Why Bloggers Should Be Paid More, Part II: Short Posts Do Not Equal Short Hours
This three-part series covers three common myths about blogging that contribute to the low-payment factor, to wit: that blogging is easier than writing other kinds of copy, that blogging takes less time than other kinds of copy, and that bloggers are a dime a dozen.
Click here to read about the first myth – that blogging isn’t hard work. Or, read this:
A blog post doesn’t take me that long to write. A short one takes about fifteen minutes. A long one might take as much as forty-five, especially if I get particularly off-topic and kooky.
This is one of the arguments used to pay bloggers less. Since blog posts are short, they take less time to write. So, if a blogger can write four $25 posts in an hour, that blogger is making a good hourly wage. That means $25 is a perfectly acceptable rate for a blog post.
Nice try. You’ll note that I said a short blog post takes fifteen minutes. A post. One. Single. Post.
Last week, we talked about why blogging makes your brain work harder than other types of writing because it forces your brain to switch from one topic to another in rapid succession.
That means the first post is easy. That’s only one topic. No problem. Your brain can run one mile. No big deal.
The second post is a little harder, but not much. Two miles. You can run two miles.
Then three. Four. Five. Six. A blogger who works a full eight-hour day is basically running a mental marathon. Every successive post is one mile, but it’s not one mile all by itself. It’s one mile in addition to all those other miles. That is seriously exhausting.
Guess what happens when your brain gets tired? It gets slower.
It Makes Sense to Get Slow
Over my Week of Blogging as a Sole Source of Income (a week I am very pleased has settled solidly in the past and shall not be returning to plague me in the present), I would begin every day the same way.
I would bang out the first post in no time flat, and the second post followed quickly. I was feeling groovy.
Around the fifth post, I was seriously considering suicide by various implements on my desk (I got stuck on index cards). My brain HURT. My brain had a cramp and sore neurons and it was thinking about getting a hernia. It was probably under-hydrated and it definitely needed a banana.
Bloggers get tired. The fact that their brain is working harder takes its toll. Each post takes longer and longer to write because their brain needs a break. Even if they’re sitting there staring at the computer, it’s like continuing to run when you have a cramp.
Sure, you’re moving forward. But you’re not moving forward like you were when everything was sweet back at mile one.
So yeah, a blog post only takes fifteen minutes to write. But ten blog posts takes a lot longer than three hours.
Marathoning should Equal Money
Bloggers should be paid more than the hourly value of that first post. They should get paid the average value for all posts. The first post goes by fast, the last one slogs along. Somewhere around the fifth post is your average time to write a post. That post might take about 45 minutes.
And the rate should adjust accordingly.
Now I grant you there are many bloggers out there who can keep a fairly steady pace over the hours without exhausting themselves. These are the professionals. These guys have trained their brains for endurance. Their brains can switch from topic to topic and get tired less slowly.
These are the marathon runners of the blogging world. We should pay them in accordance with their ability. They put in a lot of time and effort to train to keep going when you or I or most other bloggers would flag and fall down on the track in exhaustion.
They’re worth the money.
Next week, we’ll discuss some other reasons professional bloggers are worth more than other bloggers, and why they should be paid for it. There will be more long-form analogies. Also, possibly cheese.
In the meantime, let me know your thoughts. Agree? Disagree? Share.
45 Responses to “Why Bloggers Should Be Paid More, Part II: Short Posts Do Not Equal Short Hours”
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Thank you Tei
So proud to have Men with Pens as part of the Write Network. I absolutely love the blog series that you all produce. Great reading. Valuable. Keeps us all coming back. Fantastic
Chung Nguyen-Le | The Write Network´s last blog post…Why Bloggers Should Be Paid More, Part II: Short Posts Do Not Equal Short Hours
Interesting take.. Well I would read first the first 2 parts of this series..
Melvin´s last blog post…MMO Blog Monetizer Launch
A typical blog post involves a lot more than writing. It’s no different than writing an article – in fact, it’s almost double the work because we have to find suitable pictures and format the post according. Not to mention the research!
One of my pet peeves is a client ordering a dozen posts and wanting them in two days at the same rate.
But I will say that all is not bleak in the world of paid blogging. There are clients who pay accordingly and give decent deadlines. In my experience, good clients are those who’re writing for their own blog as well as hiring other bloggers. They know what it takes to write a blog post and appreciate all the effort a blogger puts into it.
