How to apply for a blogging position

In the space of 2 days I have received around 20 emails via my ad on the problogger boards for some new authors on Blogging Tips.

One of the things that has astounded me is how little time some bloggers spend on their application email for a blogging position. Your first email to a company is the most important one, they do not know who you are so your first email determines their first impression of you and if that impression isn’t good there might not be a second email!

When applying for a blogging position

Blogging Tips is still a smallish blog and yet I got 20 emails within 2 days just by advertising on the Problogger Job Boards, I can only imagine the number of emails a large blog with thousands of subscribers gets when they advertise a blog position. My point is this, you need to make your job application stand out from the crowd and you need to give the company a reason to hire you.

• Be Polite - Don’t start with ‘Hey Buddy’ if you don’t know them. Present yourself in a polite and respectable fashion, manners cost nothing!
• Get the length of the email right - Too little information may not encourage the company to look any further into your application. Too much info can have a similar effect, they want to know the facts, they aren’t looking for your life story!
• Link to your blog or articles - You need to have evidence of your writing skills online. Send them a link to your blog or the site in which your articles are published. If you write for a website which has many authors then you should send 3 or 4 direct links to articles you have written ie. don’t make them look for your posts. I had an email yesterday where the author said they wrote some posts on a certain website. After looking on the site for 10 minutes and not finding their posts I had to email them back and ask for a link to the articles they had written.
• Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling - This is a no brainer. Read over your application once or twice to ensure that there are no spelling or grammar mistakes in your email.
• Use a signature - You should end your email with your full name, email address and a link to your blog (if applicable). Some people forget just how useful an email signature is. Remember, you want to make it easy for them to contact you and find information about you and your writing ability.

A huge factor in who gets hired for a blogging job is their portfolio ie. previous articles are a fantastic indication of what type of posts the owner can expect from the guest authors in the future. However, a polite, well constructed and informative application can go a lot in your favour and may just give you the edge you need to get the job.

Good Luck