Staff Blogging Course by Ali Hale – Ebook Review
What Is Staff Blogging?
A quick note before we get into this ebook review on what a staff blogger is.
The “normal” blog people think of is something like SidSavara.com – owned by Sid Savara, moderated and maintained by Sid Savara, and written (primarily) by Sid Savara. In such a case, I would call myself a primary blogger, or simply a blogger.
Staff bloggers write for blogs owned by other people, and are typically paid per article/post. For example, Dumb Little Man is a blog that began as Jay White’s personal project, but has since turned into a website featuring multiple talented writers (including Ali Hale, the creator of the Staff Blogging Course). Staff bloggers often work on topics and articles of their choosing that fit the general theme of the blog,with minimal supervision by the owner/editor of the blog. Unit one in the Staff Blogging Course contains a detailed discussion on staff blogging versus other types of blogging, but this should be sufficient for the purposes of this review. Staff blogging in a nutshell is blogging regularly for a blog – and getting paid to do so.
On to the review!
Summary
Staff Blogging Course
By Ali Hale
Price: $19 ($5 discount code – SSReader)
The Staff Blogging Course by Ali Hale is a well written, well organized course. It covers step-by-step how to make the leap to becoming a paid staff blogger and earning money writing about topics you enjoy, as realistic approach to making money blogging.
The Staff Blogging Course contains six distinct units. Each unit is comprised of a written chapter (about 10 pages on average) and various supplementary worksheet material, which varies by unit. The chapters provide you with the knowledge you need, while the supplementary materials provide an avenue to immediately apply what you have learned to advance as a staff blogger.
I have purchased and read multiple books and ebooks on blogging, making money online and related topics. It is no exaggeration to say Ali Hale’s Staff Blogging Course is the most complete guide on how staff blogging works. This is not your typical “get rich quick” ebook. There are no pie in the sky promises or sales pitches inside the ebook. This is a dense, information packed guide which at only $19 is (in my opinion) well underpriced.
Read on for the full review, or see what Ali has to say about her Staff Blogging Course.
Who Is Ali Hale?
Before we get into an in depth review, lets talk about who Ali Hale is, and what qualifies her as an expert on staff blogging.
Ali Hale is one of my favorite bloggers – a true professional. She runs a few of her own excellent websites (Aliventures, Alpha Student and The Office Diet), but I am more familiar with her work as a staff blogger. As a staff blogger, Ali has been featured on many of the biggest blogs out there, in multiple niches – from ProBlogger to Motivate Thyself, The Change Blog and Dumb Little Man, just to name a few. Few staff bloggers have resumes as impressive as hers, and I was lucky enough to have her contribute some in depth, hard hitting articles to SidSavara.com as well -
- Mental Bias – Would You Like Fries With Your Warm Fuzzy Platitudes?
- Motivation is Like Love: Coping When Your Passion Fades
- The Problem with The Pareto Principle
Based on all of the above, you can imagine how excited I was when Ali told me she was putting together a course about making money as a staff blogger. After seeing so many scam artists peddling get rich quick schemes centered around blogs, I was looking forward to a practical guide – and that’s exactly what you get.
Staff Blogging Course Overview
Ali’s Staff Blogging Course is made up of 6 unit. As I mentioned previously, a unit is comprised of a chapter stuffed with information, and corresponding worksheet material.
The 6 different units that make up the course are:
- Unit One: Basics of Staff Blogging
- Ali’s story – how she initially failed when starting her own blog, what she learned from it, and how she has since become a successful staff blogger
- Answers to your burning questions (like “is it for me?” and “how much could I earn?”)
- Unit Two: Finding Your First Job
- The four tried-and-tested ways of finding a blogging gig – and knowing which is for you
- Comprehensive list of the most useful online jobs boards – so that you don’t waste your time trawling spammy sites
- Unit Three: Applying For a Blogging Job
- Seven must-dos, and four absolute don’ts, to make sure your application stands the best possible chance
- Step-by-step advice on exactly how to apply for a job when using the methods in Unit Two
- Real emails that have worked for me in the past, with explanations of how they work, so that you can replicate my success
- Unit Four: Getting Paid
- How to set your blogging rates
- Using Paypal to request and receive money (with special Paypal guide for staff bloggers, so you have just what you need to get started)
- What to do if you don’t get paid
- Unit Five: Producing Your Posts
- Complete guide to the essentials of writing great online copy (with annotated examples from top blogs)
- Finding great images … without breaking any copyright laws
- Post templates to help you structure posts of all types, from lists to “how-tos”
- Unit Six: Staying Inspired and Motivated
- How to keep enjoying blogging once you’ve got plenty of work
- Staff blogging when you have a day job …
- … and staff blogging when you’re a freelancer
- Five easy and foolproof ways of generating ideas for blog posts
- How to adapt magazine headlines to create your own catchy titles
The course flows easily and naturally from subject to subject. Ali’s tone is warm and welcoming through the course, and the worksheets help you focus and immediately use what you have learned to move forward as a staff blogger.
Notes And Comments On Individual Units
My absolute favorite units were numbers 1, 5 and 6.
Unit One: Basics of Staff Blogging contains an excellent goal sheet as supplementary material to help you laser your focus and decide what your goals are for staff blogging. What I especially like is that the goal sheet is not tossed in as an afterthought: Ali deliberately includes 1-2 hours worth of exercises at the end of the first unit, and specifically mentions using the supplementary goals sheet.
Unit Five: Producing Your Posts in many ways is the article I wish I could publish here on SidSavara.com. I would tell every aspiring guest poster to read and apply it before sending me articles (so far, I have not accepted a single unsolicited guest post sent to me). It breaks down step by step what makes for great online writing, explains exactly where and how to get great images for posts, and provides handy templates for posts – so that you can write using your words, but have a loose structure that Ali has tested and knows works. Even though I think my writing is pretty good and I know a fair bit about online copy, even I have a copy of this unit printed out and sitting on my desk.
Unit Six: Staying Inspired and Motivated is the piece that most ebooks in any category miss – what do you do when the honeymoon’s over? Ali has been there and knows what it’s like (in fact, she wrote an article on the subject right here on this site – Motivation is Like Love: Coping When Your Passion Fades). Unit 6 is absolutely jam packed with information – how to staff blog while you have a day job, staff blogging as a freelancer, how to generate ideas for blog posts and a headlines worksheet that will have you writing catchy headlines in no time. I almost feel like this could have been 2 or 3 units if Ali had wanted to split it up.
Recommendation
It should come as no surprise that I wholeheartedly recommend the Staff Blogging Course. I recommend it for you if any of the following sounds like you:
- You want to earn money discussing topics you enjoy
- You want the freedom to earn money blogging based on your schedule and availability
- You want to learn how to write articles that people enjoy and pair them with catchy titles that grab attention
- You want to know step by step how to become a Staff Blogger
Discount!
Ali was gracious enough to even provide a discount code for SidSavara.com readers, SSReader. Just head over to order the Staff Blogging Course and enter the code before you click the “Buy Now” button on that page. It’s only $14 after the discount, but the coupon code won’t last forever!
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