Samar´s last blog post…Review: Staff Blogging Course by Ali Hale [Unit I]
Tei,
I agree with Samar, surely there’s more time (research and thinking it out) than just the fifteen minutes of penning the post, eh? Because if you do it all in 15 that’s scary.
As far as the pay by the hour, I think just like any other hourly work the key there would be not to mention the curve from 15–90 minutes or whatever. Specially please don’t say that 15 part any more so I can stop crying. *ahem* Find the average, 45 minutes say, and then that’s what writing a post takes. But as you also kind of mention, when talking with a client, the rate’s the rate, and time shouldn’t be part of the conversation.
Ironically, where I thought you were going with this, is that the shortest posts can sometimes take the most time. Pithy and fabulous is hard, and for me, time-consuming.
I know you wouldn’t guess this, but I’d far prefer to ramble on.
Regards,
Kelly
Kelly´s last blog post…Inspiration Points: Eric Clapton Sings to Your Inner Control Freak?
So true! before starting my own blog, I took post writing to be a mere breeze but unlike the articles that you write as web content they require time, effort, research, an angle for marketing and last but not the leastly PASSION…
Amy
write a writing´s last blog post…Why Write a Business Plan
@ Kelly – Takes me about the same time too. 20 minutes, I’m good. Some are great right out of the gate, some need spit and polish or some rewording.
James,
Yes, but you are Le Roi. The rest of us, I like to imagine, must toil and burn and pull all our hair out to get rockin’ short copy.
Until later,
Kelly
Kelly´s last blog post…Inspiration Points: Eric Clapton Sings to Your Inner Control Freak?
In my experience, one of the main reasons any sort of writing is undervalued and underpaid is that there are so many writers willing to do it for free. For the “exposure,” which always makes me think of naked people hiding typewriters under their trench coats. Writing is the SECOND oldest profession in the world…
Holly Jahangiri´s last blog post…Doesn’t Pay Attention, Doesn’t Follow Directions
I don’t really understand how 15 minutes per post can really be justified, especially taking into account the research needed to write something with a unique take that can’t just be Googled.
Two hours per post is what I would see as the minimum. So if someone is paying on a presumption of 15 minutes a post, I wouldn’t expect them to be receiving quality.
This is not meant to offend freelance writers who have to conform to tight deadlines, I just can’t see 15 minute articles as adding anything to the internet unless you are experienced in the field you are writing in and know how to get to the key points rather than just scrape the surface. For example… however would someone write a semi-original environmental law reform post on my blog in 15 minutes. I work in the field and can’t even do that.
So I would rather have professional freelance writers who are doing paid blogging be paid higher, and have as a result more original, lengthier and unique content all around.
So true! It actually does take less time to write “long” because you can just crank it out and be done with it. The shorter something is, the longer it actually takes. One of those paradoxes of the professional writer’s (blogger’s) life.
On my personal blog, I limit myself to 500 words max per post, which is a hard limit to stick to if I’ve thought of some really good topic. Interestingly, though, when I look at my 500-word posts I always think they “look” long. As a web user, it seems, I don’t like to have to scroll down! My instincts as a writer are at odds with this when it’s my own content.
This week I am working on a guest post for another blog that has a limit of 250 words per post, and it is tough!!
Thanks for a great post.
I would love to agree with you, since a large part of my living now is writing on the net, and I do agree with your specific points, that the rapid shifts in focus taxes the mind, and the Mark-Twainian-short posts take longer, and so on. The market yawns. I wish it didn’t, but it does. It does not reward hard work–the guy working on a clay roof in the Florida summer works much harder. It does not reward talent–I’m sure we all know very talented and very starving musicians and artists. And in this economy, blogging is actually more accessible than many other ways of making a living.
Possibly what can work to increase paid value is to do what lawyers have done: manipulate the market by artificial barriers.
Kaushik´s last blog post…If you’re happy…
Hmm!
!5 minutes is an awfully quick post. Whenever I’ve done that it’s looked like a 15 minute post — pretty much junk (if you know what I mean). I think Patrick made this point pretty well.
Typically the first GOOD post takes me between 45 minutes and two hours. (That’s for the FIRST post.)
Of course, I count every aspect of writing the post as part of the work — from creating the headline to finding a picture to research (if there is any) to “polishing” to formatting, etc.
