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Finance site The Motley Fool piqued the interest of aspiring money bloggers everywhere with a recent announcement it was about to launch a blogging network, promising “handsome” compensation for interested and capable writers seeking a decently-paying writing gig in the vertical.
Mediabistro has the email from Motley Fool blogging network head Roger Friedman, who confirmed that two hundred aspiring Motley Fool bloggers have signed up to post to the site’s blog network, with another 300 expected by the network’s January 2nd launch. Friedman explained the pay structure, explaining that “thoughtful, well-written posts” making mention of publicly traded companies with stock tickers will rate $50 a post, and those writers with consistently impressive viewing stats- which he described as ten most recent posts averaging 2,500 sessions that Motley Fool staff see as exceptional- will jump to $100 a post.
The site then carried the following email sent to those seeking blogging jobs with The Motley Fool:
Good morning Bloggers –
Thank you again for your interest in writing for The Motley Fool Blog Network. I want to give you an update on our progress and share my vision of where we’re heading together.
As of this morning, 200 of you have expressed strong interest in joining the Fool’s newest community. At this rate, I expect that number to near 500 by our launch on Jan. 2, and I imagine there will be a gravitational force once we get rolling, as word spreads of the quality of our content, the breadth of our distribution, and the benefits we are able to offer our bloggers. In the coming years, thousands will join, and I’m proud that you are our founding members.
I’m most proud that as we’ve reached out to bloggers, we have not sacrificed on any quality standard, nor will we ever. We will not become another pump-and-dump message board that allows anonymous bloggers free reign. We only want and will only syndicate quality insights created by writers who stand behind their work. And I ask you to hold me personally accountable to ensure that we never devolve into a site none of us wants to read.
I’m also pleased to let you know that we have decided on a pay structure that is clear, transparent, and, we hope, generous. If you write an entry that is thoughtful, well-written, and makes specific and relevant mention of businesses and their tickers, we will syndicate that entry (i.e., publish it to the Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money, and DailyFinance ticker feeds) and pay you $50. If you develop a track record of high performance (specifically, if your 10 most recent entries average 2,500 sessions) and if your entries are viewed as top-notch by our team at the Fool, you will be paid $100 per entry.
For some of you, that might just be a starting point for your relationship with the Fool. We’ll be keeping an eye out for the best writers and the bloggers who earn the biggest followings, and we’ll be offering writer contracts to the best of the best. And that can lead to even bigger things.
I’d like to highlight a recent success by one of our contract writers to give you an idea of what happens when an outstanding business mind meets The Motley Fool’s distribution power. I share this because I expect a select few of you will reach this pinnacle, and to show you one path you could take as part of the world’s greatest investment community.
On Nov. 8, we published a book by one of our top Fool.com columnists, Morgan Housel. Within one week, it become a top 10 bestselling book on Amazon, right next to Michael Lewis and Ben Graham. Check it out for yourself.
Morgan starting freelancing for us in 2008, cut his teeth analyzing the banking sector during the credit crisis, became a columnist in 2010, has won two consecutive Society of American Business Editors and Writers “Best in Business” awards for his columns, and now has turned his columns into a bestselling e-book.
This is just one possible outcome among many, but I’m hoping this gives you a better sense of the community you’re joining.
Finally, we are going to begin inviting you into the platform a few at a time to see if anything breaks and to adapt our tools and technology based on the feedback you provide. Please start preparing your best blog ideas because we’re getting ready to roll.
Best,
Roger Friedman
President, TMF Blog Network
