I’ve touched on the subject of freelance blogging jobs with my post How Freelance Writers Can Become Freelance Bloggers, but I’ve been inspired to write another post on the topic based on a post written by Ahmed Bilal. Deb Ng’s guest blogger Ahmed Bilal has sparked an interesting discussion with his post Does Blogging Pay Less Than Traditional Freelance Writing?
Do blogging jobs really pay? In short, yes and no. Some of them do. Some of them don’t.
As I addressed in my comment at Deb’s blog, I am currently earning thousands of dollars blogging each month for corporate clients. I don’t have gigs blogging for networks, but that’s not saying some of those gigs don’t pay well. But no one can tell me blogging jobs don’t pay, because I’m cashing the paychecks.
If you’re interested in blogging for real money (as opposed to a split of advertising dollars for a blog bringing in a big fat goose egg), here’s my advice:
Talk to your current corporate clients about the possibility of blogging for them. Many companies don’t know how a blog could benefit their business. Once they know, they might go for it and hire you on. Corporate clients generally pay more than other blogging jobs.
If applying for blogging jobs on job boards, find out what the gig entails for the money. If you’re just writing posts, that’s one thing. If you’ve got to respond to comments and go out and network to bring traffic to the blog, make sure the rate is worth it.
If you’re working for a percentage of ad revenue, do your homework before you apply. Find out the stats of the blog and find out how much revenue the site’s bringing in. If they won’t tell you, or if you find out it’s bringing in too little, take a pass.
Try to negotiate a per post or per week/per month option rather than a revenue share. If a blog is really making money, they should be willing to pay you something other than an ad split.
If the payment consists of a small sum per post or month plus some kind of bonus structure, ask others already blogging for the network how well they’re doing. Some networks require a non-disclosure agreement, so not all bloggers will be able to let you in on the secret, but others will be more than happy to share. Never hurts to ask.
Get the terms in writing. I don’t know that people hiring bloggers are any more shady than people hiring freelance writers, but I don’t recommend any writer or blogger work for any new client without a signed contract.
Don’t accept less than you’re worth. Period. Lots of bloggers get burned by false promises of earning big bucks sometime in the distant future. While that might be great for someone blogging as a hobby, if you’re blogging to earn a living you’ll need a paycheck now, not a year or more down the road.
Do you blog for others? Corporate clients, networks, individuals? If so, I’d love to hear your opinions and experience. Leave a comment!
