Will Blog For Money: 12 Questions to Ask Beforehand

A company asked my friend to write blog content for their website, and he wasn’t sure where to start. He called for advice. “So, what’s a blog?”

I skipped the pat answer and connected with his experience. “It’s short articles posted online.” I referred him to this website as I shared things to consider.

At first he was excited, but then his interest waned. “What if I just refer them to you?”

I had just started offering a blog writing service, aka Content marketing. “That would be great!”

“What do you charge?” That’s a question with no easy answer. It’s like wondering what a vacation will cost without revealing the length or destination.

Here are a dozen questions to ask before agreeing to write blog posts for pay:

How many words per post?
How often do they want me to post?
Will I get the byline (with a link and maybe even my photo) or will I be a ghostwriter?
Can I use my own voice and style, or do I need to follow their guidelines?
Is the content exclusive to them or can I repurpose it for other uses (that is, repackage and resell it)?
If it’s exclusive, will the rights revert to me at some point?
Are they looking for straight content, or do I need to do keyword research and write meta tags?
Do I need to supply graphics?
Will they indemnify me if there’s a problem?
How much direction will they provide about topics and content?
Will I email them the finished post or must I add it to their site?
Will I need to monitor and respond to comments?

Depending on the answers, I’d charge $100 to $250 for a typical length post, more for longer ones. Yes, there are folks out there who will crank out a post for $25 or even less, but if someone’s looking for cheap content, they shouldn’t look to me. My focus is on quality, and quality costs.

Bargain-hunters aside, I will work as a blogger for hire.