The Wall Street Journal reports that America’s newest profession is blogging for hire. Mark Penn reports that there are more people making a living from blogging in the United States than there are lawyers or computer programmers or firefighters. He writes that in a nation of over 20,000,000 bloggers, we have 452,000 people using blogging as his/her primary source of income.

Basics from this article about bloggers: “Demographically, bloggers are extremely well educated: three out of every four are college graduates. Most are white males reporting above-average incomes. One out of three young people reports blogging, but bloggers who do it for a living successfully are 2% of bloggers overall. It takes about 100,000 unique visitors a month to generate an income of $75,000 a year. Bloggers can get $75 to $200 for a good post, and some even serve as “spokesbloggers” — paid by advertisers to blog about products. As a job with zero commuting, blogging could be one of the most environmentally friendly jobs around — but it can also be quite profitable. For sites at the top, the returns can be substantial. At some point the value of the Huffington Post will no doubt pass the value of the Washington Post.”

Angela Booth recommends blogging to begin a freelance writing career because you must establish your credentials. The most important credential a blogger or freelance writer can have are numerous mentions in Google under your name. After you have made a name for yourself, you will receive offers of free lance writing jobs.

How do you learn about blog writing? Ask Anne the Pro Writer

Freelance Writing–an Excellent Career Opportunity Includes several benefits for being a freelance writer: it is completely flexible, you choose your income amount, and you get to learn “on the Job”.

Michelle writes about what the well-dressed blog post contains. She recommends posts that have good writing, are heavy on context, with a clever headline, using visuals, including links to good blog posts, with keywords and tags, and having been given some promotion.

More blogging tips are given at: 5 ways to blog every day without freaking out.

Before beginning to blog, Angela Booth recommends that you: (1) set a focus for your blog, (2) build an audience with your enthusiasm, and (3) set goals and blog every day.