We're finally all moved and settled in, mostly, so that means I finally have a little time to devote to the blog again. For my first post since the move I thought an honest review of BlogMutt, a content writing mill, would be a great way to kick things off.
I actually starting using them at the end of November and wrote through the first half of December for them. Then life got in the way, I had our third child, and then we moved. For that reason I've just started writing for them again this past week. The honest truth is that I love it! It's a great way to quickly and easily earn a side income. I'll go into all the nitty gritty details but first let's talk a little bit about what they are.
BlogMutt is what's called a content mill. This means that blog owners who, for whatever reason, can't/won't write for their blog pay a monthly fee to BlogMutt. In return BlogMutt offers these writing "jobs" to their members for a flat payment rate of $8 a post. It's a triple win situation, the blog owner gets quality posts without having to write it themselves, BlogMutt makes a profit, and we get paid (well) for doing something we love already.
DO YOU NEED TO BE A PROFESSIONAL WRITER?
The short answer is: NO. When you first ask to be one of their writers they will have you take a writing test. It does actually require a little thought, and I actually failed it the first time. They're super nice though and gave me a chance to re-do the test. The next time I did a little better grammar research and passed. There is also a plagiarism test you will take, really simple multiple choice.
DO YOU NEED A LOT OF SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE?
Again, the answer is : NO. Many of the posts can be easily written with a small amount of research online. Now to be sure there are also plenty of posts that I don't touch because you do need a little knowledge on the subject, or it would require a lot of research on my part. I've never found it to be a problem though, there are plenty of clients to choose from.
HOW DO THEY PAY?
Their payment structure is different from other content mills I've tried, like iwriter. There is no per word payment. Instead writers get a flat $8 per post that they write, and the minimum word count for most posts is 250 words. A customer gets the chance to read your article, and they can accept it, reject it, or ask for an edit. If they accept it then it goes in their que, most customers post 1 to 2 posts a week. So if they already have 2 posts, and post 2 a week, yours will post the next week. If it's first then it will post that week. You get paid ONCE IT POSTS. This means you may have to wait a week or two, but it's worth the pay.
They pay weekly via paypal and there is no minimum payout. You simply file an invoice, which is super easy, and you will get paid. Usually it's been around 3 p.m. (central time) on Monday's. So you can get paid every week, or wait and let your money add up.
CAN YOU MAKE MONEY?
YES! Once you get used to the payment system, and get into a groove with them the money will start to quickly add up. To date I've written 21 posts that have been accepted, 3 are waiting to be published, and I've made $136 and have another $24 coming when my articles post. My average is around 2 blog posts per hour, which comes to $16 an hour. I don't know about your job, but that's more than I make currently with mine! Eventually over time you'll get faster, which means that the earnings will be even better.
In short I love BlogMutt for making extra money. The jobs are plenty, the pay is stellar (for the field), and payment has always been consistent. This is a great way to earn $20 a day and with little time investment. I don't know if you could do it with this alone, but it could definitely be the bulk of what you do to hit that mark.
Add on the fact that there is a great support community, the other writers are largely polite and not cut throat, AND the management is very writer focused and it's a nice place to write. Soon I'll follow up with a tips to make more money with them post and a pros and cons post. If you are interested in signing up for BlogMutt you go can go HERE, and that's not an affiliate link.
