Earning a Living with Your Blogging Knowledge: Part One
AdSense, sponsor ads, and reviews are one way to make money as a blogger, but there’s a huge market out there for bloggers who really understand the blogosphere. I’m a freelancer for a few different internet marketing companies and let me tell you, there are LOTS of companies out there that want to or think they want to get into blogging but don’t have the slightest idea about how to do it.
The Market
Sometimes just knowing that an opportunity exists is all you need to spark an idea. I can tell you first hand that there are companies out there that are willing to pay good money to have someone launch their blog and learn how to build it effectively.
You’re probably not going to find these opportunities in your local blog hangouts like MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog. You probably won’t find them commenting on posts around the blogosphere. You may not even find them posting requests for someone to help them build a blog on freelancer sites.
The ideal client is a small to midsized company that knows that they want more internet traffic and more engagement with their customers, but may not necessarily know how to go about this. There are lots of them out there.
What You As an Experienced Blogger Can Provide
There are companies willing to pay you money for your knowledge of blogging and the application of your knowledge. If you’re already blogging, many of the things you consider now to be common knowledge are definitely not to others. Some of the things we cover with clients who want to get into blogging are:
- Setting goals for the blog (engaging with potential clients, building brand, meeting and communicating with others in their industry)
- Formulating an overall plan
- Choosing a FOCUS
- The importance of posting regularly
- Understanding the commitment
- Finding qualified people to help write posts and manage the blog if they themselves can’t handle the time commitment
- The language and tone of blogging (most businesses tend to start out with posts that are too impersonal)
- The importance of and gaining RSS subscribers
- The importance of and ways to generate comments
- Blogging “etiquette†(replying to comments, linking out, giving credit to other bloggers)
- Setting up a blog and installing plugins
- Choosing a domain name
- Designing/implementing the look and feel
If you feel like you’ve got a good understanding of these concepts, then you are worth a great deal to many companies out there.
Parts Two & Three
In upcoming posts, I’ll talk about some ways that you can connect with potential clients and package your services to increase the dollar value of your offering.
Share Your Experience
Have you acted as a consultant to help someone set up a blog? If not, is this something you consider trying? What have your experiences been helping others to realize the potential of blogging?
I never thought of consulting to help someone set up a blog. It is so easy to do I just figured everyone could do it. The only problem I see with helping someone is getting them to commit to regular postings.
BeachBum
On the regular postings part… We tell people to start with what the can do but to commit to a minimum of once per week. Consistent weekly postings is better than getting on fire doing one everyday for a week and then disappearing for two months. We have also started a service in which we post for the client. They have to pay of course but many do. As you know, this doesn’t allow for personalization by the blog owner but there are numerous blogs these days with multiple writers.
David
Just curious, what sort of pay structure would you charge for this? Is it an upfront startup fee to get everything setup and then a monthly retainer fee with a certain number of hours available?
Great post, Christine! You’re absolutely correct about what you’re saying. If I broke out on my own right now, building blogs is the first thing I would go to market with.
Sam,
We have several differenct ways that we go about doing this depending on the specific needs. On the simple side, we charge $25 to $40 a post depending on who is doing the writing. That means $125 to $200 per week average with a $500 monthly minimum based on availability.
We currently write for multiple blogs and look at each new project on a case by case basis.
Thanks,
David
You would be GREAT at this Pat! In fact, tomorrow, I’m linking to your sage advice in the interview we did a while back.
We also have one client that gives a rough summary of the point he would like to get across and then we freshen it up a bit. This allows for personalization but the client has to do MUCH less work.
[...] in part one of this series, I talked about the opportunities out there for bloggers who are willing to share [...]
[...] - many more businesses wondering how to enter social media. So far, she’s written part one and part two. I’m sure part three is coming soon - check it [...]
Christine,
Great post! This is exactly what I am doing. The second hardest part is finding the clients. The hardest part so far is trying to get the potential clients to understand the power of blogs and social marketing and how it will bring them customers! I look forward to reading part 2.
Best of luck!
Great Post Christine! This brings ‘making money online’ in a new direction of thought. There are so many wannabe bloggers out there that simply don’t know where to start, and neither Blogger nor Wordpress is meeting there needs. I am fortunate to know Nate who built me an awesome custom blog design!
[...] 1. Christine from ‘Create Business Growth’ [...]
[...] part one of this series, I talked about the income earning opportunity for bloggers who are willing to share [...]
Yes - finding clients is definitely the most challenging part! Basically, the ones that need what you have don’t know they need it. And those that think want a blog don’t usually understand what it is! It’s a fun challenge!
Another awesome design by Nate! Yes, I think we can take it for granted when we know how to do something (like set up a blog) or have time to do something (like maintain a blog). Because we can do it, we tend to think there is no value in it - but this is simply not true at all. There is a LOT that goes into creating a successful blog. No blogger should underestimate themselves!!
[...] Earning a Living with Your Blogging Knowledge: Part One [...]