Blogging is serious business. Whoever said blogging is fun didn’t know what they were talking about. Blogging is a seriously fun business

Studying Ali Hale’s Staff Blogging course is fun too. No mincing of words and no false promises. What else could I want? A paid blogging job perhaps? All in good time my friend.

Unit III of the Staff Blogging Course deals with applying for a job. Ali gives tip regarding your blogging job application. What to do, what not to do, how to stay in the blog editor’s notice and lists sample application and guest posting guidelines from various blogs.

The Staff Blogging Course also tells you

• Next steps for the three different application methods discussed in Unit II
• What to do if/when rejected for a blogging job you applied to
• How to form and maintain your portfolio and
• How to keep track of job applications

The course handouts include sample job applications that Ali herself have used and has also added footnotes with further details. There’s also a sample Excel file that helps you track your applications and submissions.

This Unit includes three simple exercises that won’t take much time if you’ve done the exercises in the previous units. Follow this unit, and who knows? By next week you just may have a staff blogging job!

Using the sample excel sheet

The Excel sheet keeps pushing me to apply to new places. I’ve added a new sheet to the file where I’ve listed the blogs I’d like to staff blog for and keep adding blog post ideas related to them as they come to me.

The best part about staff blogging jobs is that they open up every few months. So even if the blog in question isn’t looking for a staff blogger now, there’s no guarantee that they won’t want one four months from now.

If you like what you’ve seen of the staff blogging course so far, you can buy the course for $19 here.

We’ve heard what Michael Martine of Remarkablogger, James Chartrand of Men with Pens and Naomi Dunford of Ittybiz have to say about being interesting to your audience. It’s time to find out what you guys have to say.

Before starting this series, I had my final post all drafted and was looking forward to typing it to perfection.

Then I published my first post of the series and Starliteve left a comment that bested my views in every sense of the word. She was matter of fact where I would have gotten er… emotional and to the point where I would have rambled.

So instead of my pearls of (very questionable) wisdom, I present to you Starliteve’s three points that make a blog interesting to her. Feel free to substitute blog with business, product,  services etc.

1. Your blog is interesting because it gives me information and a perspective that I can’t get anywhere else.
2. Your blog is interesting because you go out and find the best information and save me the time by linking me to it all at once (with your glowing commentary).
3. Your blog is interesting because you tell me intimate and interesting things about yourself that are entertaining or thought provoking.

Do you guys look for the same things? Or does something else hold your interest? The floor is now yours.

Image credit: Chris Owens

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Freelancing, Social Networking

Naomi Dunford needs no introduction. She’s a force to reckon with and embodies everything Michael and James have said about being interesting.

Naomi is as real as they come and she has an equally helpful assistant Jess who got me this interview from Naomi.

If there’s one person I could voice my real question to, it’s Naomi.

Q. How the hell do I become interesting so that people like you will visit and read my blog? How do I catch and hold your interest? Tell me for God’s sake!!!

IttyBiz: If you’re not terrified 23 hours out of 24, you’re not doing it right. (You can take an hour to answer email if you like. That’s allowed.) Not sure if you’re terrified? Use a handy little post-it checklist. Check your offering — your blog post, your ad copy, your sales page, whatever — against this criteria:

Does it make you say, “Jesus fucking Christ, am I INSANE? There’s no way I can do this. I’ll be a laughing stock. I’ll lose everyone. I’ll be broke and homeless and live in a gutter”?

No? Then back to the drawing board go you, darling.

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Nobody says it like IttyBiz. Thank you for the interview Naomi. You’re the (wo)man!

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Freelancing, Social Networking

When I decided to send one-question interviews to people I found interesting, I knew there would be one person I’d be interviewing for sure – and hounding them if they refused.

If you want a poster child for a blog/business that engages its readers and customers, provides excellent content, thrives on conversation and has a blog community to die for – then you don’t have to look further than the Men with Pens. James Chartrand is the face of MwP and the guy who heard my half crazed question that I didn’t voice.

Q: What is the one thing we should change about our approach to become more interesting?

James: Being interesting means being real. Gone are the days where companies boast and try to appear more than they are. Today’s consumers want to hear stories from the people behind the company. They want to have an experience, to get to know those they buy from personally.

Share your stories. Talk about your interests. Be genuine and show that you’re human too. Discuss past mistakes and what you learned from them. Mention accomplishments and what you went through to achieve them. Have fun and talk about something from your life that you’re passionate about – a hobby, for example.

You can be real and be approachable easily without losing professionalism. So enjoy what you do, have fun with it, and demonstrate that to your target audience. They’ll learn to love you for not only what you offer, but who you are as well.

And that, my friends, builds trust and loyalty, two huge factors to your success.

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Thank you for the interview James. You guys totally rock!

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Freelancing, Social Networking

Today, Michael Martine (Remarkablogger) answers my question about what we as bloggers, can do to hold the interest of our readers.

Michael is a blog consultant and coach who’s the brain behind a lot of things. The most impressive of which (for me) is WordPress SEO Secrets.

I asked Michael the vaguest question in the world and he came back with the most specific answer I could have asked for. Thank you for your time and insight Michael. You’re awesome!

What is the one thing people should change about their approach to become more interesting (to their target audience)?

Michael: The one thing people should change in their approach to become more interesting is the “voice” of their writing. Interesting writing is full of personality and the voice of the writer is unmistakable in it. Inject your personality into your writing voice.

When we write, we often write in a voice that isn’t natural to us. It’s forced. We think we have to sound a certain way, that we have to sound “professional” or “business-like.” That is complete bullshit. You must sound like YOU. Write how you talk. Write like you’re writing an email to your best friend. That doesn’t mean your spelling and grammar can suck, but even those are secondary to personality. Do this and your writing will instantly be more interesting.

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To learn more about blogging from Michael, check out the series of posts he did at Remarkablogger on how to write for your blog.

• No More Rambling Brain Splats
• Quit Qualifying Your Words and Just Say it Already!
• Don’t Get Mad – Get Persuasive
• Separate Fact from Fiction in Your Blog Writing
• Simple doesn’t mean Stupid or How to Write So Anyone Can Understand You

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Freelancing, Social Networking