Frugal Pinoy

I’ve been visiting some filipino forums the past week, and I saw that although many Filipinos are interested in online writing, many of them don’t know how to begin, or are compensated poorly for their efforts.  Maybe it’s because there’s a lack of local resources that discuss online writing as a career.

Because of this, I’ve decided to feature a series of posts here at Frugal Pinoy about how to make a living out of online writing. After all, it’s my main income stream and I have a little over 4 years of experience on the subject - especially when it comes to blogging. (In later posts, though, I’ll discuss essay writing and SEO writing, which are other ways to make money online).

Before we begin, we need to define what professional blogging is and what makes it different from personal blogging.

What is professional blogging?

First of all, the definition of ‘blog’ is this:

To put it as simply as possible - a blog is a type of website that is usually arranged in chronological order from the most recent ‘post’ (or entry) at the top of the main page to the older entries towards the bottom.

Source: Problogger.net

This means that a professional blogger is someone who writes for a blog on a regular basis - whether he/she owns the blog or not.  The professional blogger or “problogger” is separated from the personal blogger based on his/her intentions.  The intentions of the personal blogger is usually just to share information about one’s life to friends, family, and the outside world. Usually, when you write a personal blog, you talk a lot about your feelings and personal experiences. The intentions of the problogger, on the other hand, include the following:

• To share information to the general public, which the blogger may or may not personally know.
• To market and promote their blogs so that many people will visit and read it regularly.
• To make money from the blog.
• To make blogging their job, work, or vocation - whether part time or full time.

However, professional blogging doesn’t necessarily mean that you write about business all the time - in fact, anecdotes about your personal life and experiences tend to be welcomed by readers.

In the first part of this series, I’m going to discuss blogging for others.    This basically means that you apply to existing blogs for a writing position.  Another way of professional blogging is to create,and monetize your own blog.   However, for now, we’ll focus on blogging for others.
Also, note that writing online is different from writing for a magazine/newspaper.  Writing for the Web and A Dozen Online Writing Tips are 2 articles that discuss the standards of writing online.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, it’s time to discuss how to become a professional blogger.

What you need before starting your blogging career:

Know your goals.  Whether you’re doing this part-time or full-time, it’s like getting into a new career.  You need to know what you want out of it, and how you plan to get there.  How serious will you be?  How much time can you devote to blogging?  What topics do you want to write about?

Learn the craft. Like I said earlier, blogging is different from writing for other media such as magazines or newspapers.  You need to devote some time to actually learning how to blog professionally. The following articles discuss the art of blogging in depth.  They are a good starting point if you’re not sure what a good blog post is:

• What makes for a good blog?
• The Beautiful Post
• Write Gripping Content
• Why Great Writing Doesn’t Matter Online
• How to Write Excellent Blog Content
• Using Titles Effectively on Blogs - The title is just as important as the post itself, so pay attention.
• 10 Tips for Writing a Blog Post - The most essential read among these articles.
  
• Two Simple Words Every Blogger Should Know
• 5 Powerful Techniques to Help Your Posts Stand Out

Subscribe to (or regularly visit)  several blogs.  Why? So you can have a basic idea of how they work and why some blog posts are more successful than others.  The following blogs are well written, and they also teach you a lot of business skills you’ll need to make it as a professional blogger-for-hire:

• Freelance Switch
• Web Worker Daily (I write for them as well)
• Problogger
• Skelliewag

I keep track of all the blogs I read via Google Reader (I subscribe to over 100 blogs), but if you’re not sure how to use it, that’s fine.  Just add the blogs you want to read to your browser’s bookmarks and read them daily.

Create a portfolio. 

Even before you start applying, you need to compile a portfolio to show your work.  This could be through an existing blog you have, as long as it is about your target subject.  For example, if you want to write for a blog about gadgets, you can start your own blog and review the current gadgets you have, such as your cellphone, laptop, or mp3 player.  Or, if you want to be a food blogger, start your own blog of restaurant reviews or recipes. This blog can serve as your portfolio, and you simply send the address of your blog along with your job applications.

I recommend that you start your portfolio blog at Wordpress.com - NOT in Multiply, LiveJournal, or Friendster.  This is because WordPress is the platform used by most blogs on the internet and you need to familiarize yourself with it, especially if the blogs that hire you will require you to post the entries on WordPress yourself (rather than just submitting it via email).  Plus, since WordPress doesn’t place ads on your blog, it looks more professional.

Alternatively, you can also write 3-4 sample posts on the subjects you want to blog about, and send them in when someone asks you for work samples.  Just make sure to send ONLY your best work when you apply for a blogging job.

How to start looking for blogging jobs:

Before you start applying, you need to know how to read an online job ad (click here to read an article on the subject).  There are several clues you can get from the ad to tell if the person/company is trustworthy or not.  Basically, don’t go for jobs that promise exposure only and no monetary compensation.  Also, research the company or individual that placed the ad to find out if there are any ’scam alerts’ against them.

The following websites are good places to start looking for work:

• ProBlogger Job Board
• SitePoint “Looking to Hire” Thread
• FreshWebJobs
• Freelance Writing Gigs

How to get paid:

You’ll find that your clients will have different ways of compensating you.  The first, and my personal favorite, is to be paid per post.  Many blogs pay $10 for a 300-word article, while others can go as far as $100 or more - it’s entirely up to where you’re applying.  When you’re just starting out,$8-$10 per post is a good price.

Another style of compensation is to be paid a flat rate plus a percentage of the blog’s profits.  Or a flat rate plus a bonus for how much traffic you bring in.  Although these deals can be reasonable for very popular blogs, they are often low-paying, especially if the blog is new.

Many blog owners will prefer that you have a PayPal account, which Filipinos can now avail of. In fact, if you’re really serious about blogging, a PayPal account is a must-have for you.

Next time on Frugal Pinoy… On the second part of this series, I’ll discuss how to make money from your own blog - where you are the owner and creator, instead of just writing for others.  Stay tuned!  If you want to receive future updates from Frugal Pinoy via email, simply click here.

Have you ever thought about becoming a professional blogger? Why or why not?  What are your experiences when it comes to professional blogging?

Follow-up articles to this post:

• How to Make Money Blogging Part 2: Monetizing Your Own Blog
• Q&A: How do I start as an online freelance writer?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 4:24 am and is filed under Earning, Online Income, Passive Income. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.