“Should I blog for myself or for a company?” is the very first question you need to ask yourself when trying to decide how to break into the blogging field. Yet it really isn’t an either/or question – I ought to have phrased it, “Should I blog for myself or for a company or both?” because quite often, people end up doing both. I personally blog for Families (obviously) and then I also have two personal blogs – one supporting a political candidate, and then the other is just a blog where I can spout off random thoughts and happenings – the quintessential hobby blog although I don’t talk about what my cat eats for breakfast in it! Of course, it would help if I actually had a cat…
When you’re trying to decide if you should blog for a company or for yourself, also take into account the fact that having a personal blog can actually be very helpful when trying to land a professional gig. I have read more than a few ads for probloggers (that is what people are called who blog for a living – it’s short for “professional bloggers”) where the company requires that you have an active, personal blog that has been live for at least the past 90 days. They usually don’t care what the topic of the personal blog is, but they want you to have one because a) it shows that you write consistently, b) it shows your “voice” or your writing style really well, and c) your audience of your personal blog will likely follow you to your company blog, which means that if they hire you, a built-in audience comes along with. That’s music to the company’s ears.
In the best of both worlds, your personal and your company blogs can also compliment each other. As an example, let’s pretend that I have an ounce of painting skill in me (which I don’t, but that’s why I said pretend. Even my stick figures are pathetic looking.) So if I’m a painter, that means that I’m trying to sell paintings (most painters do) and then wah-lah! I get hired to write about decorating and home life. My readers of the home decor blog check out my personal blog through my biography, and because they are already interested in decorating and their home, they would be more likely to buy a painting from me than if my company blog was about computers and iPods. The audiences are not the same, and although I might get an occasional stray buyer, the crossover isn’t going to be as high. So when the two topics compliment each other, then I’m on to something. It’s also good for the company, because the readers from my personal blog about paintings will be interested in a blog on home decor, obviously, so they’ll crossover to be readers of the company blog. It’s a win-win both ways.
BUT! (and this is a big “but”) most companies will not allow you to have a personal blog that covers the same exact topic that they hired you to write about, because if people can go to your personal blog and read your insights, then why go to the company website to learn anything? So if I have a personal blog on wine tasting parties in California, and then I am hired on at a company to write about wine tasting parties in California, then either I will have to quit the company blog, quit my personal blog, or change the focus on the personal blog to something like “Wine Companies in California” so that the two blogs compliment, not compete, with each other.
One thing to keep in mind: A lot of people really struggle with trying to keep up two blogs at the same time, so at first you need to focus on one or the other, at least until the original blog gets established, at which point you can branch out to other blogs. I do not recommend starting a personal blog and getting hired at a company at the same time. You will quickly find yourself completely overwhelmed. There are also some pretty big pluses and minuses to both company and personal blogs (you may not want a personal blog, or you may not want to write for a company) so over the next couple of blogs I wanted to talk about those differences, so you could decide which one was right for you. Up first: The pluses of having a personal blog!
This was part of a series on blogging. If you haven’t read the other entries in this series, make sure to check out the summary page for a listing of all blogging articles. Comments and feedback are always welcome – feel free to leave them below or send me an e-mail at Hava L {at} Families dot com. Thanks for reading!