Write Columns for Business Owners and Professionals

There is one fantastic writing project that can get you started earning money, and you can start today. That is writing ad columns, or business columns, for a local business owner. I know I’ve written about this before, but it bears repeating in different words because it can be so profitable for those writers willing to work at it.

Ad columns are those short columns that you can sometimes find in your local newspaper written by someone in business just down the street from you. Or so they appear. Usually these columns will be typeset inside a border, and they’ll feature a business owner’s picture plus their business name, address and phone number. The beauty of these columns is that they dispense useful information so people enjoy reading them, and readers usually have no idea that they are paid ads.

Another column that you’ll often find is similar to the one above, only it is not set apart inside a border, and the business name and other contact information may be mentioned at the bottom of the article, but it won’t stand out. It is longer than an ad column (sometimes a half- or full page) and will probably also feature a photo of the business owner and a byline.

Both of these types of columns are rarely written by the business owner, even though their byline accompanies them. Instead, a professional writer usually writes them. You should approach business owners in your town about producing regular columns for them.

If you know business owners in your community who you think would benefit from a regular column in their local newspaper to acquaint consumers with their business, or who could profit from a column about their profession, approach them. Tell the business owner how a regular, professionally column written by an experienced writer like you, can benefit them. Be prepared to offer a short list of article ideas because often, they will never have thought of having their own column. They will, of course, need to come up with more ideas or else you will have to spend time researching ideas for them—which I hope you will include in your price.

Ideas and businesses include, but are certainly not limited to the following: pet care for a veterinarian or pet shop owner; buying a new home or investment properties, or preparing your home for sale for a real estate agent; landscaping tips and gardening ideas for the local growing region for a nursery owner; decorating ideas for an interior designer or decorator. Suggest that they approach the newspaper editor with ideas for a regular feature article or column, and then you take it from there, writing the articles using their information. You will earn money from writing those articles, and they will build a reputation as an expert in their field. They will not earn income from the newspaper (although that’s possible) but many will willingly pay you whatever fee you propose for producing the articles, especially if you’ve stressed the benefits to them.

Another approach would be to create your own short series of articles (100 words or less) on a topic related to a business or profession, then approach businesses about their buying the articles in batches of 13 (1 calendar quarter), then they buy ad space in a newspaper for their articles to appear. They can have an outlined column with their photo and business name, plus their address, phone, and any other information they want to fit inside the outlined box. These columns should be offered exclusively to businesses in the same area because no one is going to pay you and then see their column repeated in other nearby papers under a competitor’s names. This means you’ll have to make contacts in different areas, and possibly produce a marketing package to mail to distant business owners. The possibility exists to sell the column nationwide if you’re willing to market them, and you can sell the same columns over and over as you find new buyers.

I’ve done articles both ways, writing for business owners who approached the newspaper with a proposal to produce a weekly column about their specialty, and producing ad columns for interior designers and home furnishing stores. Businesses pay for ads all the time, and this is one of the most successful types of advertising they can do because people read their columns without realizing they’re reading paid ads, and they believe the business owners are experts in their field. I’ve seen these columns advertising auto care stores and garages, pet stores, veterinarians, wedding planners, jewelry stores, decorators, travel agents, and any number of other specialties.

Creating either of the above types of columns produces a win-win situation for both the business owner and you, the writer. Plus it is one of the easiest ways for you, as a writer, to gain immediate experience as a writer. You won’t get name recognition, but you will be making money and getting experience that will only make you a better, faster writer.

Why not get started today?