Type-A Mom Conference – It’s About Respect: Professionalism in Blogging

Our keynote panel today at the Type-A Mom Conference in Asheville, North Carolina is It’s About Respect: Professionalism in Blogging. Heather Solos is moderating, with speakers Kelby Carr, David Griner, and Deb Ng.

Heather is thanking the sponsors who made this conference possible and introducing our speakers.

Professionalism is a loaded term in this environment. How do you define it?

According to Kelby, professionalism gets confusing in the blog world because there’s a very low entry level. There are people with years and years of professional experience and there are people who haven’t really worked in any job at all. We’re still trying to define what professionalism means in the blogging world because part of what makes us so engaging is our voice, personality, and edginess. We’re not all going to be in business suits. At a regular industry conference, we’d be out of place wearing jeans.

David says that professionalism isn’t about the voice you have on your blog. It’s not about toning yourself down or changing who you are to please advertisers. It’s about working with each other and mutual respect. It doesn’t have to do with the outcome, but with how well you work together. Do you meet your deadlines? Do you respond to emails in a timely fashion? Do you know how to submit invoices? Some advertisers may not want to work with people who use obscenities or talk about beer and such, but David isn’t concerned with that.

Deb says that professionalism is how you conduct yourself, how you treat people, and how you treat yourself. It’s showing people you’re a responsible human being. It’s about charging for your services, because that’s what professionals do.

How does you interaction with companies affect your ability to earn revenue?

Deb doesn’t work with companies. She charges for her services, but she doesn’t work in brand advocacy. Brands may send you some spaghetti or pay for your flight to get to a conference, but a box of spaghetti isn’t going to pay your mortgage.

David says to remember that the people you’re working with may not be what you’re looking for at the moment, but it’s good to let them know that you like a pitch but the product isn’t a good fit for you. Keep up that relationship. The marketing folks we work with talk about the bloggers who work well with them the same way we talk about the companies we like to work with.

Kelby says not to limit yourself to what you do. You can do e-books and consulting alongside your brand advocacy and such. For the companies who agonize over how to reach bloggers, Kelby says she’s going to make people mad, but stop the giveaways. Instead of throwing giveaways at a bunch of bloggers, find a small group of loyal bloggers to work with and pay them. Getting paid for reviews is not a good model, because then it becomes an advertorial. But get paid for advertising.

Photo by EdenFantasys.com

Heather points out that every time we get told to charge for our services, we get undercut by people willing to work for free.

Kelby says this is common in freelance writing circles, people who are willing to work just to get a byline. There will always be people who are willing to work for free because they’re fangirls. But brands will eventually realize that the fangirls are not very effective, and the dynamic will shift.

Deb points out that most bloggers say they don’t charge for their services because they’re just starting out. But the waiter who just started at Denny’s is still getting paid for what he does, so we should be, too.

(Missed the question. Oops.)

David says that bloggers are viewed as a commodity. Blogging pays dirt. Freelance writing, writing for magazines versus writing for a blog…it’s the difference between getting 10 cents a word and getting $1.00 a word. He’s gotten bloggers a better pay deal for writing client work by calling them freelance writers instead of calling them bloggers. Takeaway message: call yourself a freelance writer.

Deb points out that people are afraid to set a price. Figure out your self worth. Figure in your taxes. Always enter into a gig or partnership with a price in mind, but leave a little wiggle room for negotiation. You are what you price yourself at.

David advises creating case studies with brands you’ve worked with. Show your results. (He talked about this at length yesterday in the

Kelby has one big tip: to always think about what your role is in our community. Every time there is something where a mom blogger is attacking a mom blogger, we all get judged by that. There’s a mob mentality. We need to think about our behavior, and think about being a bouncer…trying to shut down unacceptable behavior. Ignore the drama and don’t respond. We have standards, and we don’t have to accept bad behavior in our community.

Question about bad behavior from conference speakers.

Kelby says that conferences are not really in competition with one another. Things spread like wildfire and they grow. When someone acts like a diva and throws tantrums, we all just need to get over ourselves. People have a false sense of celebrity. Don’t act like a spoiled brat, because if you were to go out on the street and tell people you’re a big deal because you have a gazillion blog followers and you spoke at the conference, they’re going to be like, “Who cares? What is that?”

Deb helped find speakers for Blog World this year. Her biggest “diva” was a man. And when she sees speaker proposals for next year, she’s going to ask herself if she  really wants to put up with that sort of crap next time around.

Questions from the Audience

@RealLifeSarah wants to know how to follow up on communication with companies.

