MediaVidea

Making money blogging, India Edition

Apart from the fact that a $400 a month job is pretty good out here in the sub-tropics, there isn’t much hope-inducing action on blogging as a career in India.

The New York Times has written about the dismal state of blogging jobs in the United States.
What's up in India?

Print Journalists who are not satisfied with their pay have looked at blogging for some adsense dollars, but I am yet to see anyone feeling happy with the ‘Time versus Money’’ aspect of the exercise. The boom in Electronic media, what with more than 30 news channels and numerous local channels, means that people working there have not given Video Blogging a serious look so far.

There are well-funded blog networks that rewrite stories and make money from advertising.

There are bloggers who want to replicate Amit Agarwal’s success, going the Lifehacker Route and writing about latest productivity and software tips & tricks.

Then you have aspiring gadget bloggers eager to hop on to the gravy train that adsense is for Gadget and Gossip sites – hopefully, some may be able to make $100-$500 a month depending on the amount of time bloggers put into it.

My friends who work for a local blogging network make anywhere from $400-$500 a month writing 300-400 posts a month.

Some people I know I have tried freelancing for myriad SEO houses and spammers and have left the job with mixed feelings.

Some are taking the Steve Rubel route, building up a personal brand online, hoping to garner some consulting work down the line.

This incidentally is the best route to benefit from blogging in India – start a blog on your industry, write short, incisive posts on issues that matter. This gives faster traction to job promotion prospects and may also get you offers from bigger companies who will take a shine to your punditry on the lite.

As for myself, I have been busy working on my startups, living off my savings while I get things going. I have gone for job interviews at some big companies here and I can tell from experience that they don’t give a hoot about my writing on a blog, – in fact; most HR guys here don’t seem to know what web 2.0 is, their eyes glazing when I bravely put forth on the merits of two-way conversation.

Maybe it is my limited understanding of technology, media and what have you.

By the way, and I am not sure how this goes in the United States, what’s with all these straight-out-college kids as HR interviewers, who don’t move much beyond the obligatory ‘Tell me about yourself’ routine - as if that will give these seers a whole view of the capabilities and experience you have on offer.

In India, Journalists and other keyboard warriors realize that people working in marketing, banks, real estate, retailing and telecom pays much, much better.

Related: Deep Jive Interests has covered Offshore blogging. It is worth a look.

Labels: blogging, career

posted by Pramit Singh @ 2:12 PM