Payment is Late: When Should You Worry?
For the first time in years, the first few days of the month have gone by without payment from any of my clients. Normally at least one client can be counted on to pay on the first day of the month, the rest will come within the first week. It’s been a long time since a client tried to rip me off, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t worry. Still, I’m not in the habit of contacting my clients on the second day of the month if payment isn’t received. Before you start panicking and sending around "hey I’m being ripped off" emails, consider the following:
If You work for a Big Network You’re Safe
If you work for a large, high profile network, do you really think they’re going to rip you off? Consider this: If the most prestigious blogging network in the world hasn’t paid you yet, do you think they want the world knowing or do you feel it’s in their best interests to keep you happy? The last thing they want is for the press or other bloggers to think they’re deadbeats. Of course they’re going to pay you. Every now and then there’s a rare occasion when payment is late.I can only count one such occasion in the year I’ve been working for networks and it wasn’t late by much. Networks have money. They’re not in the business of ripping off their bloggers. Before you start emailing everyone in the network, talk to your editor. There’s probably already a note of explanation on the way.
What Does Your Contract Say?
Though you might be paid on the first of the month, your contract might state you’re to be paid within the first two weeks or fifteen days of the month. Your client or network doesn’t have to pay you on a specific date, though it’s a nice courtesy. Read your contract, if it says you’ll be paid within the first week of the month, wait until that week is up before you start sending out the emails or making the phone calls.
When to Bug Your Individual Clients
Individual clients are different, especially ones you just started working with. First check the terms of your contract and wait until the promised payment time has passed. If your agreement says you’ll be paid within the first of the month, wait a day or two after and send a nice note of inquiry. If it’s a trusted client, I usually give it a week or two past due before I start to get a bit nudgy.
Instant Gratification
When I freelanced for print, I received payments months after my piece was published. The web has made us spoiled because of the instant gratification of immediate publication and payment. Still, it’s best to be reasonable. Your client has no intention of stiffing you and probably has a good reason for paying later than normal. Be patient, wait a few a days and send a nice note asking if there’s a problem. Keep it on good terms, as you don’t want your client to be put off by a nasty tone. I know there are ripoffs out there, but I haven’t encountered any in the blogging world.
I hope you don’t either.
Should You Take Advantage of A Media Circus?
I hate when bloggers jump on every single media circus that comes along. It may be smart SEO but to me it looks spammy and needy.
What’s ironic is I posted the words “Hannah Montana” in a post yesterday. However, I had written the post on the weekend and had no clue about the whole Vanity Fair vs. Miley circus that was about to break, honestly, she was the only teen star I could think of when I wrote the post on Saturday. But the whole day I felt like a sell-out.
I work for some clients who urge me to jump on each and every media circus that breaks but I usually don’t. It’s one thing I just don’t do as a blogger. This is partly due to my total non-interest in celebrity events, and most of these media circuses seem to involve celebrities, but more importantly, it has to do with the fact that the topics I blog simply don’t relate. I could make them relate - I’ve done it before, it’s not hard; but again, I think it looks kind of lame.
I expect that if you cover certain kid topics, celebrity topics, or scandal topics that I’d see the whole Miley issue on your blog yesterday. Perhaps several times yesterday, but come on, if you blog about cars or house building, how weird is it going to look to write about this topic? Even if you find a killer slant, it’s going to look completely obvious.
To me, clients pushing hot topics daily is a reasonable request, I get the whole page view issue. If it really relates, sure I’ll post about it, but overall, to me, this is one of the major downsides of problogging. It’s also likely what makes me a less decent employee than some other bloggers, but I guess I’d rather post about the topic I was hired to blog about.
What do you think? Or rather what do you do? Do you jump on each and every media circus that comes to town, or skip it if it doesn’t relate?
Oh, btw, if you’re interested in jumping on events and would like to attempt to make it somewhat less obvious read this post at Performacing - it’s a decent take on this issue.
Using Affiliate Advertising in Your Network Blogs
A few weeks ago, we talked about the different ways blog networks pay. Did you know there are other ways to earn money with network blogs than with base pay and traffic bonuses? Many networks allow you to use affiliate advertising in your blogs. Now, I’m not saying you should go ahead and slap on some ads, but if this idea interests you, do talk to your editors about the possibility of using affiliates.
