So You Want to Start A Blog - Accepting Sponsors

I took a little break from my So You Want To Start A Blog series last week and I am pretty sure it is because today's topic is so daunting.  It is the part of blogging that I have learned to love and I am very grateful.  It is also the part of blogging that has taken years off of my life already - Accepting Sponsors on your blog .

Maybe you have been blogging for a few months, years or decades and you have a few hundred followers.  You are thinking it would be nice to make some money from this hobby you have become addicted to in order to fund your addiction.  It is a vicious cycle.

Below I will tell you what I have learned in the last four months of accepting sponsors.  I would in no way say I am an expert and I am sure there is so much more that I can be doing to make my sponsors feel even better about spending a few bucks to advertise on my blog.



 

1. Time Commitment 

Only open your blog up to sponsors if you are able to commit extra time each week to your sponsors.  This looks different for every blogger, but make sure you actually have time to email your sponsors, plan giveaways, collaborate with others, and still post great content for your own blog.

2. Know Your Limits

This is similar to the first one of accepting sponsors being a time commitment.  If you do not have the time to work with 10 different bloggers every month do not offer it as an option.  If you only have time for two bloggers a month then have two sponsors and do a good job with it.  I know we are all inclined to go over board with the sponsorship options, but it is better to do a good job with a little than a crappy job with a lot.

3. Interact With Your Sponsors

Not every blogger does this.  In fact I can think of many who do not do this.  My motto is that if someone is going to pay me money to advertise on my blog I need to honor that and spend time getting to know them and read their posts.  It makes my write ups about their blog even better and genuine.  I can actually feel good about a social media shout out I provide because I actually choose a post that stood out to me as great.  The bigger blogger that I learned this from is Helene.  When I have sponsored her, she read most of my posts and took the time to comment on them too.  I personally really loved that she took the time to do this and decided to emulate her style of interaction when I offered sponsorships.  If this is not your style that is cool.  You do you.

4. Only Promise What You Can Deliver 

Sure it might drum up a ton of initial sponsors if you promise 12 twitter shout outs a month, but if you do not deliver business will dwindle.  Word of mouth, or word of email, travels fast.  I have a few bloggers that I sponsored that were unable to fulfill their promises when I signed up to sponsor them.  I am not going to publicly write about them, but I would tell you in an email which bloggers I would not work with again.  I also am more than happy to write about great blogs to sponsor.  In fact I have already done that here.

I personally only offer a few social media shout outs as I know that I do not want to take a lot of time to do that. I also am very upfront and let my sponsors know this.  So far no one has written me a mean email telling me I am a terrible human so I guess that is good.

5. Pricing 

I don't know what to tell you on this one.  The only advice I can give is to look at similar blogs and price appropriately.  I know some bloggers have spots for over $100.  Chances are that is not you.  I will say that unless you have at least 1000 followers charging more than $10 for a spot seems  a little unreasonable.  If you can actually get people to buy your spots though then do what works for you.

The first two months I did sponsorships I offered the ads for free until I could feel confident that I was ready to charge.  The next two months most of my ads have been sold at a discount, but that is less and less.  It takes time for word of mouth to spread and the money to come in.

6. Organize

I have an excel spreadsheet I use to keep track of who is sponsoring me and what I have done so far.  I have a hard time keeping track of things if I do not write it down and actually pay attention to what I am doing.  If you can just email and keep it all organized in your inbox more power to ya!  I think using a planner and spread sheets are a must.

7. Persona - Image Is Everything 

At the end of the day you are offering sponsorships in order to make some money.  Since I have opened up sponsorships I have thought of my blog as a business.  I need to post every weekday, because people are paying me to advertise for them.  If I do not post, then they do not have as many people looking at their ad.

Along with this is how we present ourselves to others.  I love that lifestyle blogging is very much up to each blogger to define.  I love learning about other people and how they do life. With that I feel like some people are not as savvy and air too much out for us to read.  Maybe it is just me, but I am not likely to sponsor a blog where the author says they are drunk or hungover in every post.  I just can not trust that they will fulfill their promises.  Remember you are running a business of sorts and the way you present yourself matters.

8. Offer Ads That You Love

You do not have to do what everyone else is doing.  If you do not like having others take over your blog with their own content for a day do not offer it.  I learned that I do not like to do a regular post and tag a sponsor feature on the end.  I got rid of that option and have focused on a Spotlight feature.  I do a short intro with a little blurb and a photo and then give the blog to my sponsor.  I like this much more and have gotten a better response too.

I also thought about what I could do to be a little more original.  I realized I love dogs and I love blogs and I wanted to combine that somehow.  Then Dog Behind The Blog started and I have enjoyed these posts so much.

9. Don't Jump Ship

Obviously you could offer up your blog for what ever amount of sponsorship you desire.  If you want to have sponsored posts everyday that is cool, just plan to lose some readers.  I try and limit my posts to one maybe two during the weekday and one each weekend.  That leaves 3 - 4 weekday for me to keep my content fresh and my own.

10. Friends 

I will say that my connections to other bloggers has become so much stronger since I have had sponsors.  I have made some great new friends out of my sponsors and I am so grateful for the community my blog has built me.

One thing I started to do is offer a discount for repeat sponsors.  Again showing people that I value them and their money is huge for me and I have seen nothing but good things come from letting others know I value them.

What do you think?  What did I leave off the list or what would you add?

Interested in sponsoring Erica Jacquline?  Click here to find out more!