I think that quality needs to be the determining factor for pay, not time spent.
Laura Spencer´s last blog post…(Un)Healthy Comparison
I think all of these definitions and paradigms are shifting and moving, especially as more traditional websites run on blogging software and newspapers/magazines move to 100% digital. It’ll get back to “good writers make more than bad writers”. As for small businesses and such that are essentially running publications (via blogs) as forms of advertising, they’ll pay what they can afford, and that’ll be that.
If you’re a really great and unique voice, have a focused specialty or expertise, or have a built-in following, you’re worth more.
If you expect to be paid a lot to write another NBA Finals game recap that adds nothing new and just fills a quota, you’re worth less.
Brian´s last blog post…The Shaggy Dog, Doctor Appt.
15 minutes for a blog post? I must be very slow, it generally takes me at least an hour. Even when relating personal anecdotes I try to check facts and dates (I know my memory is crap), find relevant pictures and links…and then I read it over a dozen times for clarity and readability.
Paid blogs with a specific focus are even harder. Finding something new and unique to write about a single subject every day, or even once a week? yikes. I guess that’s why so many bloggers recycle…and why different subject matter is so hard to find.
I agree. bloggers don’t get paid nearly enough.
sherry´s last blog post…Summer Memories: Hurricane Carmen
And just to clarify – my remarks weren’t aimed at dismissing the quality of freelance writing posts. Just expressing my disbelief at the assumption that anyone who pays on a scale of a 15 minute posts is going to get anything earth-shatteringly brilliant. The internet doesn’t really need more clutter like that imo.
I would have thought it would have been a far more intelligent strategy to pay for fewer, but more in-depth articles, as there is already waaay too many bite sized things of questionable depth online. So I guess I just don’t see the point in trying to set a pay schedule on a 15 minute post time.
Since there are so many comments regarding the length of posts, I was reminded of one of my favorite writing quotes:
“Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short.”
–Henry David Thoreau
This can certainly apply to blogs as well, I think…
Michelle – Word Ninja´s last blog post…Blast Negativity to Pieces: How to Thrive When the Rest of the World Sucks
@ Patrick and Laura – Soo… you feel that the posts Taylor and I write for Men with Pens are garbage and clutter the net?
…
A typical Men with Pens post can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 15 hours, depending on the topic and what goes into it. Since we don’t have to research the topics that we know like the back of our hand, that cuts down time substantially. Also, we write quickly and aren’t slow typers (I’m somewhere around 70 words per minute). And, we never skimp on quality. I think you’ll agree with that.
That said, the comment section here shouldn’t turn into whether a 15 minute article is quality or not. We’re *assuming* that it is, because we’re like that – we think if it’s crap, it shouldn’t be written.
Carry on.
Wow James!
Did I say that?
I don’t think so.
I thought that I only said that posts that I’ve created in 15 minutes weren’t very good. (Although I don’t think that I’m alone in that.)
This is one reason that I think pay should be based on quality, not time spent. Time spent will be all over the place, depending on the blogger, and doesn’t necessarily reflect quality at all.
Of course, quality is harder to measure than time.
Laura Spencer´s last blog post…(Un)Healthy Comparison
I’ve written 15 minute posts before… usually I regret it. Having said that, even if I wrote a post for someone else in 15 minutes, I wouldn’t let them dictate the price.
If you sell your writing, you’re typically going to get ripped off. So don’t sell writing, sell what your writing will do for the person who gets it. Price should be relative to the value it creates.
How much is it worth to have extra traffic and engaged readers? How many sales, leads, or advertising clicks will that get the blog?
I’m not saying it’s easy to communicate that value to owner of the blog… I’m just saying that it’s the best way to get fairly compensated for what you’re doing.
As long as writing is viewed as a commodity, it won’t be worth much.
Henry Bingaman´s last blog post…3 Crimes We Commit Against Our Writing
I can totally relate. Yikes, getting an assignment of 10 500 word keyword articles is like scheduling 10 dentist appointments all for the same day. Oh, the first article or two comes easy. The voice is fresh and the topic is interesting. But by the time post number six comes around, and the keyword is the same as post number 5, only plural, I am ready to get my high powered rifle out and start searching for tall, deserted buildings.
Blogging can be hard.
