There are so many bloggers, each blogging for a certain purpose. Some are hobby bloggers while some blog to make money. I love blogging a lot and it’s a huge passion of mine but I want to make money from it as well. I mean who wouldn’t want to make some extra cash?!
One sad thing is, in a bid to make money from blogging, a lot of bloggers end up settling for less. So today, I’ll be talking about why bloggers should stop settling for less.
These past few days, I have seen lots of bloggers come out and share their experiences with brands who want to pay almost nothing for a sponsored post/feature on the blog and I thought it is necessary to remind bloggers like myself to not settle for less. There are lots of reasons why bloggers should stop settling for less! And today, I’ll be sharing some of those reasons….. Let’s go!
Keep reading: Why Bloggers Should STOP Settling For Less?
Why am I writing this post? I am writing this post because:-
- I want all bloggers to know that it is very important to not settle for less.
- A lot of companies have reached out to me and many other bloggers with ridiculous offers and I think it’s high time, we all come together to let brands know that we have to be paid adequately for our work.
Sometime last week, I received a mail from a reputable company asking me to publish a blog post on here for £10 lol (I would have loved to put a screenshot of the email here but for confidential purposes I won’t lol). £10! Am I missing something?! Like, how ridiculous can this get? Now, my blog is still growing. The blog ain’t even 1 year yet but then £10 is extremely ridiculous. I have had waaaaaay better offers tbh.
Keep reading: Why Bloggers Should STOP Settling For Less
You may find it hard to believe that any blogger would do a sponsored content for £10 but a lot of bloggers take £10 and even less. I have seen other bloggers advertise this same brand on their blog and I keep thinking that they are exposing a particular brand to the hundreds and even thousands of people on their blog and blog social media accounts for just £10!
While I wouldn’t blame them for accepting the offer, I think it’s high time we bloggers come together to say no to opportunities like this. £10 is not enough for all that exposure even if the brand is the one writing the post but unfortunately, not one, not two but a whole bunch of bloggers take up offers like this all the time!
Do you see why this topic – Why Bloggers Should STOP Settling For Less is necessary?! Let’s look at some reasons why bloggers should stop settling for less!
Why Bloggers Should STOP Settling For Less?
Below are some reasons why bloggers should stop settling for less.
1) Settling for less will reduce your worth.
2) By settling for less, you’ll reduce your chances of getting better offers.
3) When you settle for less, people will take you for granted.
How do I stop settling for less as a blogger?
1) Set standards for yourself: As a blogger, it is extremely important to set standards. I feel like if you don’t set standards for yourself as a blogger and if you don’t have a picture in your head of how much you want to be paid for offering certain services, you’ll be forced to settle for less. And you’ll keep accepting peanuts for your hardwork which is absolutely WRONG!
2) Stop accepting such offers: Do you know what happens when you accept offers like the one I mentioned in this post?! As a blogger, accepting offers like the above mentioned is deciding to settle for less. When you accept offers like this, you show that your blog has no worth and you give brands the right to take you for granted. I can’t even advice a newbie blogger to take less than $50 for a sponsored post not to talk of £10. Stop accepting offers that pay you less for your work.
Keep reading: Why Bloggers Should STOP Settling For Less
3) Politely, say no to such offers: There’s absolutely nothing wrong with saying no. Saying no doesn’t make you a bad person believe me. I know, I get it, saying no when you have bills to pay, can be hard and it’s easier said than done to turn down money, no matter how small the amount. But it is necessary to note that it’s extremely important to not settle for less.
Most times, when we get ridiculous offers like this, we start to think:
- Is £10 that bad? I do need the money. I’ve got bills to pay.
- Something is better than nothing. Getting £10 is better than getting nothing and all that.
But wait a minute! I am a firm believer in knowing your worth and standing firm in it. I would not be showing that I am worth more if I say yes to these kind of offers. And that’s why I say NO to them.. Believe me or not, you and I are way worth more than £10 for an article.
