Becoming a Nurse Blogger
I love writing, and a little over a year ago, on a whim, I started a nursing blog. Starting a blog using Wordpress could not be easier. There are tons of guides and tutorials on the web, and it's fairly intuitive.
One of the early posts on my blog nursecode.com was "Traits of an ED Nurse" with 111,285 views to date and recently
"8 Things to Say When Your Patient Dies" has gone viral on Pinterest. What I've found is that when you write from your experience and your heart, it resonates with readers. Nurses have unique, compelling stories that people love to read.
But...nurse bloggers need an audience! Without an audience, the best material goes unread. So....how do you get your material out there? The best exposure for me has been writing for Allnurses.com because of the sheer numbers. Allnurses.com gave me an audience of pretty much one million readers. Hands-down, Allnurses is the largest nursing online forum on the planet.
Just the other day, I was talking with a nurse in my hospital from the Philippines who said she was an Allnurses.com follower back in Manila who had read my articles. I felt very grateful, globally connected and... humbled.
Affiliate Programs
Blogging affords potential income. There are many ways to make money from a blog. One way is to become an affiliate with a company, such as Amazon. It works on commission. You post an image or ad that links to the affiliate's site (Amazon). If the reader clicks through and makes a purchase, Amazon is able to track that the reader came from your site. The great thing is, if a reader clicks on an ad for a stethoscope, for example, and does not purchase the stethoscope, but goes on to purchase anything at all...you still earn commission for everything purchased during that encounter.
I am not particularly aggressive about monetizing my site, but even so, over December, I earned $488.00 from Amazon in this way. It's called passive income because it's income you you make without any action on your part- I like to say while sleeping. Some bloggers do quite well, especially those who are patient and realize that it takes time to build traffic to your site.
Sponsored Posts
Sponsored posts are when a company asks you to write an article for them at an agreed upon price on your site. An example could be a staffing agency. The benefit for the staffing agency is exposure to your readers and a link back to their site. This is similar to a paid product review. Nurse bloggers can be asked to review and/or endorse compression socks, stethoscopes, nursing apps and more.
Indirect Monetary Benefits
Exposure may be the best benefit of blogging. Blogging provides a platform and Allnurses provides exposure. Exposure brings recognition and opportunity. Within a short amount of time of starting my blog, I was offered a (paying) job blogging for bsntomsn.org where I am now their official nursing site blogger. I also write for other blogs on request. My charge per article has quadrupled in the past 18 months.
I am regularly approached to do (paid) product reviews, guest blogging, endorsements, interviews, and speaking engagements at national nursing conferences.
Networking and Making Friends
I have connected with and met so many other inspiring nurses entrepreneurs. When you blog, you join a tribe of like-minded nurses.
Blogging Gives You a Voice
I did not start blogging to make money at all. In fact, I would say it should not be the primary reason or motivation. The fact that I have made a little bit of income is a nice benefit that I never expected.
I started blogging to have a voice. I believe that as nurses, we need to get our voices out there. I am passionate about working conditions, nurse-patient ratios, supporting new grads, and so much more.
My husband Bob, who used to write a business column, smiled at me when I started my new hobby and warned: "It's lots of fun, but the time will come when you run out of things to write about." That was about 200 articles ago, and I like to tease him about that. It just hasn't happened. I don't run out of ideas-I do run out of time.
Have you considered blogging? If you have, it's probably because you have a passion and talent.
What are you thinking? If your heart is beating faster in excitement, I'd say... you're a blogger! Maybe you're already blogging. I'd be happy to help you on your journey. Leave a comment or your questions.
