I just spoke on a panel about this recently, Mom Bloggers: How to Get Paid Cash, Not Swag at Blog World Expo. During that panel, I had a real moment of clarity. We keep talking about money and bloggers in black and white terms. In reality, the issue is that the companies and firms doing outreach to bloggers in many cases are AVOIDING money. It is a last resort, when it should be the default. First and foremost, cash should be on the table. Alternatives to that should be just that, alternatives and not the status quo.

Of course, there are occasions when it makes sense for a blogger to promote a company as part of a trade (maybe they need the services, and offer an advertisement paid for in-kind). Maybe it is at some point worthwhile to do it for a link (perhaps you are a new blogger and it would be a big benefit to get exposure and an SEO boost through a link on an established company’s site, although a link from a company’s new microsite probably has little value). Perhaps you really need a product (say your stove just died, you’re broke, you need to feed the family, and a company just offered you a shiny new stove in exchange for a badge on your blog).

There are also situations where it makes no sense for money to change hands. For example, getting paid by the company representing the product to do a review of said product is not ethical. Money should not change hands there.

In most other cases, money is what should be offered as a standard practice: for promotions, for badges (a euphemism for advertising) or any other banner advertisements, for being a brand spokesperson or evangelist, for consulting and offering advice, and so on. Promoting a company should be a paid position.

I know I am not the first to write about this (shoot, this isn’t the first I have written about it), and I sure won’t be the last. I hear this message repeated again and again during conference sessions. And yet, the message doesn’t seem to be getting through.

Paying money for a blogger’s promotion should be standard. Sure, a newer blogger with less of a following should get paid less than a savvy, influential and experienced blogger. But there should be pay involved.

Some will argue that it is earned media. I would beg to differ. A review is earned media. Beyond that, there is very little reason for many bloggers to simply write about a company for the sake of writing about a company. Sure, there are exceptions. This really isn’t terribly different than traditional media. You don’t see article after article in newspapers about companies and products. You see news. Oh, and ads, of course.

It also isn’t for lack of money. The money is there, but it isn’t filtering to the bloggers in many cases. What I see trickling down a lot is a possible chance at a prize, or payment in small-denomination gift cards, or a link in exchange for a blogger doing quite a bit or promotion and work.

Bloggers: when these opportunities come along, don’t be afraid to politely share your rates and explain why you charge for your time and hard work. We should keep pushing that message.

Of course, there are times when money doesn’t need to be on the table. What troubles me is that money is so rarely on the table. It is the huge elephant in the room that everyone pretends isn’t there.

The last I checked, we are not on a barter system. Sure, in everyday life, you might be able to convince a business to do something for free, for trade or for exposure. Odds are pretty good that will be a rarity. What is typical is to pay money for services, products, advertising, promotion and consulting. In cash.

Photo copyright Kriss Szkurlatowski

For 2010, I would like to see the hard work start to pay dividends. I would like to focus more on results. I want to see ventures that don’t just have a mission, but accomplish it. I would like to see 2010 be the year (for all of us) of harvesting the ripe results of our efforts.

My 3 Words: Queens, Focus, Freedom

December for me was a forced sabbatical. We traveled to Disney World at the beginning of the month, I was sick for three weeks, and then we lost power at home twice (once for three days, which forced us to travel on snow-covered roads to a hotel just to find heat for our family).

It became an involuntary vacation. It was impossible to be productive, and at best hard to get any work done. In the end, it was a gift. I got a chance, long needed, to step away from the work and reflect. To relax and prioritize. Life is a lot like a neo-impressionist Pointillist painting. If we stand too close, it is nothing but random dots. Step away, and the picture becomes vividly clear.

Queens

For my first word, I confess I am stealing (with slight modification) Chris Brogan’s word of Kings. His words about behaving like a king really connected for me. He described it as the ability “to maintain poise and balance and charm and demeanor when dealing with life’s unpleasant moments.” I think for women it is even more important to behave regally. The level and intensity of mom blogger dramas I witnessed in 2009 is just unacceptable. In 2010, I’d love to see all of us as women rise above.