Tumblemoose´s last blog post…Children’s Book Publishers – How to Wow Them With a Perfect Query Letter
Chung – Thanks for thinking we’re worth putting up. Nice to see you coming around.
Melvin – There’s only one part prior to this one, but there will be another next week. And maybe more, depending on how irate I can get on this subject.
Samar – I’d argue that article writing is much more in-depth than your average blog post. An article tends to hold to the standard rules of journalism, which means the information needs to be accurate all the way through. In a blog post, you often start with an accurate, factual piece of information and then post your THOUGHTS on it, which is easier.
Kelly – Depends on the industry. There are many where I’m well-versed enough to be able to tell the good information from the bad, so finding a handful of articles, browsing them for information, and then re-working all the information I’ve just garnered into a new post can in fact take that short of a time. But again, the thing everyone’s neglecting here was my statement “a short post”. Short posts, 200-350 words, really don’t take very long for me.
Short posts can indeed take a long time, and it is often harder to make long posts into short ones, but that’s because I prefer to use all the information I have on a topic at once. This post, for example, could actually be about four separate posts if I wanted it to be. It would, of course, take some more time to figure out how to do that.
Amy – Post writing is exhausting, pure and simple.
Holly – I’d be willing to argue that if you’re doing it for free, one of two things is happening. 1) you don’t know your own worth or 2) you do.
Either one of those is not good news. One is bad news for you, but the other is bad news for your client. Whichever it is, it needs to be changed.
Patrick – If you’re writing something with a completely unique take, that no one has ever written about before, then of course it will take much longer. There are many clients out there, however, who are simply wanting good information to build credibility, and while this doesn’t mean you can steal anyone else’s work, it does mean the information is easily available.
The 15 minute articles do in fact add a great deal to any business’ credibility. I will agree with what I think you mean to say, which is that they’re not adding any additional insight to the world at large. No, no one is going to learn anything brand new by reading a short blog post from, say, a local car dealership. But they may find the information they were looking for on oil changes, and they will think better of the dealership for being the supplier of that information.
However, your point stands. If you’re trying to write a blog that people will revisit for the content alone, then you do need to put more time, effort, and yes, money into getting those posts.
Kaushik – I don’t actually think that’s necessary. The market is rapidly becoming aware that simply having a blog is not sufficient to get the clients they were promised through online marketing. It needs to be a good blog, and it needs to be written by good writers, and that means paying more.
If you’d like to argue the free market, bloggers would do well to point out the math to their clients. A business may hire a blogger at $10 a post, but if the hundred posts they buy bring in ABSOLUTELY NO BUSINESS, they just threw their $1,000 away. If they hire a blogger at $50 a post and that blogger brings a new client worth $300 with every single post, they just made a net profit of $250.
The market does, in fact, care about that.
Laura – It’s hard to do, and don’t listen to Jamie, he’s sensitive. The 15-minute post is something you learn to do for a certain kind of client, and usually in an industry that you know fairly well. See my comments to Patrick on that one. It depends on what you’re hoping the blog will accomplish for you.
Quality is definitely a determining factor for pay. Short posts designed to add credibility are worth less, because they take less time. Longer posts designed to build a readership are worth far, far more.
Patrick again – By and large, I agree with this point. Usually the payer isn’t thinking about the hourly wage the writer will be getting. And I also agree that many posts are a complete waste of time, and that taking the time for more lengthy articles is more valuable in getting people to think.
I’ve also found, however, that posts aren’t necessarily about getting people to think. They’re about finding answers. An article on 5 Ways to Eliminate an Odor is valuable to the guy looking for that information. Will it change the way he thinks about it? Will he mention it later? Will he think profoundly about it? Nope. He won’t have stinky upholstery, though, and sometimes that’s all he’s looking for.
Michelle – Nice quote. I like Twain’s too. I would have written you a shorter letter but I had no time.
Allison – Don’t limit yourself on the personal blog, darling. Writing is often better when it’s looser.
Brian – I think you’re absolutely right. I also think that the quality of writing has long been one of the barometers by which we judge a business’ professionalism and credibility, even back in the days when everything was print. A poorly-written blog may actually lose you clients, or allow you to only get clients who can’t tell the difference – which are rarely high-paying ones.
Sherry – You’re not slow. We’re professionals.
Tune in next week, I’ll be talking about that then.
