How much should you charge to blog?
A lot of clients want a rate quote before they’ll hire you as a blogger, and setting your fees can be tricky. Set them too high and you’ll be dismissed in favor of cheaper workers; too low and they’ll think you don’t respect your work enough to charge for it. So how do you decide what to charge? I try to consider a few different factors when setting my own rates.
How much time will this take?
If you’ll be spending a lot of time researching your subject then that time should be reflected in your rates. Also, how accurate do you need to be? Will you be posting opinions, reviews or researched articles? And how often will you need to post? Time is money, and these will all affect the amount of time you spend on the job.
What is your goal?
Are you just starting out as a professional blogger? If so, it might be worthwhile to take a lower-paying gig to bulk up your resume. If not, you time might be better spent searching for other, higher-paying jobs.
Answer the question already.
I’m often maddened by articles of this kind that insist “it’s totally subjective.” Of course it is, but it’s still nice to have a sense of what’s out there. I can tell you my rates for a few of my gigs, and perhaps that will help – though not what I get paid here, because that just seems kind of tacky.
I write a blog about my city which is all opinion and requires and very little research. I write 25 short posts a month (a couple of paragraphs) and get paid $50 a month.
I write a blog about a web service, where I write 25 longer posts a month (about 350 words each), and it does require some research. I get paid $125 a month.
If you have rates you’d like to share, I know others will find it helpful – and so will I!
Mike Pedersen Golf | October 11th, 2007 at 9:14 pm #
You can get paid on other sites
?? Give me some non nofollow relevant links from a decent PR site and I’m good; but I wouldn’t turn down money either 
!!
Israel | October 14th, 2007 at 12:05 am #
i would do it free and wouldnt charge folks either.
Sids | October 14th, 2007 at 10:35 pm #
Interesting post with some honest earning stats. Me too blog but far away from earning money. It is extremely difficult, I suppose.
Kevin | October 15th, 2007 at 7:48 am #
This is something I am very interested in knowing myself. I have a few ideas for new blogs so I am keen to know what the going rate is for blog posting on a daily basis etc.
Eileen | December 31st, 2007 at 11:24 pm #
Kris, just discovered Blogging Tips over the weekend and I can see that it’s a goldmine. I’ve read a number of your posts already and they’re so useful and easy to chew on. Well this post about rates is very interesting and a big Thank You for being so specific with numbers. I’m toying with the idea of doing some pro-blogging and so such info is so very useful.
Wishing you a very nice 2008!
EE
InkwellEditorial.blogspot.com: The Freelance Writer's Blog | January 19th, 2008 at 6:22 pm #
Kris:
I ran across your article while doing some research for this topic very topic for my blog. I’ve found rates to be all over the place (stating the obvious).
Following are my blogging rates, taken from my profile page on SEO-Article-Writer.com:
You Provide the Topic: $20/per post. Up to 350 words. Posts longer than this revert to a per-word charge (6¢/word).
We Provide the Topic: $30/post. Up to 350 words. Posts longer than this are billed at 9¢/word.
Note: $20 is our minimum blog posting rate, no matter the word count. As we bill on a per-post basis, there are no contracts and no minimum/maximum posting orders.
Compared to what others charge, this may seem a little high, but for me, just b/c it’s a blog post doesn’t mean it’s worth any less than any other type of writing I do. I haven’t had a problem getting this, but I have years of experience as a freelancer, so don’t have to prove my worth to clients, so to speak.
Excellent, informative, enlightening post.
Sincerely,
Yuwanda