A freelance blogger is hired to write blog posts, right?
The job title makes it sound that simple, but it’s rare that your client really just expects you to line up some words and stop there.
Formatting text and finding photos is almost always part of the workload. It’s pretty common for a blogger’s work to include some SEO and other tasks to make sure that the finished blog post is a polished product, ready for readers.
But some blog editors expect work after a post has been published. That post-publication work can include responding to comments and promoting your work on social media (including on your own posts).
Set reasonable expectations
I’ve run into freelance bloggers in the past who have categorically refused to do anything with their posts after that work has been published (aside from adding the pieces to their portfolios). But those bloggers are getting fewer and farther between.
The reality is that editors routinely expect more effort post-publication. Freelancers who can’t (or won’t) offer that help have a harder time landing long-term gigs.
Just because editors expect plenty of help with social media and comments, however, doesn’t mean that a freelance blogger should just hop on board without asking for more details. Getting a deeper understanding of a client’s expectations is vital — not only to ensure that the client in question is happy with your work, but so that you don’t feel like you’ve been asked to take on too much work for too little payment.
Just like every other part of a freelance contract, the payment for post-publication work is negotiable. So negotiate until you’re happy with your contract.
Comments trump other follow-up work
Leigh Shulman was the editor of the Life section of Matador Network and now manages several sites of her own, including LeighShulman.com and Cloudhead ART.
Shulman expects that bloggers be active in the comment threads related to their posts. She sees it as a higher priority than social media shares:
While I want contributors to share and don’t understand why they wouldn’t, it’s not a deal breaker. Not responding to comments is. I’m unlikely to work with a writer who doesn’t respond to comments on his/her own post.
Responding to comments doesn’t seem too unreasonable when you realize that readers may have questions that only the blogger who put together the post — or perhaps the sources interviewed for that post — can answer. It’s rare that an editor has the time to sort through comments and check with each individual writer for responses to those sorts of questions. Having freelance bloggers respond to comments on the posts they’ve written is the most sensible way to manage the comment process.
For a freelancer, the main sticking point for handling comments is often more a question of money than anything else. Most bloggers are willing enough to handle at least some comments, because most of us are interested in seeing how readers respond to what we’ve written. But a site with very active commenters (or enough traffic to attract comment spam) can require a serious time commitment to keep up with.
Before you agree to handle the comments on your post as part of your blogging duties, take a look at what’s happening below recent posts on the site:
- How in-depth are the comment threads? How many layers deep of replies do you see?
- Do the comment threads stay on topic? Do commenters need a moderator to stay relevant?
- Is there a lot of spam that isn’t automatically removed? (This last one can be harder to track, so you may need to ask about it.)
- What commenting system does the site use? Is it one that at least will notify you of new comments?
There’s no guarantee that your post won’t spark more comments than usual, of course. But if you get a sense that managing comments won’t be too difficult, you may be willing to just include it in the fee that the editor is already offering. Conversely, if the comment streams seem particularly busy, you might want to bump up the numbers to cover another hour or two of your time.
It’s worth noting that there are some subjects and industries where taking part in a comment thread is tougher than in others — especially if you’re different from the typical blogger in that niche. When I first started out writing on productivity and technology blogs, I routinely received comments attacking my work on the basis of my gender. That sort of thing can put a blogger off writing for any site where she doesn’t control the comments — if not put her off writing online entirely.
If you notice that sort of problem on a site you’re considering blogging for, it’s not unreasonable to ask for help. Most blogging platforms have the option of turning off comments on a post entirely; someone else can go through and eliminate problem comments before you start responding, or an editor can take other action.
Social media promotion gets stickier
Exactly what level of social media promotion makes sense to wrap up in your price for a blog post is a stickier question. Promoting a single post can be like going down a rabbit hole — there’s always more sites you can submit a link to or more bloggers who you can email about the post.
Setting limits is crucial for a freelance blogger who needs to get on to writing the next post. Start by asking the editors you want to work with about their specific expectations. Are they looking for a certain level of traffic or just an acknowledgement of the post on the social media accounts you already maintain?
