Are You One Of The Select Few?

Here on Performancing and on various other blogs about blogging, the idea of making a good living from blogging has been described as fiction more than fact. Not to say that it isn’t possible however, the chances of it happening are not good.

ReadWriteWeb published the results of their own survey today in which they contacted 20 top-tier bloggers and social media consultants to figure out just how much money they are making. The survey figures out what the pay rates are for these individuals while also having them confirm what their counterparts make. The results should continue to provide hope for those looking to make a living from this field of work but keep in mind that the top 20 people in virtually any field of work will probably be well paid.

According to the survey, rates for bloggers who were paid per post ranged anywhere from $10.00 to $200.00 for long form writing. In-house/Full time bloggers reported being paid between $45k and $55k per year with benefits all the way up to the $90k a year bracket. RRW breaks down these annual rates:

Based on our experience and conversations in the industry, we can say that all of the people doing this work full time are putting in at least 50 to 60 hour work weeks, often longer. That means most are making the equivalent of $20 to $35 dollars per hour.

There are of course, a few bloggers in the wild who are making a six-figure salary. Naming those people shouldn’t be difficult. In fact, Walt Mossberg who writes for the Wall Street Journal is rumored to make seven figures per year.

Last but not least, those who are authorities are making a good living through consulting work. Based on the survey results, hourly rates ranged from $150.00 up to $300.00 per hour. Some consultants reported rates of $2k to $4k per job. To illustrate just how much of a disconnect there is between companies that get it and those that don’t, RRW reports that these consultants are probably doing one or more of the follow:

What are these people doing? They are advising companies on how to set up and run blogs, how to reach out to and relate to bloggers, how to use Twitter (seriously) and how to make advanced use of RSS. The SEO work is probably the most technical, but degrees of technical challenge are all relative. A lot of this work is about communication skills.

I’m currently making over $1,000.00 per month by producing podcasts and blogging for others. I can’t tell you how many hours I put in a week into blogging but I can confirm that it’s not just about writing the articles. There are many variables which I believe fail to be entered into the payment equation. For instance, administering the website, comment moderation, social media promotion, social interaction via Twitter or Friendfeed, conversations on Skype with people within your niche, conducting show notes for that next podcast episode, reading books in your off time that deal with the niche you write about, etc.

The bottom line is, it is entirely possible to make a living blogging for others or for yourself. However, it is a very tough road to travel and that is why here at Performancing, we will continue to provide tips, tricks and useful information to help turn the dream of making a decent income from blogging into a reality. Just be prepared to lay down a ton of elbow grease.

What are your thoughts on the RRW survey?

9 thoughts on “Are You One Of The Select Few?

  1. Seems that you used to be able to make good or decent shall I say money from blogging, but these days everyone and their mother is doing it, and they all want to profit, which drives down what you can earn from it. It’s really not quite what it was.

  2. Yep, there is many ways to make some money with your blog but to be honest it seems futile for me, as I recon blogs will slowly become replaced with person-seminar sites.

  3. i agree with your article jeff, being a blogger doesn’t mean focusing on the blog itself. you have to do multi task in order to develop more and your site be successful.

  4. Edit – didn’t realize I wasn’t logged in when I made that comment above.

    I engage in blogging, ghost writing on blogs, guest blogging, blog development and consulting, some web design (light on graphics which I outsource), SEO, SMO(Social Media Optimization), and SMM(Social Media Marketing).

    Putting that all together I earn anywhere from a couple to several thousand dollars a month from all sources. Work goes up and down from month to month but for the last 6 months it has done nothing but go up.

    After blogging for almost 3 years, I am just now starting to get to the income level I was at when I worked as an accountant, finance manager and contracts manager. I don’t have benefits, but don’t really need them myself(already covered).

    I am also basically reinvesting all my profits back in to my business for future growth either through equipment, training, software, advertising, travel or networking.

    I would not classify myself as an A list blogger, and think the concept is actually rather silly for anyone that wants to do this for a profession. You do not have to be a blog celebrity to be successful at blogging (it doesn’t hurt by any means, but not required). To learn my craft, I’ve done crap work for next to nothing and I’ve taken on major projects for fortune 100 companies and several levels between.

    These days I definitely know what I’m doing, why I am doing it, and where I’m going with it. I consider this a career (in the Chris Rock sense of the word) as opposed to a job. My biggest challenge is finding enough time in the day and new tools to leverage that time more effectively.

    I see a future for our industry, have seen it since 2005 and have been working to drive it there ever since.

    This is just the beginning for blogging. People are getting better and better at this skill set, quality is improving, and we will soon have millions of people generating great content around the clock. ~ as quoted in Technorati State of the Blogosphere 2008 and on Performancing years earlier.

  5. I currently am earning close to $1,000 monthly from blogging, and this pie is divided into various triangles.

    Blogger For Hire $XXX
    My Personal Blog(s) $XXX

    Through my personal blogs, the XXX income is derived from Adsense, affiliate marketing, reviews, and ad networks. So it is not fiction. But i can see how many who are not in the fields of net marketing, would have a hard time believing this. Fact is that blogging, SEO, social media, and net marketing is Chinese to many.

    I’m still nowhere near where i want to be, and the income does fluctuate. But i am convinced the harder i work and the more value i deliver, the more i will make. I love working from home and the current goal is to create mini-communities.

    Missy is an avid blogger, who writes on (and manages) her niche blog network: Groovy Vegetarian, Yellow Sweaters, and G34 Media.

    You can also find her daily contributing to green blog, Keetsa.

  6. People who want to earn more should use blog as a marketing tool for their business instead of working for others… but as always with the rise of blogging and social media, many blog owners are interested for content producers both to produce content for their blog or to promote their blog.

    Let’s not confuse Payment Per Blog Post with Pay Per Post. The later, in my opinion, falls into the gray area especially when it comes to SEO.

  7. As BlogTalkRadio’s Blogger/Community Manager, I can tell you it is indeed possible to earn an excellent salary (with bennies) working full time in this business for someone else. I guess you have to ask yourself if you want to earn a few hundred dollars a month as a network blogger or a few thousand dollars a month as a corporate blogger? You make your own destiny.

  8. Bloggers are outside USA are being paid even less. I’ve many friends those are outsourcing work to their offshore contacts at $5 a post.

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