If you missed Part One, check it out here.
We discussed having to produce a set amount of blogs each month/week/day, having a set topic you have to write on, and the fact that you can’t blog for companies like PayPerPost or ReviewMe while blogging for a company. There are more downsides – read on:
*Each blog has to have at least X amount of words in it. They can usually be longer than the requirement, but they can never be shorter. If you watched a YouTube video and thought it was good enough to want to share on the blog, then you’ve got to make sure to write enough commentary to make the blog meet the word requirement. You cannot just post the video and say, “Enjoy!” or whatever. The exact requirements for the length for the blog varies from company to company, of course, but I have never seen an advertisement for a paid blogger that did not have some sort of minimum length requirement.
*You don’t get to control what the blog looks like or what items are up on the page. Want to add a Digg button? Ping certain blog lists like Technorati? You have to submit these ideas to the company, and then they can say yes or no. You can’t just do it. Don’t like the background color of the blog? Want to set up the page differently? You will likely have very little luck in getting any of that kind of thing changed.
*The potential for money in a company blog is smaller than a personal blog. The debate of whether to work for a company or just have your own blog is strikingly similar to whether you should work for a company or set up your own business. When you set up your own business, there is no clock to punch, no set paychecks coming in, and the security is almost nonexistent. However, the potential for growth is almost limitless, and if you build a successful company, you will have a hefty paycheck. When you work for someone else, the security is high (although still not guaranteed, of course – companies close down all the time) but the payoff is lower, because you don’t get to keep all of the profits of the new business like the owner does.
So when you blog for a company, you need to understand and realize that the company is making more in profits than they are paying you (they better or they’ll shut down and then you’ll be out of a job!) This is the reason that capitalism in America works so well. However, do know that by agreeing to work for a company, you could be writing those blogs for your personal blog, and receiving all of the ad income yourself, instead of having the company take the lion’s share. It is really up to you and your risk tolerance level. I personally don’t have a very high tolerance level for risk, and I appreciate the fact that I know exactly how much each paycheck will be. I also like the fact that the advertising for the website and all of that jazz is taken care of by Families, leaving me to be able to just write. If you are an entrepreneur at heart, then starting up your own blog with the goal of becoming a professional blogger may be perfect for you. If you want security and a knowledge that the money coming in will be stable and set, then working for a company may be perfect for you!
As it always is in life, the decision of whether to work for a company or blog for yourself can only be made by you. I do hope these blogs comparing and contrasting the two were helpful. If you think I missed something that you’ve noticed, please leave a comment below – I would love to hear about it!
Having covered all of that, we need to make a slight detour and cover Page Ranking from Google, and then we’ll be on to the choices involved with setting up a personal blog. Don’t miss it!
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!