Has blogging lost its soul?

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a guest post by Janet Green.

There’s a lot of crap out there in the blogosphere – get-rich scams, blogs that exist solely to ‘scrape’ content from other blogs, posts written only with SEO in mind, and so much more. To me the existence of these trappings suggest that perhaps blogging has become something of a “dream career,” surrounded now by hucksters who try to entice the lazy with promises of wealth without much work.

As these voices become greater in number and louder in their shouting, it’s possible – even likely – that the essence of blogging could be lost. And so I’m asking a very basic question: has this already happened? Has blogging lost its soul?

What is the soul of blogging?

Of course, we first have to define the soul of blogging before we can determine if it’s been lost. I hope you will share your definition of “the soul of blogging” in the comments below.  Here’s mine:

The soul of blogging is the giving spirit of bloggers.

I’d been blogging about my own minutiae for a few years when I decided to launch a niche blog. My mentor in the leap to “blogging with purpose” was a person who was and is about helping others, Mike Sansone of Converstations. What I learned from Mike is that blogging – even for money – can come from a place of giving (of oneself) rather than seeking rewards. And so for me, if blogging is to retain its soul, bloggers must come from that place of giving in a few different ways:

• They must be authentic. This means they express their own ideas (or build upon/add to the ideas of others) in their own voice.
• They must strive to be altruistic, to be about more than themselves. They cannot be all-consumed with their own expertise, but instead must want to be a resource for their readers, even if that means sharing voices other than their own.
• And they must be generous, seeking to give frequently that which they seek to receive, whether it be comments, or links, or whatever other currency.

So – has blogging lost its soul?

For a brief period in 2007 the blogging pundits were all wondering whether “blogging had peaked” as a medium. This was because a Technorati report on “the health of the blogosphere” showed that the number of daily blog posts worldwide had been dropping. I argued at the time – and I still believe today – that if post quantity was the sole measure of the health of the blogosphere then we were probably delusional about that health anyway. I said at the time:

So while the sheer number of daily posts has perhaps peaked… what’s taking place now is the maturation of the blog from ego-driven, junk-filled novelty to information-rich, purpose-driven conversation.”

This, I argued, was a much better measure of whether “blogging had peaked.” It’s also a fine way to measure whether blogging has lost its soul.

Are bloggers still authentic, altruistic and generous? Mostly, yes. The problem is that the huckster voices – those that seek only to separate you from your money with a big promise, or that exist only to steal your content for the sake of their own “link juice” – seem to be making the most noise, and noise begets attention.

It’s important to remember that those are not the only – or even the primary – voices of the blogosphere. The primary voices are still those who have, over time, established their credentials, given more than they received, and reached out to help others time and time again.

Are some bloggers living a “dream career,” making money from blogging? A few are, yes. But they didn’t get there quickly, and they didn’t get there by hawking some secret formula for blogging success. They built their blogs one authentic, altruistic and generous post at a time. Would that we each could reach that level of success by doing the same.

Janet Green has been blogging since 2002. Her current blogs cover motorcycling, life and family in Des Moines, Iowa, and of course blogging. Her blogs and social media profiles are all linked at www.janetgreen.net.

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How Writing For Other Blogs Improves Yours (And Makes You Money)

This is a guest post by Ali Hale, a freelance writer, staff blogger and post-grad creative writing student. Find her at Aliventures.com or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/alihale.

When you think about making money blogging, you might come up with ideas like promoting affiliate products, selling an ebook, enticing advertisers, or using your blog to market your services. But have you ever considered how writing for someone else’s blog could put money in your pocket – whilst letting you learn more about the blogging business?

A Very Short Introduction to Staff Blogging

“Staff blogging” is the blogging industry’s equivalent of “staff writing” for a print publication. Being on the staff of a blog typically involves writing a set number of posts each week or month, and getting paid for each post. You’ll normally get your name on each post you write, and often you’ll have a link back to your blog, either on each of your posts or on an “author’s bio” page.

Staff Blogging Improves Your Skills

The problem that most bloggers face is finding an audience.If your blog doesn’t have many readers, it’s hard to get feedback on what’s working – and what isn’t. Write for a big, established blog, though, and you’ll get comments and messages from people who’ve enjoyed what you’ve written. You’ll soon learn what topics go down well – and which sink like a stone.

Staff blogging is also a great way to try out different writing styles. You might not want to chop and change too much on your own blog, but if you write for several very different blogs (like I do), you get the chance to try out concise, newsy posts, long how-to posts, humorous takes on common topics, and more.

Staff Blogging Improves Your Reputation

Writing for a big blog or website gives you something worthwhile to put on your resume, or to drop into emails when you’re trying to network with other bloggers. If readers see your work on multiple respected sites, they’ll soon start to recognise your name.

And staff blogging is also a great way to improve your reputation with search engines. Almost every blog will link back to their writers’ own sites; getting a link from a large, trusted site is great Google juice for you.

Staff Blogging Gives You Money For Your Own Projects

If your first attempts at blogging for yourself were anything like mine, your anticipated fortune won’t have materialised yet. In fact, your sum total blogging income might amount to $15.35 in Google AdSense – and the chance of reaching the $100 payment threshold any time before Christmas could be slim.

Staff blogging, however, means that you get a guaranteed sum for each post you write. This could be valuable extra pocket money for improving your own blog: it could buy you a premium or customised Wordpress theme, high-quality plugins, ebooks or traditional books to improve your skills, or any number of other goodies.

Writing just one $25 post per week (a low rate for staff blogging) probably won’t take you more than an hour, and will net you an extra $100 each month.

Staff Blogging Establishes Writing Discipline

Have you ever abandoned a blog after just a few posts? Have you had long absences on your blogs, when writers’ block has struck – or when you’ve just felt unmotivated? One big advantage of staff blogging (though it might not feel like a positive at the time!) is that you’ll learn to write even when you’re not feeling very motivated.

Knowing that you have to produce a certain number of posts each week or month means that they will get done. You’ll establish a writing routine, and learn what works best for you.

Want to Give Staff Blogging a Try?

I hope I’ve convinced you by now that problogging doesn’t have to just mean making money from your own blog. A couple of great places to look for staff blogging jobs are the job boards on ProBlogger and the daily leads posted on Freelance Writing Jobs.

An even better way to get into staff blogging, though, is to approach the editors of some of your favourite blogs. Offer a guest post (write it before emailing them, if possible, and attach it to your email) and see how it goes down. Follow up by asking if they have any paid positions available. If a blog has multiple authors, chances are that they pay for posts.

Next week, on Wednesday May 6th, I’m releasing a six-part Staff Blogging Course packed with my advice, tips and experience from over a year’s staff blogging (I went from earning $0 in January 2008 to paying my rent and bills from staff blogging by September 2008).

The course is in ebook form so that you can study at your own pace and it includes handouts and practical exercises to get you going with staff blogging. You can sign up for my advance notification list so that you get a sneak preview, and an email to remind you when the course is launched.

The usual price is $19, but there’s a $5 discount for Blogopolis Blueprint readers – just enter the code “BlueBlogger” (not case sensitive) at the checkout.

Good luck with your blogging, whether for yourself or for another blog, and I hope to be seeing your name all around the blogosphere soon!

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