WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WRITING FOR BLOGS
Tips for breaking into the blogosphere
By Amanda Layman Low
The blog has come a long way. Blogs used to be personal journals in digital form, platforms for mundane drivel (content that seems to have migrated to Facebook and Instagram). Now blogs are informative to the masses, entertaining and even profitable. If you've been curious about tapping into the blog market, there are a few things you need to know about the reality of the work. To get some expert insight, I spoke with Blair Koenig, author of the viral blog that pokes fun at parental oversharing on social media, STFU, Parents -- a site that gets around 1.5 to 2 million page views a month.
Basic Blog Types
There are two general types of blogs: MABs (multi-author blogs) and single-author blogs. Under these categories, blogs branch off even further. Some blogs appear on professional websites, nonprofits or corporate websites. Others are intended to entertain or inform, often appearing similar in style to a digital magazine. Other blogs echo the old format, resembling personal diaries. Whatever the style, you'll know it's a blog if its stories appear in reverse chronological order (most recent post at the top), and if it has some interactive aspect, like a "comments" section.
Writing for an established MAB is often similar to writing for a magazine -- you pitch the editor your idea, she gets back to you with a deadline, you write it and, depending on the blog, you may or may not get paid. Additionally, established MABs may not require freelancers to do any work on the technical side; that is, you simply provide them material and they publish it.
If you're starting a single-author blog, on the other hand, be prepared to do some serious legwork. Koenig's blog is her own brainchild, and after four years of blogging she's still a solo act. "I definitely think it's a lot more effort and time than people realize," she says. When she first started, she was...