I think I’m going to ramble a bit…
As a professional blogger and consultant, I take pride in my brand. My name, Deborah Ng, is my brand. My brand is also this blog network, Freelance Writing Jobs. I hope it doesn’t sound like a big load of ego to say that many people equate my name and my brand, with the freelance writing jobs niche. Though I didn’t set out to have a heavy web presence, once I my reputation began to build I realized the importance of my name and my brand. I worked hard to get to this point and I’m very proud of my brand and what it’s become.
As much as I will do everything in my power to help them succeed and make names for themselves, the bloggers who write for FWJ aren’t as well known as the “Freelance Writing Jobs” brand. This has nothing to do with them or me. When you write for someone else, you’re paying more attention to their brand than your own.
In the past I wrote for many brands including b5Media, Oxygen Media and About.com. It wasn’t my name that stuck in everyone’s minds when they read my work, it was the brand. That’s not a complaint, I was happy to get my start with some well-known names. However, if you want to make money as a blogger, it’s important to think about whose brand is more important – yours or the people you’re blogging for. If the answer is you, think about how you can build your own brand while still earning money elsewhere. If you’re happy building someone else’s brand without being well-known, that’s OK too.
If you want to build up your name as a writer for someone else’s brand, you’re going to have to think about ways for people to remember your name above or in addition to the name of the brand. The last thing you want to do is overshadow the brand you’re being paid to promote. You’re also going to have to consider how your employer feels about you building up your own brand while being paid to build up his. I recently experienced that very conflict.
Very few bloggers make a name for themselves on someone else’s blog. I’ve blogged for enough people and businesses to know this is true. Blogging for other people pays the bills, blogging for you builds your brand (and can also pay the bills). Blogging for other people enables you to earn some of the money coming in from that blog. Blogging for yourself allows you take control of all of your blog’s income. Blogging for myself allows me to take this blog/network in any direction I’d like. Blogging for someone else has me going someone else’s route, and I may not always agree with where we’re headed.
This blog is called (and about) “Blogging for a Living”. I’d be doing you a disservice if I told you you’ll become a household name blogging for someone else. However, you can earn very good money as a blogger for hire. Not all bloggers make thousands of dollars each month with their own blogs. Not all bloggers for hire are “A Listers”. If you want to make money as a blogger, the first thing you’ll have to determine is whether or not you want to do so building up your own brand or someone else’s. You can do both, but then you’ll also have to be prepared the people who pay you to blog won’t like you spending so much time on you. Knowing where you want to take your name or your brand will help you to determine where to exert most of your energy.
If you want to spend more time building up your own brand, think about how you’re going to reach the people you want to reach and how to create trust and build a good reputation. Just as you want your clients to trust you, you’ll also want your community to trust you. Trust breeds success. When you blog for someone else, you’re working more to create trust with your client than your community. Hopefully as a professional blogger, you’re also building trust in your byline, but the community’s happiness is secondary to your client’s happiness. I once had a client who felt comments were too distracting and turned them off. She didn’t care about community, she cared about content. You’ll work for all kinds as a blogger for hire. Some bloggers enjoy letting an employer handling all the sordid details so they can just write. I prefer having the best of both worlds.
Tell us about your brand. Is your brand important or is it your preference to build up someone else’s brand? Do you want to be famous or are you happy enough to do your job, earn your check and enjoy the incognito life?
Discuss…
I think it’s important to remember that you owe your employer’s brand some loyalty, because without it, it’s likely no one would be reading your stuff. You’re using their brand to draw attention to your writing, so it would be unfair to use it to build yourself up.
Instead, use it as a learning experience, then build your own brand in your own venue.
Uncle Ron,
I feel like (as long as the employer is okay with it) you can do both simultaneously. As Deb noted, it’s important not to *overshadow* your employer’s brand BUT you can take the opportunity to build your own brand, thereby helping the employer’s brand to grow as well.
I ran into a similar situation at a print magazine. At some publishers, the editor IS the magazine brand or the “face of the magazine,” as some publishers choose to call it. In other cases, the magazine’s name is the brand. I had conflicts w. my publisher because, when I signed on, I was already a name in the industry and he wanted to push my face to the back burner. However, in spite of this and due to my marketing efforts, the magazine grew hand-in-hand with my name.
