Be a Freelance Blogger

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Why I’ll Personally Pay You to Be a Freelance Blogger

Why I’ll Personally Pay You to Be a Freelance Blogger

Hands up if you want to make money from freelance blogging!

Did you literally put your hands up, or did you only think about it?

Either way, keep reading. I’m about to offer you a paid blogging gig.

When I first started up this blog, Jon Morrow and a whole bunch of other experts all told me the same thing: give people something valuable for free if you want them to remember your blog exists.

So I created a free resource that helps freelance bloggers save time and make money: a big list of leads to higher-paying blogging gigs, so that you can confidently ignore cheap job ads and content mills.

That’s exactly what you get in the Ultimate List of Better-Paid Blogging Gigs. This year’s edition lists 500+ blogs that will pay you $50 or more per post, including blogs that pays $500 to $1000 (or higher).

This summer, you’ll be able to get your hands on the new edition with details of more than 500 high-paying blogs that accept pitches from freelance bloggers.

And that’s the thing: I want to be on my own list, dammit!

People tell me every day how the Ultimate List has helped them find new higher-paying markets. I feel ridiculously proud every time I hear from someone who’s won their very first paid blogging gig through the list I created.

So, how much cooler would it be if you could say that your mad freelance blogging skills have been tested, approved and paid for right here?

Why I Want to Pay You

Writing a blog post, especially a guest post, takes time and energy.

In return, you get a couple of nice links back to your website and a new piece for your portfolio, but I want to give you more.

I want to give you confidence that your work is awesome, and it’s worth paying for.

This means 4 things:

  1. I have to pay you, otherwise what I just said is bullshit.
  2. If I’m paying, I’m only going to choose the best submissions and work with you to make them even better before they go live.
  3. If you get published here on Be A Freelance Blogger, you officially don’t suck. In fact, you’re pretty amazing.
  4. Your post here is going to be one of the best things you’ve ever written (so far).

Now, I realise that paying guest bloggers isn’t the norm. Some people have even suggested that by paying you for your post, I’ll tarnish the purity of our blogging relationship! But I agree with Carol Tice that a blog about paid writing should pay its writers, so I’m gonna hope that our relationship can handle it. 😉

Why $50?

There are several reasons, including:

  • It’s a nice round number
  • It’s more than double the average hourly wage in the UK or US
  • It’s what I got paid on my first freelance blogging job

In fact, those are the reasons I set $50 as the minimum for inclusion in the Ultimate List of Better-Paid Blogging Gigs.

But the main reason I’ve decided to pay $50 for a guest post is this: I normally charge $100 or more per post.

You’ll be doing the writing, but I’ll be spending a lot of time reviewing guest post pitches and drafts, editing the best submissions, and promoting the posts when they go live. So I’m splitting my usual rate 50/50 with you: you get paid $50, I get paid a $50-worthy guest post for my blog.

Deal?

Awesome.

If you’ve got something to say about freelance blogging –the market, the work, the lifestyle, the money, whatever makes you talk too fast until your friends tell you to STFU– then I want to hear it.

And if I publish it, you get paid.

Now, hit me with your ideas and make me wish I’d thought of them first!

Yours Free: $13,355 in Blogging Gigs

If you're keen to make money blogging, you'll love the Ultimate List of Better-Paid Blogging Gigs -- it gives you details of 75 blogs that pay $50 to $2000 per post. Enter your email and I'll send you a free copy, plus my money-making toolkit and other useful stuff.

Comments

  1. This is great Sophie!

    You’re truly one of the best at practicing what you preach. I had a feeling you’ll do something like this. 🙂

    I may just take you up on the offer. I’ve been outlining the things I’ve learn from our mentoring session and I realized that it could be a good blog post. *wink wink*

  2. Hi Sophie,
    I think it is a great idea, and I can’t wait for your summer edition. It’ll be fun for both us and you to see your name there.

