socialmedian: How Much Do Top Tier Bloggers and Social Media Consultants Get Paid? We Asked Them!

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How Much Do Top Tier Bloggers and Social Media Consultants Get Paid? We Asked Them!

Source: ReadWriteWeb

Oct 09, 2008

Summary

The media world is changing and its jobs are changing too. The rise of the blogger is an often-told story, but are the lucky few bloggers who do it for a living well paid? We did a survey to find out.

We asked 20 top-tier tech bloggers and social media consultants to tell us how much they get paid, by the post, by the hour or by the month - however their rates are set. Half of them told us, on the condition that we wouldn't disclose who they were or where they worked. The end result is an anecdotal overview of what some of the top tech bloggers and social media consultants are making. These aren't the founders of big blogs, these are their employees and people who get work writing, doing trainings or consulting for tech companies.

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There are a handful of people in tech blogging that make even more than this but the vast majority of people who get paid to blog get paid far less. To be honest we have no idea what it's like outside the Web 2.0 world. (Honestly, is it raining?) We hope that no one will be too angry with us if these numbers lead the

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Comments (16)

Kathleenld,

Oct 09, 2008

This is definitely something I've wondered about.

Michaelfidler,

Oct 10, 2008

@socialmedian I've been curios about this too. Last week a blog about interest and treasury rates sold for some ridiculous price(10 to 15 million, (I can't remember the exact amount), which made me wonder about the economics of blogging. How do they come up with these valuations? I would understand if TechCrunch went for 15 to 25million+, but this was some obscure blog I've never heard of! Ad revenue for blogs is amongst the lowest on-line, depending on the demographic they reach. A popular Blog with a female audience can garner six times the money of an average blog. I still would like to find out more

Jasongoldberg,

Oct 10, 2008

@michaelfidler @kathleenld valuation is an art more than a science for early stage companies. It basically comes down to (1) what will the market bear, and (2) how bad does the acquirer want the asset and the team involved

Matthooper,

Oct 10, 2008

@Michaelfidler i believe it was bankaholic.com - sold for $15m ...

Michaelfidler,

Oct 10, 2008

@matthooper Thanks, it was so obscure I couldn't remember the name. My question about valuations was rhetorical. I should have have asked, What fool would pay that much for that particular blog? Condé Nast has been one of the larger acquires of blogs, and is one of the best example of how to move one's business on-line. anyone can plunk down money, like IAC, but take a look at there stock price today! Not Good!

Michaelfidler,

Oct 10, 2008

@jasongoldberg @michaelfidler This goes together withhttp://www.socialmedian.com/story/1245881/what-the-new-york-times-wall-street-journal-and-cnn-are-doing-wrong-online-off
and the above reply to @matthooper was really for you, except for Matt naming the blog. Thanks again Matt. I responded to myself above. Long day

Matthooper,

Oct 10, 2008

@michaelfidler all good, Michael! May the information sharing continue apace!

Michaelfidler,

Oct 10, 2008

@louisgray One of the first things I noticed visiting your blog was the absence of any advertising. So, I read you Bio which explained everything. Even though you've decided not to have any Advertising, I was wondering if you know of any resources or have any info regarding the economics of blogging. If you have the time, I would appreciate it. I'm very interested in learning more. Thanks.

Louisgray,

Oct 10, 2008

@michaelfidler, I made the choice to not get into blog advertising for a few reasons. 1) Because I have a real, full-time job which pays me enough that I don't feel I need to scrimp for every dime. 2) Because I don't like what it does for a site's layout, look or implied integrity. 3) Because it really is dimes. I don't think that somebody with as little traffic as I have can make any money, so the tradeoffs are too high for no benefit. As far as I am concerned, I enjoy sharing and talking with smart folks like you and @jasongoldberg and @robdiana. Should anything revenue-related come of it, through consultancies or advisory work, that's great, but even if it never does, I'll keep going.

Sushaantum,

Oct 10, 2008

i wrote like the biggest comment ever and then found that i have been signed out. Now, i am not gonna say that gain, all i believe is that future is social media and bloggers who have created a niche for themselves on web wont find making money difficult.

J Deragon,

Oct 10, 2008

Maybe the question is how much is a good "social media consultant" worth. Also I agree with Louis and also don't use ads on my own blog. I'd rather enable my viewers to have a conversation than throw billboards in their face.

Michaelfidler,

Oct 10, 2008

First of all, the reason I noticed that Louis had no ads, was because his blog looked so clean, which I found quite refreshing. If someone wants to plaster their there sight with ads to make a buck, that's their prerogative. I'm just glad that there are people out there that share Louis' passion. My question was an attemp to try to understand how a single blog could sell for 15 million bucks. It seemed like a lot of money, and i just wanted to learn a bit more about the business of blogging. I spent a couple of hours researching the subject and, I was able to find some, but not all of the answers I was looking for. I love doing research but, it never hurts to ask.

Billspaced,

Oct 10, 2008

What's this got to do with the "Global Financial Crisis?" What am I missing here?

Jasongoldberg,

Oct 10, 2008

@billspaced yes, this story is not categorized well. I'm looking into it.

Billspaced,

Oct 10, 2008

@jasongoldberg np just seemed out of place. I tried making logic leaps but found myself falling down the cliff!

Jasongoldberg,

Oct 10, 2008

@billspaced i had the volume turned up in the global financial crisis news network and this story has the topics economics and economy in it so it made it in. Good lesson to learn from.