Bloggers, Going Cheap

Duncan Riley,  “writer, developer, speaker and blogging evangelist” is looking for two to three bloggers for his site, The Inquisitr. The Australian-based Riley was one of the founders of the B5media blog network, which I worked for very briefly.

Anyway, he is offering to pay these bloggers – the depressingly low figure of $1.50 per thousand page views. Ouch, say those of us who earn a living from our writing.

But what’s even more interesting, and more depressing, is the results of his research into what bloggers elsewhere are paid (CPM, by the way, is cost per thousand page views):

• Some sites pay nothing at all, instead promoting the benefits of exposure. It is staggering how many people will work for nothing, particularly if the idea is pitched right. It’s a nice game to get into, but it’s not one I’m comfortable in: I’d rather pay people something
• Some sites pay, but only when the amount gets to something substantial (say $50-$100). These tend to be various rev share or CPM models. Many of these sites promote writers earning $200, or the occasional person hitting the $1000 mark. Most writers are lucky to earn $20 a month. Actually I’d love to get into this space, but not with The Inquisitr. Next project maybe Again though: people will work for little, and in this market $50 or $100 a month is money people want
• Some sites pay a set CPM monthly in the 50c-$1.50 CPM range. Hard to pin these rates down, because most don’t advertise the rates, but you can dig up the info on forums. I saw one site offering $1.50, and none higher, although this is not to say that some individual sites may pay more.
• The remainng models are the givens: set rate per post, or monthly set rate with or without traffic bonus

Riley reckons that these new bloggers he is hiring will probably get manage to average at least $200 a month, for about 40 posts a month.

Ouch, ouch, ouch.

But if anyone is interested, more details here, and applications close next week.