Accepting Applications for SoundGirls Bloggers
Blog for SoundGirls
Are you passionate about the industry, do you want to share your experience and knowledge with the SoundGirls Community? Then you may want to become a blogger for SoundGirls in 2020. Our bloggers volunteer for a year of blogging (can be extended into 2021) and choose how often to submit blogs (once a month, every two months, or four blogs for the 2020 year)
If you are interested, please apply here
Things we are looking for in our bloggers
Although we are mainly looking for people who can write well, are organized, and passionate. All areas of audio & music are welcome to apply. We look forward to welcoming you into our community.
Industry Knowledge
Not only is understanding the industry from a concept/fundamental standpoint important, but having real life experiences is essential for any great blogger. Having real-life experience allows you to share those experiences, learn from those experiences, build relationships, and learn things that are not taught from reading a book. Personally, we would rather hire someone with five years of experience in the trenches, than someone who has four years of classroom style training.
Passionate
Great bloggers must be passionate about what they are writing about. We believe if you are writing about things you are not interested or knowledgeable in, it will show in your writing and to your readers. People who are passionate about a topic or industry find it much easier to write about things that others with similar interests would enjoy. Long-term, you have to LOVE what you do.
Writing Background/Experience
Of course, if you have a writing background or you have acquired good writing skills through years of experience, it will help keep your blogs to be engaging and more enjoyable. Using proper grammar, descriptive verbiage, and compelling headlines can keep readers engaged in your content longer. We think overall if you are naturally a good writer, it will allow you to create high-quality content much easier and more efficiently.
Organized
A great blogger should be very well organized. It will be important to plan and manage your writing schedules. Like running your own business or planning your week for your full-time job, blogging should be no different. Brainstorming blog ideas and creating a writing schedule all need to be organized to maximize your work schedule.
If you fly by the seat of your pants (as many people do) and are disorganized, it will most likely lead to inefficiencies in your blogging. You can also find yourself so consumed with daily tasks, that your content quality suffers because you are just trying to rush through the writing process to get something out.
Strong Work Ethic
Having a strong work ethic turns good bloggers into great bloggers. Someone that is able to stick to a schedule, exceed personal goals and expectations, and push themselves, will stand out from the crowd. Many bloggers are writing for their own blog so it is not exactly a situation where they are getting paid for each post they write. So it takes a person with a strong work ethic to see the long term benefits and keep pushing themselves to consistently produce great content.
Network/Industry Reach
A blogger that has a large network and is known in the industry will make it much easier to promote their content. As we all know, even if you write great content, you still need to promote it. If you have built personal relationships with industry veterans, it can help earn credibility personally and for your blog. If you can shoot a few messages and e-mails to key people in the industry who you know will promote your content to their networks, that can be extremely powerful. Essentially you are leveraging your network and industry reach to promote content, gain feedback, and even help contribute to your blog.
SEO Knowledge
Having basic SEO knowledge is a plus for any blogger. Bloggers who understand the benefits of good keyword research, how to promote content, and maximizing the potential of each post, will gain a larger readership in a shorter amount of time.
Goes Against the Grain
To be a great blogger, you need to sometimes go against what everyone else is doing and do something that is away from “the norm”. Coming up with unique ways to stand out from the crowd is a way that great bloggers get found. It could be a post, design-related, new way of promotion, unique content delivery, or something that has never been done before in the industry.
Social Butterfly
Generally, bloggers spend a good amount of time on social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Being active on various social networks and engaging with people on a regular basis will help bloggers get noticed. If you are consistently promoting other users content, those users will begin to notice and return the favor. If you read other industry blogs and leave thoughtful comments or even personally contact the blog owner, this is all important for building your network and getting noticed.
A plus for a great blogger would be being a power user on social bookmarking sites like Digg, StumbleUpon and Reddit. If you have the ability to promote content and others in the community, notice and promote it as well.
Enjoys Sharing and Helping
Great bloggers genuinely enjoy helping others. Many bloggers blog because they want to showcase their knowledge in the industry. Of course, that is part of why people blog, but it should not be the only reason. Gaining satisfaction out of helping others in your industry is a trait that all great bloggers have. Taking the time to personally reach out to someone asking a question or for thanking someone who leaves an intelligent comment on your blog is going above and beyond. It shows that you do care about what others are saying.