Pricing your sponsored blog posts can be a shot in the dark at times. It’s hard to know exactly where the sweet spot is, how much is too much or how little is too little. Here at TBS, we rely heavily on discussing this with our closest blogging peers and via this platform. We believe it helps to have a sounding board and get insight from others. In an effort to be as transparent as possible and also help build the industry up from FREE posts to being compensated for your WORTH and WORK, we wanted to share this important post today. So let’s chat about how to price a sponsored blog post or social media post.
What You Need To Know When Pricing Your Blog Post
There’s a lot that goes into exactly HOW you price a blog post. Many factors will play a role. From the size of the brand/company you’re working with, timeline, the scope of work, photo rights, and more. It can be complicated to navigate. Although there isn’t really a right or wrong answer, we wanted to share how we would go about pricing a blog post.
1 – Find Your Traffic
The bulk of the price will be based on how much traffic you get to your blog. Check your Google Analytics (you can read more about GA here) and find your average monthly pageviews. You can take an average of the last 3 months.
2 – Timeline
What does the timeline look like? For blog posts that require an insanely short turnaround, we usually tack on a fee for that. We’d say anything under a week turnaround should be charged an additional fee. If you have a few weeks to turn around images and copy before something goes live, you can disregard adding an additional fee.
3 – Scope Of Work
The scope of work, which is the full list of what you need to do, is really important. This requires you to ask lots of questions too so you are both clear on what the expectations are. Some things to take note of that would affect the price include; are you creating a tablescape that requires you to invest in ingredients, props, and more? Or is it a simple hair tutorial you can shoot yourself? Is it simply a flat lay that may not even require you to put on makeup or hire a photographer? Knowing what the scope of work is will play a role in your pricing.
4 – Exclusivity
Exclusivity is a BIG one and one that is definitely subjective. If you’re being asked to offer exclusivity for a particular retailer or brand you feature often, you’ll charge a lot more for that. (An example of exclusivity would be working on a sponsored blog/social post with a coffee brand and then not being allowed to post any other coffee or tea products for the 6 months after the posts go live.) But maybe if it’s a one-off brand you rarely feature or it’s a content vertical you don’t cover often, you may be more flexible. Always think about it in terms of “how much money would I possibly be losing if I offered this exclusivity” and incorporate that into your pricing. This is also something you can negotiate quite easily so keep that in mind!
5 – Photo Rights
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, photo rights are SO IMPORTANT. You do not own your images unless you are taking them yourself. Work with your photographer to come up with a rate and contract (read more on that here) and be sure to include that in your rate. If a brand wants to use the photos in a nationwide year-long campaign, that will be a serious fee. If they just want to use it in a re-gram on Instagram, you may offer that complimentary with proper credit.
6 – Whitelisting
We’re seeing this more and more in campaigns and it is most definitely something you should be charging for. Whitelisting is when a brand utilizes your handle to write a post and boosts it as an ad. You can read more about whitelisting here. A good rule of thumb is about $1,000 per month. This is another easy thing to negotiate to bring up or down a rate you can agree on.
Now that you have all the information you need for your negotiating, it’s time to come up with a rate. We always recommend asking the brand first what their budget is. It’s negotiating 101. Never be the first one to throw a number out. You never know what someone’s budget looks like and you don’t want to undersell yourself. But sometimes, this isn’t always the case. Instead, we always recommend offering a range and keeping it a tad vague so you can play around with asks.
How To Price A Sponsored Blog Post
(Total Pageviews / 10,000) x (200 to 400) + [Any Add Ons] = Your Blog Post Rate
*Note: This does not include social media. To learn more about how to price yourself with social media, you can download our Blog Pricing Package Guide from The Library. Members get FREE access to this. Not a member? Join today to get free access to our library, Facebook group, exclusive newsletters, and more!
Let’s talk about the 200 to 400 here. If you plug in your total pageviews and divide by 10,000, this number should then be multiplied by a rate of somewhere between 200 and 400. This will give you your range. Again, so much is based on the client’s budget, the total asks, the little details, and so on. So for example, if you have 50,000 pageviews and are adding on a $500 tight turnaround fee (see more on that below), you would start your range at $1,500 for the sponsored post. And again take that number and multiply it by 400 to get a ballpark top number.
(50,000 / 10,000) x 200 + [$500] = $1,500
(50,000 / 10,000) x 400 + [$500] = $2,500
Your range for a blog post with a tight turnaround fee is anywhere from $1,500 to $2,500. Start high and ask for the top number in your negotiations. Another tip is to simply round up to $3,000 and start there. It’s always best to start high and work your way back down. Remember, these formulas are BEFORE any social media, exclusivity, etc.
Possible Add On’s To Charge More For
- Photo rights, this may add an additional $250-$2,000 per photo
- Exclusivity, this may add an additional $1,000-$5,000 all depends on the length of time, brands or categories excluded, and how they would affect your business
- A tight turnaround, this may add an additional $500 or more
- Social media, add this on accordingly! You may charge anywhere from $100 to $3,000 per Instagram post. Itemize these out as well if they also want Stories or a TikTok. These add-ons quickly add up!
- Having to buy ingredients, props and so on, etc. to complete the post, add a flat fee that you think is reasonable
These are not steadfast pricing or rules, but we hope this blog post serves as a guideline on what you can and should be charging for any sponsored blog or social media posts. In this industry, we’ll only move forward if we as influencers know our worth and ask for it. Everything here from image rights, exclusivity, whitelisting and more are items you should ALWAYS be charging for. Period!
