Writers tend to be underpaid. As if that wasn’t an obvious understatement, you could be even worse off as a freelance blogger.
For some reason, many businesses seem to operate under the mindset that bloggers are like enslaved robots who can pump out a crap-ton of writing for their robot-like readers [*cough*search engines*cough*] and who will accept a measly sum of cash in return for our robotic efforts.
(I may or may not have watched I, Robot last night.)
But being underpaid is not something you can afford as a freelance blogger, especially when blogging is so much more than just those short (or long) posts you type out.
You know that you have to blog the right way to attract readers, leads, and clients. And the “right way” involves more elements than your potential clients might realize, or more than even you might realize.
For example, do you charge extra if you need to find images? What about promoting your posts? These blog elements are things you can’t overlook if you want to be taken seriously as a freelancer and get paid accordingly.
Don’t Pass Up Getting Paid for These 5 Blog Post Elements
The point of being a freelance blogger is to provide not just a set word count, but a properly developed and structured post that provides lots of value to your clients and their readers. So what is this extra “value” I’m talking about beyond the word count?
These 5 blog post elements are part of the “right way” of blogging; keep them in mind when you’re talking to potential clients and figuring out your pricing.
Ignoring any of these could mean you lose not just your time, but some well-deserved money, as well.
#1: Headlines
A blog post can be perfectly and beautifully written… and yet a boring headline won’t draw in any readers. Part of your job as a blogger is to learn the skill and craft of writing headlines, too.
This expertise is something you bring to the table when you negotiate with clients. If you don’t charge for it or factor it into your rates, you’re selling yourself short. It’s like you’re saying, “I guess my knowledge here doesn’t really matter.”
But guess what? It does matter. So make sure you’re properly compensated for this knowledge.
#2: Sub-Headings
Yep, this is the same deal as #1.
If clients want scannable, readable blog posts, they should be willing to pay you for all parts of these blog posts, which includes sub-headers or sub-titles.
Whether or not you factor your subs into the word count is up to you, though. I generally do factor them into my word counts.
However, I always try to go a bit beyond the word count to make sure that I’m giving my best value to clients. Cutting a 500-word blog post short for the sake of two 5 to 8-word sub-titles doesn’t seem fair to me, so I try to hit somewhere between 515-520 words.
#3: Images
It’s typical for many, if not all, of your clients to want images included with your blog posts.
However, if they don’t provide any assistance and want you to find your own images, you damn well better charge for this time sinker.
And it can be just that — a time sinker, especially when your client wants all images to be royalty/copyright-free and properly credited. If that’s the case, they shouldn’t be opposed to shelling out a few extra bucks to you to avoid the risk of being sued.
Don’t worry, though. As time goes on and you get more practice, you’ll get used to finding appropriate images more quickly, and you’ll be offering your clients a value that’s hard to find in the cheap, robot-like bloggers.
#4: Formatting
We already talked about how sub-headers or sub-titles help with formatting a blog post, but there’s more to it than that.
If your client has a specific style or formatting guide they want you to follow, don’t hesitate to charge for the time it’ll take you to follow it every time you post.
It will take you a few practices to get the style right, but you’re still doing billable work the client would’ve otherwise had to pay one of their employees to learn.
Feel free to charge even more if their guide is extensive and detailed. For example, one of my clients doesn’t mind the least bit paying me $100 per post, which I requested when I saw that he wanted every sub-header orange, every image 500px wide, and every paragraph besides the intro and conclusion indented.
#5: Promotion
Some clients will want you to promote your blog posts for them through your own social media outlets (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.).
If they do, make sure to put it in your contract with them and charge extra for the time it’ll take you to promote every post, including any responses you might need to make or comments you may need to reply to.
This can be tricky. If you’re anything like me, not all your followers will appreciate reading about topics you don’t normally talk about. Most of my Twitter followers, for example, are bloggers and geeks who won’t give a shit about my HR blogs for a business client.
Promoting would be fruitless in this case. So develop your promoting habits wisely should you choose to share your work for a client.
Now Go Get Paid
If you’re not convinced that a blog post is more than its word count, and that you need to start pricing accordingly, re-read this blog post as many times as necessary until you start taking your freelance blogging services seriously.
Once you adopt this mentality, it’ll be easier to convince clients of your value, too. They’ll see you’re serious about your value and results, and will be more likely to want to hire you.
Note: how you price your services and rates is entirely up to you. Some freelance bloggers may feel more comfortable charging more compared to other freelancers, or you may feel like you can charge a lot for just one of these elements because you have solid experience in it.
No matter what you decide, the point is to get paid for your value.
Money shouldn’t be your entire goal as a freelance blogger, but it definitely doesn’t hurt anything! Factor into your pricing the time and effort it takes for you to do all the elements listed above, and don’t be afraid to ask for that price.
Which of these elements do you need to start charging for in your freelance career?
Image: Tax Credits
Great post, Bree! I have one publication I write for that wants me to find pictures — and doesn’t pay extra for them. I’m good at finding them fast now but it still irks me every time. At some point I will ask for a raise because of it…or drop the client. 😉
Thanks, Lisa! The thing with images is kind of subjective by client and by the blogger. If the post was about a topic you know about and you can get done quickly (like in 30 min.), then if you’re paid $50 for that post, you have a little wiggle room there to find an image, unless you’re SUPER slow at finding one. 🙂 But the point is to factor in the time you take searching for the image, and the value it brings to the client in the end.
