Comments on: Blogging for Yourself vs. Blogging for Others

By: LadyHarely

LadyHarely — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:39:21 +0000

My above comment can be answered by anyone… not just Deb Ng. Any help I can get to get started, will be greatly appreciated.
I’d also like to know… what are we supposed to put in the emails when “applying” for blogging jobs? Especially when someone like me does not have “professional” blogging experience.
Thanks, LH :)

By: LadyHarely

LadyHarely — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 17:28:04 +0000

@Deb Ng, I too have been tossing about the idea about blogging for others. I appreciate this article as well. It just confirms to me it IS something I can do! Please tell me if I am going in the right direction… I’ve started blogging for a couple family members & also (go ahead & laugh) for my dogs. :) I just wanted to do something really creative….. Is that a good start? Next question is, how do I go about setting up a pay rate & acquiring clients? Also, feel free to look at my personal blog. (Where you can also look at my dog’s blog… Coleman & Sunny.)….. Please feel free to contact me via my blog. Thanks for your help! :)

By: Deb Ng

Deb Ng — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 18:37:48 +0000

@Craig – Brandon – I have five blogs of my own and I maintain five blogs for others. It’s a full time job – some blogs only receive one post a day, others receive more. One celebrity blog receives about 10 to 15 posts each day – but many of them are a paragraph long.

By: Brandon Hopkins

Brandon Hopkins — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 17:33:54 +0000

Deb, how many total blogs do you write for? How many posts per day?

By: Deb Ng

Deb Ng — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:27:35 +0000

@Julie -Blogging is a full time job for me – I spend at least 8 hours blogging. Several hours on my own blogs, and several hours on other blogs.

By: Craig McGinty

Craig McGinty — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 12:22:40 +0000

Don’t underestimate the value of copyright.

If you write for others in the short term whilst you might receive payment pretty quickly over the coming weeks, months and years it is they who will get paid via the surrounding advertising and other income generating methods, not you.

If you are starting a site then writing for someone else can be a real help as including a link across to your site at the foot of the piece will bring you new readers.

But think about why it is newspapers and other MSM want to see their readers create blogs with them, it’s free content for them to run adverts round. Of course there is nothing stopping you using these sites to draw people to your own site.

But in the long term if you have the copyright for articles those adverts, or whatever is coming in the future, can be a valuable source of income in your dotage.

By: Julie

Julie — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 12:04:11 +0000

Hey Deb Ng! It’s Julie from Declutter It! This was a great article.

I think I would really struggle with the “blog post before 10 am” and also the specific word count.

How many hours a day would you say you devote to blogging?

See you over at the forums… :)

By: Hoddo

Hoddo — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 12:00:57 +0000

In my dealing blogging for others and having others blog for me, I have found the “care factor” to have a massive influence. I think it’s natural to want to put more care and attention into your own posts, knowing the effect it could have on your revenue.

I guess pairing any arrangement with a Revenue Bonus, as enjoyed by Deb with some of her Network Clients, is the best way to ensure the same care goes into your work for others. It’s easier when the effort vs. reward is more visible.

By: Deb Ng

Deb Ng — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 10:50:27 +0000

@Clark – For most places the commitment is the number of posts rather than a set amount of days. I haven’t encountered a blog network yet that expects me to work every single day.

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 10:17:19 +0000

I like the idea of blogging for others, but sometimes I struggle to write enough for my own blogs, let alone others as well.

By: Michelle Gartner

Michelle Gartner — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 04:15:17 +0000

My local paper’s online version has apparently jumped on the blog bandwagon too. This weekend they recently put out a call for women bloggers for their new site wismoms.com. Actually drawing a paycheck for blogging sounded really nice. I sent the page to myself and mulled it over for a few days, before I decided that I have enough problems
struggling with writer’s block when it comes to marketing my main business, let alone my two side blogs. I figure if their new site turns out to be interesting or useful, joining one of the forums will be good enough. Since local small business owners are our main source of revenue, I like to make sure I am active online in local forums, but I can’t blog everywhere, that would be spreading myself to thin.