If not all women (hey, there will always be the fools who perpetrate this low-life behavior), let’s set the bar and hope others follow. I also think it’s important to command respect. We are professionals. Let’s act like it. (And yes, that includes insisting on being paid for time, consulting, marketing and any other work.) Let this be the year that the mainstream media runs out of mom blogger scandals to cover. You can get mad at journalists for ignoring the inspirational stories about the mom blogosphere and focusing on the negative. But the fact of the matter is, they can’t write negative stories if they don’t exist. Don’t create them, and ignore those who do.

Focus

This has always been my challenge. As a journalist, I had a writing coach who suggested coming up with one word that summarizes each news story. It was tremendously helpful, and has stuck with me for years. In fact, I thought of that lesson when I saw Chris Brogan’s list. I am one who tends to think of ten things at once, and operates best with several balls juggling. That is great for productivity, but bad for focus. In 2010, I want to work hard to prioritize and to determine what is worth my time. I did some of this in 2009, leaving About.com after seven years and despite it being a nice stream of income. Sometimes, you have to walk away from things, even important things, to give you time to focus on what’s more important. If it were easy, you would have walked away ages ago.

I am planning to sell some of the social networks that I have fully developed and that have nice Google rankings (PageRank 4 for both), but I don’t have time to grow: Dadosphere (which would be a great buy right now, as I think dad bloggers will be the next in thing) and PictureMyCamera, a social blog/social network for photography enthusiasts). Contact me if you’re interested in buying one, or taking over management for a share of the revenue.

It also means that I will be focusing my services. One issue with being a jane of all trades is that it’s tempting to offer all services. I am going to revamp my hire me page to focus on the things I really enjoy, and which provide a better return on time investment. While I like my SEO Makeover, it is very time-consuming. For things like that, I am looking at developing eBooks or online courses instead. With so many pursuits, some simply need to require less hands-on time. I get a lot of joy from speaking, training and mentoring, so that will be my focus.

Freedom

There’s one thing I learned from my unexpected time off in December. It’s that I don’t want to be tethered to work and social media all hours. Going off the grid is good for us all. Part of the reason I want to focus is to create more time. I spent the last month doing many things just for fun. I rediscovered reading. I can’t tell you the last time I read a fiction book just for the pleasure of it, but in December I read every book by Karen Chance and the entire Twilight series. Yes, those are books with absolutely no purpose whatsoever except entertainment. It was wonderfully indulgent.

I want freedom on a few levels. I want to earn more for less effort to create financial and lifestyle freedom. When I decided to go from seasoned career woman to work-at-home mom, that was my vision. As anyone who works from home knows, it can be dangerous if you are a workaholic. You end up doing nothing but work. I will not spend 2010 with my fingers glued to a keyboard.

I’d love to hear what three words will be yours for 2010. Share in comments or, if you do a post, be sure to share the link in comments. And thanks to Chris Brogan for the inspiration.

_{Image of blogging queen, © Mike Licht of NotionsCapital.com.}

Have a Base Hourly Rate

This should really be your first step, because this sets a baseline for you to consider when quoting a rate in every other area. Yes, there are times that call for moving the needle up or down. Yes, there are projects that are fun vs. projects that are quite demanding. Having a base rate first, however, will always give you a starting point.

Here are a few questions to ask to come up with this base rate:

• What is your time worth to clients? Consider experience, talent, portfolio of work, testimonials, influence and reach.
• What is your time worth to you? If you are inundated with work, your rate should reflect it. You will need to turn work away, so setting a higher rate will both demonstrate that you are in demand and naturally keep requests for work lower. On the other end, if you have no clients and are actively seeking gigs, a lower rate will encourage more contracts.
• What did you make in the workforce? This can be helpful even if you are doing freelance work in another field. If you felt it was way too low, you can take that into consideration. This was your last salary, and a good barometer of value. You should, however, multiply this amount times two or more to take into account the differences in expenses and benefits between being an employee versus a freelancer.
• How much money do you need? It doesn’t mean you will get it, but consider this when setting your rate. If you need $50 per hour to support your family and still work a reasonable amount of hours, you need to look at whether you can justify that amount. Bottom line, you need to make enough to live off of. And remember when examining this that a much larger chunk of income goes to taxes as a freelancer, not to mention health insurance and other benefits. A good way of calculating this is to figure out how many hours you have available to work. Then figure out how much you need to make per month or year. Divide the amount you need to make by the available hours for that time span.
• What are others offering similar services with similar experience levels charging?

