Some of you are probably aspiring bloggers and are reading this post right now, and you might dream about making money from your blog. I started eatandtreats three years ago (as I am typing this post) genuinely as the labor of my writing and photography hobby and my love eating, and in three years I have gained 12 kilograms (and not too proud but nevermind). This blog started with 100-ish visitors per day and slowly after three months I started getting 700-ish visitors, in a year I got around 1000-ish daily visitors, and fast forward to May 2016 where I mark my 15.000 readers per day! It's not always 15.000/day to be honest, but it's about that range.
I will not tell you guys how much do I earn every month, clearly blogging is a freelance job where you can't get fixed income every month. I am not out of the world rich, just very humbly, as long as it can cover my daily needs (sometimes my sister and brother) needs and my travels I am good, but I can say that I am now financially secure and I thank God for that. Hopefully one day I can earn the amount of income like Chiara Ferragni who based on reports, earn $8 million/year.
Why do clients hire bloggers to promote their business?
I think it's mostly because of the social media era, and that was not something that I was familiar with or care about back when I first started because it was genuinely a hobby, but when I started to get more following, along the way I understand more and more on how to build your platform and create good contents out of it. That's why I always tell people NOT to make a blog with making money becoming their main aim, you need to have the real passion and commitment therefore you'll understand, blogging is not easy my dear, when it comes to making this a business, you gotta play a bit and understand your market.
Monthly expenses?
My expenses every month includes transport, salary for two employees working with me, travels, eating out and basic grocery.
Ways bloggers make money
Each blogger charges differently and has their own way on charging things. I went with the classic and common methods such as:
1. ENDORSEMENT
When I say "endorsement" here I refer to online shop products.
I have been very open to my followers about my current stats, even on the bad days I try to be honest. I don't always charge for product endorsements, but comparing to two years ago when I first started accepting them, it's just getting more and more that it came to one point where I did not want to accept anything anymore. I have had two fridges in my home filled with endorsement products that I have to move most of them to my cousin's house for a few days, so the past year I have been charging for endorsement ad, especially those where I was obligated to post.
2. INSTAGRAM ADS
I charge ad placement on my Instagram and it's different to endorsement placement. When I say Instagram ads I refer to people asking me to promote their events/bazaars/restaurant promotions/classes and more.
3. BRAND CONSULTATION
Lately restaurants have been hiring me to be a consultant on their upcoming restaurants. I consult them based on my knowledge and experience as a food blogger, a foodie and a customer. I like to keep it casual yet still professional.
4. SPONSORED BLOG REVIEWS
I charge blog fee if the clients want me to cover the event I attended on my blog. I am not obligated to always accept, sometimes when I have too much on my plate, I would only do Instagram covers.
5. RESTAURANT REVIEWS
This I want to emphasize further.
I do restaurant reviews on Instagram and blog, but not everything you see on my Instagram is advertisement. I would say 85% of everything I posted on my Instagram I paid for myself and I swear on that, but the image of bloggers or in this case food bloggers have been this close to "oh they're bloggers they must be endorsed", "bloggers never pay!" bullshit people, bullshit! Let me tell you this in a very-very honest way, I can go out literally every single day without having to pay a single dime because I receive 70-100 emails per day and 10% of it could be restaurant invitations. Lately I have turned down 90% of food tasting events and why is that? I am physically tired. I do this professionally and work is work, it's not everyday fancy as how you see it on my Snapchat because I try to upload the positive side but the negative side, but now I am being honest because I want to guys to know.
Back to restaurant reviews, I would normally buzz new restaurant openings and have the chance to come a few days before the opening to try them, and on my emails I explain to my client that I will NEVER DO SUGAR COATED REVIEWS, if I encounter a bad experience I will blog about it, I have this thought that when a restaurant invited me, they should be confident enough with what they have. My message is don't be a cheap bitch, your clients are also human beings, you don't want people to take control of you and I will never let that happen to me. Honesty and integrity are one of the main keys to success.
Thankfully, I have always received positive feedback from restaurant owners.
6. TALKSHOWS
Even though lately I have been declining almost all talkshow requests because it gets tiring and boring especially on bazaars, I showed up as a professional job and I charge for a two-hour appearance fee. I did not get any money from TV appearances, it's already a blessing that they would have me on their show.
So far I have been featured in talkshows like Sarah Sechan Show at NET TV twice, NET TV Net 12, Hitam Putih Trans 7 with Deddy Corbuzier and Global TV.
7. SPONSORED TRIPS
I don't always charge for sponsored trips, but I definitely would have a conversation first and see what the clients have to offer. If the scope of work is too much for me to do, I would most likely charge and negotiate.
Some of my Sponsored trip highlights -> Dubai, Manila and many more!
Some of you might think that I am an established blogger, I take that as a compliment, but seriously from the very bottom of my heart the thing that is way more important that money is the fact that I can meet gorgeous people, have doors open and actually be friends with them. I never thought that I could be in a project with Raisa my favorite singer whom I always have been a fan of and my heart beats faster everytime I see her two feet away from me. I never thought that I could be working with Pevita Pearce and actually walk on a "runway" on a Smartphone promotion. Never I expected that I would be featured on an issue and had a group shoot together and actually in frame with my all time favorite Indonesian celebrity, Dian Sastrowardoyo, and last but not least, met one of the nicest people alive, Dewi Lestari. She is like super humble yet her grace is amazing and her talent causes quite a stir of jealousy especially for me (just kidding), and so far I can say I still had good relationships with them, we did not meet often but one or two times we casually chat.
The thing is, I come from Indonesia and I can't charge my clients too high, well if you know about employee UMR and compare that to growing countries such as Singapore or NYC, it pretty much describes what bloggers here are facing too, technically we ARE employees only we work freelance, again I told you I am nowhere near VERY rich. I have influencer friends from Singapore with 5000 followers and they could charge 500$/Instagram post (I know right WTF), that's the kind of rate for an Instagrammer with 1 million+ followers here in Indonesia. Everyone charges differently, you should know your quality and how well you're engaged to your following.
But whatever that is, I am pretty happy with what I have accomplished so far, and I have many more dreams to achieve. Pray hard work hard and being grateful are IMPORTANT!
Thank you for reading, I hope I just gave you a little enlightenment :*
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