I was pleased to be interviewed by Gail Seymour at her Paying Hobby blog. She uses the same type of E-Mail interview that I’ve used many times here at Broadcasting Brain, but she formats the results in a more article-like structure which looks quite good. She interviewed me from the perspective of a paying hobby.
There are a few things related to this interview that I’d just like to touch upon for a moment, just so there’s no misunderstandings:
- I do not get compensated directly for blogging at Broadcasting Brain. I do not write paid or sponsored posts on this blog.
- I do use Amazon.com affiliate links for book reviews, but only if I truly believe that the book is worth someone else’s hard-earned cash to buy. I disclose how I get the books that I review.
- I have used advertising on this blog, but the amount of money that I’ve “made” by doing that would barely pay for two months of hosting time.
So, the paying hobby aspect that she interviewed me about does not have to do with this blog. It has to do with the following source of income: writing articles on user generated content websites.
I have a number of articles on the following websites, as are listed in the Other Writing page of this blog:
My Helium articles
I don’t normally talk about my articles on those Web sites because they have a different purpose that the writing on this blog. This blog is, I guess, the place where I’m trying to build authority and make a difference in the world by pointing out valuable resources and trying to create my own content to help other people. In Schawbel-speak, this would be my personal branding hub.
My articles on the other websites are there to generate income, pure and simple. The income from those websites will pay for my hosting and domain registration fees, plus the occasional extra. I do not consider them to be great writing, on average. In fact, they’re hack work, but they serve a purpose. I generally try to keep the two types of content separated, although I will occasionally link out to one of these articles on these other websites if it will fit within the context of the blog post I’m writing. In that sense, I may make a tiny bit of income from a blog post, but we’re talking a few pennies at best.
I am doing more article writing on those sites these days, but I intend to maintain the same kind of separation that I’ve had in place for the past few years.
I don’t know if this post was necessary, but I feel better after writing it.
Any questions?
Well I don’t know if you want to share this information, but how do you get paid for writing these UGC articles ?
I contribute a lot of stuff to blogs as a guest poster and to article directories as well. I would love to be paid but ended up doing it for free in exchange for publicity, for my consultancy services etc.
Is there a way to generate a small income from article sites ?
Lucy Thorpe´s last blog ..Social Networking phobia-something else to worry about.
@Lucy – that might be worth a post in itself, but basically it’s a share of advertising revenue plus bonuses.
Mark’s secret identity revealed!
Michael Martine´s last blog ..Open Discussion: The Pace of Change
@Michael: Yes, I am Clark Kent.