How to Become a Professional Blogger

A few years ago, blogs were just getting off the ground and hadn't gone mainstream yet. Long before people knew you could make money from them, some of us already were. Gradually the term professional blogger or "pro blogger" came to be, and it described those of us who were quietly and unobtrusively making a good income from blogging.

I'll be the first to admit that blogging is a great job. You get to work at home (or anywhere in the world with an Internet connection for that matter), set your own hours, and to a large extent, write about whatever interests you. Where do you sign up, right?

Let's not jump ahead. First you have to realize that bloggers are writers. You don't have to be a scintillating storyteller or an award-winning journalist (or even have a college degree), but you do have to like writing. If putting words on the page (or, in our case, on the computer screen) is torture for you, blogging isn't going to be your gig.

But if you like to write, read on...

The Two Ways to Become a "Pro Blogger"

The two ways to make money blogging are to get a job writing for an existing blog (usually run by a company) or to start your own.

I make a living from my own blogs, and what I love is that there's no ceiling there, so you have more potential to build long-term wealth. However it takes a lot of time to get a new blog rolling, and you have to be willing to learn a thing or two about internet marketing (AKA how to get people to visit your blog).

If you're interested in building wealth by creating your own profitable blog, then it's probably best to take a good course on the subject. I've never felt the urge to create a blog school of my own, but I did go through Yaro Starak's Blog Mastermind program a few months ago, and it's an awesome resource.

If you're not sure you're ready to jump into building your own blog from scratch yet, you could get your feet wet by working for someone else. This is also a way to get the money flowing in sooner, because you'll usually get paid monthly or bi-monthly, much like a regular job. Common ways people get paid in the industry are a flat salary, by post count, or by revenue share (be leery of signing up for a "revenue share" gig unless the site is already established--new sites rarely make much money, and you'll be lucky to get more than a couple pennies for your hard work).

It can be hard to find a blogging job (lots of competition), but a couple of blog networks that occasionally hire are Weblogs Inc and B5 Media. Just Google either of those companies to find out more about them. They each have a wide variety of blogs and sometimes need new bloggers to fill vacated positions or help launch new blogs.

When working for others, it's rare to find full-time pay as a paid blogger (one gal I know makes $500 a month for about two hours work a day), but it's possible to combine multiple blog jobs and make a decent living. Many folks start out blogging for someone else and build up their own for-profit blogs at the same time. In the end, the real money is in owning and controlling your own sites.

If starting your own blog is in the stars, check out that review I mentioned. Yaro's course is very helpful. But don't be afraid to get started working for someone else.

Either way you go, good luck to you and your professional blogger future!