Sponsored blog posts have been a contentious issue for many bloggers, but on the positive side, hold the possibility of extra revenue from well-written content.
The route of sponsored blog posts can be both ethically and legally challenging due to advertising disclaimers, cookie awareness and privacy policies required. Not to mention the guidelines you need to follow to keep Google happy.
So let's get started.
Sponsored Content, What You Need to Know
Companies will contact content creators, and in return blog owners will write content around the brand, service, product or destination they're writing about.
Sponsored content can appear not only as a blog post but also as sponsored social shares or even videos. Which usually includes the content creator talking about their own experience with that particular company or product.
Sponsorship Choices are Made up of
A one-off sponsorship deal with a company that might be used throughout your blog or podcasts.
Making use of a service like Patreon, where your readers or listeners can go and send you money via a Patreon page.
Everything You Need to Know About Sponsorship Posts and Content
Disclosure
Anything you earn a commission on requires a disclosure, this goes for all advertorial content as well. It can be a tricky business staying up-to-date with the ever changing rules, but the biggest search engine, Google requires it. It doesn't matter where your advertorial content is posted, whether it be by blog post, email, ad, YouTube or social media post you still need to include a disclosure to your audience.
It's often not enough just to have a simple disclosure at the end of a blog post, but you also need to tell your readers if you're making any potential profit from affiliate links you've included within the same article.
If you want to make money it's not worth running away from the rules or trying to work around them, your reputation rests on honesty and it's not worth the risk.
Stick to the Brands and Businesses You Know and Love
Writing sponsored blog posts can be a neat little earner especially if they're consistent with your own brand or name. It makes it more palatable to your readers if you're using the product yourself, when it's a paid promotion.
Make sure your sponsored content is beneficial to your audience, and not all about you and your brand.
Build Your Niche Audience
You can do this by starting your own blog, or using other media such as YouTube to develop your audience.
Know Your Audience Size
This can be done through Google analytics or your blog traffic data. You may even have an email list you can call on for numbers.
Know How Much You're Going to Charge for Advertising
This will come from your audience size and traffic. You can find industry lists online. You can increase your rates over time the larger your audience becomes, but make sure you don't lock your sponsors in for too long.
Some Simple Tips for Sponsored Content
Make Your Sponsored Blog Posts Long-Form.
Google prefers all content to be useful and in-depth, so it only makes sense to do the same with any sponsored posts.
Always make sure you include your disclosure clearly.
Also add no-follow to any affiliate or sponsored links. Google has a simple rule that you shouldn't pass link juice to companies from links.
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