Every morning I start my work day by logging in. Email: on. Facebook: on. Twitter: on.
As soon as that little “open” sign turns on, I start getting downloads and pings. Questions, opportunities and all sort of bits of information zoom past me.
At the end of the day/week/month it is most often the same questions that get asked again and again.
I talked about a few of them right here, but perhaps missed out the most important one of all, the main RULE of blogging that you really need to know.
There are NO rules.
You must live and work, by YOUR own rules.
Your make your own RULES.
This holds especially true in our industry. As entrepreneurs, as bloggers, we are working in an industry that has few defined standards. The landscape of where we work and play changes day to day. There are no rules for how you should do something, what you should charge or who you should work with.
The only rules are yours.
If you charge $2000 for a blog post, more power to you. If you are writing for free, and the appreciation fills your soul, I have no problem with that.
If someone offers you a vacuum/chocolatebar/trip-to-europe/giftcard and you want to take it in exchange for work, then take it. It is YOUR business.
Not mine. Or theirs (or even that gal, over there!)
You define your own boundaries with your business.
That means:
YOU decide when you show up to work
YOU decide how much you charge
YOU decide your voice, your words, and the stories you share
YOU decide who you work with, who you support and who isn’t a fit for your brand
It truly is up to you.
I have seen a lot of blogger back ends and been told a huge variety of prices and from my experience I have come to understand there is no benchmark.
On one site you can get 10million impression for under $500 bucks. On another, it will cost you $3000. In fact, on yet another you will be charged the same amount for 30,000 impressions.
In the end, it is 100% dependant on what you CAN sell it for, and how much you want to do the work.
Your rules.
I have seen bloggers publish amazing sponsored content with unique messages, and beautiful images. I have seen others copy/paste and push the words out like yesterday’s laundry. I have seen spelling errors, grammatical problems, broken links and blurry pictures.
In the end, it is YOUR choice, and if you are doing this for a business, it is up to YOU how you do your work.
YOUR rules.
In the end, months, years from now, we WILL have benchmarks. There will be a way to measure and imply value. Perhaps it will be on pageviews, or maybe someone will figure out how to actually capture that engagement value beyond the total potential views. . . but until then, you need to define your own rules for doing business.
So don’t doubt, or worry. Follow your instinct. Try.
If it works for you and you are getting the return you hoped for, perhaps you have found your way. If you aren’t, maybe it is time to change and try something new.
And most importantly, for today, just follow your own rules.
ps.
I wanted to add in “the golden rule” of being kind, but realized that is MY rule, not yours or anyone else’s. But, I encourage you to make it one of your rules as well. Be kind. Be gentle with your word babies, as they can be sharp.
Oh, and exercise. And eat green stuff. Those are good rules too.