Here’s a sampling of the affiliates and advertising methods allowed by some networks:
Amazon - Amazon if the most popular affiliate program in use by network bloggers. This can be quite lucrative, especially if you put an ad or link for a book or item pertaining to your day’s topic at the bottom of each post.
All Posters - This was a new one for me, celebrity bloggers might especially enjoy this one. Use one of the poster images from All Posters to illustrate your post. The images are legal to use as long as your affiliate link is there, and you have an image for your blog. It’s win-win.
Video ads - If you use video for your blog, you can sell advertising to appear at the beginning and end of your video. Video sponsors pay handsomely and love the exposure.
Other affiliates - If you sell a particular product and use an affiliate link to sign on others, you might be able to use these in your blog posts providing your not spamming your readers. For instance, I know a food blogger who is allowed to sell cooking items on her blog as long as she’s not pushy or spammy.
Keep in mind…
While affiliates are a good way to earn money with your network blog, you don’t want to do it in a manner where you’ll turn off your readers. If every post is a sales pitch, you’ll find yourself with no traffic. There are subtle ways to advertise. For instance, use your affiliate to illustrate your post. Don’t tell your readers to click or buy. Their eyes will already be drawn to the ad and they can make up their own minds whether or not to buy.
Talk to your editor
If you think your network blog can benefit from affiliate advertising, do check with your editor. Many networks are happy to allow affiliate ads as it motivates their bloggers to action. As long as you don’t turn into a spam blogger, your readers will understand too.
Image: stock.xchnge
Pros & Cons of Being A Confident Blogger
To a point, confidence, even a bit of conceit is a useful tool for bloggers for hire. It can also sabotage your blog. There’s a balance when it comes to confidence and blogging. It can be beneficial for you to find that balance in yourself.
Pros of being a confident blogger:
It can help you land jobs. Clients want to hire bloggers who spout confidently about the blog topic at hand. You telling a potential client, “I might be able to do a decent job writing about auto mechanics,” is not good enough. In my former writing life I wrote a lot of work and college resumes for folks. I saw people play down skills often because they didn’t want to sound cocky. Super cocky and confident are different. If you’ve got the skills to write about a topic don’t hide behind modesty during the application and interview process.
It can help you set proper pay rates: Confident bloggers ask for, and expect to get paid what they’re worth, or at the very least the going blog salary rate. Modest, unsure bloggers sometimes take lower wages because that’s what they feel they’re worth.
It can help you get over rejection: Actually it can help you to avoid rejection woes altogether. For example, at the right job I know I can bring in traffic, I’m confident in my specialty topics, and I know I’m a nice person to work with, so I tend to think if a client picks someone else; that’s their bad. Being confident helps me to almost entirely avoid rejection issues. I’ve been down exactly twice about a gig. Once for a query I sent to my favorite magazine on the planet (rejected but nicely, which only made it worse) and another time for a blog gig with super questionable hiring practices so the process pissed me off. Being upset about rejection twice isn’t bad. However, if you get upset every time you apply for and don’t get a gig, you’re going to spend a lot of time upset. Confident bloggers know another gig is around the corner and get on with it.
It allows you to say no: Along with avoiding rejection, confidence can help you learn to reject when necessary. I used to have issues saying no to a writing or blogging gig. Even if I had no extra time for a new job, I made time. The market is unsteady, it could be my last chance! Not true. With time, confidence in the blogging world as a whole allows you to see that no job is the last job. My stress is lower now that I feel fine turning down jobs.
It can make your blog better: When you’re confident about a topic your posts will sound confident. You’ll be more likely to make bold statements that draw comments, and have the ability to interact well with readers. Wishy washy blogs are dull to read and leave no reason for anyone to comment. If you’re confident in your blog topic say so, don’t do a lot of “Maybe this is the way it is” posts. Say how it is. If you signed on for a topic you’re not confident about, I’d say you should get some research going so you can learn confidence in your topic.
Cons of being a too confident blogger:
Typical Blog Wages - How Much Money You Should Make Blogging
First off there are no typical blog wages; not if you blog for yourself, and certainly not if you blog for others. Clients have different budgets, different advertising, and different situations. Still, everyone always asks about actual wages.
