There’s a new hot topic on Twitter today. I’ll let you go ahead and read that one yourself.
I will start by saying, I am not here to put down any other organization in internet land. Ever. Like, never. Because we all do our own thing to make our businesses work. But I’m here to tell you why we do pay our writers.
Your time is important. Your words are important. If you give us views – we give you cash. It seems like a no-brainer to me.
We weren’t always this way. When we started in 2012, our site was only reaching 20,000 views per month. But now, we’re more like 300,000+ views per month. Guess what? That’s still not much. But it’s enough. It’s enough to pay the bills to run our website and it’s enough to pay the fine writers who contribute each day.
It’s enough. Someday, I hope it’s more than enough. Wouldn’t that be grand?
“You pay up to $100 per article, Leslie? With only 300,000ish views per month? Um, how do you do that?”
Great question. I chat with God (a lot). I have incredible local business support and I work my backside off. My brain is constantly learning and strategizing and discovering new ways to bring in income for Her View From Home. And someday, I know it will pay off.
We raised our prices last summer. It was a long, tough decision but seemed like the obvious choice. How can we expect writers to provide quality content for us, if we’re only giving them a few likes on social media in return? I’m a writer – I don’t want a like. I want to buy a cup of coffee, or a sandwich, or a pair of shoes, or heck – pay a bill. I get it. So we raised it. Up to $100 per article.
There have been months when I was terrified we wouldn’t have enough. But here’s the thing – we pay per views. If your article is bringing us high views that month, you’ll cover (sometimes easily) the $100 paycheck we’re giving you. Duh. Like, duh.
There’s a lot of other fantastic sites in internet land that pay too. You words are good, very good. You deserve recognition for them.
I’ll leave you with a thought to ponder. If a little ole’ site like ours (small, but mighty and growing!) can afford to pay writers, why aren’t most sites?
And that’s that. You write, we pay. The end. Cool? Cool.