By Jennifer Chait
The question of how much money you should make as a professional blogger pops up a lot; at forums, in my emails from people, etc. The problem with this question is that there is no clear answer. It’s a personal question on top of an already extremely variable paying market.
Just how variable is the market? Well, I’ve seen blogs advertised lately paying $10 a week but personally I won’t blog anywhere for under $100 a month and that’s low end – the posts would need to be extremely manageable (or the perks stellar). I also have two blogs right now that require the same amount of time per month, yet one pays hundreds more.
You have to weigh options that are right for your situation and goals.
When you work as a blogger you’ll work for yourself (which we won’t be looking at right now), a client who runs blogs, or a network. If you apply for a network blog, say like a blog with b5media you aren’t going to have a choice about base pay but you can still control things like page view pay. If you work for a non-network client you’ll have a bit more wriggle room on pay.
To decide if a blog is worth the pay, ask yourself the following questions.
- How much work is required?
- How much time will it take me personally to do the work that’s required. Consider how well you know the topic. For instance, if I took a job as a blogger on a blog about cooking my wage would need to be higher than if I took a blog job about gardening because my cooking skills are more limited and thus I’d be researching more.
- Is the pay balanced with the work required and the time commitment on my part worth it?
- Are there other tasks involved that will take up my time? For example, you may or may not be required to network, garner page views, find photos, and run contests – all of which is time consuming so make sure your pay reflects that.
- How long have you been blogging? Obviously there are bloggers who come out of the gate strong but most of us start at lower wages and work up. Once your blogging resume reaches a certain proficiency you can choose not to go below a certain wage unless you feel the inclination to do so.
- Is this blog going to be a good time investment? If you take on an underwater basketweaving blog and a lot of your pay is based on page views you may have a problem. The growth for this topic may be slow. If you take on a topic that’s less popular make sure you are confident that you can make it grow or your wages are going to stay at a standstill.
Although I’m a huge advocate of writers (including bloggers) getting a fair wage for services I do think it’s fine to blog for free under very specific circumstances. These circumstances include:
- You are blogging for yourself; such as at a personal blog. OR you are starting up your own blog that may eventually be a money maker.
- You are blogging for other perks that are personally beneficial. Guest posting is a good example. Guest posts get your name and links out there plus you get experience writing for a blog topic that you may not usually get to write for which can look great on a resume. I know someone who blogs for free books. Really if you get some sort of perk writing one or two blogs for free can be useful. Just make writing for free the exception, not the rule.
- You are helping out blogging friends at their paid blogs. Even if a friend gets paid for a blog I’d help them out for free if they needed it. Such as they go on vacation or get sick – what goes around comes around folks.
Overall though; don’t work for free. Don’t work for pennies. If someone is making money on a blog or a blog network then you need to get paid. Just as you do for any other job.
How do you decide if a blogging gig is worth the pay?
In other news; thanks so much to everyone who left great comments on last week’s blogging post. I know I was absent from the comments. I did read them all — I’m sorry for not commenting back, it was just a really long week.
Among other places, you can visit Jennifer Chait at Offbeat Homes, 7 Babes A Blogging, and Tree Hugging Family.
Great timely post. The other things I would consider: Does this speak to your bigger goals? Will this help you get other jobs? Does it set you up as an authority on a subject on which you’re building a career? What kind of rights are they buying? Are you getting a byline? Is it for a reputable company?
Excellent extra questions Dawn — I ask myself these all the time when looking at new opportunities. Although, when it comes to blogs, rights tend to be at the bottom of my list of things I base pay on. For articles, that’s another story but posts are so easy to slant that I don’t care as much.
Rep is a big one though. Even if a job pays a little lower working for someone well known can help your career.
Great timely post. I often get e-mails from people asking this very same question. There are so many variables to consider — you covered them all. I will definitely link to this post from my writing blog.
I am getting ready to ask for a raise on one blog, so this post really speaks to me. I don’t know if the owner will give the raise or shut the blog down/look for another writer. I enjoy it, but I am ready to make more. There is another blog I have that pays triple what I make there, but I am wondering if it is worth the trouble.
Thank Renee, the variables are the problem. It’s almost impossible for me to figure out how much a job is worth to someone else. All I can do is offer ideas like the ones above and hope that they get it sorted out.
Julie ~ I’m hoping you get that raise (if it’s the raise I’m thinking of you deserve it). I’m at the same place you are with one of my highest paying gigs. I hate that. It covers a lot of my bills but is it worth it? That’s the question. The good news is that there are always other gigs out there. The bad news is that it’s time consuming to job hunt when you already do this full time. It’s a problem; maybe one of the worst in this field.
Blogging is so time consuming, it is with an old PC and regular daily posts for several blogs. (with pics)
For 2008, i plan:
to manage my time better
get a newer updated PC
go full throttle with high-paying gigs and drop lower (time-rich) ones
Nice article, Jennifer. This is a topic that alot of bloggers struggle with.
Happy Holidays 2 You!
Very good post. I have a personal blog (http://medhealthwriter.blogspot.com) and have recently begun on for b5media. I thought long and hard about it first – for various reasons – and I decided to go with it because it is a topic that I’m quite passionate about. So, we’ll see how it goes.
I also have a nursing blog gig starting in January and the pay is very good for that one, so I figure it balances out the other one.
Good advice though.
~ Missy, Good goals. A new PC really does help; that and high speed. The old days were so slow. I can’t imagine blogging as much as I do now then. I hope you had a great holiday and thanks for the comment 🙂
~ Marijke, now you’re the new pain blogger correct. The thing about a place like b5 is that you need to gather page views. Depending on your topic it can be hard or easy. While you aren’t blogging about say, Brad Pitt, pain is still something many people wonder about and need info on so I think it will be very successful depending on how you play it. Thanks so much for coming by for a visit 😀
I really got a lot out of this blog. I recently started a personal blog and have been submitting some work to e mags. I got an offer to write reviews for a blog that is local, (NYC) which is cool, but I don’t know the first thing about pay structure. I need to do more research, any ideas. Also I had 2 articles picked up by Ezine and that is exciting. It is all happening so fast. And I just wish there was a way to know how to do this all and not get the short end of the stick. Sorry about the tangent. Great article and lots for me to think about. Thanks
This is a good article and very informative, especially since I am new to the world of blogging. I noticed that you mentioned starting a personal blog that could eventually make money. What I would really like to know is if there is any information that details how to do that. It would be helpful to know the best way to set up a blog, maybe some of your personal thoughts on who to use, etc. There is a lot of info online, and it’s a bit confusing.
Thanks!