What To Charge for Your Freelance Work

By Victoria Hudgins. Photography by Maclufus.

During our Alt panel Melanie, Capree, Chelsey, and I had an open discussion about the value of our freelance work. Here are some of the points we found most important (for more detailed information come to the Alt Channel Freelancing to grow your brand class I am teaching next Tuesday):

How much should you charge for freelance work and how can you be sure you are doing something that is valuable?

Providing free content:Sometimes it is worth it. Sometimes it is not.

• Working for a big site that doesn’t want to pay you can be exciting - at first. Weigh the benefit of possible exposure and networking opportunities and decide if it's worth your time. Will this site send me enough traffic to justify my time and effort? Is this blog/company someone I'd like to build a relationship with? Can this relationship lead to other contributor positions?
• Consider agreeing to a trial period (3-6 months, depending on post frequency) and then evaluate. If it's not worth it, politely let them know and thank them for the opportunity.
• Providing a post for a friend: This may or may not send you traffic; you need to decide if you have enough time, or if it cuts into other work. Strengthening blogging relationships can be vital to your brand's success.

Negotiating: You must always negotiate everything.

Learn how to talk numbers with confidence and value your work as a designer/writer etc. If someone wants you enough, they will pay what you are worth! It is important to realize that they are paying for more than an hourly employee, they are paying for a creative genius, and that is costly.

Setting Rates and Knowing What’s Fair: Don’t sell yourself short. You are valuable!

Decide firmly on how much to charge per post? Don’t be afraid to counteroffer. It’s a bit scary, but calculate the time/materials you’ll be putting into each post. Rates will vary based on your experience and the size of the site you are contributing to. Don’t forget to consider the “traffic profit” you may get.

The key in all of this: the big ol’ X factor: How will this grow your brand? What are the goals of your business and how will working through freelancing to achieve these goals?

Here are a few suggest sites to contact for freelancing positions:

•  Curbly - www.curbly.com 
•  Momtastic - www.momtastic.com 
•  Dotcoms For Moms - www.dotcomsformoms.com 
•  Vivint/The Neighborhood - www.neighborhood.vivint.com 
•  Apartment Therapy - www.apartmenttherapy.com 
•  Design Sponge - www.designsponge.com 
•  Gawkerverse - www.gawkerverse.com 
•  BlogHer - www.blogher.com