Career Blogging: How to Develop a Successful Career as a Professional Blogger!

“Do you need to build a business before you can make money blogging?”

“Must you be an entrepreneur knowing the nitty gritty of running a business to be successful as a blogger?”

These and a few others are the questions I've been receiving from some of my email subscribers in recent times.

Of course, these questions arose because I’ve always taken the path of running your blog as a business if you truly want to succeed making a living online with a blog.

Though I have tried to reply these questions as much as I can, I've come to realize that there are some people who still prefer to get paid jobs as bloggers instead of building their own businesses.  I have therefore decided to do this post to highlight the path to developing a successful career as a professional blogger.

I'm also trusting that this post will be of great help to those bloggers who are abandoning their blogs right now to find another way of making money with the skills they have picked up all these years as bloggers. Yes, they could easily use this information to get themselves paid blogging jobs!

But first, let me quickly say that my stance on running your blog as a business is in keeping with the purpose and target audience of this blog.  Since the Web Income Journal is basically about helping web entrepreneurs and bloggers turn their passion and knowledge into flourishing businesses it is a wise thing to remain within this circle!

Now, I’m quite aware that with the challenges of running a business in our today’s socially connected world, many corporations are now hiring content writers and bloggers as part of their company's staff. This of course has opened up a new line of career opportunity for those who want to take up blogging as a profession.

So, basically you don't need to build your own business to make money blogging! I make this clear in this quick guide where I basically divided the different ways of making money blogging into 3 broad methods. Visit the link to check it out.

But, What Really Is Career Blogging?

In using the term career blogging it is important to note that I’m here talking about taking up a paid job as a blogger.

For example, wikipedia.org has this to say about career:

“Career is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a person's “course or progress through life (or a distinct portion of life)”. In this definition career is understood to relate to a range of aspects of an individual's life, learning and work. Career is also frequently understood to relate to the working aspects of an individual’s life e.g. as in career woman. A third way in which the term career is used to describe an occupation or a profession that usually involves special training or formal education, and is considered to be a person’s lifework. In this case “a career” is seen as a sequence of related jobs usually pursued within a single industry or sector e.g. “a career in law” or “a career in the building trade”.

By this definition we can say:

1. A career is your occupation – that is, your vocation or trade, or how you make a living.

2. It is the series of jobs that you will ever have over your lifetime. These may include the titles earned and work accomplished during this period of time.

So from the above career blogging is about taking blogging as an occupation and getting a paid job as a blogger. This is an option if you are not cut out to be an entrepreneur!

What Do You Need To Succeed With A Career In Blogging?

If you have chosen to take a paid job as a professional or career blogger, you'll need to start with getting the necessary training and experience. Indeed, this is one of the quickest ways you can get the attention of employers looking to hire career bloggers.

As noted in the definition above, career as an occupation or a profession usually involves special training or formal education. But unlike other traditional careers, there is not much out there right now about any formal training for blogging as a profession.

To get that necessary training you will need to be creative and get it your own way. Here are some tips to help:

1. Determine Your Expertise

Companies hiring career bloggers expect them to produce a constant flow of content that is timely and that can add value to their blogs. Though, such bloggers may be expected to write content on various topics, niche specific blogs may expect their career bloggers to have the basic knowledge of their target niche.

This being so, choosing a subject in which you have some formal training or in which you are extremely knowledgeable will give you some advantage.

Remember, in engaging a worker for a job, it is the most qualified person that usually gets employed. So, the first thing you will need to do is to determine the areas where you have expertise and can produce content that will appeal to the target audience.

2. Get the Necessary Experience as a Blogger

To get a hiring manager to take interest in you as a blogger you will need to show you have the necessary skills and experience. Career blogging unlike other professions is not just about getting some classroom knowledge. You need to have the practical skills and there is no better way to do this than starting your own blog to gain some practical experience.

You must understand that blogging is more than setting up a blog and writing content. You will need to learn about the different blogging tools, blog promotion, social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), etc.

Your blog is to serve as your online writing portfolio which will greatly help you in your job search when you are ready. You may also want to guest post on other blogs to grow your online presence. Promote yourself widely on social media, industry forums, enterprise blogs and other online content publishing websites where your potential employer might just take notice of your work.

This is indept guide on career planning could be of help to you in this regard also.

Where Can You Get Career Blogging Jobs?

Now that you have gained the necessary experience and have built up your blogging portfolio, how do you get that professional blogging job?

Of course, there are different ways to do this. One of such is through online job boards. Right now there are various job boards out there. But I’ll advise you to go for job boards that are basically targeted at content writers and bloggers.

Another way is by simply doing a Google search for terms like “hire a blogger” “blog content writing jobs” “hire a professional blogger” etc. Such a search will definitely bring up various opportunities you can choose from.

Some tips that will help you when looking for blogging jobs:

1. Use search engines to look for websites and blogs looking for professional career bloggers.

2. Select the jobs that meet your expertise and send in your applications. You need to understand that many bloggers are out there looking for these jobs so time is of great essence here.

3. Show how you can add value to the hiring company's blog. Add links to your blog and any other content you have online. This way you will demonstrate your expertise and experience.

4. Know what hiring managers look for in career bloggers. Brush up your skills and abilities in these areas and include them in your application when applying for professional blogging jobs.

I hope this article was helpful enough for those who want to start a career as professional bloggers. If you have further questions about this, feel free to ask them in your comments below.

Now, would you rather build your own business with your blogging skills or will you use those skills instead to make money for someone else?

If you'll rather build your own business I ask you to join my exclusive community by signing up for my FREE Newsletter today. As a bonus you'll get my special report 7-Day eProfit Blueprint! In it you'll learn the 3 CORE elements you need to master to achieve the highest level online results gained only by the top 1%. This is a $47 value but yours free!  Click here to sign up.

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