Comments on: Do We Pay Our Bloggers Enough?

By: b1

b1 — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 03:34:38 +0000

Jeremy,
The pay model you’ve adopted seems to be the most appropriate of all the ones floating out there. I believe Denton is doing something similar now.

But…how do the pageviews track over time? Is that pageview bonus over the lifetime of the article? Or does the bonus expire after so many months? Are you going to end up cutting former writers $3.50 checks 2 years from now?

By: DJ Armand

DJ Armand — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 22:02:07 +0000

In my country, 300-400$ is a decent salary! So quit complaining that bloggers don’t get paid enough…

Okay, I admit, for the work they’re doing, bloggers would deserve more, but payment will increase over time. I think…

By: Jenn

Jenn — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 19:57:20 +0000

The reality is that the question is moot… if folks weren’t being paid enough, they wouldn’t be “working” for b5, or any other blog network. Supply and demand.

By: franticindustries

franticindustries — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:23:50 +0000

A very informative post, with some cold-hard-truth facts and numbers. I’ve been so busy doing research and writing for my site that I’ve had very little time to investigate monetizing options, so this is a great resource.

I’d like to add one very important thing from my perspective. All ways of making money from a blog or any website aren’t equal. Sure, there are people who have a solid income, but in many cases it means their site is an ad hell which will never become really influential. If your primary goal is quality writing, influence, opinion-making, innovation – then monetizing your blog through a bunch of 500px wide AdSense blocks inside the text is not an option. Show me a network that will recognize quality and potential and invest in that, and I’ll sign right up.

By: raj

raj — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 18:58:16 +0000

In short, most bloggers will benefit being part of a network. If they think they can do it on their own, all power to them. But such a blogger is a rarity.

By: raj

raj — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 18:48:57 +0000

Jeremy, i think i have to agree with you. I’ve blogged based on pymt per post and earn enough to live on. My own sites – about 50 in number – collectively earn around $400/m, and that’s after nearly 2 years of working long hours, 7 days/wk.

I think you guys have come up with a fair means of pay. My advice: go with what works for you – both bloggers and publishers. That said, I like being paid by the post because I know as an online publisher myself, and a published print writer and author, that everyone has to benefit, and the network effect makes the difference.

And since my own ability to write 5 or 10 or 20 posts in a day will determine how much I make, that’s my own personal preference. As long as my “client” (site owner) and readers are happy, I’m happy. I don’t care if they make more than me, provided I earn a decent amount – which I think I am.

By: Easton Ellsworth

Easton Ellsworth — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:23:00 +0000

Great post, Jeremy. I’m willing to toss ideas around with anyone here.

By: Jim Redmond

Jim Redmond — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 14:17:11 +0000

Blogging in a network is a much safer way to make a little money for blogging. You talk about taking 14 months to come out ahead, but you don’t mention that it might never catch on and end up costing $$$ for the priviledge of failing.

By: Martin Neumann

Martin Neumann — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 08:19:31 +0000

Interesting insight, Jeremy – thanks for sharing and your views.

Abe over The Blog Herald has a decent post offering up some good food for thoughts on this whole debate.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 02:42:04 +0000

your numbers about Weblogs, Inc. are way off.

Weblogs, Inc. when i was running it a couple of months ago was paying AT LEAST $10 per post, and many folks were making $15 or more (think for feature stories, or working for the larger blogs).

Folks were doing 2-4 posts per hour, so they were making at least $20 an hour but probably more like $30 to $50.

You should correct the part above…. weblogs, inc. hasn’t paid $5 a post for years!