How to set your blogging rates

Writing for other blogs is a good way to get yourself noticed in your niche and can make you a little cash on the side too. One of the decisions you have to make when writing for other people is deciding how much you charge per post. This can sometimes be difficult to determine. Obviously you want to make as much money as you can but you don’t want to price yourself out either.

There are basically two ways to get a blog position. Either you contact the blog owner or the blog owner contacts you. If a blog owner has advertised the position online then the rates for the job are sometimes stated however this isn’t always the case. It is very common for blog jobs not to state how much they pay so you need to be ready to state how much you charge per post.

There are a few factors for you to look at before you determine your blogging rate.

1. Know the market rate : One of the first things you need to do is determine the market rate for the types of posts you write. The market rate will depend on the average length of post in the niche and on the niche itself. The best way to determine the market rate is too check out the job rates of similar positions which are advertised on job boards like Pro Blogger and Perfomancing.

   To give you some examples, from what I have seen :

   • The market rate for joke and picture type blogs is $2-$4 per post. These posts are usually short in size which is why the rates are so low (ie. the blogger could write 5+ an hour very easily)
   • Tech related sites usually pay between $4 and $10 per post. These posts usually report the latest news with the authors opinion on the event and they usually have an image attached too.
   • Blogging and making money blogs usually pay between $8 and $15 per post. These posts are usually longer than the previous posts mentioned.
   • Highly skilled writers can charge in upwards of $30 (usually more). These articles require the author to be professional qualified (eg. medical, law experience etc).
2. Know your reputation : Once you know what the average market rate is for the posts you write, you need to look at your own reputation. Leave your ego at the door and try and look at yourself from someone elses point of view. If you have an impressive resume which shows high quality posts on established blogs then you should be able to charge more than the market average rate. Conversely, if you have not written for any blogs before you may struggle to even get the market average.

   If you find yourself in this situation then you can increase your changes of landing the blogging job by writing a professional email to the owner and explaining that you are just starting out. I would also recommend offering a guest post or two for free to highlight the quality of post the blog owner can expect from you.

I personally believe that bloggers should be flexible with their rates if it’s to their benefit. For example, if a hugely popular blog offers you less than what you usually work for it may be worth taking the job as writing for them will greatly improve your reputation online. Also, when you are just starting out it may be worth accepting a blogging job which pays less than the market average for a short while so that you can build up your resume.

2 things you should do if you want to blog for money

There are 2 things I believe every blogger should do if they want to blog online for money. First of all, you should have a page online which advertises what you do. This page should inform the reader of who you are, what experience you have and it should list some examples of your work too. It is not necessary to state what you charge per hour, I believe it’s best for this to be discussed privately via email (this would allow you to be flexible with your rates). You don’t need to have your own domain for this page, a free Blogger or WordPress blog should suffice.

Secondly, your email application for a blogging job has to be polite, professional and to the point. You need to advertise yourself and give examples of your work but you need to do this without writing an essay. The blog owner will probably get a lot of applications for the job so you want to provide as much information as you can without losing their interest. Goes without saying that your spelling and grammar should be perfect in this email too.

Your email application will be better if you have a resume of your work online as you can give one or two examples of your work in the email and refer the blog owner to your home page for more information.

Don’t sell yourself short

David Peralty wrote a great post on Xfep.com yesterday entitled ‘Paid Blogging: Make Your Own Rules‘. In the post he stresses that you should not undervalue your time and you should make your own rules when it comes to writing for others. From a bloggers point of view and from someone who hires bloggers too, I couldn’t agree more

From a blog owners perspective, I don’t believe any writer who is underpaid or overworked will write good quality posts. This is why you should only accept blogging jobs you are comfortable with. If your not happy with some aspect of the blogging position then it’s likely to show in your posts. This is bad news for the blog you are writing on but it’s not good for you either as your reputation will be hurt. Remember, every post you write is an advertisement of what you do.

When you are negotiating for a blogging job you need to make sure :

• You are both happy with the pay rate
• You are both clear about what you should write about
• You are both clear about how often you post and how long these posts should be

I also think it helps if you get along with the blog owner. Perhaps this doesn’t matter to some writers however in my opinion it’s good to get along with the person you are working with as it’s more likely any problem or misunderstanding which may occur will be resolved amicably.

Overview

The rate you charge per post is an important factor of the jobs you apply for and the average market rate and value of your reputation online should help you decide on what to charge. However, it is important not to undersell yourself and you should only work at a rate which you feel is worth your time.

Im sure everyone is interested in the rates which are available to bloggers so if you have been paid to blog before, feel free to post a comment and let everyone know how much you got (no need to tell us the url of the blog, the type of blog will be sufficient).

As always, if you have any questions please let me know