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.