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 $250PHP 14,671INR 21,187EUR 238CNY 1,820 for 12 months.

Sample Monthly Blog Revenue

Month 1: $25PHP 1,467INR 2,119EUR 24CNY 182 Month 2: $50PHP 2,934INR 4,237EUR 48CNY 364 Month 3: $75PHP 4,401INR 6,356EUR 71CNY 546 Month 4: $100PHP 5,869INR 8,475EUR 95CNY 728 Month 5: $125PHP 7,336INR 10,594EUR 119CNY 910 Month 6: $150PHP 8,803INR 12,712EUR 143CNY 1,092 Month 7: $175PHP 10,270INR 14,831EUR 167CNY 1,274 Month 8: $200PHP 11,737INR 16,950EUR 190CNY 1,456 Month 9: $225PHP 13,204INR 19,069EUR 214CNY 1,638 Month 10: $250PHP 14,671INR 21,187EUR 238CNY 1,820 Month 11: $275PHP 16,139INR 23,306EUR 262CNY 2,002 Month 12: $300PHP 17,606INR 25,425EUR 286CNY 2,183

Total: $1,950PHP 114,437INR 165,262EUR 1,857CNY 14,193

Your Monthly Fixed Payment

Month 1 to 12 x $250PHP 14,671INR 21,187EUR 238CNY 1,820 = $3,000PHP 176,057INR 254,249EUR 2,857CNY 21,835

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 $250PHP 14,671INR 21,187EUR 238CNY 1,820)? Let’s look at the numbers:

If 60% – 40% in your favor, the blog needs to earn at least $417PHP 24,472INR 35,341EUR 397CNY 3,035 per month for 12 months to get you the annual $3,000PHP 176,057INR 254,249EUR 2,857CNY 21,835 income. You’ll start breaking into the $250PHP 14,671INR 21,187EUR 238CNY 1,820 mark on the 17th month.

If 50% – 50%, the blog needs to earn at least $500PHP 29,343INR 42,375EUR 476CNY 3,639 per month for 12 months to get you the annual $3,000PHP 176,057INR 254,249EUR 2,857CNY 21,835 income. You’ll start breaking into the $250PHP 14,671INR 21,187EUR 238CNY 1,820 mark on the 20th month.

If 40% – 60% in favor of the network, the blog needs to earn at least $625PHP 36,678INR 52,969EUR 595CNY 4,549 per month for 12 months to get you the annual $3,000PHP 176,057INR 254,249EUR 2,857CNY 21,835 income. You’ll start breaking into the $250PHP 14,671INR 21,187EUR 238CNY 1,820 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.