How to Become a Freelance Blogger
If you are looking for a simple way to start earning some money by working from home then you could do a lot worse than to consider becoming a paid blogger. The start-up costs are pretty much non-existent (assuming you have a computer and an internet connection) and you may well already have most of the required skills and knowledge. This article will explain just how you can utilise these things to create an extra source of income.
A Brief Overview of Blogging
Blogging (or web-logging, to use its full name) provides the means for anyone to create their own, very simple, web page and it is becoming an increasingly popular option for all manner of people and organisations. Not only is it a great way for individuals to record their thoughts and ideas about whatever subjects may be of interest to them, it is also a useful strategy for companies to employ when looking to maximise their search engine optimisation (SEO) opportunities. As blogs are so easy to update they are constantly being refreshed with new content, which sends them soaring up the rankings of results that search engines such as Google deliver to their users.
Blogging has also become a great way for like-minded people to build communities and support each other. For example, parenting blogs are often enormously successful as mums and dads the world over look to find others who are going through the same experiences. Starting a family is clearly a life-changing time and it can be very comforting to hear from those who are also going through that change, or have been through it and are able to offer some words of advice.
However, blogging is not limited to those who are parents. You can easily set up a blog in a matter of minutes (two of the most popular free sites for doing this are WordPress and Blogger) and you are free to write about anything you choose. However, this article is about how to become a paid blogger, so let’s start focusing on that.
What it Means to be a Paid Blogger
When you work as a paid blogger you will be writing about a subject that is dictated by your employer rather your own preferences, although you will often need to provide links to your own personal blog posts as part the application process (so that your prospective employer can assess your writing style. You will essentially become a freelance copywriter, albeit one who is aware of how to write specifically for blog posts.
Writing for blog posts will require you to be aware of how your article might come across on the screen (so avoid great lengths of text, for example, and break up your writing so that it can be categorised under sub-headings, bullet points, etc.). It will also help if you can include links to other web pages in your article, as this will also push your employer’s site up the search rankings.
More often than not, you will be expected to promote your posts using social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and so on. Your employers will expect you to have an awareness of how these sites work and how you can best use them to their advantage. Depending on the subject matter you are being commissioned to cover in your blog posts, it may also be relevant to join blogging networks. Sites such as Tots100, which is for parent bloggers, rank blogs according to their popularity (which is measured in a number of ways) as well as promoting people’s posts and running an annual award ceremony for members and their blogs. Being included in such a network could definitely draw more visitors to your employer’s blog, so it’s something that’s worth investigating.
The Skills You Will Need to Become a Paid Blogger
You will need to be able to write in clear English and to edit, spell check, sense check and generally proofread your own work effectively. Blog posts, by their very nature, are articles that are created quickly and are often generated based on current news features or industry updates. Therefore, your employers will not necessarily have time to run them through a stringent checking procedure, so they will need to be able to trust in the quality your work and your ability to provide relevant content for them.
How to Get Work as a Freelance Blogger
It will be time well spent to set up your own blog in the first instance, so that you can provide evidence of your credentials to future employers. Having a strong interest in a certain area may also be beneficial, as you will be able to offer a clear insight and will perhaps even be able to be proactive and suggest some of your own ideas for inclusion as blog posts.
Being interested in your potential employer’s industry is not essential, however, as your skills as a writer and your ability to research a topic effectively are more important.
Working as a paid blogger can be quite competitive so you will need to apply quickly for posts for which you think you are suitable. Do frequent internet searches for paid blogging jobs and keep a close eye on agencies and websites which seem to offer the posts you think are appropriate for you. Ensure that your CV is up to date and can be emailed, with an accompanying cover letter, at a moment’s notice.
Where to Go From here
For more information, do check out the following article, which has even more hints and tips about working as a paid blogger.