experimentia-exp
How to Get Hired as a Professional Blogger
By Shaun Peng
Step One: You have to make people want you. In other words, you'll need to make yourself valuable by being functionally attractive as a blogger that benefits the potential employer.
Step Two: You need to connect with opportunities. This could mean simply mean passively searching for blogging jobs or actively networking and applying for unadvertised or non-existent positions.
Step One: Establishing a Foundation
1. Create a Blog
This is a no-brainer. If you haven't already got one, you shouldn't really be looking for a job as a blogger. Your personal blog is a great way to showcase your writing skills, flair for design and passion for blogging. I feel that a blog on your own domain (instead of free hosted spots like Blogger) is far more impressive and shows your professionalism or knowledge of domain-level blog management, but that's just my opinion.
2. Learn to write well
No matter how good you are with words, there's always room for some improvement. Learning how to write effectively can attract and maintain readership for your blog. I personally find it extremely difficult to write in a caustic, humorous style, one that is full of witty sarcasm. To develop that elusive style, I practice on several blogs (though obviously not on this one!). Blogging often and frequently is important to develop a grasp of the written word. Obviously, employers going to scrutinize your blogs and writing samples so learning to develop a strong and creative personal style can be very helpful indeed. Some excellent resources which can helps one to develop clear and attractive copy can be found at A List Apart and CopyBlogger, two great blogs with many tips on blog style writing. Finally, please use a spellchecker!
3. Target a Niche
One of the most important things to do is to start identifying a niche that you are passionate about. Do you get turned on by gadgets? Does writing celebrity gossip float your boat? Perhaps you feel happy ranting on the horrors of contemporary art. Find something you like to do and start building a solid presence in the field through your personal blog and active participation in the industry or relevant blog community.
4. Build Professional Credibility
After starting a blog you might want to start building some professional credibility by writing for organizations or businesses. Freelance writers start to build their portfolio by writing for non-profit organizations and community newspapers before moving into the lucrative field of magazines. Bloggers can do the same by blogging for their local community/group or organization. It doesn't have to be profitable but it'll show that you have experience working as a professional writer.
Another alternative would be start a blog that primarily deals with sponsored posts, which would also show creativity by integrating corporate objectives into the overall feel or format of the blog. However not all organizations take nicely to sponsored blog posts, as they might that feel it detracts from the overwhelming, inherent passion that you are supposed to have for your niche. Blog for Blog's sake, geddit?
5. Get Organized
Use an electronic or paper organizer to jot down what jobs you've applied for and decide on a follow-up date in advance. An simple Microsoft Excel document will work wonders. If necessary, draft a well-written cover letter, a short resume and prepare several samples of your writing in fields of your interest. Excellent posts from your blog would do fine in this area.
Now that you're ready to work as a professional blogger, you'll have to actually find an organization that fits your interests and skill set. This leads us to the second part of the process.
Step Two: Connecting with Opportunities
The simplest way is to find a position you fancy would be to regularly visit job boards and marketplaces where writers are regularly sought for new or existing blogs. A more challenging process involves actively networking and direct solicitations of businesses.
Here's a list of my favorite blog resources and methods:
ProBlogger's Job Board.
One of my favorite places to browse for jobs. New positions appear very often on the board; sometimes on a daily to three day basis. Almost all of them are paid positions with networks or corporations but there are occasionally unpaid intern-style positions with established or upcoming blog ventures. Subscribe to their RSS feed to stay updated.
Performancing Exchange.
A classifieds style marketplace for the blogging community, Performancing is free for both advertisers and bloggers. While there are a lot of jobs to wade through, new positions only appear around every seven days. Some of the jobs include energy, poker, social network, celebrity gossip and finance blogging. Worth checking out. Once again, subscribe to their feed to stay in touch.
Craigslist.
I love craigslist! Depending on your area, there are usually several listings per day for writers and bloggers. Because blogging is not a location-specific job, I usually check out the big cities. Try London, New York, Los Angeles, Sydney and if you blog in Japanese, Tokyo. A great way to get involved with inter-continental networks and companies.
Indeed.com
A search engine for jobs. Just type in 'blogging' and you'll come up with a wide range of blogging or blog-related jobs. Indeed.com covers positions listed in ProBlogger, Monster, CareerBuilder and Ask Jeeves so use this engine if you are short of time though I recommend subscribing to individual job boards. Whats cool about Indeed.com is that you can also subscribe to the feed of a specific search result, so you'll always keep informed when new positions come up.
Jobster.
Not a lot of blogging jobs at this website but you'll get an odd few that doesn't show up on the other sites above. I love the web 2.0 look, though.
JournalismJobs.com.
A job board for media professionals, they usually have a lot of positions for web editors or bloggers affiliated with newspapers and magazines. Not a lot of blogging jobs but a very good resource if you want to break into freelance writing. Do a keyword search for 'blogging' to see what comes up.
Reuven Cohen | Enomaly's Job Board.
Over 50 blogging jobs are available at this board, which also offers listings for freelance designing, writing, editing and even CEO jobs. Some of the ads can be found on Problogger but there are several others that I didn't find anywhere else.
LinkedIn.
According to Wikipedia, LinkedIn has over 8 million registered users in over 130 industries. A social network site, LinkedIn allows you meet like-minded associates who might recommend you into important blogging positions. The process is a little difficult to explain so you might want to sign up and check it out.
Newspaper Classifieds.
There might be blogging positions open in your local classifieds. If you have the time, check out some career or employment magazines at the newstand. You might be surprised at what you find. I usually do this on the subway so it saves time.
Advertise Yourself.
Like to work for a specific company or organization? Promote yourself and enquire if they need a blog or blogger. Tell them you can effectively manage a blog or a team of bloggers, while generating incredible amounts of buzz on the internet. Tell them what you can achieve and why it would be useful for them. Tell them what sets you apart from the traditional avenues of online advertisements. Who knows, you just might get a position in organization that fits your aspirations or ideals.
Maki is a freelance writer for Dosh Dosh, an online journal that studies different methodologies for making money online.
http://doshdosh.blogspot.com/2006/11/how-to-get-hired-as-blogger.html
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shaun_Peng