Kelby makes a point that reviewing products is not working with companies. Reviews are earned media. They are editorials for our readers. Consulting, creating content for a company…that’s working with a company. Reviewing products is not partnering with a company. Taking it to the next level doesn’t involve the same people within a company. Your PR contact can’t help you with getting that company to advertise on your site, except perhaps to tell you who else you need to talk to.

David says that the best way to follow-up with companies is to mention those other things you also work on…the collaborative blogs you work on, the radio or online TV show you host, etc. You can mention that you offer special deals for first time advertisers. Position the conversation the way you want it to go.

Kimberly wants to know how to help other bloggers with their professionalism. How do you help people not get taken advantage of?

Deb says that, in the freelance writing world, this is a touchy subject. (I know it! I wrote about it in

David says this may be controversial. Everyone should feel comfortable enough to do what they want to do on their blogs. It’s okay to have rules and to break them. Because you want to. You can have a rule about not doing things for free, but then decide to do it because you want to.

Amy disagrees with Kelby. She doesn’t like the Denny’s waiter comparison. That waiter applied and go hired, so he gets paid. If she decided to pick up a tray and bring water around to all the tables here, she wouldn’t expect to get paid for it. She thinks the distinction is when we do work for other people’s sites. Find out what’s going to make you money. What is the thing you’re really good at? Maybe it’s writing for free on your site and then getting paid for freelance writing on the side. Amy wrote for Kelby on Type-A Mom for free for a while because she wanted to.

Deb says that, if General Mills wants her to write for them on their blog, she’d going to charge $500 for that. She’s not going to do it for free. She’s not talking about guest blogging on a friend’s blog, but when she does work for someone, she needs to be paid.

Shelley says it’s okay to say no. It’s okay to tell a marketer you’re not going to work for free. it’s okay not to write every day. Her life changed in December. If you don’t want to do it every day, that’s okay. Don’t be afraid to write what you want to write. “I wrote about Mad Cow and called her every bad name in the book in December, and Disney still works for me.”

David says that no one has the right to demand anything of you. He’s seen top bloggers get pestered about how much they charge, and he’s seen people get pestered because they should be charging more, etc.

Kelby points out that none of this is 100% black and white. If you want to break into social media consulting, it’s okay to find a non-profit organization to work for for free in order to build a case study. That way, you’re not working for a corporation for free and not setting a bad example. But don’t keep doing that. You can’t demand really high rates when you start out, but you can find people at your same level experience and try to feel out how much they are charging.

How do you deal with exclusivity? If you’re working with one shoe brand, can you not work with another?

David says he’s a big of a softie. He’s been burned by exclusivity deals. Get it in writing. If you’re not getting paid, or you’re not going to be paid much, you should not be saddled with an exclusivity clause. He’s been shut out of working with bloggers who have been blocked by exclusivity with big brands they’ve partnered with. Don’t accept an exclusive agreement if you’re not getting paid and you’re not getting a good deal.

@littletechgirl points out that she’s accepted free trips from companies that turned into paid gigs for those companies. Doing these unpaid things can lead to better things.

Kelby is wary of these free trips that end up being free consulting for the companies. She likes getting to know companies, but it’s good to ask ahead of time what will be expected of you.

Angela says she’s donated her time and experience in the past. She waived her reprint fee for a nonprofit organization, and her CPA said that, since she has her rates set, that counted as a charitable contribution. But giving away stuff for free in the hopes of getting word of  mouth business generally doesn’t work. Her rates reflect the level of experience.

Deb adds that the only people you attract when you give away stuff for free are freebie hunters who aren’t willing to spend actual money on your services.

How do you go from hobby to professional blogging?

It’s important to treat your blog as a business. Have advertising on your blog. Find the businesses that fit your blog. You need the mindset that your blog is a business and not a hobby. Deb made that decision and turned her blog into a full-time job.

David says that most people don’t have a goal when they start their blogs. Most of us get burned out eventually. How do you want to make that money? Selling ads is hard, and it’s a terrible way to make money, especially if you’re not a sales person at heart. He prefers to get paid as a contributor. Build a strategy around the approach that you are most comfortable with.

Deb says you don’t have to sell ads on your blog to make money. You can sell e-books, do webinars, etc.

Kelby says you don’t have to put all your eggs in one basket. Not every approach is effective for every site. Some of her sites have made a killing with affiliate marketing, but others just don’t work. It’s okay to give yourself six months to see if you like one approach and see if it’s effective. You could choose to only do affiliate marketing during the holiday season. It’s okay to change things up.

Christina Gleason (976 Posts)

That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.