A place to start is Salary.com. Unfortunately, many job titles that would apply to a blogger’s work are not in their database. But poke around and look for a close fit. Here, for example, is what I should make as a web writer:

Again, I would need to adjust that because this is based on salary plus benefits minus extra expenses of being a business person.

Here is what a marketing manager makes closely, probably the closest fit to social media marketing consulting:

To give you an idea of what I am referring to about the difference between employed and self-employed, this is Salary.com’s breakdown of the median salary plus benefits. And this doesn’t take into account the extra expenses of being solo or the extra tax costs:

I would also ask around, or poke around other’s web sites to see what services they offer and what they charge. If someone is a friend, they might consider sharing that information.

My hourly base rate is between $100 and $150 an hour, but it can vary wildly. For example, if you are talking about ad rates, a whole other set of considerations comes into effect: visitors, page views, PageRank, feed subscribers, what is included with the advertising, how targeted or desirable the readership is, and so on. Setting ad rates will be a post for a later date.

If it is something that will intimately connect with your brand (such as being a spokesperson), that has a premium attached to it too because that goes beyond providing advice into sharing a part of who you are.

Setting Rates for Gigs and Projects

This is where things get more complicated. You will need to decide if you always use that rate as a flat rate, or whether it changes depending on the task.

For writing I almost never work on an hourly rate. Almost no publications and sites work that way. It is more typical to have a per word (I typically charge around $1 a word, but I also have 18 years of writing experience) or per project rate. I still take into consideration what my hourly rate is when I set these. I also do a lot of writing for sites with a revenue sharing model because I love getting paid for one article for years and years. That doesn’t even allow for a rate to be set, but you can easily determine after a while that the effort isn’t paying off. It just takes some time to tell.

And when I say writing, I am referring to writing for other sites or publications.

I also once did a per project rate. I still do it on occasion (for example, my SEO Makeover). One reason I do it for that is to make it more attainable to bloggers. I also very clearly bullet out what is included. I have found when I charge per project, some clients require what is planned and expected. Some others will push the envelope, require well above the project’s original plan. Still others simply don’t clearly understand what more they will need.

For that reason, when I quote now I quote an estimate of hours and my hourly rate. It’s somewhat of a hybrid of a project based quote and an hourly quote. It will include a detailed summary of what is included in the rate, as well as a total estimate of the dollar amount. It states how many hours I anticipate the work taking.

I rarely go over that amount, but that is protection in case a client needs much more work done. I don’t agonize over hours or care if I am a little over. If I am getting way over because of multiple revisions, calls, add-ons, I let them know and then it reverts to the hourly rate.

Variables in Setting Freelance Rates

There are so many variables in setting rates that it’s hard to nail them down. So I will talk about some general guidelines. Don’t be afraid to take every gig on a case by case basis, consider your hourly rate, and consider any number of factors for that job before you finalize your rate.

For example, you might consider charging less for a fellow small business person or mom. You might charge more for a task that you are qualified to do, but that is very grueling.

You might charge less for a non-profit. I would say that is always great to do, but also do your homework before you do that. Non-profit does not always equal no money. A great way to research first is to visit GuideStar and examine a non-profit’s IRS 990 form. When you dig down into one, they are required to list all sorts of details about their finances. Find the page with the salaries of their top five employees. If you see six figures there, I would absolutely treat them the same as a company.

So setting a rate obviously isn’t easy. You might find you tweak it or modify it as you go. But I hope this helps give you an idea of how to get started setting a rate.

I would love to hear any suggestions from those of you who have rates set about how you went about it, or any questions from those of you who want to set a freelance rate.

There is also an excellent freelance hourly rate calculator to help you set a rate, or at least see a list of things to consider when calculating it.

_{Photo of money, © Zsuzsanna Kilian}

• There is the need for influential mom bloggers to, like, make money or something
• Companies want to work with mom bloggers because they have authenticity and their followers/readers listen to them

I came up with something that some companies and bloggers are doing already, but this would be a way to simplify the process.