By: vutha

vutha — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 02:43:29 +0000

Blogging for myself is easier than blogging for others. when we get paid, we have to adhere to its conditions. but it is good, you can do it the both.

By: Clark

Clark — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 01:58:46 +0000

Writing for others makes it more like a real job – no slack and no sick days. While it would be fun to write for others I would make sure my commitment did not require daily entries.

By: Cutie

Cutie — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 01:13:35 +0000

I Want to blog for other, but no one ask me to :) I love writing and want to write more, for myself and for others. But I blogging for myself is better, I can express anything, write what I want even it son’t fit my niche. When I play some game bd like it, I give it a review in my blog. I don’t think people like it, but I’ happy when I write, even my english isn’t too good.

If I have a project to write for others, it’s all right :) it will make us see semething objectively (even sometimes we need to be a little subjective due to company) and make us learn more. Then, if we want to make article based of out point of view, just make it in our own blog!

By: Deb Ng

Deb Ng — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 01:02:32 +0000

Blogging for someone else has its disadvantages, for sure, but to me they’re minor. I think what’s important to understand is that while you’re still meeting a weekly quota or word count, you still have the ability to speak your mind and inject your personality into your writings. It’s a lot different from copywriting and content writing, which I did for years. Words flow easily when you’re writing about topics you find interesting, and you’re writing from your heart rather than what you’re assigned.

- Deb

By: MichelleVan

MichelleVan — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 23:41:12 +0000

I just love this post. (and I love this site, thanks)

I blogged for Adoption.com and for families.com for over a year, and loved it! but i got burned out on the number of posts required and the word count per day. I’m getting ready to pick up another blog on another site, (can’t say where yet) but in the meantime I’m loving the freedom of having my own blog.

By: A Tentative Personal Finance Blog

A Tentative Personal Finance Blog — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 21:49:43 +0000

maybe I should try blogging for others… sometimes I get writer’s block and if they can give you things to write about… half the problem is solved.

By: Vassago

Vassago — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 21:34:36 +0000

It’s true Deborah, there are many Pros and Cons of writing for others. Gladly you have the option to do so or not. Of course that one of the BIG Pros as you mentioned are the technical details. Not everyone wants to invest time in tweaking design or plugins or whatever. And if when you own a blog this can be almost addictive, always trying to find the best for your audience.

But I’m glad that this topic came to be published as we’ve just started a small blog network and we are currently looking for bloggers. No deadlines, no minimum word count… and 100% adsense revenue for your posts goes for you. If anyone thinks that this minimizes some of the Cons of writing for others, you can find more info here: http://www.digital-folders.com/authors-needed

By: A Marques

A Marques — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 21:26:14 +0000

I never tried to blog for others particularly because of the deadlines involved. It removes some of the freedom you have on your blog. On the other hand, on your own, if you want to keep readers coming, sometimes deadlines are even more strict. I guess that as you mentioned, there are Pros and Cons that should be considered.

By: Ponn Sabra

Ponn Sabra — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 21:15:19 +0000

Thanks for sharing your experience and insights Deborah!

‘Writing for others’ has always been a consideration at the back of my mind and certain “Pros” and “Cons” to my own inner-debate; but you’ve shared additional views I didn’t yet examine. For example, I’m such a sporadic writer, with no disciplined timeframe to work, and possibly having deadline times for another blog, would help me be more consistent and timely in my own personal blog posts.

It’s interesting, because I know the most traffic-ed hours of my days for my blog, but I always “miss” it; because I don’t have a specific ‘work schedule”. I know I must utilize my ‘timestamp” better, but its just getting time to type out the posts. As an author, I’m a pen-and-pad kindof chick ;-)

You just helped me move this “thought” from the back to the front :-)

Darren, thanks for hosting a short, concise and insightful guest post!