Monetizing: Is it right for you?

by Elizabeth, Delightfully Tacky

Whether or not to monetize your blog is definitely an important decision to make along your blogging journey. I started to think about accepting advertisers on Delightfully Tacky in January of 2010, when I first decided to follow my dream of driving around the country in the Brave. In addition to offsetting the cost of the increased time, money and energy I was spending on maintaining my blog, monetizing also offered me a way to make money while I was on the road and not able to hold down a stationary 9-5 type job. My blog advertising helped me not only to save money for my Brave journey, but it also helped cover some of the costs of going to NYFW and other blog related expenses. It was a big decision for me, and I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I am thrilled that I've been able to make a living doing something I absolutely love!

Some people have expressed "disappointment" that I make money off of my blog, but I believe it's a personal decision. If I was making money off of selling my artwork (which I sometimes do), I don't think most people would think that's selling out. Being a studio artist is a completely legitimate career. It may not end up being a super-lucrative career (unless you become really famous), but I think the most important thing for career-artists is that they love what they do and wouldn't trade it in just to be rich and working a steady job that they hate. Being a starving blogger is very similar to being a starving artist. Blogging is an extremely creative endeavor. You spend a lot of time working on your blog, cultivating relationships with other bloggers, networking, taking photos, creating graphics, and trying your best to bring great content to your readers. In a lot of senses, maintaining a blog is very similar to maintaining a small magazine. You have tiny daily editorials (outfit shoots), you may do product reviews, you may interview cool people or other bloggers, you might show people your favorite spring trends- all of these things you can find in a magazine! Except that people come to your blog because they like your take on things! Maybe they enjoy your writing style, your photographs, the topics you cover, or just your personality. Either way, people are coming to your blog to enjoy the content you work to provide. And just because it's work doesn't mean you don't enjoy it. I have and do work incredibly hard on my blog, but I love every second of it. It's still just as fun for me as the day I started. I would say it's more fun now that I'm more a part of the online community. I've met some amazing friends and have had amazing opportunities through blogging.

Another thing to note is that once you start taking sponsors- you can always chose to stop at any time. If you want to try it out, test the waters, go ahead! If you end up deciding it feels wrong for your blog at that time, don't feel bad about it! Finish out your sponsors' ads (or take them down and refund the sponsors), and go back to being an ad-free blog! The beauty of blogging is that nothing is set in stone. Your blog is YOURS. You are free to do whatever you'd like with it. If advertising ends up being something you don't want to include, that's perfectly fine!

If you do decide to accept advertisers, you have to be discerning with how you handle it. The reason a lot of people are against ads on blogs is because they've seen other blogs become less genuine and more sponsor focused, devaluing the content that they post. I think one important way of keeping this from happening is to only accept sponsors from companies or shops which you honestly like. If you don't care a thing for underwater basket weaving, but an underwater basket weaving company contacts you asking to buy ad space on your blog, you might want to think twice before accepting them as a sponsor. Your readers will be able to tell that that sponsor doesn't really match with your blog and it's content. I also like to think of this in terms of what the sponsor is getting out of their ad. If you don't care anything about their shop or product, you probably won't be able to direct much traffic their way. So really they aren't going to get much out of the ad, and you're just going to injure your blog's honesty.

Something important to keep in mind: always blog for yourself. Don't blog for anyone else. Once you start trying to cater to someone else, whether it be your readers or your sponsors, you'll lose your own voice-which is an indispensable commodity. Your voice is in high demand because guess what? There's only one of you. You're the only one that can be you! Don't compromise that for anyone else!

Resources + Links:

The Money Myth of Fashion Blogging (and how to monetize your blog)

The Business of Blogging: How 3 successful bloggers monetize their blogs

Working with Brands Gracefully

Drafting a business plan for your blog

Bloggers Talk: Monetizing Their Sites

Monetizing: Why have sponsors?

by Elizabeth, Delightfully Tacky

The question of why to have sponsors is an important one to deal with. There are definitely pros and cons. The important thing is to decide for yourself which ones are more influential on you, the pros or the cons.