    And I hope I get some cool inspiration and get to pitch you with some working ideas.

  5. Hi Sophie,
    You rock! I’ve said that about you, but never to your “face.” So there. I said it. 🙂

    I’ll take your challenge. I’d love to be a part of what you do here, and I have a few ideas that need a good home. I’d rather not hoard them. 🙂

    Keep walking the walk. You’re an inspiration to me – someone who leads by example and practices what she preaches.

  6. Wow! What an opportunity for writers and your blog. You get the best ideas (and someone to write them for you) while writers get $50 and a clip for their portfolio.

  7. Hey Sophie,

    Ths is a clever idea, and a great way to add more content to your site! 🙂

    Though, here is a thought or rather a questions, is it still guest blog posting if you get paid?

    Just wondering,

    Eric

    P.S. I check out the guidelines and just might have to take you up on this offer we shall see.

    • Hey Eric, that’s one of those questions I wrestled with for a short while and then decided I couldn’t answer! I think if it’s a one-off post with an author bio and backlinks, then you can still call it a guest post… probably.

  8. Sophie, you blogging rawk star you!

    This is going to be interesting, keep an eye on your inbox! I almost suggested a trade but hey, you in my book, me on your blog: win-win = awesomeness! 😉

  11. Sounds great. Will you entertain/accept ideas from a newbie freelance blogger? I unexpectedly got opportunities and rolled with it, just as I unexpectedly came upon this opportunity too 🙂

    • Absolutely, Janet! There are plenty of new and aspiring freelance bloggers who’ll enjoy hearing from a peer, and I’m always interested in hearing how people got started – we all take different paths and learn different lessons.

  12. Great example of practising what you preach Sophie. It’s one thing to state that “some blogs will pay you” but to actually pay people on your own blog proves it.
    I’ll see what I can think of.

  13. It is amazing! I did not expect such a suggestion.It only tells me that you have us at heart and you actually want us to prosper,Iam only worried that you will get an overwhelming influx of ideas!What about that,Sophie?

    • Yep, it’s pretty overwhelming right now, but that’s probably just an early rush of prospective guest bloggers while this post is fresh. And yes, I absolutely want you to succeed as a freelance blogger!

  14. Love that you’re adding yourself to your own list!

    Reading this post reminded me of how I came across you in the first place: through Carol, of course. But I’d forgotten that I actually found Carol through your list. Because I was searching for blogs that paid $50/post. (I pitched her an awful guest post idea before I joined the Den…hopefully she’s forgotten it because it was really bad. But her rejection was so nice — and so educational — that it inspired me to join the Den.) All of which is to say, I actually have YOU to thank for everything I’ve learned — and all the gigs I’ve gotten — because of the Den.

    And I will definitely be pitching you a post! — eventually. Moving at the speed of molasses around here lately! My kids don’t sleep enough. 😉

    • Ooh, wish I could read that rejection – I really want to make sure that when I have to reject a pitch, I do it in a way that’s as clear and helpful as possible, and not too discouraging either!

  15. Hi Sophie

    What a great opportunity! You should be able to see your name on your own list really soon. With your cool & helpful advice, aspirant bloggers cannot not pitch you awesome posts. Who knows, maybe I’ll work up the nerve sometime soon to try my hand at it. Great going!

    • Hey Elmarie, I hope you’ll take that step! Fear of pitching is something you have to kick in the pants as early as possible, before it gets the jump on you.

  17. Way to go, Sophie. I was wondering if you’d be joining the $50-guest-post train! If I have any ideas, I’ll shoot them your way.

  19. Exploring the options for income as a wordsmith, opportunities come along to challenge and hone skills that not only contribute to future but challenge that greater question, “Commitment?” Your offer provides me an option, a moment of reflection, a pause at the keyboard. To search not online, but inward for the answer. Do I believe enough in myself, in my power to control my future to accept your challenge? Just in this small piece, you have given me much.
    Thanks.

