Getting Paid to Blog - How Much Is Enough?

Caroline sent me a link to a great post over at Mom Blog Magazine, earlier this week. Rebecca Levey, their Social Media editor, wrote a post titled, "Someone's Getting Paid - Why Aren't You?" which reveals a lot of interesting information on getting paid to blog, including, numbers.

I often get wide-eyed stares when I tell people what I do for a living. "I blog," I tell them. Most people can't envision the concept of being paid to blog. Let's get this much straight - I didn't always get paid. I didn't get approached by a firm that said, "We'd like to pay you to blog."

I sought out payment and was fortunate to connect with the right firms, the right companies, the right people. My payment was not enough to live on, in the beginning. Fifty dollars here and there. Sometimes, ten dollars here and there. Yes, I had a separate job to support myself, back then.

Gradually, I got better at blogging and better at understanding what PR firms and brands would pay for. In the blog post at Mom Blog Magazine, Levey uncovers some interesting points about being paid to blog. We all know the mommy bloggers are of huge interest to brands - they know that Moms either buy most everything in the house, or at least recommend or influence everything else. Hence, they want to market to that demographic. Hence, they are approaching some bloggers to tempt them with - well, read the post.

Here's the meat of Levey's post - but I will stress the importance of hopping over there to not only read the entire post, but to read the many, many comments. This is a learning opportunity. Whether or not you want to be "paid" to blog, you need to know how others are paid (or not paid). You need to know what it means when a brand or PR firm says, "Will you...write about us/our product...blahblahblah."

"Every time you are approached by a brand, a PR firm, a marketing company or a collective there is money on the table – whether or not you are going to get any of it is up to you. I can’t say it enough – you HAVE to ask! And here’s what I’m going tell you from my experience and casual information gathering: expect $50-$200 for a sponsored post on your own blog, $50-$250 to write on another site, $500-$1000 per month for an ambassadorship."

I am assuming, always a risky approach, that an "ambassadorship" is the same as being sponsored. Anyone out there know otherwise?

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Comments

[Michelle Maskaly]

Great information! Thank you for posting this.

[caren gittleman]

Hmmmmm.....

Verrrrry....Verrrrry.....interesting....

[GreenDogPet]

Thanks for the great post. It made me think and, if you have time, I would like to know if there is a difference between being an affiliate or ambassador?

Thanks!

[Rebecca]

Thanks for the great post about my article on Mom Blog Magazine. I am so thrilled that so many bloggers have found it informative and useful! Having just come home from Blissdom I am even more determined to make sure that bloggers understand their value and get what they're worth. There will be a follow article this week. In the meantime I will say that there is a difference between being an affiliate and an ambassador. An affiliate usually makes you part of a network where you may profit from referrals and will probably be posting on the company's site. In my experience these are not the most lucrative deals for bloggers and can often be very one-sided. An ambassadorship should be real collaboration with a brand where you are both writing about them over a period of time, going to events on their behalf, using various products and becoming fluent in the brand language. That should be paid - and paid well.

[Yvonne DiVita]

@Rebecca, well said. I was having a conversation on Quora about bloggers being paid and the other person insisted just getting your posts on a popular blog was all most bloggers wanted - because the eyeballs were worth so much. I said bloggers want to be paid and while we do offer free content (I do, many bloggers here do), when the opportunity (read: cash) is there, they should be paid. We are working to make our community something that will serve our bloggers - and show their value to brands and other people looking to tap into their power. I can't wait for your follow up post.

[Anne]

@Rebecca, thanks. I was asking because I have been asked to become an affiliate and, because I am new to blogging, I naively said yes. So I put their banner on my blog and will make $5 of every order that goes through my blog. But I read your post and I got into thinking and.... I asked them for products that I could review because I don't know them and I don't want to send my readers there if it is crappy. Their answer? We can't give you anything but we will sell it to you special price (their version of special price, not mine). I realized that yes, I want to continue writing about what I like, but for requests like that, I will have to ask to be paid. I think it is simple a question of math/self-respect/and respect.
Thanks for taking the time to answer me: it means a lot!