Henry – That’s an excellent point, selling what your writing will do. That’s largely the point I’m trying to make. Buyers of writing try to argue that posts are short or don’t take very long, and it’s not the point at all.
Tumblemoose – Indeed, sir. Indeed.
Samar’s point was spot-on. Crafting a great blog post involves so much more than just spitting out the words–although I’m sure that everyone here knows that. I’d call the 15-minute assignment something else like “250 words on a given topic”–and doing that well is entirely possible in 15 minutes (when you’re fresh).
In addition to the other aspects already mentioned, James and Tei have done a great job demonstrating how to make a blog post really valuable. They’ve followed and given fantastic responses to the comments section. It’s a great way to turn a casual visitor into a fan (I’m a case in point). It takes more time, but I think it’s worth it.
David Garcia´s last blog post…How to completely optimize your personal Facebook page
I’d love to get paid for blogging.
It does tend to hurt the mind after a while; my best guess is because you’re researching so much information in very little time to create the best posts in your realm of possibility.
And just like computer memory, you can’t take too much information in without wanting a nap soon afterward. It’s why a lot of people find themselves asleep in classes; the work isn’t necessarily boring, it’s just too much data thrown at you for a one hour lesson.
That’s where it becomes a more difficult field, because you’re learning brand new material almost all day long.
Right now I’m exhausted… and that’s from a number of posts I had written yesterday for a site that’s not even my own (guest writing).
I’ve had my own blog going for three months now, haven’t made a dime cash wise, but I’ve received over $1000 in traded goods over the past month in relation to a number of those posts.
I agree that if the work is done, there should be some form of monetary compensation, but affiliate programs are a joke and you have to establish yourself as a prize winning blogger for “real advertisement”. Even if there was such a thing as government grants, you would again most likely have to be among the most popular bloggers in order to succeed.
Wow! Do I sound like I’ve been defeated or what?
Aeryn Lynne´s last blog post…Toronto’s Love Note to Irony
I used to think teaching was the most difficult thing I ever did, but after writing my last blog post, I’m not so sure. I wish I could do it in 15 minutes, but since I’m a newbie, it took me much longer-several hours. I would write something, and then remember something I had read in reference to it, research it, and return to my post. Then there is the matter of proof reading. You know how nothing jumps out until you’ve published it. I am not getting paid as of yet, but when I do I, I hope it will be worth my while.
Shelley DuPont´s last blog post…Through the Lens of a Book
No James, I did not mean to imply that, and if I did I apologize.
I tried to distinguish my comments with the following paragraph:
“This is not meant to offend freelance writers who have to conform to tight deadlines, I just can’t see 15 minute articles as adding anything to the internet unless you are experienced in the field you are writing in and know how to get to the key points rather than just scrape the surface.”
Men With Pens falls into the “unless” category.
You are clearly very experienced in your field. Therefore you can write a good, insightful post on a topic on what you spend your entire day doing for people in 15 minutes easily.
Just like I can write up a post on my area of legal expertise in 15 minutes that may take someone who does not have a legal background a day or more.
However- freelancers do not have the luxury of only writing on those topics they know.
Just say I had to write a post on dressage. I’d have to spend half a day researching what it is, cause if I only spent 15 minutes all I could come up with is “It’s something to do with ponies. The end.”
Would that be useful and worth getting paid for? I don’t think so.
My main point here – to relate it back to Taylor’s post, was not to assume that 15 minutes of writing is crap. I agree with you that if something is crap you don’t publish it as it will impact your reputation. But – clients do control the quality of work they get by the budget and time constraints they set on hired help. If they say “I want a really good post but will only pay you for 15 minutes”, then they can expect to get substantially lower quality than if they said “I want a really good post and will pay you at a rate of 1-2 hours per post”.
Where I was wrong in my comment is where Taylor identified – that sometimes short sharp posts only done in 15 minutes can add a lot to a blog. Sometimes they can and I concede that.
I just think overall, assuming that a blog post only takes a short amount of time and so only paying a writer for 15 minutes places some unfortunate downward pressure on quality. There’s a difference between “Good enough” and “brilliant”. If I was employing a paid writer to help me write my blog, I would only employ them to add brilliance to the blog, as on the internet today I feel nothing less is required to stand out from the crowd.