Shulman doesn’t expect any particular level of followers or social media presence from the bloggers she works with. But she does expect that they’ll share their work:
“I say outright that once their work has been published, they should share on social media. This is particularly important with Cloudhead as we use social media to connect students with artists, photographers and writers internationally. Often our contributors are also volunteers, and social media allows them to keep in touch not only with our students and community but continues their support of our work.”
The level of writing a blogger turns in is definitely a priority for her, but once a post goes live, Shulman notifies writers that their posts are live and asks them to share the piece.
Some editors purposely seek out freelance bloggers who write regularly about specific topics and have a social media following interested in those topics.
If you’ve gone to the effort of building up that sort of presence — if you’ve made that sort of investment in your blogging career — an editor will see you as a more effective freelancer. But it’s worth remembering that since you’re bringing assets to the table, you deserve a higher price for your blog posts. If an editor hires you as much for your network as your writing ability, your price per post should reflect that reality.
It’s been my experience that editors who are more concerned with the traffic I can bring to their blogs than just the posts that I can produce will often ask me to write about topics that may not match up with the rest of my work. Whether it’s because they want posts that are optimized more for search engines than human readers, or they ask me to defend an opinion I don’t agree with, there have been times that I’m less than thrilled about heavily promoting a post I’ve been asked to write.
One of the reasons I’ve been able to build up followers on different social networks is because I try to share good articles and posts with them, so I want to avoid putting anything out there that I’m not proud to share. As a result, I’ll spend more time negotiating about topics and related details when an editor specifically wants me to provide heavy promotion of my posts. Never forget that when an editor asks you to do some additional work, you automatically have more room to negotiate.
Negotiate your terms clearly
As a freelancer, every part of your arrangement with clients and editors is negotiable — including what work you take on after your post has actually been published.
It may not be practical to negotiate the specifics of how much commenting or social media promotion you’ll do for each individual post you write, but you should at least be aware of what each editor expects and what is the maximum amount of work you’re willing to take on in addition to actually blogging.
Even just writing up what you’re willing to do, in addition to writing, for your standard per post rate can help you clarify what you’re willing to take on. It also lets you tell at a glance if you’re going to need to ask an editor for a higher payment once you see his expectations.
If you’ve been struggling with raising your rates, consider writing down everything you might be expected to do when producing a new blog post (and after). You may quickly realize that you could spend hours on a single post, in addition to the time you spend writing, if an editor requests help with things like social media promotion — this can be a much needed wake up call to raise your per post rates! Writing it all down will also help you see clearly what you’re willing to do for a client at your existing rates.
Personally, I make a point of noting exactly what I will include with my standard rates when I prepare a proposal:
- How much time I’ll spend in the comment threads
- How much promotion I’m willing to do on my own social media accounts
- What other promotion I’m able to do as a matter of course
I also include rates for doing more. If an editor needs me to invest a few hours in promoting a given blog post, that isn’t a problem — but I do need to be compensated for that time.
Some clients may balk at those additional rates. In such cases, you should decide how much landing that particular project is worth to you. If you have to absorb the cost of doing post-publication work, that blogging gig may be a bad deal.
You can make your case more effectively by having some numbers on hand that show the usefulness of your work: how much further you can push a post, based on the numbers of followers you have on a given network, for instance. If you can point to specific examples of how you’ve helped past clients, so much the better.
At the end of the day, post-publication tasks like promoting a post on social media and moderating comment threads are important to ensuring your clients get the full impact of the posts you write for them.
Such tasks are real work, however, and you deserve to be paid for the time you spend on them — even if you simply raise your rate per post to cover your time.
Now, Sophie and I would love to hear from you: how do you handle comments and social media sharing for your posts on your clients’ blogs?
Bree Brouwer says
Thursday, I love how in-depth you got in this post; I addressed these two issues very briefly in a post last year (http://beafreelanceblogger.com/blog-post-parts-paid/) but not nearly as clearly or well as you did here. Thanks!
Thursday Bram says
Thanks, Bree! I really enjoyed getting into the nitty gritty details here.
Cherese Cobb says
Thursday, I am new to the business, and I just started creating my writer’s website. I am glad that you mentioned adding rates for answering comments and promoting via social media in your article. I am going to add that to my site! Personally, I always promote all of my work, but I don’t have a large following yet.
