It’s Thursday and you know what that means, it’s time again for SpecialtyBuzz! SpecialtyBuzz is where I post an interview with a freelance writer who specializes in a certain type of writing or a certain subject matter. This week I am proud to feature Ali Hale. The freelance writing world has been buzzing about Ali lately, because she has turned staff blogging into an art form and is sharing all her secrets in her handy dandy staff blogging course (read to the end for more details.)

Without further adieu, I give you Ali Hale on the world of staff blogging.

What is your specialty and how did you get started in that particular area?

I’m a staff blogger, which means I work as a staff writer for a number of different blogs – I write one or two posts a week for each blog, and get paid per post. The topics themselves vary, though I tend to focus on health, diet, personal development, productivity and “life tips” areas.

I got started by accident! Back in January 2007, I had a fledgling blog of my own that I was trying to promote, so I wrote a guest post for a much bigger blog in the same field. The editor of that blog asked if I’d be interested in becoming a paid, regular writer for his blog… I only had the vaguest of idea, at that point, that people could be paid for blogging.

What are three things a writer needs to know before choosing to specialize in your area of specialty?

1. Writers will need a level of knowledge of and interest in at least one or two topics; it’s much easier to blog on subjects that you already know a lot about. The pay and timescales don’t allow for spending hours researching each post.

2. You’ll also need to have a reasonable level of web-savvy. If you have your own blog, that’s a big plus. You don’t need to be a web coder or designer, but you do need to be comfortable using content management systems, such as Wordpress, to upload your work. The good news is that you can set up a blog on Wordpress.com or Blogger.com for free, to practice. (Once you’ve learnt one blog system, it’s pretty easy to pick up others.)

3. Writing for the web — particularly for blogs — requires a different style and format from many other forms of freelance writing. You need to be able to write for readers who are busy and distracted: this means having subheadings that are descriptive rather than clever, using lists and short paragraphs to break up the text on the screen, and using bold text to highlight key points. Many blogs will want a chatty, friendly style, and you’ll need to be able to adapt your writing voice to suit the tone of the blog.

Does writing in your specialty require any particular training or could a layman pick it up?

One of the things I love about staff blogging is that it’s a great way to get started as a freelance writer. You can definitely pick it up as a layman, and there are loads of great online resources that can help you (Progblogger and CopyBlogger are packed with great advice).

Don’t expect to leap into blogging and get everything right first time, though: have a go at keeping up a blog of your own for a bit, or write some guest posts, before trying to find a paid job. Editors like to see “clips” of blog articles that you’ve already published (even if these are just on your own blog).

Are there any potential pitfalls associated with specializing in your area?

Staff blogging is easy to get into, and tends to be a nice consistent job (I’m still working for that blog I got accidentally started with … though my pay’s gone up since then!) However, it doesn’t pay so highly as other forms of writing, and there are a lot of blog editors out there who don’t offer a reasonable rate at all. It can take time to find well-paying jobs, and if you’re already a strongly established freelancer, you might find you can make more from other types of writing.

(Taylor, the Men with Pens’ gal, is making some great points about this in a three part series that starts with this post.)

What is the current market for writing in your specialty? Who is buying and who is selling?

The market is strong; I’ve had new work come in despite the credit crunch. The buyers tend to be large blogs (readership of 10,000+) that generate substantial revenue from advertising, affiliate links or other methods. They’re the ones who can afford to pay for content! You can find links to staff blogging positions on FreelanceWritingGigs.com or on job boards such as the Problogger Job Board - or you can just approach editors directly, if you know they publish posts by a number of different regular writers.

The people “selling” staff blog posts don’t fit into one simple mould. Some are students, some are full-time parents. Others are established freelancers (a good number of these write for Copyblogger). Some are even retired professionals supplementing their pension. One of the greatest things about staff blogging is that it’s open to anyone: you don’t need a long list of publication credits, and you don’t need a college degree.

What do you enjoy most about your specialty?

The variety. Occasionally I can feel a bit tired of a topic (I seem to have been writing about dieting forever), but with most blogs, I have a huge amount of flexibility in what I can write about. Editors nearly always give you free reign to choose your own topics. I have a lot of fun writing posts, and I regularly learn something new.

What do you enjoy least about your specialty?

It’s really hard to think of anything here… very occasionally, I’ve had negative comments from readers about a post, and sometimes it can be frustrating to realize that you’ve not got your thoughts across well enough (or that maybe your thoughts weren’t so great in the first place!) But I get so many more thoughtful and lovely comments and emails that the occasional negative one really isn’t a big deal.

How would you suggest networking within your specialty?

Get onto Twitter – most blog editors, and every staff blogger who I know, use it, and it’s a great low-pressure way to network.

Leave insightful comments on blogs that you’d like to write for. Email the editor to say how much you enjoyed a recent post – and perhaps to suggest an idea for a future topic.

Most of all, write guest posts. This lets you hone your blogging skills, get your name out there, and build up relationships with editors.

What advice would you give to freelance writers interested in specializing in your area?

Don’t worry about how good a writer you are. Blog editors really don’t want the next Shakespeare – they just want someone who can communicate to readers in a straightforward and friendly way.

Look for blogs where the topic interests you: you’ll probably be writing at least one post a week, for a while to come! If you have a good level of knowledge, that will make the writing faster, too.

This might sound a bit silly, but your typing speed really does help: blog posts aren’t the sort of content which repay spending ages thinking about each line. (I’m lucky enough to be able to touch type, and it makes me a heck of a lot more productive.) If you type slowly, it might be worth taking a class or self-study course.

And lastly — you might want to grab yourself a copy of my Staff Blogging Course. It’s designed with beginners in mind, and teaches you exactly how to do a lot of what I’ve talked about here: figure out what topics you want to blog on, find jobs, write for the web, and use the technology. It also covers useful little things like getting paid..!

Ali Hale lives in London, the most expensive city in the UK, and pays her rent and bills through staff blogging. She has a degree in English from Cambridge University, and is currently taking a part-time MA in creative writing. You can find out a bit more about her at www.aliventures.com (soon to be revamped as a blog … watch this space!) – and you can also read her writing at www.pickthebrain.com/blog and www.dumblittleman.com, among other blogs.

Do you have questions for Ali? Perhaps about your staff blogging course or staff blogging in general? Leave them here and she’ll be by to answer them.  Can’t get enough SpecialtyBuzz? Click here for older SpecialtyBuzz posts.