want to read more than three posts per month, you need to become a paying member (it costs $5/month).

👉 Sign up for Medium and start writing today.

How Do I Start Content Writing With No Experience?

To start content writing with no experience, you need to:

  1. Pick a niche
  2. Create content writing samples
  3. Create a freelance writer website
  4. Build an online presence
  5. Apply to writing jobs or cold pitch clients

How Do I Choose a Topic for Content Writing Samples?

The best way to choose a topic for content writing samples is to check out your ideal clients’ websites.

See what type of content they’re paying for and create samples that match the writing style and topics they go for — obviously, never ever ever copy content!

Content Writing Samples: 55 Examples & Ideas — Key Takeaways

Researching your niche to know what your ideal clients are looking for is one of the most crucial steps to creating great content writing samples.

Then, take as much time as needed to craft the perfect title, introduction, body, and conclusion.

Once you’ve created a variety of writing samples, display them in a way that looks professional and is easy to find.

If you need more guidance to become a professional writer, download my FREE Freelance Writing Course 👇

Portrait of Ines Tavares, the freelance writer, content creator, blogger, and solopreneur that runs the website Free Worker Bee.

About the Author — Ines S. Tavares

Hey! I’m Ines 👋 Welcome to Free Worker Bee 😄

I’m a freelance content writer, creator, and solopreneur. Freelance writing allowed me to quit my 9-to-5 job and live life on my own terms. That’s why I created this blog: I want to give back.

I want to help at least 1,000 people become freelance writers and live their best lives. Get started today with my FREE Freelance Writing Course.

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