PureBlogging

In recent months I’ve had the privilege of becoming a regular contributor to a few different blogs, including here at PureBlogging. This experience has been great for me in a number of ways and I’m sure many of you would get some of the same benefits from doing some paid writing of your own. Here is a look at 9 things I have found from my time as a blogger:

1. Extra Income

Ok, so money is probably the most obvious benefit or being a paid writer. Most paid bloggers are doing so on the side, as they also own and run a blog (or blogs) of their own. Take a look in the sidebar where David has listed each of the PureBlogging writers and you’ll see all of the blogs that are represented by the staff of writers. Being a paid writer for another blog is possible to do while also working on growing your own blog. Most of us would rather make money on our own blog than by writing for others, but that takes a considerable amount of time. While you’re working on building a large and loyal following of your own, you can supplement your blogging income by writing for others.

2. Name Recognition

One of the most significant benefits you will get from writing for other blogs is increased name recognition. Part of building your own readership is becoming recognized. If blog readers are seeing your name as a writer on a number of different blogs that they read or subscribe to, they’ll certainly recognize your name and you will build credibility. Think Chris Garrett.

3. One Job Leads to Another

The first paid writing job I had was at Daily Blog Tips. On a few separate occasions I’ve had other people email me, mention that they read DBT, and ask if I would be willing to do some writing for them. Each article you write becomes a part of your portfolio, and sometimes they will sell other people on your knowledge and ability without even requiring you to seek out new opportunities.

4. Earn While You Learn

By writing for other blogs you can continue to learn constantly. As you write you will probably learn more about the topics you are writing about, and just as importantly, you can learn from the blogger who is paying you. Most blogs that pay writers are able to do so because they have been successful at generating an income. In this case, these are people that you can learn from and apply what you learn to your own blog.

5. Practice Makes Perfect

Like anything else, the more you write the better you will become. As you become a better writer your own blog will benefit and you may even be able to earn higher rates for your paid writing jobs.

6. Learn to Work Under Pressure

When you are writing for your own blog you may feel the pressure to please your readers or to draw certain levels of traffic. When you are writing for money there is an added pressure that you will need to live up to the expectations of the person who is paying you. This can be a bit of an adjustment, but I think it serves to improve your ability to produce a high level of quality. In addition to quality, you may also have deadlines to work with. For a few of the blogging positions that I have, I need to publish a post on a specific day each week. This puts a little bit of pressure on me to get things done and work ahead, which is always a good thing.

7. Networking

Many of the best contacts that I have made with other bloggers have been initiated and developed by either writing a guest post or writing for pay. As a writer for another blog you will get great opportunities to get to know others and maybe even to develop ideas for working together.

8. Expand Your Horizons

By writing for a number of different blogs you will have the freedom to explore different topics and take different approaches to your articles. Each blog is unique, and the experience of writing for other blogs is sure to stretch you in many ways and provide you with opportunities to explore new ideas.

9. Preparation for the Future

If your goal is to become a Pro Blogger, you may at some point have to pay others to write for you, and you will certainly need to effectively organize a profitable blogging operation. You can learn a lot about what it takes by simply being involved as a staff writer. I know if the time ever comes for me to pay other writers I will be much more prepared than I would without the experiences that I’ve had as a paid writer.

What’s Your Experience?

Do you currently do any paid writing (or have you in the past)? Would you consider writing for other blogs, or do you prefer to only focus on your own blog?

One of the secrets of being a good writer — heck, probably one of the secrets of being a good anything — is to always have your mind ready to learn. Often these lessons will be things you knew in theory — concepts you’ve read about on personal development books or copywriting blogs. But if you’ve got an open mind, you’ll be able to spot those theories in practice. I’ve been lucky enough to see that happen three times this week, each time with the help of my girlfriend, Alanna.

1. Your (blog, website, television show, column) isn’t a sharpening service. Take your axe elsewhere. This weekend, while Alanna was doing some crafting (she makes jewelry, stuffed animals, picture frames, and a whole raft of other stuff) (actually, I think maybe she makes rafts too), she had an episode of The West Wing on as background noise. In this particular episode, Bradley-Whitford-as-Josh-Lyman was on more of a tear than usual, ranting against the personal development industry and those who write self-help books, complaining that people are foolish to read Tony Robbins and Zig Ziglar when great philosophers like Immanuel Kant are, like, right there.

Certainly, there’s no denying the personal development industry has more than its fair share of hacks (”Just pay $24.95 for my book, and I’ll teach you how to save money by avoiding foolish purchases!”). This particular speech wasn’t motivated by the episode’s plot, however, or any of the characters’ story arcs over that season, or really anything other than Aaron Sorkin’s own compulsive need to complain about whatever we mouth-breathing, non-Ivy-League Chalupa Disposal Units are doing to annoy him this week, instead of reading Proust by lantern-light or being highly-paid television writers. It reminded me that what you leave out of your work is probably more important than what you end up with.

The moral: Don’t write something to your readers that isn’t motivated by something they want or need. If you want to get things off your chest, keep a diary.

2. Sometimes, unintended consequences can be the greatest ones. This week the web development company I work with gained a new client, a contractor who’s looking to snag some market share from a competitor whose website has a much higher page rank, and who does a substantial amount of business on the Internet.

Alanna was sitting nearby as I checked out the competitor’s website, and she noticed a “careers” link on the front page navigation. Odd, she said, for a home-improvement contracting firm to have a page on its website dedicated to a call for new employees.

But as I looked at it in light of the overall look of the site — which was confident and uber-professional — I realized that the real benefit of that particular page wasn’t getting more handymen and carpenters on the company payroll. It was letting visitors to the site know that they’re looking at a growing organization. And if they’ve got a customer base that’s large enough to demand a bigger workforce, they must be doing something right… Right?

The moral: Sometimes it’s not about what you’re saying to your customers. It’s about what your customers hear you saying to others.

3. You gotta know when to hold ‘em. More importantly, however, you gotta know when to fold ‘em. I had a wasted day this week. You know the kind. I got a late start, and wound up running errands for much of the mid-morning and afternoon. By the time I sat down in front of my computer, my brain was fried from a combination of LA traffic and big-box-store crowds, and despite my best efforts at getting some serious writing done, all I could count on myself to do was play Text Twist. After a while, Alanna asked me if I’d like to watch a movie with her. I did, and we wound up falling asleep under a blanket on the couch together. It was the best part of my week. Had I continued to sit at my desk, telling myself repeatedly that, okay, this would definitely definitely definitely be my last game, I’d have gone to bed disappointed and underconfident.

The moral: Sometimes, one of the best ways to maintain yourself as a writer is to not do any writing at all.