How To Land a Resident Blogger Position, a talk at TBU Rotterdam travel bloggers conference by Jane Meighan, Runaway Jane. http://www.runawayjane.com/

1. How To Land A Resident
Blogger Position!
By Jane Meighan
www.RunawayJane.com
@runawayjane

2. A bit about Runaway Jane
• RunawayJane.com was founded in Jan 2010.
• Within 9 months I was earning a full-time income from
blogging.
• In 2012 I became the Resident Blogger with PLUS Hostels
• In 2013 I have been working freelance with a variety of travel
companies on a consultancy basis.

3. What can you expect to learn today?
• Where to find Resident Blogger jobs/positions?
• Tips on how to pitch
• What to charge / rate of pay?
• What is expected of you in the role
• Tips on dealing with invoices, contracts, and late
payments

4. Where do you find these roles??
1. You’ll find more success pitching to companies than
waiting on a job advert appearing.
2. Sometimes you will see roles advertised on sites like
http://jobs.problogger.net/,
https://www.elance.com/,
http://jobs.freelanceswitch.com/,
http://www.journalism.co.uk/,
http://www.bloggingpro.com/jobs/
3. Sometimes a company will approach you – usually if
they have worked with you before on other things.

5. Before you pitch
1. Know your niche
2. Write down a list of companies who fit that niche
3. Do any of these companies not have a blog yet or if
they do - could they have a better blog?
4. Is there any cross over with companies who you
already have a working relationship with?
5. Engage with those companies online or in person
separately before you ever pitch

6. How to pitch a company
The 5 most important rules of
pitching are;
1. Find the right contact!
2. A pitch should be in stages –
keep the first
correspondence short.
3. Point out the benefits for
them (not you)
4. Always end in a question
5. Always follow up

7. What to charge?
• £50 - £95 per article for 500 to 800 words
(approximately)
• Charging per word = outdated concept
• Charge higher for short term roles / be
open to charging less for long term

8. What does the job involve?
• Expect part-time hours
• At PLUS = 1 article per week which then grew to 2 per
week.
• Many positions = 1 article per month
• Promoting the company via your social networks
• Guest posting / link building?
• Skype calls / meetings / analysing stats

9. Invoicing & clients paying late
• Same as invoicing for standard freelance roles - typical
30 day invoicing period
• http://www.freshbooks.com/ = online invoicing service +
expense tracker
• Expect clients to pay late + charge a late fee when they
do!
• Typical late fee = £40 to £70 + 8% over Bank of England
base rate
• Late Payments of Commercial Debt Act (1988)

10. Contracts – should you have one?
• Yes (if possible) – but I never had one with
PLUS Hostels
• As a minimum quote your rate of pay in an
email and have it confirmed by email
• Hold up your end of the deal

11. Thank you!
Jane Meighan <<< that’s me!
Blog:
www.RunawayJane.com
Twitter:
@runawayjane
Facebook:
facebook.com/runawayjane
Email:
runawayjane@hotmail.co.uk