This could have caused problems when I left, but he signed on another “marquis name” in the industry to take over… and I went on to build up other brands in that niche.
Am I willing to subjugate my own brand for the benefit of an employer? That’s a big “that depends.” For instance, I’m thrilled to be just a small part of the FWJ brand and if I never gain individual recognition for it, I’m fine with that. The prestige of saying I write for FWJ, and the promotion my work will get as part of this community, is well worth it. However, (pay being equal) I’d be less willing to do so for a less prestigious brand because that brand would have less to offer me.
Deb:
I think you have some valid arguments. It’s very important to build your own brand (if that is your goal), so that as a blogger you’re well known and can bring in your own money. However, I’m having trouble in this regard as I have recently started back tending to my blog and don’t have a flock of readers. I’m quite antsy about joining FB,MS, and twitter because they are unnerving to me. Any ideas on how to get people to flock to my blog? You can email me if you want.
Thanks!
I write for myself and websites. The one website I write for is finally taking off. Readers are finding the site, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a win-win situation! Why? As a freelance writer, I’m approached by business owners who ask me if I can help “brand” them. I’m sure it’s because they viewed my resume which is also a portfolio piece since I do resume writing in addition to other writing. Business owners may have a website, but it’s not optimized. Writers like me who know SEO/SEM and social media, complemented with a couple of business degrees and a Master’s degree can take our writing to the next level and become consultants as the same time. I’m enjoying the ride!
Hi Deb, how true… how true… My name, Anne Wayman, and my main blog, About Freelance Writing are my brands, at least with writers on the ‘net. I too have worked for networks… About.com and b5 and briefly bellaonoline.com, and… it doesn’t matter… they were great training grounds and I met great people and I built some brand of my own, but it amazes me how many people still think of me as Anne Wayman who used to be with About.com…
Ramble on girl!
It’s actually my work with b5Media and with an online radio network that made me think about this a lot. The people at b5Media worked very hard, but it was the network that got the glory. That’s ok if it’s what you want. If you’re looking to make a name for yourself, you’ll have to think about how to brand yourself.
I want to begin to blog or write professionally and to do it from home, the only problem is I have no real experience other then writing in my free time and occassionally I would blog on myspace, not so much any more though. No one will give me a chance without experience, however; but I can’t get experience without a chance. So in part, I agree with what your article was saying, but I do think companies do want you to have made some sort of name for yourself even if a very small and not well known name, otherwise they won’t hire you. I have given up on looking for someone to hire me for this very reason.
I’ve been travel blogging for almost 3 years and just opened my site up to contributors last week. I was thrilled with the response, and have already received and scheduled contributions, and shared some feedback with the writers.
As I was writing up detailed instructions for drafting posts, I realized that some of the people I’d be working with were fairly new to blogging, and might be able to learn a lot from contributing to an established blog. At least it is my hope that I can help them in exchange for their willingness to contribute.
To step back to January 2007, I made a strategic decision not to create my Round the World blog via BootsnAll. I decided to build it off my exciting domain so I could control potential advertising down the line. This turned out to be a great decision, and has been paying off for years.
Interesting thoughts from all!
I completely agree that blogging for someone else is like building someone else’s brand and to build your own brand, you need to blog for yourself. The ideas I got from this post and the response will certainly benefit me.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t work for other people, or get fired from a gig. Just giving you something to consider.
I am looking to go into Blogging or FreeLance writing to earn money and to be able to stay at home with my children. All I know is that I truly love to write and give my opinions. In between cooking and my household duties, I can spend up to 4 hrs or more a day just on Face Book alone. Somehow there has got to be a way to make a living doing this and get paid for it. As a new blogger or freelance writer, I would love if someone could tell me how to get started.
It has been an interesting read and like many people I am looking for a way in life to be able to express myself through images and writing. The professional route with some one hiring u ….seems difficult without experience. I start an incredible journey to Asia on Sunday and I shall create a blog with images and definitely some interesting points ….. no pay but I think that to get people to want to hire you u need a online portfolio …… so wish me luck
will post the blog details when it is on the GO !!!!
How exactly do you get paid from blogging?