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Blogging Your Way to a Career
Susan Johnston
How cool would it be if there were a job that let you surf the web and share your ideas with thousands of readers, all without leaving the house?
Actually, there is.
In the past several years, bloggers like Perez Hilton, Heather B. Armstrong (aka Dooce), and Julie Powell (author of Julie & Julia, which inspired the movie) have skyrocketed to fame. But is it still possible to achieve career success through blogging? How can you develop a blog based around your own interests? And how do you actually get people to read it?
After The Tassel talked to two successful bloggers to find out. Julia Scott left her full time job as a journalist in January 2009 to launch BargainBabe.com, which has attracted a loyal following of readers and turned a profit almost immediately (every blogger's dream). Lance Haun leveraged his blog, YourHRGuy.com, to find a new job earlier this year after a layoff. Job leads poured in as soon as Haun alerted his contacts, and his current employer, MeritBuilder, contacted him within a week of his original post. It just goes to show that blogging has benefits, even if you'd rather not leave your day job!
Here are some of their best practices for bloggers.
First, focus on content.
Before you can become the next Dooce or Perez, you need an engaging voice and interesting content. A distinctive, irreverent voices is what makes Dooce, well, Dooce and Perez Perez. Scott recommends that you "build your content for at least a month before you try to build an audience at all. You need a minimum of 20 blogs posts covering significant ground within your topic." That way, readers who come to your site for the first time will have reassurance that you're committed to blogging regularly. How do you feel when you visit a blog and discover that it hasn't been updated since the Bush administration or only has three posts?
Exactly. Once Scott had reached a critical mass of content, she began monetizing her blog through advertising, syndication, and affiliate programs, but she continued writing a steady flow of informative and entertaining posts.
Ideas for blog posts often come in spurts, but you can spread them out and avoid overwhelming your readers by scheduling posts in advance. "Blogging software applies you to schedule out posts, and make your ideas last longer," says Haun. "You can get people consistent information while harnessing some of that natural energy."
Link liberally.
Most blogs include a blogroll, which lists other recommend blogs for readers to check out. Many bloggers also link to specific articles or posts in the body of their own blog. Haun recommends "reaching out to people who blog in your space and commenting on their work, linking out to it."
Exchanging links with other bloggers is a great way for readers to discover your blog, but it also helps your SEO (Search Engine Optimization). "The way you build SEO is by getting people to link to you and linking back to them," says Scott. "Seek out people in your field but not direct competitors and tell them why their readers might benefit from knowing about your site."
Scott adds that having a strong page rank in Google (in part because of links from other credible sources) helps attract advertisers. "Almost all advertising requests come in because I have a good page rank," she explains. "Google Adsense is your first step but never your last step. What's even better is finding an ad network that is specific to your community. The more targeted the ad is, the higher the ad rate you're likely to get."
Build connections with other bloggers.
Whether you want to your blog to generate revenue or just share your random musings, networking is key, according to both Haun and Scott. There are oodles of opportunities to network with readers and fellow bloggers on sites that you're probably already using for personal use (think: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other sites). Scott recommends that bloggers focus on a few social networking channels at a time but reserve a username in case they want to use it later.
In addition to networking online, Haun uses phone conversations and in-person meetings to connect with bloggers and other people in his industry. "I've gotten on the phone with people because I'm willing to say 'let's talk offline for a few minutes,'" he says. "I've found lots of HR people in my area, and I've gone to conferences. What I've found is that it helps solidify that online connection." Each time you go to a networking event or just hang out with friends, it's an opportunity to build your readership and your network.
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