There's a reason I always prefer writing articles for blogs - they mean similar-kind of work for a long period, with a decent interval between each submission. Most bloggers or clients won't require more than 2 or 3 articles per week; sometimes, when the blog is an old one, they only need a single article per week.
Practical matters aside, writing for blogs is fun, more if you are genuinely interested in the topic you are writing about.
When you are writing articles - or content - for a blog, your work needs to be of a high quality. Businesses depend on the quality of their blog articles to boost sales or attract new customers. They cannot risk a mediocre-level writer for their own sake. Blog articles pay well, but you need to spend a lot of time and attention on those articles. You need to consider yourself almost an expert on the topic, or at least very interested in the topic you are writing about.
To write for a blog or to write a blog article means that you are:
1. Writing articles for your own blog
2. Supplying regular articles for a business on topics related to your client's business
3. Writing and maintaining a Personal blog your client as started
4. Writing articles for your client's blogs on a given topic or title.
I have worked on all four kinds of these projects, so I can definitely describe them in details for you. In the first post, let's learn about the first two types of work regarding blogs: writing articles for your own blogs, and supplying regular articles for your client's blogs.
1. Writing articles for your own blog
What you are reading now is a blog. I write the articles in it, and I maintain the whole thing. If you are thinking of creating your own blog, this is what you do (there are other better platforms, of course). Most of the time, people open their own blogs to monetize them, as a passive source of income. You can can also sell your entire blog after you are done writing it. A well-written, well-informed, well-researched blog is pretty expensive, and there will be clients who will buy your blog to monetize it themselves. If you are interested in this, please do some more research. Since it is not my plan to monetize or sell my blog, I don't have a lot of information regarding this.
Otherwise, you can simply create a blog for yourself, simply to practice writing. You can use your own blog as a reference or a portfolio of your skill when you are applying for a job. It will be much easier for a potential client to take a look at your well-presented blog than to download and read your randomly attached writing samples.
This is permissible by Upwork, as well. You can add a link to your blog on your applications, but only if you agree to be hired through Upwork. Read the whole thing
here.
We open a blog when we think we have something to say about a particular topic, and when we want other people to read them. Whether we monetize it, use it as a portfolio to show our writing skills, or increase our online presence on the Internet - that's completely up to you.
So to open a blog for yourself, choose a topic that you think you have a lot to talk about. It can be literally anything, anything at all. Review books and movies, add your own recipes, make a travel blog about your adventures, talk about your feelings or simply review restaurants. Make sure to give your blogs your 110% effort, even when you are not making any money from it. You never know who ends up reading your articles online.
As I have said before, this is a blog. I am simply simply putting my name and my words out there in the open, not worrying about who reads them. I have something to write, to put down in words, and I am doing it. It actually makes me happy.
2. Supplying regular articles for a business
This isn't a regular practice for our country yet but most online (and offline) business abroad maintain their own blogs. I'm attaching a few samples below as example.
The first two names are examples of Bangladeshi eCommerce sites that have their own blogs. The last two are international brands. One sells bed sheets, cushion covers, towels, shower curtains, and everything else you need in the house; the other one sells whatever your dog needs. I'm sure everyone already knows about Bagdoom and Rokomari.
If your client has an eCommerce site or a business selling electronic gadgets, the articles in their blog would be all related to gadgets, i.e.
- Best cameras to buy in 2020
- Best Smartphones coming in the next year
- 10 smart phones with the best cameras
- 20 gadgets your home definitely needs
- Important features of a smart TV, and so on.
In the same way, if your client has an website for their own salon and beauty parlor, the website wouldn't just mention the services and prices, but also have a number of articles related to beauty and hair care. For example:
- What hair cut suits your face the best?
- 90's makeup tips that are making a come back
- What is the ideal length of your hair
- How to take the best care of your skin within a very short time, and so on.
What is the use of all these articles in a business website? To inform the client, to keep them engaged, and sometimes, to attract them to services other than the ones they were looking for. A person looking for a business for getting a haircut will end up with a lot of information in a single site. They'll know which haircut to get, how famous or popular that haircut is, which celebrity has that haircut, whether they also want to color their hair or straighten it. Before you know it, the client will book 2 or 3 other services instead of just the haircut, and recommend the well-written articles to their friends. The business will gain more customers. Genius, isn't it?
If the client hires you simply to write articles for them, they will ideally also supply the title, the concept or the SEO keywords. All you need to do is to send them the articles whenever they ask for it.
Clients can give you the exact titles, or after you are both a little familiar with each other's work, they can simply trust you to provide a specific number of articles every week or month. It all depends on the kind of rapport you can build with your client.
More in the next post on this topic. Enjoy!
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