Keep reading: Why Bloggers Should STOP Settling For Less
4) Set boundaries for your business: See, it’s important to set boundaries around your work. Ditch the idea of taking on whatever offer comes your way and be selective of the offers you take on. Only take offers that reward you equally for your work and time.
I know, you have to start from somewhere. Even if you want to start from somewhere, I could bet you don’t want to have to write a whole blog post, publish it on your blog and share on your social media channels only for £10!. Whenever I have a job opportunity, I put my whole into it, researching and trying to make sure the job is done perfectly. I could even spend days on a particular job. And I sure don’t want to go through so much only to end up being paid peanuts!
Keep reading: Why Bloggers Should STOP Settling For Less
While hard work is important to gain success in any profession, you face the risk of doing more harm than good to your career if you continue to work for less. The more time and energy you put into working for peanuts, the less time you will have to find higher-paying work.
If you follow me, you’ll know that I offer freelance services as well and trust me, I have gotten similarly ridiculous offers as a freelance writer but what do I do? I say NO. Because I have set standards, I have boundaries for my freelance business, and I know there’s nothing wrong with saying NO. If a job offer doesn’t align with my set standards, I politely decline!!
Roundup
I get it. Getting offers as a blogger can be quite exciting so much that you don’t give it a thought and you just want to jump on that offer. You want to make money no matter how small it is. You are not wrong to want to make money. A good amount of bloggers want to monetize their blog sometime, someday but the point is you should never settle for less.
Whenever you get an offer from brands, weigh the offer and make sure you are in no means settling for less because like I said when I was highlighting the reasons why bloggers shouldn’t settle for less, settling for less makes you lose your worth even before brands and you sure don’t want to be thought of as a worthless blogger!
So here you have reasons why bloggers should stop settling for less. Do you settle for less as a blogger? What are other reasons why bloggers should stop settling for less?
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Yesssssss to this! It really grinds my gears when I get “offers” of $10 or $20 to host a guest post, it’s so insulting. What these companies are after is advertising on your blog, and their links will stay on your blog for a loooooooong time. Put that into context and think how much they’d have to pay to advertise anywhere else for a year. I get that we all have bills to pay but accepting these low offers not only devalues our blogs, it makes it harder for all of us to get paid properly. Great post, Ruth!
I am totally with you on this Ruth! On Facebook I have seen offering 3 $ for a paid post and I was wondering who the hell would accept something like this. Surprisingly, I saw plenty of replies from bloggers willing to do so. For now I write only for myself since I am still learning. I have just added google adds, to collect peanuts as you would say, but this is only temporary. We should first value ourselves. Thank you for this!
Most companies that try to recruit me always seem to be scammer or haven’t even bothered to check out my blog. A company recently approached me about collaborating there health products, which included weight loss tables. Not going to sell my soul and risk people with eating disorders discovering their sketchy weight loss drugs
We pour so much of our time, effort, and love into our work and it’s disappointing to see some of these offers. I definitely agree with knowing your worth and being able to reject offers that aren’t valuing what you’re bringing to the table. Thanks for sharing!
YES YES YES! I love this so much. For me personally, I view sponsored posts with a risk/reward kinda mindset. Every sponsored post I write is a missed chance for me to publish an SEO optimized post, it takes up time to write & curate imagery…. all that for $10? No thank you! x
mia // https://beautiful-inspiring-creative-life.com/
Knowing your worth in the blogging world is so important. Your content is worth so much more!
Such a great post and valuable points made.
I am all for clubbing together to demand we are paid for the time and effort that goes into blog posts.
We all deserve it.
I cannot begin to tell you how much I love this post, Ruth! It is one of my favorites from you so far because it is so empowering, self-aware, and positive. It seeks to share just why self-worth and saying no are important and how much you value yourself and your blog is ultimately what determines what something is worth to you.
Thanks so much for sharing!
A great thought-provoking post Ruth! I think those outside of the blogging community have no idea how much time and effort goes into maintaining a blog with new content on a regular basis. Then there’s the promotion of the post on social media, engaging with others etc. I’m a hobby blogger but surely spend 20 hours a week on blog related tasks (and that doesn’t include reading LOL). I agree – don’t settle for less!