In general, people get what they pay for. And so I think if professional blog writers are to command higher payments, there needs to be a shift from shorter posts to more lengthy ones with a focus on payment for quality rather than payment in terms of word counts. I don’t know how relevant that is to this series – the series topic is “we’ve got these short blog posts – but that doesn’t mean they are easy”. I agree with this assertion. But I don’t think clients will come around to seeing it this way unless they themselves drive a change towards paying for quality rather than time.
Saw this on Twitter:
New Project: Seeking for Reliable writers by Kellykingates http://tinyurl.com/kseuv7
My first reaction was to laugh and spew coffee on my monitor, but knowing that somebody out there is going to take this just makes me want to cry.
Holly Jahangiri´s last blog post…Swimsuit Season? Bring It!
My blogging is pretty much my bread-and-butter; I have a few blogs on topics that I’m highly familiar with, which I write for (in almost every case) at least once a week. It’s fun, it lets me play around with ideas, and like Taylor and others in the comments, I write and type fast.
I’ve experienced the same thing as Taylor: for a few months, I was trying to get all my blogging work done on Mondays. It got the week off to a wham-bang start, but by the fifth or sixth post of the day, my brain was melting. This week, I’ve been writing a couple of posts each day, and it’s definitely felt easier.
I think the time spent really depends on how well you know the topics, the style of the blog itself, and how easily you can get the words right the first time round. I do read over and edit, but (probably due to many years of writing), this doesn’t usually take more than five minutes per post.
The low-pay problem is pervasive, but all the blogs I currently work for pay $35-$50 per post (with the lower amount being short posts, which rarely take more than half an hour). I’ve also found that the barrier to entry with blogging is lower than for more lucrative forms of writing like web copy and magazine articles — though blogging has helped me get into both of these areas.
Looking forward to the third part in the series, Taylor!
I’m a fan of pay for value.
Especially intrinsic value.
I think market value trumps intrinsic value when it comes to pay, but that’s just a good lesson to pay attention to what the market wants. That said, I go for intrinsic value for the long haul. I’m a fan of the basics. Help people kick arse at mind, body, emotions, career, financial, relationships, and fun.
J.D. Meier´s last blog post…Hot Spots for Life
Absolutely agree. After two years on Elance, and seeing the value of writing go the way of real estate in this economy, it’s easy to get discouraged. Many of those posters seeking blogs want 500 words for less than two bucks, and most pay less than twenty. This equates to less than McDonalds pays the honorable folks who flip their burgers. So bravo, bloggers who are the real deal, who bring craft and content to the work, need to be paid a professional wage.
Larry (the Storyfixer)
Storyfixer´s last blog post…Writing to Publish: The Most Important Element of Your Novel
I used to write 7-12 articles (not necessarily blog posts, but still the topics differ) a day. I want to smash my head and curse myself for not being a fast thinker all day. I completely agree with you, though if I may say, it just doesn’t apply to bloggers. I think anyone who does writing for a living can agree to your point. Thank you!
I must say, I’m somewhat appalled by the figure of 15 minutes. Never does a post take me 15 minutes, ever. Not even the first one. To only take 15 minutes or even 45 is to skip out on properly re-reading and editing one’s copy. Frankly, this rushed pace towards writing is prevalent in the style of this very post in particular in regards to formatting.
This article says a lot of important things, but it’s very clear that no time was taken to consider how to properly craft the message. This piece essentially reads as a rant. (which basically, it is)
Perhaps, I’m overstepping myself, but it just seems like writing a post, checking for grammar and spelling and then hitting the post button is a step in the wrong direction and is the very reason why bloggers get paid so little.
Veneretio´s last blog post…Back to Basics: Selecting Targets
David – That’s very true, but that’s precisely the kind of blogging many of us are paid to do. If you’re writing for a website whose bread and butter is blogging – which is to say, they get their money from a wide readership and they need their blog posts to titillate the minds of an audience very accustomed to great content – that’s going to take much longer.
What many of us get is something like this: I run a dental office in Squeeville, Kentucky, and I need three blog posts a week that include the following keywords so I can improve my search engine traffic. That guy is not looking to develop a long-term readership. He’s looking for articles that answer questions people may have, but he’s not expecting anyone to tune in Monday Wednesday Friday for the next in the exciting series on plaque.
Glad you like the comment style. That’s why we’re here.