Here is the description of Momtent:

Companies want to connect with mom bloggers to have authentic voices in an ethical manner. Mom bloggers are struggling for a way to earn the money they deserve for their hard work. Momtent is designed to overcome the hurdles facing both sides, creating a fair way for both sides to win. Companies get quality content, and mom bloggers get paid for their writing.

Momtent works like this:

• A company seeks a mom blogger to write content for the company’s site. They set their budget,  and the topics to be covered. They state their desired Twitter followers, experience level, and whether they require that the blogger include a badge or widget in their sidebar, tweet about their posts, and so on. This allows a company to get high quality, search-engine optimized content for their own blog or site, and to leverage the reach and readership of the blogger.
• Momtent turns to our pool of quality writers to find the best match (or matches for companies seeking a team of bloggers). The writers get paid to create quality content for the company.
• Momtent will also edit the content so it arrives clean and error-free, and we deliver it in the format requested (Word, coded html, etc.).

It’s as simple as that. Companies get real mom voices, and moms get paid for their work.

I’d love to hear what you think…. also, if you are a company or a mom blogger, be sure to submit the forms for either to get more information (as a company) or to get into the mom blogger database to get assignments.

Going also gave me a chance to hang out with some very cool mom bloggers: Stacie from Divine Miss Mommy (the Type-A Mom beauty and fashion editor), my special online chat-friend Allison from Blissfully Domestic, Miss Blondie, Trisha from Momdot, Nicole from Momfuse, Ali from Chip Chick, Niri from MommyNiri, and the totally fabulous Jo-Lynne from Musings of a Housewife.

Also, my longtime bloggy friend (who is now starting a new and exciting PR job with the agency who put this shindig together), Jessica Smith was there. The people with iRobot and Fleischman were also great. (Nancy Smith, their VP of marketing, has a special place in my heart for being almost as loud as me in a restaurant. Kudos, dahhlin’!).

The best part of all is that this getaway, an iNGENUITY expo of sorts, means I will have a chance to offer my readers hear and at Type-A Mom a chance to win a robot (oh yeah, is that cool or what?). Better yet, we will have a chance to win $10,000 to give to Donors Choose.

If you haven’t checked out the site, definitely do. I love the idea. Essentially, you can search for teachers who need funding for projects (you can search locally, by subject/topic, or even by neediest schools). You can donate small amounts or big amounts. It’s just such a clever idea. Keep an eye out on this site and Type-A Mom, and also watch for Twitter posts tagged #thatsingenious.

I also took some pictures while I was there, and learned some interesting things. For example, iRobot doesn’t just make vaccuums like the Roomba. They also make robots that save soldiers’ lives doing tasks like recon work to seek out bombs. You can even fan the PackBot on Facebook (how funny-cool is that?).

Here are some of the shots from my trip. I got a nice one of the plane ride to Boston:

And here is an actual robot that saved a whole bunch of lives in battle. The soldier named the robot Scooby Doo:

And closeup:

Here are the mom bloggers touring iRobot (from left, the foreground moms are Jessica Smith, Trisha of MomDot, Miss Blondie and ChipChick):

And here is a totally creepy baby. It was a prototype, and its face skin peels off. Its eyes also stare into your very soul. (Shudder with me, won’t you? Hahah.)

And of course, any mom seeing robots simply must get a makeover. I mean, duh! Here’s Stacie getting dolled up:

So it was very cool. I got to see robots, hang out with some cool moms, drink some wine (I only spilled a little). And soon, we’ll all be competing to see who gets to donate $10,000.

Here is part one:

Here is part two:

And I did a Whrrl story on my experience:

Now to figure out how to not look fat and/or act stupid… Secrets anyone?

_{Photo of TV, &copy http://www.sxc.hu/profile/mzacha}

The most common questions I get about social networking, the most frequent dilemmas I hear about, and the most prominent social media mistakes I see are all tied to someone (or a company) with a resistance to these worlds colliding.

People get on Facebook, and they get confused about whether they should friend old high school buddies or business associates. They sign up for Twitter to promote a business, then use their company logo as their avatar and wonder why they get no followers.

Here’s the thing. Even if you want the worlds separate, there is no 100 percent guarantee. You should proceed with the assumption that everyone can see and read everything you do on social networks. Period. Use appropriate caution in what you say and post.