This is such an important topic and I think so many bloggers especially beginner bloggers don’t realize that they shouldn’t settle for less. Thanks for such a motivating read here, Ruth!
You made so many good points in this! Bloggers and writers in general are always underpaid for their work. I think these companies forget it’s not just as easy as bashing out a few words, you need to do the research first, then write a draft, then edit and rewrite some, then all the checks at the end too. It’s very time consuming and offering £10 for that is just absurd. So good for you for knowing your worth and saying no!
Great post. The more that bloggers settle for working for less, whether that’s not asking for a budget or accepting TINY amounts to create content, the more that brands and PR’s will continue to take advantage of bloggers because they know there are those out there that will accept those small amounts.
Oh yes! Everything you said is true. Most of us, bloggers work hard and we are also committed with our work. Of course we deserve better. We need to fight for it.
Bloggers definitely deserve to be paid a lot more than £10! Sometimes it can be so hard to find opportunities, so I’ll settle though. You bring up some great points that should be considered x
You mentioned a lot of excellent points here. As someone who has been blogging for 6 years (full-time for 5 of them), this is something I want to scream from the rooftop! I think a huge reason why brands think they can take advantage of bloggers/influencers is because so many of the people they reach out to actually accept those offers and that hurts everyone in the process. Know your worth, work hard, and don’t let people take advantage of you!
Love this! Blogging is a lot of hard work and bloggers deserve to be recognised for all the time they spend researching, writing, creating graphics, sharing on social media, planning, scheduling, etc, etc. Not to mention the financial costs of running a blog. Many brands don’t take these things into account and expect a blogger to invest hours or even days of their time for “exposure” or a free sample, but no pay.
I think there’s possibly something to be said for taking on a few initial assignments, even at minimal pay, just to gain some experience in writing sponsored posts and to get something in your portfolio to show what you can do. But I agree that if you’re seen to be doing a lot of work for free or on the cheap, it will only attract the wrong kinds of brands and possibly put off the ones who would be much better to work with. Thanks for sharing this – I agree that it’s really important to set boundaries as a blogger. x
This was pretty enlightening. As a new blogger I’ve not really thought about monetising yet but I agree that undervaluing your hard work is never the answer. I’m definitely gonna take your advice.
Thank you for sharing this post! I think this is something that beginner bloggers should read. I started blogging in 2020 because it’s my hobby and I also invest my time, effort, and money behind the scene. And when there’s a chance to make money from it, why not? It’s a fun way to make an income while doing something I enjoy 🙂 I value my blog so highly, so I always politely reject any offer that is not even worth my time and effort x
Yess I wholeheartedly agree with everything in this post. A lot of bloggers under value their skills and services. And I think it’s time we all come together and let brands know that we will not settle for less.
I agree with you 100%! It’s also the same when you get approached for a post and the payment is the product. I don’t really do paid or promotion posts but if I ever want to make money from my blog (which I never rule out and am researching how best to do this for my site) I would want to get properly compensated for all the time and effort that goes into actually writing a post. And that’s definitely more than $10/£10! This was a great post as it reminds us all to make sure we value our time, etc.
This is a great post – I think when you’re first starting to try and monetize, it’s hard not to accept the offers you get because you want to get your foot in the door first. But it’s definitely an issue when big brands try and take advantage of that.
I loved this post! Blogger’s should not do anything that is below their value, we should know our value and add tax to that! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Absolutely love this post! I’m someone who defiantly needed to hear and read this. I’ve defiantly let people walk over me when it comes to my blog and it’s something I’m determined to work on. Thank you so much for sharing Xo
Elle – ellegracedeveson.com
I love this post, what an important message to share! So many undervalue a blogger, or any writer’s, work and don’t understand how much time goes into what we do. Thank you for sharing all of your advice and tips!