Aeryn – Dude, I love your name. That’s fantastic. Keep at the blogging – eventually it will escalate to more than bartered goods. I agree about the affiliate programs, too. Your best bet is to find someone who blogs for a living and ask them if they could use help with the simple stuff. Often they can, because they want more time to work on the harder posts that need more quality writing, and their brains are too tired to deal with the minor stuff.
Shelley – That’s normal for a newbie, absolutely. Keeping a little file full of things that refer to your general topic is handy. Bookmark articles and the like as you find them, and then when you have a new post to write, you can use that file for inspiration and reference.
Patrick – I knew what you meant. ‘S all good. James is SEN-si-tive. And I think you’re wise to only pay a blogger for adding value to your blog as YOU perceive that value. If you’re looking for a serious readership, “value” means something much different for you than for the guy who’s trying to improve his search engine rankings.
Holly – Remember that the guy who takes it is going to be terrible. Just hold on to that thought. You reap what you sow and all that.
Ali – That typing speed comes in handy, man. All hail Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing and their crazy race-car game. It has made my lifestyle possible.
Blogging rates are definitely getting better, and I think it’s in part to the industry at large catching on to the value of a quality blog post. They want posts to do more than take up space and spout keywords. They want to develop real readerships, and they get that they can’t do that with filler posts. They need new insight and researched articles.
J.D. – The market sometimes doesn’t know what’s valuable and what isn’t. See: recent stock market kablooie.
Storyfixer – Forget those guys. Those are the same guys who pay immigrants the lowest wage they possibly can. Those guys are bastards.
Wholesale Printing – Ooh, owch. Hard stuff, that. Fast thinking is very hard to sustain (see last week’s post, Part I of this series).
Veneretio – Your criticism is received, though I can’t say it is well-received. This post, the one prior, and the one to follow, were all written in the same time period as I attempted to sort out the various reasons bloggers were valued to be lesser than their peers in the writing industry. The three articles took me approximately four hours to think out, sort through, research and write.
If you cannot tell the difference between this post and a post that takes 15 minutes, then I would argue that you are not the person to be making judgment calls about the value of a post vs. the time it takes to write it.
You also assume an incredibly offensive premise, which is that no effort goes into fifteen minute posts. Though they are less innovative than full-length articles, and usually involve recycled material, no post of mine has ever left my hands without meeting the criterion that the client has set. If the client’s goal happens to be different than your own, are you really so arrogant as to say that you know better?
Patrick made a similar point to yours (evidently you don’t read comments, either – is this another of the blogging rules of etiquette the rest of us are too ignorant, in your mind, to follow?), saying that blogging SHOULD be all well-researched articles. I made the point that many blogs do not have the goal of developing a regular readership, but they do have other goals that short, informative posts can achieve for them. I suggest you read that exchange, as I do not intend to repeat it for your benefit alone.
You have indeed overstepped yourself. Congratulations. And, incidentally, your comment could have used some checking for spelling and grammar itself. I refer to your phrase “in regards to”, which is incorrect, and your strange approach to parentheses without any regard for incorporating correct punctuation. Your blog offers multiple examples of similar grammatical and contextual errors that evidently your disdain for short blogging time periods was unable remedy.
Kindly ensure that you have your own blogging abilities well squared away before insulting my skills in the same field, if you would.
I always thought blogging was easy till I started my own a week back…every night I search for topics and their content. I must say it is harder than article writing and I agree with everyone above that bloggers need to be paid equally welll! Its definitely taxing on the brain. Thanks menwithpens for putting such a great piece together!
Hey Taylor!
quote: Dude, I love your name. That’s fantastic.
LOL, Thanks!
Actually I took your advice and tried looking for a blog-for-pay gig, and it might have worked!
We agreed to a three entry trial to see if my writing habits agree with the rest of their site and if its a match, I’ll stick around for further writing opps (with an acceptable pay rate too).
It’ll be nice to have some pocket change, so thanks for the “kick in the butt” to find something!
Not so sure I agree with the initial notion of each successive blog taking longer than the ones before it, though I respect the author’s experience. This is one of those “nobody’s right and nobody’s wrong issues,” it just is. If it takes you longer as you work longer, then that’s you, and you need to adjust your schedule accordingly. Doesn’t make you “less than,” again, it just is. However, when it comes to adjusting your rates accordingly, we need to look at it from the client point of view. Clients don’t care if we’re tired and therefore slower, it’s worth what it’s worth. Does your dentist charge more at the end of the day because he or she is tired? Your accountant? Of course not. As professionals — and if you’re accepting money to write a blog then you ARE a professional — we need to hold to the same standards and ethics.