  21. Gurrrrl, you know I’m all over this! Screw the proposal, I’ll just go write the post and submit it. Coming soon to an inbox near you…

    I’ve already got the title and idea solid.

  22. Hi Sophie!

    You’re one person I have found who really means it when she says, “Here to help you make money with words.” Seriously, I haven’t seen many probloggers mentoring newbies as much as you have done. You’re approachable and truly a chronic explainer 😉 I have learned a lot through your blog, twitter account as well as the guest posts you have written here and there. I look forward to checking out your 2013 edition while I jolt my mind to pitch something.

    All the best for your business!

  26. Hi Sophie – I just discovered your blog and it is so great to see that you are paying guest bloggers. I’ll be looking around some more and putting something epic together for you soon.

  28. Great idea! We should all try to save a bit of money and pay our blogger friends. Writing a post can be tedious and tricky and requires certainly plenty of knowledge, this deserves money!

  29. I’m in, Sophie,

    Love your approach, your energy and honesty. I’ve been in this game for several years now, made a few thousand at it — but never enough to live on. You have me psyched by your “if I can do it, so can you” example.

    Am buried right now with Danny’s ABM (are you still in?), but have an idea for you based on a Comments exchange you and I had here on your site. I’ve made a few notes and will send you a proper pitch within the next few days.

    Keep up the great work, Sophie. I’ll be in touch. ~Jim

    • Hey Jim! Yep, you *can* do it. Not a doubt in my mind.

      I’m still in with ABM, but I’m studying it slowly so you’re probably way ahead of me by now! Looking forward to see what you’ll pitch me. 🙂

  30. Hey Sophie! Thanks so much for this. You and Tom Ewer have totally inspired me to return to freelance blogging. I was making good progress a few years ago and got delayed due to some life events. I just sold 6 blog posts today to a past client and that has inspired me to pitch a brand-spanking new idea to you. Thanks again for this excellent opportunity and awesome blog!

  31. Hey Sophie,
    I got introduced to you virtually through your post on Carol Tice’s Making a Living Writing blog, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I am smitten by your style, lingo, spirit, generosity and honesty. So watch for submissions from me, my story as a recently self-retired corporate cat in the travel and direct marketing industries to a current just-jumped -in-the-pool travel writer, direct response marketer and B2B writer. Help me start my journey please. Thanks already.

  32. Hey Sophie (and readers),

    Of course I agree with everyone that this is an excellent opportunity for bloggers at any stage of their careers. But I really wanted to weigh in on whether it’s still a guest post if you get paid.

    My answer is: absolutely! If you are submitting content to a blog which you do not (a) own or (b) write for on a regular basis, then you are a guest. Forget the fact that most blogs don’t pay guest posters, because that’s not really true. They may not be paying them cash, but if you’re getting two links in the central content section of a blog with any PR at all, then you are getting paid.

    Anyway, just wanted to weigh in. I’m working on a guest post pitch, Sophie, so watch out.

    Sara

  33. Thanks a million for this inspiring post and The Ultimate List. I started blogging, stopped (because things didn’t really seem to make sense) and started again. Will keep coming back to this uplifting blog. Thanks for having such a big heart, Sophie!

  34. Wow. I’m impressed by the interaction between you, Sophie and your followers in your awesome community! I am new to your site. I think I will like writing for you. My best effort ever!…

    • It’s going great! We’ve turned it into a public contest with a $100 prize for the winning guest post, every 2 months, and the conversations around each “Pitchfest” have been fascinating. 🙂

  36. I want to try this. I can write something about my country. INDIA and it’s obsession with cricket and bollywood. Actually i’m capable of making witty statements or comments which are short in nature. But i’ll try to stretch myself and write big. If it gets published, i’ll get paid and if it doesn’t i’ll learn from my mistakes and try again. I’ll be mailing it to you. Please send an email.