Freelance blogger rates

Blogging has evolved – and so have freelance blogger rates and skill sets.

The days when you could get a cheap freelance blogger to pump out 500 word posts on your niche subject and expect to build an audience are over.

Every niche is crammed with badly written, content-lite blogs. Which has led many blogs to close. And freelance bloggers to try to game the system with black hat SEO tricks.

But Google has pulled the plug on that game too.

So how do you write a blog that gets an audience – and pleases Google? And what freelance blogger rates should you be willing to pay?

Before I tell you my freelance blogger rates – and to help you shop around – here are three things your freelance blogger should give you.

Your freelance blogger should give your customers want they want.

He/she should do their research. What content are your customers reading?

They should know how to search for long-tail keywords to inspire blog topics. If you want to search for them yourself, check out this great long-tail bagging guide by Brian Dean.

They should be able to fire up brand evangelists and experienced at reaching out to industry influencers to get them to contribute original content.

All of which will bring traffic and back links to every blog post they write.

Your freelance blogger should be a blog scientist.

They should know how to craft attention-grabbing headlines. Check out my guide to writing great headlines here.

Which types of images to use and which to avoid. Quick Sprout nail this. Even the optimum length of blog posts. According to HubSpot research, your posts should be at least 1,600 words long and take a minimum of 7 minutes to read.

Your freelance blogger should focus on solving problems.

According to one seminal study into what makes content viral, practical articles have the edge over thought pieces.

Of course, people search Google for two reasons: to solve a problem, or kill time. Which means a practical post that solves your customers’ problems will incentivise them to share your blog with their friends or colleagues.

Google will love your evergreen problem-solving post too.

The problem with writing what I call Power Pages though is that they take time to put together. But the good news is they follow a proven structure – and you don’t need to put out more than one a month because they are so powerful.

My freelance blogger rates

A 2,000 word Power Page takes five days to write. This includes subject and keyword research; image ideas; and email/phone outreach to outside content providers like brand evangelists or influencers.

I charge £400 exc VAT a day. So total cost is £2,000 exc VAT.

If you want an ongoing series of Power Pages (min 6 per annum), I charge £1,500 exc VAT per blog. Total cost for 6 posts: £9,000 exc VAT.