So, once you move past that, just think about it all in real world terms. You don’t go to business meetings and refuse to mention you have a wife or kids. Most of us don’t visit family and zip your lips about what you do for a living. Social networking isn’t much different than real-life networking. It’s no secret, either. Entrepreneurs back in the 1950s knew customers like the personal touch.

Think of some of today’s biggest movers and shakers in the social web, such as Guy Kawasaki, Liz Strauss and Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. There is one common characteristic. They engage people on a personal level, and they are people first and foremost.

So here is a checklist of five key points to be sure you have made your peace with those business and personal worlds colliding:

1. Have a face – If you are socializing, you do that as a person. You can represent a company, but you are a person first. No one wants to talk to a logo.
2. Talk about your personal life – No, you don’t need to tweet every moment of angst and embarassment, but small hints that you are human are a nice touch.
3. Mingle first – If you join a social network, take some time to feel it out. Don’t just jump in and start bugging people to Digg your site.
4. Ge a giver – Don’t just be there to self-promote or, frankly, it will backfire. Whatever social network you use, be sure you enter it first contributing to the community, not taking. Ask how you can help your followers or friends.
5. Enjoy the colliding worlds – You will probably discover you have business associates who share much in common with you personally, and old high school buddies who would make wonderful customers or clients. Because, you know, people do work and customers are people. Plus, like-minded people tend to have similar interests.

Social networking illustration © Rodolfo Clix.

If you can get past the offensiveness of the ad (I know, it’s hard), there is a larger issue here. Companies are marketing to moms without any clue what moms think. This, to me, is just further evidence that all companies and marketers who want to reach moms need to hire a Chief Mom Officer like Jessica Smith.

I recommend you (and Motrin!) watch Katja’s video:

And keep an eye on the PR nightmare via this feed of posts tagged #motrinmoms on Twitter:

If you have posted about Motrin moms (I already see loads of mom bloggers tearing into them. Don’t mess with the moms, companies!), please post a comment here. If you leave CommentLuv checked, it will pull your latest post’s link in automatically.

I won’t even get on a rant about the price of health care, or the fact that so many American families don’t have any health insurance… although I probably should. I am trying to stay focused here.

Poor mothers get less prenatal care. They are more likely to have preterm babies who require a NICU stay. They must be horrified when they get hospital bills afterwards with tens of thousands of dollars on them, more money than they earn over several years.

Don’t tell me that hospitals work out payment plans, either. Hospitals also report these items on credit reports if unpaid right away, driving up the mother’s and family’s cost of doing everything from getting health insurance (oh, the irony) to buying a car or buying a house. They take these families to court to get their money.

They get harassed by both the hospitals and the myriad physicians who handle the cases. Even if they find someone friendly who works out a payment plan and even cuts the bill in half, they shouldn’t be paying the NICU bill off right before sending the kid to college.

They don’t make it easy to figure out if all those crazy charges are legitimate. I got double billed by two different entities charging for the same services. I repeatedly asked a hospital to itemize the thousands in charges, and they repeatedly ignored the requests. I’m a former consumer reporter who considers myself pretty savvy. How much are parents with little education and even fewer resources taken advantage of by these situations.

It’s time we make it so a mom with a 2-pound frail infant breathing through a tube and connected to any number of hoses and wires who isn’t even allowed to hold her own child has one less thing to worry about: money. I’m not sure what the answer is, but certainly writing letters to hospitals and government officials has to be a start. Also be sure to support agencies who support the cause of preventing preterm births like March of Dimes.

The law needs to make it possible for poor moms to go on bed rest without going bankrupt. Other countries have paid maternity leave. Also, moms who go on bed rest shouldn’t be forced, then, to have no maternity leave afterwards just because they’ve used up their Family Medical Leave Act time off. But even then, that doesn’t include pay.

Employers, do what you can to support expecting moms: reduce stress, allow them to have more flexible work schedules or work from home. Expecting moms: don’t let anything or anyone keep you from taking it easy. Educate yourself on ways to prevent preterm birth. If you don’t feel comfortable with what your OB/GYN is saying about your concerns, don’t be afraid to find a new one. Having regular contractions early in your pregnancy may very well mean bed rest is in order, as inconvenient as that may be.

_{Photo of NICU baby, © Benjamin Earwicker}