Recently a potential client tried to make the case that writing their own blog made financial sense because it “was cheaper”. So we sharpened up our pencils and analyzed what it really costs to write your own blog in three different scenarios:
- A corporation where technical experts (think engineers, accountants, lawyers, sales managers, marketing managers or executives) would be writing their own blog posts.
- A company that uses lower level clerical help to write the company blog.
- A small business where the owner is writing her own blog posts. In this case the owner is literally working for free.
Here’s how the numbers worked out:
Scenario One: Technical Experts
This is the most common situation we encounter: companies with knowledge workers who write their own blog posts. Compared to our highest-end product, the practice of using your own people may cost three times as much annually and offers little or no comparative advantage.
| Knowledge Worker | Professional Blog Service Platinum | |||
| Assumptions | Assumptions | |||
| Worker Annual Salary | $85,000.00 | Worker Annual Salary | n/a | |
| 18% Benefits & Tax Load | $15,300.00 | 18% Benefits & Tax Load | n/a | |
| Annual Loaded Salary | $100,300.00 | Annual Loaded Salary | n/a | |
| Hourly Rate | $48.22 | Hourly Rate | n/a | |
| Company Income/Hour | $144.66 | Company Income/Hour | n/a | |
| Blog Post Costs | Blog Post Costs | |||
| 2 hrs labor to write & post blog | $96.44 | 2 hrs labor to write & post blog | n/a | |
| Lost income on two hours labor | $289.33 | Lost income on two hours labor | n/a | |
| Cost Per Blog Post | $385.77 | Cost Per Blog Post | $135.00 | |
| Monthly Cost @ 14 Posts | $5,400.77 | Monthly Cost @ 14 Posts | $1,890.00 | |
| Annual Cost of Blog | $64,809.23 | Annual Cost of Blog | $22,680.00 |
Scenario 2: Clerical Workers
Smarter companies utilize internal resources better, so instead of having expensive knowledge workers do the writing, lower cost clerical or creative workers are used. The result: Professional Blog Service’ midrange ghost blogging offering is less than half the cost.
| Midsize Company Example | Professional Blog SMB |
|||
| Assumptions | Assumptions | |||
| Worker Annual Salary | $35,000.00 | Worker Annual Salary | n/a | |
| 18% Benefits & Tax Load | $6,300.00 | 18% Benefits & Tax Load | n/a | |
| Annual Loaded Salary | $41,300.00 | Annual Loaded Salary | n/a | |
| Hourly Rate | $19.86 | Hourly Rate | n/a | |
| Company Income/Hour | $59.57 | Company Income/Hour | n/a | |
| Blog Post Costs | Blog Post Costs | |||
| 2 hrs labor to write & post blog | $39.71 | 2 hrs labor to write & post blog | n/a | |
| Lost income on two hours labor | $119.13 | Lost income on two hours labor | n/a | |
| Cost Per Blog Post | $158.85 | Cost Per Blog Post | $55.00 | |
| Monthly Cost @ 14 Posts | $2,223.85 | Monthly Cost @ 14 Posts | $770.00 | |
| Annual Cost of Blog | $26,686.15 | Annual Cost of Blog | $9,240.00 |
Scenario Three: Small Business Owners
When a small business owner works inside her business, often the labor is viewed as having no direct cost. It does have an opportunity cost. Even working for free, a small business owner would have made more money having outsourced blog writing to Professional Blog Service using our top of the line service:
| Small Business Owner | Professional Blog Service Platinum | |||
| Assumptions | Assumptions | |||
| Worker Annual Salary | $35,000.00 | Worker Annual Salary | n/a | |
| 18% Benefits & Tax Load | $6,300.00 | 18% Benefits & Tax Load | n/a | |
| Annual Loaded Salary | $41,300.00 | Annual Loaded Salary | n/a | |
| Hourly Rate | $0.00 | Hourly Rate | n/a | |
| Company Income/Hour | $120.00 | Company Income/Hour | n/a | |
| Blog Post Costs | Blog Post Costs | |||
| 2 hrs labor to write & post blog | $0.00 | 2 hrs labor to write & post blog | n/a | |
| Lost income on two hours labor | $240.00 | Lost income on two hours labor | n/a | |
| Cost Per Blog Post | $240.00 | Cost Per Blog Post | $135.00 | |
| Monthly Cost @ 14 Posts | $3,360.00 | Monthly Cost @ 14 Posts | $1,890.00 | |
| Annual Cost of Blog | $40,320.00 | Annual Cost of Blog | $22,680.00 |
Conclusion
Hiring a professional ghost writing service can save you 50-66% over having your employees write your company’s blog.
[...] And Mike has written a powerful post on the importance of working with skilled writers when creating business blogs. [...]
Scott, on average it takes about thirty minutes of a clients time monthly for our interview process to get enough material to write 15-25 posts. We also use writers who are already familiar with our clients line of business. Even then, it still does take a little time to interview the client.
We could have included the headcount number but on a per post basis it’s so low it would make a .5%-2% difference in the final number depending on the scenario.
Do these figures include a cost for the knowledge transfer from the company to the Pro Blogger or is it assumed that the blogging service can be provided with existing documentation and marketing materials that already existed to help source the new blog content? If not, I would assume there should also be an hourly headcount cost, albeit smaller than writing the content themselves, to cover that sharing of information.
Otherwise, though, nice breakdown! It paints a very worthwhile picture to consider.