Joining a blog network

Is it right for you? How will you know?

There are a ton of blog networks out there looking for more people to write for them. I joined with one that I can’t yet tell you about (it hasn’t made it’s online debut as of yet), and there’s one that I can. That one is 451 press. They put out a call for bloggers via the Problogger job board. You can check there for paid blogging jobs.

Some of the companies look to have their bloggers post at least 1-2 posts per day and you get a traffic bonus. The good part about this is that they drive the traffic to you. The money is definitely a bonus if you are just looking to be read. These types of blogging jobs are great if you are really passionate about the subject of your blog.

Other companies want to give you a percentage of the ad revenue that your blog generates. In this case, it’s really up to you if you want to post a lot or a little. This may drive you to post genuine content in order to attract readers that may click on your ads.

Also, another good thing about blog networks is that when you join, there are a whole channel full of bloggers that have already linked to you. Your posts may appear on front pages when highlighting that channel and this gives you more exposure. If you check out Technorati in relation to the Cleveland blog, you’ll find that it’s already been linked to by all of the City Channel bloggers. They also feature some of your latest postings on everyone else’s blogs.

451 Press is one of the blog networks that gives you a percentage of the ad revenue. I write about Cleveland on that blog. I haven’t yet taken that blog to its fullest potential as of yet, but it’s day is coming.

Before venturing on to blog on my own domains, I blogged for BlogCritics. BC is a great forum for fine-tuning your own writing skills and expertise. They have channel editors that tell you sometimes that you may want to add more beef to your article or pictures, or whathaveyou. These are not paid positions and only further the community for BlogCritics. Eric Olsen started that site as a music review page and it blew up from there. On BC, though, you have to add Amazon codes to all of your articles. That way, you’re always pimping out music, books, or movies via Amazon. It’s built right into the interface.

I haven’t seen anything like that anywhere else. The downside of that is that you have to search for relevant ads from Amazon to enter into your posts. This can be tedious.

When you are thinking of joining a blog network, there are several things for you to think about. Are you going to lose control of your site’s content? Who retains ownership of the material you create? Is there a contract? Are the people friendly and helpful? Are there restrictions on what you can write about? Are there restrictions in your style of writing? Some people swear frequently in their postings, but this may be against the blog network’s terms of their contract.

When thinking about signing up to join a blog network, keep all of that in mind. As I always say, it’s not a stupid question unless it goes unasked.