Too right, Bree, promoting your clients’ posts is a bit of a tough one when most of your own community is just interested in blogging, copywriting or whatever.
But I do think you can occasionally get away with it by using a bit of creative thinking and putting the reason for posting into some kind of perspective.
I notice Sophie promotes some of the client work she does, such as the kinkly stuff, on her G+ community.
And some of them I still do read – as it’s good to see how some people aren’t just writing about writing all the time.
Yeah, you can get away with it, but like I said, that’s really all about you developing wise promotion and sharing habits. You have to know your audience before you just share any old story with them.
I’m guessing Sophie shares her Kinkly stuff with her followers because they’re the kind of group that is a bit more brazen than your average business blogger, and I’m guessing my followers would LOVE if I shared a post about how Batman can make you a better employee. 🙂
Yep, the Freelance Bloggers community on G+ has a space for exactly that. In the dedicated “posts for clients” area, nobody needs to worry whether something is off-topic or not; if it’s written for your client, go ahead and share the link.
Such an awesome feature of the Freelance Bloggers G+ community. So many forums/”communities” online–*cough* LinkedIn *cough*–are so STUFFY about letting writers share their work.
I’ve seen several great articles on the Freelance Bloggers G+ that I probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise. It’s a very welcoming network. 🙂
Great post and it brought up a sore subject with me in the images department. I had one client on Elance (I know, I know) that was paying little for a lot of writing and research. He wanted images…no prob, I said, I like the topics. When he wanted me to edit them in Photoshop I said “negative, ghostrider, this pattern is full”…. I explained that the amount of work was not acceptable to the rate he was paying. He didn’t think so. We parted ways.
Good for you — clients like that are not worth your time, even if they ARE on Elance.
My heart always sinks when clients want me to source images for blog posts – I think it’s just because I spend so much time looking for the perfect images for my own blog. Soooo much time!
I just want to write for my clients! I’ve never thought to charge extra for this to be honest so thanks for bringing it up Bree.
No problem, Kirsty! Don’t worry, I can take a while looking for images, too, especially the one client I have in the wedding industry. You can just imagine the Pinterest-level of quality I have to find every time I do a post!
This is a constant reminder of what I see everyday. I nearly ‘blacked-out’ as I was reading this cause it boils my blood. I try to forget that it’s out there but it’s impossible to do when you’re scanning through the ads and you see people on there who constantly break their fingers bidding, just to churn out content for those ungrate… Oops, nearly had another black-out! As long as people continue to say yes, those predators will just keep sitting on their writers.
Then we need to be the small group that continually says “no,” right?
Excellent post Bree! I’m of the believe that we should charge the client for anything that is billable. I know writers want to keep clients attracted with freebies, gimmes, etc. I say “Heck NAW!”. For example, even it if didn’t take me long to find a photo, I’d still charge for it as a matter of principle.
I look at it this way: If I go to the store and pick up a .35 cent pack of Wrigley’s gum, would I be able to just walk out the store with it because it’s a small, cheap pack of gum? No, I’d be expected to pay for it because in the big picture, that pack of gum has worth.
That’s a great comparison, Terr! Ironically, the week before I wrote this post I was asking on a freelance community if I should consider offering discounts to recurring clients, and then I realized how silly I was and wrote this post instead.
Bree, the part about taking your headline into consideration when charging for your articles is such an eye-opener! Even though as a writer I know the value of a great headline, I have never thought to factor it in in my rates- but that is certainly a pointer to include in my negotiation process with clients. Thanks so much for this one!
Glad I could help, Donna! The thing with headlines is that there are scores of articles out there on “how to write a good one.” Essentially, you’re taking a mini crash-course, right? And even those at a community college could start at…. like, $200!
Oh, my dear Bree. I’m almost ready to send my current client a fee change. Although they do provide photos, it takes a while to dig through and find the right one. I also do some promotion on their page and mine. And (you guessed it!) I’m writing headlines and subheads too. Ay! Now how to approach that.
If you’re due for a price increase at some point in the near future, maybe just include it in that? I know I’m going to start doing the same thing in the next few months here.
Great post! Photos and/or images are a total time suck as is uploading the post to the CMS if you aren’t writing directly into it.
It’s also totally worth charging for formatting posts. It kills me when someone writes a potentially great post that isn’t read because it’s not formatted properly. Charging the little bit extra will help ensure the client gets the results they are seeking.
I generally write directly in the CMS if I have access so I don’t have to deal with the uploading/copying & pasting part. However, you’re 100% right about the formatting!
You make some very good points!
I know I have been under-paid for my work in the past and it took me a while to wake up and go, “that $50 they offered took me four hours to earn!” and start changing my tune.
I will keep this list in mind the next time I pitch.
Great information!
I have always included my headlines and subheads in my word count. Like you mentioned I go over a few words too.
I state upfront that the client is responsible for paying for any pictures to be purchased. I learned that lesson after having one client demand 2 pictures and expected me to pay for them. Since then I make it clear upfront that the picture is the client’s responsibility or they must pay for the picture ahead of time. Not falling for that one again. I was so mad. He was so difficult.
I recognized that he wasn’t going to be a good fit and parted ways after he had paid me for that one blog.