Blogging For Money

You can earn around R30 every time you Blog. It’s not a lot, but add it up and it can pay your cellphone bill, and if you’re disciplined, your gym membership fees too.

And another reason to consider citizen mediated websites is you are finding a wider audience for your pearls of wisdom, or pictures worth so many words. And you never who might pick up on these contributions, and where it might take you from there.

On the 20th of February 2006, having become an almost daily blogger for about a year, I submitted my first story (a motoring review) to Reporter.co.za – a citizen journalism website based entirely on user generated content. Since then I have submitted over 300 stories and hundreds of images. Do the math: that’s around R10 000 extra pocket money for stuff that was going on my blog anyway.

The Plot Thickens

Although none of my Nobel-worthy contributions* were snapped up by TIME or NEWSWEEK, I was asked to attend (all expenses paid) a blogging conference (representing Reporter.co.za), and there have been a number of soapie dramas that have spun out of the citizen media stuff. The most controversial articles included my attacks on Southern Free State Cycling (Free State Cycling a Shambles), and then the follow-up lambasting that went on at the cycling forum The Hub (breach of contract (to the value of about R8000).

The point is, even if you don’t want to rant, you can get money and attention for the sort of socially important, socially acceptable and particularly altruistic stuff you want people to take cognizance of.


International Coverage

There are not many citizen media sites that pay, but there are others. Ohmynews International pays more than Reporter, but they’re also stricter about quality and have far more people writing for them. It also helps to have a Korean bank account (as international cash transfers can eat into what you earn). I’ve submitted over 230 and earned – hold your breath – over W1.3 million. Relax, that’s about R10 000 over an extended length of time. But at W20 000 (R149) per story, you get rewarded for quality, and incidentally, being more ‘international’, they HAVE had contributors who’ve been picked up by TIME.

Video

Another site that you may not have heard of is Metacafe. It’s basically a You Tube-that-pays. It probably gets less stuff submitted, but it is certainly a site worth visiting. They pay you based on pay-per-view ($5 for every 1000 Views). If you think you can’t make money, ask the guys who walk away with $30 000 (some videos get over a million hits).

Local Blogs That Pay

Although I have not done this myself, I've heard that you can also earn money at MY DIGITAL LIfe - a South African site. MDL allows you to earn money based on hits to your content. Register, submit 10 stories (to gain 'author' status), and you get 10 cents for every hit.

Quality Control

The great thing about sending your content to these citizen media sites is that it controls the quality of what you’re doing in the reverse direction too. When you’re writing with an audience (and a possible income) in mind, I think there is a tad (and a vital tad) more discipline and afterthought involved. This is good news for the Blogosphere, which needs consciousness, and a few streaks of light – the lights of revelation, insight and activism (and not just vitriol, porn, rants and raving) to flow through it. In this sense the internet and blogs can begin to fulfill the promise and potential we once believed it had.

*My most popular story on Ohmynews received 14 498 hits, and was titled Why Insects Can't Fly Straight At Night.

To get involved in this process, in this intelligent conversation, register at reporter by clicking here.
Register at Ohmynews here.
Register at Metacafe by clicking here.