It’s no surprise that I think blogging is the biggest thing since, well, the ezine when it comes to effective, low-cost online marketing. While email newsletters are similar in that they use cheap information publishing to concurrently build relationships and authority for small businesses, the ezine can’t match the power of the blog.
Blogs are truly a huge step forward because of their ease, and because of the blogosphere itself. The interlinked conversation, playing out within the larger framework of the social media environment, is the greatest opportunity ever to build a business without spending money on advertising.
Unfortunately, it’s just a basic reality that many existing small businesses and solo professionals have neither the time nor the inclination to blog themselves. And that creates a huge opportunity for savvy bloggers.
Whether you want to land a steady paid blogging gig, or you want to freelance as a consultant, blogging is a real 21st century job description. Seeing the obvious writing on the wall, both Performancing and Problogger have announced blogging job boards in recent weeks. And although the two sites are similarly themed, I’ve personally found that what Nick Wilson said today is true—the audiences are actually quite different.
That’s why I guest post at both instead of just one of them. 🙂
So, given that, if I’m looking for a blogger, I’d hit up both boards to make sure I’ve got a complete selection to choose from.
Performancing Exchange – Exchange is a free blogging job board that adds more value to the Performancing community. These guys have released a whole slew of tools and resources for bloggers in support of their coming advertising network, and the job boards seem to be a logical next step as blogs become businesses and existing small business blogging catches fire.
Problogger Job Board – In a move that is smartly tied in to b5 Media’s foray into the business blogging category (plus the site’s focus on “the blog as a business”), Darren Rowse introduced his job board today, in collaboration with Eric Allam. These boards are not free, but at the intro price of $50, an important job posting will hardly set a business back much.
If you need a talented blogger that is actually looking for work, these two sites will have the most qualified crowds. And it’s obvious that I believe that any small business needs a blogging presence, whether handled in house or outsourced.
And if you’re the blogger looking for work?
I’m going to write a bit about strategies bloggers can use to get good consulting gigs. If you enjoy blogging, it makes sense to make a living from it, but as someone who has done his time in the service business trenches, there’s better ways to market yourself, and manage clients, than the way most people do it.
Reader Comments (14)
This blogging field is truly moving at the speed of sound. It amazes me everyday. As a full-time 9-to-5r, I find it hard to keep up with the latest, considering the little time I have to blog. Even though I go to Darren’s site almost every day, the day I don’t, something big happens, and as always, another blogger fills the knowledge gap. Fantastic!
Regards
I have never been a die-hard, avid blog reader but have always had this desire to start my own blog. The fact that I could be paid to blog for someone else never even crossed my mind. The ways that someone can work for a living is incredible.
Nice thoughts, Brian. You took lots of words right out of my mouth. So I’ll go bash you in my post or something :).
Hey, thanks for the mention. And yes Michael, people do get paid to blog. It is a great marketing vehicle as well as customer service. I think businesses will begin to wake up to the benefits.
it’s a good way to get into an otherwise difficult writing profession.
Finally!! Blogging starts developing as a profession! I was getting worried I’d thrown all my chips on the table too early. Businesses in the UK are still probably a year away from adopting blogging in any great numbers.
I guess there is no reason why a blogger’s employer can’t be from the North Pole. Blogging in essence is about relationships based on interest rather than geography. Quite appropriate that this applies to the relationship between blogger and employer as well.
You’re able to put what I would have taken many more words to say – and probably garbled ones at that – into the clearest possible form. You make excellent points, as do your always helpful commenters. As usual, Matt Ambrose is on top of things: I wouldn’t have heard that Santa was looking for blogging help for months without Matt.
And talk about being about relationships – I’ve had one with Santa for half a century, so this would be my idea long distance gig.
It’s heartening to see blogging finally emerging as a profession. Up till now it was just a medium to generate ad revenue (I think it still is a more profitable way of earning in the long run). Yesterday I too blogged about the ProBlogger board.
This reminds me, I’ve been asking around here and there: whenever I link to a post, my trackback link doesn’t appear on that blog. I’ve made the necessary settings in the WordPress control panel, but it’s not working. These days I’m using Windows Live Writer to post.
It seems logical that blogging is now a job. I view it as just another subdivision of copywriting. It has basically the same purpose for a business.
BUcktowndusty, I hear you. One of my friends stopped working out just to get the time to blog after work…He’s now gained about 15 pounds, but he seems really happy 🙂
Well who woulda thunkit?
Heh, Jim… yes, I suppose you were way ahead of the curve on this one. 🙂
I teach a class to small business owners, all Realtors, on blogging and have had a few ask me if they could pay me to write a blog for them. I can’t imagine where I would come up with enough content unless I made them all the same.
Love your blog!
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