As a former blog network owner I'm regularly asked whether blog networks offer good opportunities for bloggers. The answer depends on your circumstances.

The Appeal

The appeal of writing for a blog network is that many promise to deliver financial rewards for blogging that most bloggers may otherwise never see. The economics of a blog network does result in scale that delivers better advertising deals and opportunities. Some blog networks may also provide training and support.

Reward

Blog networks operate on different financial reward models. Models include revenue sharing, payment based on traffic, payment per post or set rate blogging (for example typical monthly employment). Generally speaking small blog networks will favor the first three options, whilst established and serious blog networks pay by the month.

Risk

The problem with most blog network opportunities is they expect a lot of effort for very little reward. I've called it slavery in other forums before, and in many ways it is. In many countries the lowly payments paid by blog networks (if the relationship was an employer/ employee one) would be illegal. Ultimately the market decides what the going rate is and unfortunately if you're a blogger there are far more bloggers looking for writing opportunities than there is decent blogging jobs.

Opportunity Cost

The problem with blog network jobs is that even if they start to pay well you end up building value for the blog network whilst often having little or no ownership over the blog (some blog networks let you maintain content ownership, but not the blog...many don't even offer that). You must ask yourself if you'd be better off spending your time and effort blogging the same stuff on your own blog. Sure, blog networks may deliver more money up front, but in the longer term you'll own the site, content and have a long term income earner from which you'll gain more from over time.

For some people...

There are some people who are perfect for blog network jobs. People who don't know the first thing about hosting, setting up a blog and don't want to spend $7 on a domain name love blog network jobs, and I respect that some people are like that.

Community Blog Networks

There is a way you can tap into the linking and networking benefits of a blog network whilst being able to maintain ownership, and that's the community or collaborative blog networks such as 9rules. I'd encourage people to consider joining a network like this (if you can get in...many a highly selective) because you get all the benefits of blog networks without losing an arm and a leg for $3 a month.

Recommendation: Don't Do It.

If you're totally new and clueless join a blog network. If you've got the slightest concept of how stuff works, and how cheap it is to host your own site on your own domain and use a free template from the tens of thousands available: don't join a blog network. Here's my little secret: the only people to really benefit from a blog network are the owners and investors: the people at the top. On the other hand creating your own blog network is a cheap and easy way to make money :-)

Exception: real paid writing gigs can rock

There is an obvious caveat to the don't do it recommendation, and that's properly paid blogging jobs. These may be offered as part of a blog network (say Weblogs Inc or Gawker) but are proper contractual positions that usually pay a set amount monthly. Consider these not so much as blog network jobs but as writing/ journalist positions, because the relationship between owner and blogger is in the same vein.