Also, if it truly takes you three times longer at the end of the day than it did in the morning, then something’s wrong with either your metabolism or your attention span. Take a break between each blog, hydrate, do some push ups, have sex, whatever… then get back to work.
@ Larry – Hey, man, good to see you here!
I hear you on what you’re saying. Clients don’t care, agreed. They want a single product to achieve a single result, and the time it takes professionals to do the job is irrelevant. Highly agreed.
The problem is that while professionals like you, Taylor, myself, and many others here may know the average amount of time it takes to write one post, five posts, ten posts or more… Well, many new bloggers don’t know. At all.
“10 posts? No problem! Heck, I can write those in three hours flat!” The client thinks so, too. So the client assumes that $15 a post is a great rate – that’s $50 an hour.
Buuuuut… No. It doesn’t really work that way, sorry.
It takes more effort, consistent stamina of skills, reliable creativity and dependable quality (not to mention knowledge and well-crafted work) to get the true value of the post – each one of the ten – shining through.
To get that post getting results for the client.
And that doesn’t take three hours, and that’s worth more than $15 a post.
And I believe that’s the root point that Taylor was trying to make. Blogging isn’t an easy job worth $15 a post (or less, in many cases). It’s worth a lot more than that.
@Aeryn – Hey, woot! That’s the kind of stuff we like to hear!
@ Taylor
I’m not really sure if I really was making a similar point to Veneretio. I focused on substance while he seemed to focus on writing technicalities.
I did suggest that true value for a client may lie in longer posts, and clients may be overestimating the value of a short blog post based on a silver-bullet belief in blogging. See for example Law21 which discusses how new law blogs today have to do so much more than the first founders: http://www.law21.ca/2008/10/07/branding-blogging-and-the-attention-economy/. That article describes the core of my opinion much more eloquently than I do. Then again, as you pointed out, there are some benefits that can be had from short, sharp articles. I myself should probably do more “press release” stuff just to cover the field.
However, a different issue which I agree with you on is that a professional can turn out a decent quality post in a short amount of time.
And really, the point I made is rather off topic to your main point here which I agree with.
James put it well in that last comment that if the client is paying for 10 blog posts, then they are not so much paying for one post, but for 10 consistent, coherent posts. There is added value in that simply because the value of 10 posts is much greater than the sum of its individual parts due to the way blogs work and reward consistency.
Tei – While it doesn’t forgive the lack tact of my previous comment, I was in a bad mood, this post somehow hit a sore spot with me, I made a quick comment and ultimately, I made a fool of myself. I’m not terribly proud of it and I’m glad you were able to handle it with the professionalism that shows why you write for this site.
That said let’s assume I wasn’t a jerk and that some discussion on your points can still be made.
I agree that a 15 minute post takes effort. I just don’t think it takes enough and I wouldn’t be able to put out a piece of my writing after only 15 minutes attention on it. If a client demanded it be done that quickly, I’d turn down the job.
As to my grammar on my blog, that’s a fair jab and reveals just how long it’s been since I took a university English class. I don’t know if it’s better or worse that I’m consistently wrong with how I write, (I basically just write in a way that sounds as entertaining and as much like a conversation with me as possible) but I am consistent.
Back to the article though, I agree with your premises that when the brain gets tired that it gets slower. It’s a valid and important point when valuing a blogger’s time and should be taken into account when quoting one’s time.
Anyway, I’ll be sure in the future to not ruin your comment section with my moody days. My apologizes.
Veneretio´s last blog post…Back to Basics: Selecting Targets
I have said it for a long time, a post takes as long as it takes to write. A short one with a good message might be whipped out in 5 minutes or it might take several hours over a couple of days to construct. On some blogs a 2000+ word long post might be whipped out in thirty minutes, because it is a subject you are passionate about and already know where you want to link and what you want to quote. You simply can never price a post based solely on the time it took you to write it nor on how many words it has.
Too much goes into making a post to give hard and fast payment rules.
brad hart´s last blog post…Shooting at Jew Mueseum – BFD
Wow, I like it! I’ve missed you guys, I’m gonna have to catch up on everything I’ve missed. So far so good. Yes, rates adjusting accordingly.
-Mig
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