Better Paying Opportunities for Bloggers?

As someone who trolls the job boards daily looking for writing and blogging leads, I tend to notice trends. For instance, with so many folks laid off from their jobs, many are turning to freelance writing and paid blogging opportunities for making ends meet, at least temporarily.

I started writing for the web in 1999, we didn’t use the term blogging as much but it was the same thing. Write, build up community, monitor comments, have a ball. The pay wasn’t bad at all and I was able to quit my boring office job and carve out a very nice living as a writer and blogger for hire.

Then Adsense happened…

All of a sudden webmasters realized they could make money from this Internet thing. The cheap webcontent trend was born. Advertisments offering to pay $200 for 100 articles were the norm. After blogging exploded a few years back, the blog networks joined the bandwagon.

I’m happy to say I found many lucrative blogging opportunties for organizations such as Oxygen Media and About.com. To supplement my big gigs, I enjoyed working for blog networks and even had my own successful blog, which is still going strong. I soon moved into the world of social media, keeping my own blogs while resigning from network blogging – a good thing I did, too. Know More Media closed its doors and b5Media, Today.com and others began lowering pay levels for bloggers. Many bloggers found it more profitable to have their own blogs than to work for networks. It was disheartening for many who relied on this pay to make ends meet.

As I check the job boards now,  I’m noticing how things are picking up for bloggers for hire – especially if they are willing to look beyond the networks. Bloggers who used to be paid $50 to $100 a month for their daily blogging are now finding opportunities for $20, $30 and upwards of $50 per post. Many businesses are willing to pay bloggers $45,000 to $60,000 annually for building up the corporate blog and getting the community rocking.  Last year I was wondering if blogging had a future, this year I’m pleased to see it does, and the opportunities are bigger and better!

So where does one find these lucrative paying opportunties? There are several places to look on the web, but be sure to check terms. You want to work smarter, not harder. $1 gigs aren’t smart. Try one of these job boards:

• Problogger – Darren Rowse’s popular blog has several new opportunities each week. Some are lucrative, others are best ignored. (Hint – I saw one  there today paying $500/month)
• Startuply – Lists all sorts of web based opportunities for startups, even some blogging gigs.
• Freelance Writing Jobs – No jobs listed paying under $10 a post.
• BlogHer – I landed my job blogging for Oxygen Media through BlogHer. You might find a gem too!
• Blogging Jobs – Not updated often, but you can find some good ones here.
• Craigslist – Craigslist gets a bum rap. The truth is, I found my highest paying gigs via Craigslist. It may be a haven for spammers and scammers, but there are also of plenty of good gigs to be found.
• Twitter – If someone is looking for a blogger, you can bet it will be on Twitter.

Those are only a few of the places where one can find work as a blogger. There are even bigger opportunties for those looking beyond blogging to the world of social media. Businesses want to jump on the bandwagon, and we’re the ones in the driver seat.