Employing a Blog Strategy? You Get What You Pay For. - Jory Des Jardins - MediaBizBlogger

Originally published June 13 2008A blogger tells me her story of woe She had been selected to contribute to a traditional media company39s website Six months into the writing gig she learns that she is the only writer onstaff who is not being compensatedShe questions her editor who then tells her that she is in fact being compensated by virtue of her association with the site which gives her work exposure Of course the real issue here is not the method of compensation itself but rather why wasn39t my blogging friend paid like the other writers for the sitein ducatsNow we could all argue that not all writers are created equal as evidenced by the disparity in pay between those who write a cover story for say Vanity Fair versus the local paper While most tech bloggers can spout off about how the latest version of Firefox is the best browser out there only Walt Mossberg is paid a rumored midsixfigure salary to do so Then there39s the prestige factoramp8212there are publishers for whom theoretically writers would pay for exposure publishers that really could compensate lesserknown writers by elevating their profile For this reason alone I accepted only 250 from The New York Times to write a story but in my mid20s and growing my freelance business I would have done it for free But there39s another interesting dynamic here that I suspect applies to why my friend wasn39t paid Bloggers are still not perceived as quotrealquot writersSure there are the David Pogues and George Packers of the worldtraditional media writers whose bosses said OK we need more page views start blogging And then there are the Katie Couric39s who need to curry more grassroots favor and the Top Chef judges of whom Bravo intelligently required to blog as part of a multiplatform strategy And then there are the breakout bloggers such as Mike Arrington at TechCrunch Kerry Miller of PassiveAggressive Notes and Heather Armstrong of Dooce whose traffic is so astoundingthat even the most conservative advertisers and traditional media outlets must take notice Or bloggers like Robert Scoble whose acclaim in the Blogosphere has led to a book deal and mainstream column with Fast Company But c39mon do you all really think of bloggers as REAL writersDon39t roll your eyes at me I39m not trying to be dramatic just realistic And don39t think that I blame only you for dismissing us In many ways we do it to ourselves too After all my blogging friend never asked for cold hard cash And many new bloggers are succumbing to such business models as pay per post which often monetizes at the expense of credibility With this model bloggers receive a nominal fee for including the name and a link to a product on their blog roughly 5 per mention While many bloggers can cover their monthly online service fees with this method I liken it to selling your eggs or sperm for a livinghardly sustainable or selfesteeminducing The sponsor doesn39t necessarily care what you have to say just that you39ve spelled the product name correctly and provided the link for search engine purposes Bloggers are hired because they have a platform the blog equivalent of a pulseAnd traditional media writers who could use blogs to boost their offline work typically don39t see blogging as a tool I recall trying to get someone with some acclaim in the business writing world to start a blog to promote her new book She kept emailing her professional network to which I belonged with her updates for the month and a link to her Amazon book page which I suppose we were meant to click to for the privilege of having her lists of lengthy accomplishments fill our email boxes I thought if perhaps she provided some value to her network by maintaining a blog or just maintained a bit of a rapport with her readers she might have fared better But she told me in a polite note she just didn39t have the time to write a blog AND focus on her other workI think that39s fair If I were being paid to write something that project would likely take precedence Though I would point out tech entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki and marketing genius Seth Godin as two of the notsodesperate writers who have successful traditional media careers mucho speaking opportunities and guru status and who also consider blogging to be a worthwhile endeavor When I read Godin39s blog I appreciate that he doesn39t save the dregs for online It39s all wellwritten thoughtprovoking stuff And I still buy his books Guy Kawasaki gives away the store with meaty posts on how to be a force of nature in business and has won the hearts of new customers for his categorized headline aggregator Alltopnamely Mommybloggersthat he never would have met on the geek speaking circuitThese folks didn39t adopt a blogging strategy because they consider blogging cheap throwaway work and neither should any publisher or business that39s thinking about employing bloggers I39ve received calls from companies who are launching blogs and need writers many of these opportunities are unpaid If the gig is corporate I will not make an introduction for two reasons 1 I don39t believe that bloggers should write for free unless there is room for professional development or exposure and 2 I don39t know any good experienced bloggers that would put up with thisI know I know you have to prove the value of the blog before your management will give you more budget If the blogger proves popular then you will consider monetary compensation But the Blogosphere works very much like the rest of the nonvirtual world You get what you pay for

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Employing a Blog Strategy? You Get What You Pay For. - Jory Des Jardins - MediaBizBlogger

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