That said, I figured I’d post some wages that either I’ve accepted, or wages that I know other bloggers have accepted recently. This may help to give you some idea of what’s decent vs. unfair vs. really good.
Variables: In all of these situations, I’m assuming that one, the topic is one you know well, and two, you know how to do blog tasks easily. If you don’t know a topic well, or understand how blogs work, your wage goes down because you’ll waste time researching topics and trying to figure out how to work the blogroll. Also while some clients require say, five posts a week, you’ll need to consider that if you’re paid page views, you’ll likely be posting more often.
Typical blog wages:
Dealing With Blog Compensation Offers - Clients Who Offer Too Much Money
The other day I posted: When someone hires you to blog, which tasks are they hiring you for? At the end I said I’d be back to discuss clients who don’t know about blogs; who are more than happy to pay you simply to post and do nothing else. There’s actually more to this issue than clients who are only looking for posters. You’ll run into a few general negotiation scenarios as a blogger:
- Clients who offer too much money for too little work (this actually is a problem, below I’ll tell you why).
- Clients who offer you joke wages but want the world with a cherry on top. (The worst IMO)
- Clients who offer low wages but really aren’t trying to screw you over - they honestly have no clue.
- Clients who offer you a fair wage at the time you sign on, but add on tasks here and there, until eventually, you should be making more money; of course, you’re still making the old wage.
- Clients who offer the right wages for the right tasks. Networks over private clients seem to be better at this. Although, I’ve had perfectly fair private clients. I’d wager it’s dependent on experience.
Obviously, clients run the gamete - there are tons of other in-between situations you’ll see. But the above are fairly common. It would be tough to cover all the above in one post, so today let’s focus on the first one; clients who offer too much money for too little work.
When someone hires you to blog, which tasks are they hiring you for?
Lately I’ve been seeing these sorts of questions a lot at forums:
- Someone wants to hire me for their blog - should I charge extra for networking?
- How much do you charge for moderating comments?
- How much do you charge for each comment you respond to?
- Should I charge extra for commenting on other blogs?
- The client wants me to Digg stuff! What the?
- I just want to post twice a week - what do you charge for that?
Here’s the deal. To me, blogging has always been a package deal. Frankly, if you’re a blogger, there are certain tasks you need to do to make that blog successful. When someone is hiring for a blog, in my experience, they aren’t just hiring someone who can get words down, they’re looking for someone who can actually make the blog work as a whole.
The first thing to consider is what tasks bloggers do to make a blog a success. For now, forget about tasks like setting up advertising, tech work, and other blog start up issues (like finding a host, purchasing a domain name, and so fourth). If you blog for someone else, 95% of the time these tasks are taken care of for you.
Think about it as if the blog was your blog - what would you do to make it wildly successful? You’d likely…
Network Blog Compensation - Let’s Break it Down
Probably the most important question you should be asking when looking for blogging work is “how much does that job pay?” You may have noticed many blogging gigs pay less than other forms of writing. There are lots of reasons for this, mainly the advertising revenue a blog takes in may be less than your basic website, and definitely less than most print markets. It can work though. If you know enough about how the compensation thing works for most blogs, you won’t be taken advantage of.
Let’s take a look at what some networks and individuals are offering their bloggers:
Glory
Some individuals or networks don’t want to pay bloggers. Instead they offer “exposure.” They tell you your byline is compensation enough. Until my byline puts groceries on my table, I won’t agree with this. Especially for a blog with little or no traffic. In this day and age, anyone can start a blog. You might as well start up your own and get your glory there.
Advertising Revenue
Some blog networks offer only a portion of the advertising revenue. This can go either way. If a blog receives massive, and I mean massive amounts of traffic, you might be able to get by on revenue. The truth is, bloggers don’t usually stick with networks only offering a portion of the revenue since this only amounts to pocket change at the end of the month. Before accepting a job only paying ad revenue, do a little research. Find out how much traffic and how many page views the blog receives each day and each month, and how much revenue the blog brings in. You’ll also want to see the blogs stats and earnings reports each day to make sure you’re not being ripped off. If the blog network can’t give you this, move on.
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