BlogMutt

Earning potential: 3 stars

Quality of content: 4 stars

Quality of platform: 5 stars

Overall star rating: 4 stars

BlogMutt strives to be a content site that meets the needs of writers as well as meeting the needs of clients and, for the most part, it succeeds. It doesn’t work like any other content mill, in a good way.

What’s Great About BlogMutt

BlogMutt is a great writing site for a few reasons.

• Rates are set by the site. Because writers aren’t pitching against each other, and clients aren’t setting the rates, it isn’t a race to the bottom for the lowest possible prices for content. In fact, in January of this year, they increased their rates, so clients pay more and writers earn more.
• They care about writers. They actively solicit input from writers, and strive to make the platform work better for them. They work with writers to resolve problematic client feedback, address problems and requested changes in the platform, and build a strong community.
• The content is legitimate. The clients are screened pretty well, so there aren’t many assignments that consist of just rewriting a post from somewhere else or creating spammy, keyword-loaded content. Most of the assignments are for legitimate, informative, thoughtful content.
• Writers can earn company ownership. This benefit is strikingly different from other content sites. BlogMutt writers earn points, and the points accumulate to “levels”, and, at a certain level, writers become co-owners of BlogMutt. It’s a really exciting innovation in including writers in the success of the site.

How BlogMutt Works

Getting started: When you apply to become a BlogMutt writer, you fill out the application and complete your profile. If you are successful, you then write a sample post for one of their clients. The site editors review the post and make sure that it meets their quality guidelines and is good content. If they approve the post, it enters the client’s queue just like any other post written on the platform.

Writing for BlogMutt: The site has several ways you can look for assignments. There is a simple list of clients who need posts, and you can filter that list by word length, past client behavior, etc. You can also look at Hot Topics or Deadline Jobs: posts that are more urgent/important for the clients, and therefore have a more time-sensitive need. I usually see 1000-1500 open topics at any given period of time.

You browse the topics and identify something you want to write about, then you write the post. Your post is first automatically screened by the software (presumably CopyScape or something similar), and then it goes into the client’s queue. The client reviews the post and either accepts it, declines it, or requests changes. If the post is accepted, then the money is credited to you and you can submit an automated invoice (BlogMutt pays every Monday by PayPal) and get paid for the post. If the client requests changes, you can revise the post accordingly, or you can refuse to make the requested changes, in which case they will probably decline the post. If they decline the post, you won’t get paid for it.

Recycling posts: BlogMutt will allow you to “recycle” a declined post, or a post that has lingered too long in a customer’s queue and not gone anywhere. You can search for a different client or open topic, and submit your already-written post for consideration with a new client. This process is a good idea, but a bit cumbersome in execution and doesn’t always work very well.

BlogMutt Pros:

• Sincerely tries to be a good community for writers and pay fairly
• Rewards writers with company co-ownership
• Decent rates compared to many content mills
• Good variety of open topics and legitimate content

BlogMutt Cons:

• Not all clients are very attentive to their queue, so posts you have written can languish for months without being either accepted or declined
• Recycling posts is cumbersome and doesn’t often work very well

BlogMutt is recommended for:

People who have some writing skills and want to get started content marketing, but want a more supportive environment where they can get tips and tricks from other writers, and learn what kind of content is most in demand.

BlogMutt is not recommended for:

People who need to pay the rent right now. Although you can earn decent money on the platform, the different ways that different clients manage their queues mean that it’s difficult to predict if or when a post will sell. If you need to earn X amount of money by Y amount of time, that’s difficult to do on BlogMutt.

Tips for success with BlogMutt:

Choosing a topic: Personally, I don’t write posts for clients that don’t have any credits (don’t have any money in the BlogMutt system to purchase posts) and where another writer has already written that post. The system will allow you to do both of those things, but I don’t want to create head-to-head competition with other writers, and don’t want to spend time writing for a client who may cancel their contract.

Preferred writer status: If a client likes your writing, they may make you a “preferred writer”. Clients sometimes request that only preferred writers complete their posts, or they can assign a post specifically to you. Preferred writers can also pitch topics and ideas to clients for their content, and if your suggestion is accepted, it’s earmarked exclusively for you to write about. Many BlogMutt writers do very well with the preferred writer status, and make more money by pitching topics and getting exclusive posts.

Forum participation: BlogMutt encourages writers to participate in their forums, and I think they consider it part of community leadership on the site. They want higher-level writers to actively participate in the forums and share insights with newcomers.

BlogMutt Conclusion

I really applaud BlogMutt for trying such an inspiring, innovative way to create collaboration between clients and writers. I think it’s a wonderful idea, and wholeheartedly support the effort. And I hope to become a co-owner myself in the next few months. Unfortunately, the BlogMutt platform can’t help the fact that some clients are just difficult, inconsistent, annoying, ignore their queue, or make poor topic requests. It’s always a bit bruising to get a post declined, particularly if it’s declined with undeserved negative comments, and I think that kind of emotional letdown is unfortunately part of the platform. You just need to pick yourself up and recycle that post. And, if you can’t find a good way to recycle it on BlogMutt, you can always recycle it on ContentGather.

If you have personal experience with BlogMutt that you would like to share, please let us know!