Student blogger for hire: here’s how to do it

December 12th, 2007 1 Comment

A couple of months ago, Ryan wrote an extensive post about the 7 High-Potential Online Opportunities for College Students. The first of those 7 things is being a blogger for hire. However, is such a venture really lucrative? This post contains tips on how being a hired gun (for blogging) can work.

Here’s a quote from that post:

If you’ve got reasonable writing skills (most college students do!), regardless of what you’re studying, blogging for hire is a nice way to earn a bit of extra cash.

Pros: Writing for someone else for pay means that you probably don’t have to worry about a lot of the non-writing tasks. Start small, build a name for yourself and you just might earn a nice income.

Cons: Your earnings are limited by how many articles you can write per day. Quality creative output can’t be turned on like a machine. (You could, however, start earning a bit of money by selling links from your college blog - just be sure you’re allowed.)

With that in mind, here’s how to successfully go up the blogging ladder:

First, you need a portfolio. If it’s your first time applying as a writer for hire, you need to get your folio in order. This can come in the form of the following:

Your existing blog. Make sure that the public entries aren’t very personal. It’s going to be part of a professional application, and your future employers don’t need to know that you got shitfaced yesterday and threw up on your friend’s carpet. Also, this blog has to be written articulately, without any spelling or grammatical errors.
A set of 2-5 articles you’ve written. This includes your work for the college paper, an essay for class, or some sample articles you’ve purposely written for a folio. Most blog managers prefer the latter, especially if you’ve written a sample blog entry for their topic. This gives them a better idea of what your final output will be like.

Then, you need to write a good cover letter. Since blogging tends to be informal in most cases, some blog managers prefer an informal cover letter that matches the tone of the blog you’re applying for. It also needs to display your confidence in handling the topic, and your ability to communicate through words. Here are some basic tips from what’s worked for me in the past:

No spelling or typographical errors. It’s obvious, and if you don’t get why, maybe you shouldn’t be a blogger.
Confidence. Ever since I started being confident in my cover letters, I’ve never been turned down for a blogging job application. Ever. Be sure you can back up your confidence with some facts, though.
Keep it as short as possible. Just the facts. “This is my name, the blogging position I’m applying for, my rates (if requested), and a 1 or 2 sentence explanation of why I’m the best person for this job.” Everything else is stated in your resume and writing samples anyway.

Look for a job. If you think this is the easy part, you’ve got it wrong. It’s difficult to find a well-paying job about a topic you know about, and for a blog that will accept you even without so much blogging clout or experience. Also, some positions have more competitive application processes than others, so if you find a really sweet blogging deal, odds are you’re competing against hundreds. Hopefully, with a bit of bravado, your kickass samples, and your confident cover letter, you’ll land a good blogging job on your first try. Here’s where you can find blogging jobs online:

Problogger job board This board is run by Darren Rowse, one of the web’s most prolific and respected bloggers. There are a lot of corporate or business blogging jobs here, especially with b5 media, one of the strongest blogging networks online today. This is where I got the job for Pimp Your Work.
Performancing forums Like Problogger, Performancing is also owned by a blogging network, namely, Splashpress Media. The forums have a wider variety of topics available, and I was able to secure a long term blogging position on 3 blogs (and possibly more in the future!) via these forums.

Find out how you’ll be compensated. Is it per post? A fixed rate per month? Or a share of the revenues? Normally, I prefer to be paid per post. It has the most return of investment for my time. A fixed rate can be okay, as long as you also get paid for performance (there’s an added bonus for pageviews, subscriptions, etc.) I tend to shy away from blogs that pay via shared revenue, though, because it’s not as stable.

Also, if you’re allowed to put up affiliate links or your own ads, go ahead and do it. Just be sure to do it sparingly, since readers don’t like it when you’re always selling to them. If you’re not sure if you can use your affiliate links, then ask the blog manager. Most of them are nice and will let you post your links, even if it’s with limitations and rules.

Don’t forget to go up the ladder! If you get a $5/post blogging job as your first gig, that’s fine - but don’t stay there forever. You need to set some higher goals for yourself and use these “less paying and less popular blogs” as a springboard to get to the more high profile, high paying blogging gigs.

I started blog writing for an unknown loans site for $5 per entry. Then, I moved on to a higher paying job that’s $8 per entry, then $10, then a job that increases pay as my pageviews increased, and eventually I moved on to a $20/entry gig. I still keep some of the lower paying gigs that I truly enjoy, but at least I’m working on those blogs out of love, and not because I desperately need the funds. So even if you already have a blogging job, don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for a better opportunity.

Are there any bloggers for hire among our readers? Kindly share your experiences as a professional blogger in the comments.

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