ProBlogging Job: Fixed Pay or Revenue Share?

I’ve been asked many times about this question and have shared the pros and cons of problogging for a network instead of yourself. A lot of Filipino probloggers have shared their experiences with me as to the pay structure and though I am not at liberty to state exact figures, I’d like to share some hypothetical examples so we’d see where the numbers are leaning.

Fixed Pay. This type of pay structure is very attractive since you get to be like a salaried employee, expecting a fixed amount at the end of the month as long as you meet the minimum quota. This goes to say that whether the blog you are writing for will perform or not does not affect what you get at the end of the day. If the blog succeeds later on and the revenues grow exponentially, you end up with the same payout as your contract dictates.

Revenue Sharing. This pay scheme is flexible and income of the blogger depends on the ad revenue performance of the blog. Starts ver low but has good potential if blog becomes exceedingly successful.

Let’s look at some extrapolated numbers. We’ll assume your contract states a fixed monthly pay of $250 for 12 months.

Sample Monthly Blog Revenue

Month 1: $25 Month 2: $50 Month 3: $75 Month 4: $100 Month 5: $125 Month 6: $150 Month 7: $175 Month 8: $200 Month 9: $225 Month 10: $250 Month 11: $275 Month 12: $300

Total: $1,950

Your Monthly Fixed Payment

Month 1 to 12 x $250 = $3,000

With this example, we can clearly see that the total annual revenue of the blog does not even level with the total salary of the blogger for the first 12 months. The blog revenue here assumes that there is a consistent increase in traffic and advertising revenue which does not commonly happens. There’s usually a plateau around the 6th to 12th month.

We then compare this with the revenue sharing structure, it’s even worse since you are splitting the income.

So, how much should the blog earn for you be getting more with a revenue sharing scheme (as opposed to the fixed $250)? Let’s look at the numbers:

If 60% – 40% in your favor, the blog needs to earn at least $417 per month for 12 months to get you the annual $3,000 income. You’ll start breaking into the $250 mark on the 17th month.

If 50% – 50%, the blog needs to earn at least $500 per month for 12 months to get you the annual $3,000 income. You’ll start breaking into the $250 mark on the 20th month.

If 40% – 60% in favor of the network, the blog needs to earn at least $625 per month for 12 months to get you the annual $3,000 income. You’ll start breaking into the $250 mark on the 25th month.

Taking these sample numbers into consideration, it would seem that you are much better off with a fixed monthly payout than a revenue-sharing scheme.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

11 Comments

How to Get Six Pack Fast says:

16 years ago

The style of writing is quite familiar to me. Did you write guest posts for other bloggers?
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Nagalakshmi Tadakaluri says:

17 years ago

I think fixed pay is best for every one.
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Abe Olandres says:

18 years ago

I’d go for fixed pay. It’s instant gratification. Then work some way to bigger payouts each year or every 6 months. WeblogsINC has fixed pay and some of their writers get pay increase when the blogs become successful.
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Rico says:

18 years ago

If you were the boss, which payment scheme would you offer Abe? :)
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AnP says:

18 years ago

I agree with Jayvee, doing both is best :-)
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jayvee f says:

18 years ago

getting paid by revenue share tends to give you a bigger sense of achievement because you feel like you are truly reaping your blog rewards.

fixed pay is steady, but you somehow don’t feel as empowered.
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Noemi says:

18 years ago

The main obstacle that I would go against paid or revenue sharing blogger is that all that efforts in writing should have gone to developing your own blog. Blogs don’t turn successful overnight. One has to treat income generating blogs as a business. Experiment and develop. Find out what works and what doesn’t.

To write for one own’s site is my choice because I get residual income. I continue to earn for efforts I placed into writing months ago or even years ago. The only reason that I am earning modest income is because I bought out old blogs and domains of my daughter who developed her sites for years (some dating back 2000). I would still go for developing blog(s) than work for other people…unless of course, the writing job doesn’t take a lot of time.
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Marco says:

18 years ago

There should be a poll to see which one is the most popular…

The fixed option carries more risk for the investor/employer… and hence it is up to the employer to keep the blogger up to the job…

The variable/share option has less risk for both parties – and could be successful just as long both parties keep up their end of work to grow the blog…
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ruth says:

18 years ago

of course, that’s just looking at the first year. by the second year, when your page rank has stabilized and archives of posts are substantial enough, your blog will be more attractive to advertisers and your blog’s revenue can be much, much more…

i’m not convinced if one is really better than the other, esp if you’re in it for the long haul. so yep, maybe jayvee is right, you should do both ;)
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jayvee f says:

18 years ago

which is why you should do both ;)
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