Thursday Bram says
That’s a great plan, Cherese! Given that you already promote your work, it might be worth your while to write out what additional promotion strategies you can offer a client as specifically as possible.
Kara Andersen says
There is so much here re: social media sharing and comment moderating for clients that I never thought through properly. I feel quite lucky that I read this before I ran into any issues. 🙂
Thursday Bram says
Glad to hear it, Kara! I’ve learned more of this through trial and error than I would have preferred, so I’m glad to hear that you can skip ahead.
Godwin Adams says
You’re right Thursday. It just doesn’t look cool when Freelance Bloggers don’t follow up after submitting their work.
Sure, it does make sense to include the charges for all those follow-up work and negotiate well.
Daryl says
I’m not big on the whole “social media” thing…my facebook page is relatively sparse, as is my twitter feed. I do usually share where I’ve been published in my monthly roundup/income report, but that’s about it in terms of promotion. Since my readership is relatively small, there’s relatively little for me to gain by putting in a lot of effort to promote my post to my readers at that very moment, since the sites I guest post for generally have far larger audiences than my own.
(However, I WILL soon be putting in much more effort into promoting my work on other sites!)
For me personally, I have no problem with answering follow up comments to one of my pieces – in fact I think that’s part and parcel of the “submission” of your blog post. It does irk me, though, when I see jobs looking for people with a large number of social network followers YET they don’t want to pay for it!
Thursday Bram says
I’m a big fan of beginning as you mean to go on, especially in terms of promotion. Even if you haven’t built up a big following on social media, it’s worthwhile to consider what you want to do in the long run and how you can build the right habits and processes into your work now. I actually spend a little time each day on a new network, learning how it ticks and getting involved — which means that when I want to start using that network more aggressively, I’m not starting from scratch.
Raspal Seni says
Hi Thursday!
Nice to see you here, what a great name and what a great day today! 🙂
Thank you for this post. I’ve been a little away from this blog the last few weeks.
I’m still new to paid blog posts, so this post is an will be certainly helpful. Right now, I don’t have to manage too many comments, and sharing on social networks is upto me, no pressure.
I’ll keep in mind the points you detailed and write down my rates if I am needed to do the extra work. I remember a post Sophie had published many weeks ago about putting your rates on your site/blog.
Right now I’m writing a post and am needed to take a lot of screenshots. Certainly taking a lot of time.
Lauren Tharp, BAFB Community Manager says
I don’t think any of your future editors will have to worry about you not commenting on your published posts, Raspal. 😉
I’ve been working on a blog post that involves taking a multitude of screenshots as well. It’s very time-consuming! I hope your article turns out well and that you won’t be stuck taking screenshots for much longer!
Thanks for commenting.
Julie Anne says
You’ve given me some excellent ideas about how to tie together long-term blog writing gigs with social media assistance. I think I understand that blog owners/administrators want more than just a writer. However, this post sparked some promotional advice about how to incorporate my social media skills in with making a blog post more popular. We as writers have to show our clients we’re in it for the long haul.
Lauren Tharp, BAFB Community Manager says
Glad Gwen’s article got your gears turning, Julie! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Thursday Bram says
Absolutely! Clients (in my experience) look to hire writers because they aren’t always sure what else we can help them with or even what help we can offer. Even just starting the conversation makes a world of difference in client relationships!
Jenn Flynn-Shon says
Great detailed information Thursday. Thanks for reinforcing the need to respond to comments. I also think its really important whether on your own blog, a guest post or a bylined article. Comments = time for the writer and its very cool of them to take the time and spend it with your stuff!
Lauren Tharp, BAFB Community Manager says
And thank you for commenting, Jenn! 🙂
Williesha Morris says
Wow – I never actually considered including post-blog promotion and commenting in my price. I realize now I should think about that. I had a post on xoJane. It got a ZILLION comments, and I felt like I needed to reply to 99% of them (that includes on Facebook and Twitter too). I guess I was just so excited about getting published I didn’t think about how much time I was putting into it. But I will next time. Thanks for this post!
Thursday Bram says
Your time is valuable! Replying to comments can make sense, both in terms of the money and in terms of promoting yourself — as long as we’re paying attention to the numbers. And congrats on the xoJane post!