How To Become A Paid/Sponsored Writer?

I am always asked how I was able to become a paid blogger. People don't realize that content creation is a thriving field and can be very lucrative if you can hack it. Trust me, it has been a lot of learning, writing for free, reaching out to other bloggers, and research. I started blogging 5 years ago as a way to keep my mind half sane while growing my crazy family and deciding what I wanted to do career wise. I chose to start a licensed daycare which has been a crazy journey all by itself, so blogging in between has been a real struggle. But like anything in life if you want it bad enough,

JUST DO IT!

Anything worth doing is going to take time and dedication so my advice to you is "Do not stop!" Just because you have a tiny amount of followers or nobody has visited your blog page does not mean you should quit, if writing is your passion then keep it flowing and then follow these steps:

• Find a niche your passionate about
• Research your niche (trends, readers age, what's new, popularity)
• Reach out to like minded bloggers and writers for tips
• Do free guest posts
• Join ambassador programs 
• Grow your social media
• Stay original
• Offer guest post spots on your blog or website

Those are the steps but how do you put them into action? If you have created websites before by all means create and host your own spot and get set up but if you have never done this before I highly suggest you sign up for a free blog at www.blogger.com. The interface is super user friendly and easy to use.

When you check out the ins and out of the site you can decide what your going to write about. You can choose pretty much anything:

• Fashion
• Cooking
• Makeup & Beauty 
• Fishing 
• Hunting
• Hobbies
• Sports
• Kids 
• Art 
• Crafts
• Education
• Health
• and much more! 

Find Your Passion
Choose something you can stand behind and be proud of and if you know tons about it you can get writing right away. I am a lifestyle blogger which means anything that has to do with family, life, recipes, saving money, etc. I will write about it. I have 3 kids and have limited funds so my creativity has been stretched to the max to make my life enjoyable and I have shared all my hints, tips and tricks to help others do the same. What are you passionate about?

Research
Find other writers or websites that share your passion and follow them, read them and get involved in the discussions. This way you can see how many people are sharing this passion and talking about it, what questions are asked, what they want to know and what you can provide that another site hasn't already. Even if you find articles that are similar to yours maybe you have better information or can write them in a way that will be of more use, whatever the case may be just get to know your audience.

Reach Out
Find blogs or websites that are within your niche and ask them if they would accept a guest post written by you. The post would be an original piece and contain links to your site and even a bio if needed. This gets your face out there and gives that site some fresh content they didn't have to take the time to write.

Join Programs
There are many different ambassador programs or sites that accept articles that help get your name out there as well. I like Dealspotr, 30seconds.com, Glambassador and Smartcanucks, but there are a ton of others out there.

Social Media Strength
Maintain a strong social media attendance to gain more followers. Try to stay up to date an maintain a schedule of sorts so people see fresh content everyday otherwise they lose interest and move onto the next one. Social media never stops moving so if you cant maintain a following you will not grow. Stay fresh and unique and use the basics Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram and Google + are my top performers!

Be Unique
Try to stand out of the crowd when writing your posts, keep things easy to read with comprehensive lists and information but try to keep it light so people will want to keep reading. Think about the kind of article you search for and how many pages you skim through everyday with liking, following or even remembering what site it came from. Leave an impression!

Be A Good Host
Last but not least if someone reaches out to you and wants to post an article on your site for free, let them! When I first started that is how I gained a lot of ground is by having similar blogs post an article on my site and then they went and shared it on their media channels that they were just published on www.funkyfrugalmommy.com so then whoever their readers are would have to go to my site to read the article and if they liked what they saw they would like my page or follow my blog creating growth for me!

Keep writing and eventually you will be noticed by all your hard work and dedication and the offers will come pouring in. Be sure to create a nice Media Kit so companies know what to expect from you!