A few years before no one would have even thought that blogging could be a full-time career but as the Internet evolves and the recent news in business magazines Entrepreneur and Inc. often citing success stories from not one or two but quite a few bloggers on how they are making decent money blogging full time, blogging could soon be on the list of full-time careers.
Would you want to take on a career as a blogger? Ask yourself first what motivates you to do so and why?
If money is the only reason then think again. The first step towards your decision to be a full-time professional blogger must be to research thoroughly on how previous successes have been achieved and what are the real life scenarios – not getting all enamored by the one page websites of all those bloggers around who want to sell their software or services and get you making a 5 figure income in a month through blogs – easily.

There are some great blogger tips websites; Darren Rowse on ProBlogger perhaps tops it all. He recently had a post on his website titled: Do you call yourself a blogger, worth a look to get tips from this seasoned blogger and also for some interesting comments.

Of course when you are taking upon blogging as a career you better think about making good money from it as well, don’t give up your day job before a good research within (explore your true passion towards blogging as a career) and outside (research how others have paved the way and what they say about blogging as a full-time career). It pays to listen to all those trailblazers who can offer you the best advice. Research well and take on good advice before jumping in thinking that it is an easy way to a passive income. Of course exceptions are always there but there is a never easy way to success. Experience and knowledge and good marketing skills reign above all others. Read this post to get closer to realities as Darren describes how it is not a one day job to build a blog and start digging money the next day onwards.

Here are some other websites where you can get some quality advice:

• http://www.johnchow.com/
• http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/category/blogging/
• Seth Godin’s Blog
• http://www.dailyblogtips.com/
• AdesBlog.com

Update: Some good advice on Problogger.net by Mark Avey: Pros and Cons of Niche Blogging

Looking for a job board for professional bloggers? Check these out:

• ProBlogger Job Board
• Bloggers Job

Also these blogs might be of help: Top 25 Blogs About Blogging

Freelance Blogging

Through freelance blogging you can earn some extra income charging for per posts. The publishers might pay you from around $10,$15 to $100 per post. It all depends where you post, the quality of your posts and also how well you negotiate the price of your articles.
Skellie has some great tips on freelance blogging at: Freelance Blogging for Side Income: My Top 10 Tips. And some more tips on freelancing in general: A Comprehensive Guide to Starting Your Freelance Career.

Downsides of Full-time Blogging

• If you are a people’s person and love one-on-one interaction with coworkers and working in a team, then think again. Blogging can be pretty lonesome, a career where you are all by yourself most of the time and where words take a back seat and your fingers do the talking. Although you get enough opportunity to network and interact with the bloggers on the vast blogosphere but it depends on you on how further you can take on such networking.
• You might be under the impression that blogging can bring in instant passive income, the sooner you get rid of this idea the better it is for us. Blogging as any other small or large business needs continuous nurturing and a lot of time to grow. Don’t expect instant success. Time and quality of your work will tell the difference.
• You might miss out on the regular benefits that a full-time employee enjoys – healthcare benefits, bonus, profit-sharing, perks and coworker camaraderie.

Benefits to the Full-time Blogger

• If you enjoy working on your own without supervision and find it hard to work under a boss – oppressive or cooperative – professional blogging could be for you. Also coupled with the desire and drive to work on your own, you must also be good (if not proficient) at expressing your thoughts and ideas in writing or through some art form depending on how you want to present your blog to the world.
• No commute and more time with family.
• If you become an expert on the theme that you have chosen for your blog – you might get good job offers where you can earn well and also continue your blogging.
• When you love doing what you do, work becomes a discovery, a learning experience which you enjoy every day and yearn to be back on the computer every morning. If you are passionate about blogging for what you feel most driven – what better job could be there for you!

Characteristics of a Fanatic Blogger

• You are obsessed with your stats and your ad earning report. You sneak out of the bed in the middle of the night to monitor your blog’s traffic or just to check out the AdSense earning – and feel a slight guilt when the AdSense report shows that you had logged in just 2 hours before!
• Your child narrates with delight the day at school and your mind is constantly filtering to find “stuff” in what he/she is narrating to mold to a new blog post.
• You are about to leave for the hospital for the delivery of your baby and you ask your husband if he has packed in the laptop, so that you can check your blog stats in the middle of the night in case the labor is long.
• You are at the hospital for the delivery of your baby and while waiting your husband sneaks out for a quick trip to the cafeteria only to return an hour later – he confesses he was just doing a quick check on his blog stats.