If you are in the position to start your blogging career off, you might be wondering just exactly how to make the first steps. You can’t just start blogging and hope for your content to miraculously appear online for the thousands to see. There are certain paths you can take to make your way into blogging with the main ways highlighted below.

 

#1 Blog as a Freelancer

The main way people start off their blogging careers (and continue them, for that matter) is by becoming a freelancer. A freelancer is someone who is hired by a business/company to work on a specific assignment – in terms of blogging, you will get paid to write articles for websites and blogs online.

So is the freelancer option the right one for you?

• + You can start off straight away as a freelancer
• + Once you have your first freelancing job, you can pretty much predict your cash flow for the foreseeable future
• – Getting a freelance job requires a good CV online – if you are just starting out, you will not have one yet. Therefore, finding your first freelance job might become quite difficult. This is where it might be worth reducing your rates to get experience first.
• – There is risk involved with freelancing – there are no contracts to sign so your freelancing agreement could end any day.

 

#2 Create a Website/Blog

This is the next alternative if you do not fancy working for someone else online. If you have a passion for something and can commit a lot of time, then making a website/blog for you to blog on might be your best bet. In the long run, a website/blog is a great investment of time: if you hit the right niche to talk about.

• + You have complete control over every part of your website/blog, since you will be creating it.
• + You can blog about what you want, for as long or little as you want, giving you more freedom to blog.
• – You do not get paid straight away unlike freelance work would.
• – You cannot guarantee any more will be made – it depends on if you get lots of traffic and have a form of monetization on your website/blog.
• – Learning to create a great website/blog takes time

 

 

#3 Sign Up For HubPages/Squidoo

There are lots of websites out there that will enable people to sign up and start publishing content to the site. As mentioned, HubPages and Squidoo are just two examples of such websites for which you can sign up and start writing content on. What differentiates these types of websites is that the whole website has been created – the last thing left to do is for you to write the content.

• + Earn money based on the revenue made from traffic clicking on advertisements on your articles
• + Have freedom to talk about what you want – not tied down to any particular topics.
• – Content must be of good quality to become published on such websites (there are guidelines to writing content).
• – You will not own the content – the website you are publishing the content onto will have the rights and ownership to your content.