There is no magic calculator that will tell you how much your blogging services are worth. We each have an interdependent relationship with money that is uniquely our own. The $7.50 you just earned for that 500-word blog post might be worth your time. Or not.
During discussions with bloggers, I have found that the average blogger (not a superstar, but not a slouch) earns around $10 per 250-word post. Of course, most people exceed the word count to please their employer. (Heck, this post is contracted for 250 words and it’s closer to 500!).
So we’re looking at $.04 cents a word. But there are other factors that bring down that fee considerably. Here are a few things to consider when trying to determine if a blogging job is worth taking/keeping.
– Do they supply topics?
When I speak with fellow bloggers, I often find that they share a consistant thought: finding topics to blog about is the most time consuming part of the process. If your blog employer expects you to come up with your own topics, keep a watchful eye on the amount of time it takes you to determine what to write about. Also, if you need to get topics approved before writing them, factor in the time you spend going back and forth with an editor.
– Do they want you to supply images?
Another silent time-eater is searching for royalty-free images that have a public-use license. After you find a photo that matches your topic, it is often necessary to crop, correct, or create a new image.
– What blog platform are they using?
News flash: not everyone is using Wordpress! Your blog employer might be using a different platform, and that means you’ll have to spend some time learning how to post. I understand that most systems have a quick learning curve, but as soon as you are asked to login to a system – any system – you are using up your time.
– Assigning categories, tags and SEO.
It takes mere seconds per posts, but if you are writing a lot, that time can quickly add up. A strong blogger will devote time to these areas, and therefore should build it into their required compensation.
Each of the aforementioned tasks will take different people different amounts of time to accomplish. In the case of THIS blog post, here’s my time breakdown.
TOPIC: 10 minutes
IMAGE: 5 minutes
WORDPRESS LOGIN: 1 minute
TAGS, etc.: 1 minute
WRITING/EDITING: 20 minutes
PROOFING: 8 minutes
That’s a total of 45 minutes. Now if I was making the average $10 per 250-word post, I’d be at around $7.50 an hour. Is that worth my time? Only I can answer that question.
There’s an abundance of writers waiting in line to take your blogging gig. And the fact that they’ll take half the money you earn and write twice as well, doesn’t help. Before you go demanding more money, be sure to approach cautiously and be ready to back up your worth with real data (traffic increase, comment generation, industry standards, etc.).
Are there any methods you use to determine if freelance blogging is worth your time? Or are you simply happy to have the opportunity to make a few extra bucks doing something you love?
P.S. – I forgot that I’d also need to minus out the 4% that Paypal keeps! So in total, if we pretend I’m earning the ‘going’ rate, I’ve earned $7.20 for around 45 minutes of my time writing a 500-word blog post.
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