Great post indeed. A lot of brands want exposure for free and that’s so bad. Maybe bloggers end up agreeing to work for less because many brands offer low rates and the bloggers think there are no other offers out there. But it is very important to not settle for less and not undervalue our work.
Isa A. Blogger
https://www.lifestyleprism.com/
This is a fantastic post Ruthiee! YES YES YES! You’ve outlined a lot of fantastic tips and reminders of not settling, or finding ways to justify low offers for what usually turns out to be quite a bit of work and exposure to your audience! Thanks for sharing this – I think it will help out a lot of bloggers, new and experienced!
This was a really interesting read! As a book blogger I haven’t really considered monetizing my blog and I haven’t been offered money for my posts but this has made me a lot more aware for if that happens in the future. £10 really doesn’t seem enough! Thanks for sharing x
Yes to all of this! What a great article! I completely agree with you. I mean, let’s say it takes you 5 hours to research that brand and write a blog post (and sometimes it can take longer for research). They’re pretty much saying you’re only worth £2 an hour! Your time is precious and you (and other bloggers) are worth a lot more x
I am currently just a hobby blogger so making money is not my priority but I have read of others having struggles with not being paid fairly or offered poor pay for work produced! So I agree that bloggers definitely need to be aware of their own worth and demand it x
This is good advice! I think if you want to make your blog a business you should definitely know your worth 🙂 I’ve had some good collabs that pay well but I’ve also had stressful collabs that pay well, and to be honest, it wasn’t worth the hassle. In the end I decided not to accept any more offers like that on my blog. It’s just a hobby for me so I don’t need to make money from it – I’ll leave all the offers to everyone else. If it is a worthwhile offer I’ll often suggest my friends for it instead!
Hope that your week is going well 🙂
I used to have one popular blog in the blogosphere. It focused mainly on blogging and as a beginner, I received one ridiculous offer from a company, I think it was £4 for a month. I ignored the offer and continued working on my blog, 3 months down the line , that same company was back with an offer of £80. At the end, we had to settled on £100 for an ad banner for 30 days.
I certainly agree with you it’s about time we bloggers know our worth.
We put so much time, love, and effort into our work and it’s discouraging when companies try to take advantage of that. I’ve had companies not pay me after writing reviews or try to not pay me for a service I offered, and it sucks.
This is a great post! I have settled for less when there were not many opportunities but now I understand that the pricing should be according to the time, efforts, and research you are putting for the post. Thank you for stating the reminders and the tips 🙂
When I first started blogging, I got so excited about getting offers that I took up offers for low amounts of money and free goods! I didn’t accept every single offer, but there are a lot of offers I accepted then that I wouldn’t accept anymore. I’m glad you’re valuing your worth at such an early stage at blogging! Great post xx
Melina | http://www.melinaelisa.com
Powerful post here a lot of bloggers need to read. Developing posture is so important because until bloggers face the fears in their mind, they will scramble for peanuts when they should allow in much greater abundance. I did away with sponsored posts and paid guest posts because I decided to have posture and simply monetize my blog solely through my brand. Letting go of the lower energies helped me feel a lot better and also expanded my presence online. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Great advice, yes to this! If, and when, I ever get approached for a sponsored post I will definitely set these standards. Writing is hard work and writers should be taken seriously. Thank you for reminding us of our value!
These are great tips! Its so true that bloggers need to set standards for themselves and not just accept anything and everything that comes their way!
Amen, Ruth! I totally agree with you. Blogging is a lot of hard work, especially when you put your heart into it as you do. Research, writing, editing, creating graphics … all of these things take time. Plus, as you said, even if the company is the one who writes the content; it’s still advertisement for them on your platform. If they paid for that elsewhere, they’d have to pay a fair price. Being taken advantage of is not fair, for any reason.
It’s a personal decision if someone decides to take less money than they deserve for the work put in. But I think you have pointed out some excellent points all bloggers should heartily consider. Great post, friend! ❤️ A topic worth discussing!
Thank you for sharing this and it’s so true – we all definitely have to be more aware of our worth!