A few of the well known people, who have been successful in establishing a professional blogging business, include Jeremy Wright and Darren Barefoot of Inside Blogging, Paul Chaney of Radiant Marketing Group and Professional Bloggers Association, Darren Rowse of Pro Blogger, and Trudy Schuett of WOLves.
There are also many more examples of professional bloggers, but I would have to use almost an entire page to list them. As you know, my posts run long as it is now.
Suffice it to say, professional blogging is growing, and new clients are arriving for blog consultants on a daily basis.
The allure of private business consulting is great. It's a wonderful business and you meet many wonderful people.
To name just two of my own SEO clients, Elaina Russo of Enerjy Software and Alan Wayler of Green Mountain At Fox Run, have not only been great to work with, but they are also wonderful people.
My policy is to have constant contact and take an intensive approach to my clients' online businesses. We discuss search engine optimization and internet marketing, and they fully understand the ups and downs that the internet can provide. Fortunately, we are moving on up, and that's a good thing for all of us.
While my services and intensive approach aren't for everyone, they are ideal for those businesses who prefer a total involvement in the business. As a result, my clients make enough money that my fees are covered, and a large profit is added besides.
One of my recommendations is always a blog component, but I never rush my clients into establishing a blog until they are ready. Not everyone is at the same stage of consulting. When they are ready to blog, however, their blog has the background and committment to make a major impact on their online businesses.
Not everyone's consulting experiences are so positive, however.
Blogging cosnultant Paul Short of BlogLogic.net has had a recent problem with a high profile client cancelling their contract.
A second problem is the client has requested that Paul not disclose the business name. Paul has honoured that request.
A major difficulty for Paul Short is the blogs he developed have raised the client's profile even higher. Understandably, Paul wants to use that blogging success as a reference, and an example of his ability to produce strong results for his clients.
The loss of hard cash is easy for anyone to spot.
The dilemma for Paul Short is to either renege on his pledge of confidentiality, or to hope for the client to disclose Paul's input into the blog projects.
Paul has honourably chosen to let the client speak up.
As with any consulting job, there is risk involved. What is needed is some level of safety net for the consultant and client. While I often work on only a handshake agreement, I know that with many people, that's not possible at all.
Here's hoping that Paul Short's high profile blogging client, announces the amount of work that Paul put into the business blogs.
It's only good business for the client, and it would be worth a great amount not only to Paul, but to all professional bloggers and business consultants everywhere.
Bloggers give credit to those who are honest. Bloggers can also do heavy duty damage to anyone who is not entirely forthright (how's that for a euphamism?) with the truth.
Full disclosure is the right path to choose.