As I said in the previous session, my initial reasoning behind having sponsors on my blog was to save money for the Brave trip, and to be able to support myself while on the road, as well as having a way to offset the costs of running my blog. Since I started the Brave journey I quit my job at home in Alaska and essentially was blogging full time, living off of my blog income and savings. Now that I'm in Tacoma, I have a part time barista job, I work for Freckled Nest doing blog design, and I blog. Blogging has become a large portion of my income (though I still wouldn't be able to live off of my blog income), and has been instrumental in being able to pay my rent! I'm so thankful that I can make an income doing what I love to do! I don't make a lot of money, by any stretch of the imagination, and unless you have tons and tons of advertisers you probably won't be able to live off of your sponsor income alone. For myself, I live on a combination of PT barista income + tips, sponsors, and blog designing. It's kind of a risky way to live, since I don't have a guaranteed income each month, but I'm really happy! If you want to take the plunge into having sponsors, here are some important things to consider:

Benefits of having sponsors:

1. Income- Let's not beat around the bush, having your blog be a source of income is a huge reason most people consider it as an option. Whether it's just a supplement to your income, a way to bolster your savings account, or if it ends up becoming your main source of income, the cash flow is a big incentive!

2. Working with great companies- All of the companies I've partnered with have been really awesome to work with. They are fun, enjoy my blog, and are excited about supporting my blog and reaching out to my readers.

3: Supporting new and independent businesses- This is something I love about having sponsors. Smaller shops and businesses often can't afford to advertise on big sites like American Apparel or Urban Outfitters can, so sponsoring blogs is a great way for them to reach out and get more people coming in to their shops. Plus, with blogs, they can tailor fit their shop to a blog with a demographic of readers that are sure to enjoy their products! There are tons of blogs out there with all different focuses and readerships, so it's great for smaller businesses to really focus their advertising on a specific group of people who will like their products!

4. Giveaways- Giveaways are really fun to do, and you can still do them if you don't have sponsors, I did a few giveaways before I ever had sponsors. Giveaways are a great way to reward your readers with a fun prize, increase your readership, and send traffic to your sponsors!

5. Incentive to make your blog better!- When you have someone paying to advertise on your site you start to realize how valuable your little corner of the internet is! You want to work a bit harder to bring great content to your readers so they return for more, you want to make your layout look nicer, you want to learn how to take better photographs, and so on. All of this is great for your blog!

6. Working with companies can lead you to other opportunities- I know that a lot of bloggers have cultivated great relationships with companies which have resulted in more opportunities with that company. Erin from Calivintage was sponsored by ModCloth for quite a bit and now she works for the company as a blogger on the ModCloth Blog! One example from my own experience: I got to work with Market Publique on a lookbook after having them as a sponsor for a bit!

Detrimental Effects sponsors can potentially have:

1. Contrived content- Sometimes when people start accepting sponsors, they start blogging for their sponsors instead of for themselves. This results in posts that are obviously just a veiled advertisement for a product. If any of you watch the show Bones, you've probably noticed a couple episodes where in the middle of the episode the characters will be driving from one place to another and randomly one of them will comment on a feature of the car their driving in. The other character will respond something like, "oh yeah, isn't this feature awesome? It does blah blah blah".... that kind of product placement is very similar to how contrived content on blogs is detrimental. It breaks up the natural flow of the blog, and readers, who are very keen, can totally pick up on that stuff.

2. Taking up too much of your time- I think this is something people don't realize when they decide to take on sponsors (I didn't!). Dealing with sponsors takes up a lot of time. You have to be emailing back and forth, putting up ads, managing your account, invoicing, posting ads and keeping track of everything. It's time consuming! But it's an important part of keeping up a good relationship with sponsors.

3. Monopolizing your wardrobe- I've found that this is a complaint that sponsored bloggers can get if they tend to wear a certain sponsor's clothing too often. Readers will notice when you wear "courtesy of" items all the time, and it can make it start to seem like you only wear those clothes because your sponsor told you to, or that the sponsor is actually styling you! Most of the time this isn't true, but even so, if you wear sponsored clothes all the time, that's a pitfall that can definitely crop up. I like to always mix my courtesy items with things I've gotten from other sources, to keep things fresh and avoid looking like a walking advertisement for a single company (even though that's why the company sent you the item in the first place- they believe that people seeing the clothes on you will make them want to buy it. This is how advertising works).

4. Sponsored posts- sponsored posts are not always a bad thing, especially if the post you're writing is genuine and you really believe what you're writing. However, you have to be careful to keep from posting too many sponsored posts. If your blog starts to get clogged with promotions for companies you sponsor, you lose space for your own posts, or your own posts get drowned out by all the promotional stuff. I rarely do sponsored posts because I mostly like to be able to write about whatever I want to. I definitely advise keeping them to a minimum.

Monetizing: How to work with sponsors

by Tieka, Selective Potential

This is a question I get asked constantly! "How did you start working with sponsors?" It's a huge topic and really important to make sure you're ready to take on sponsorships! If you know you are, then let's go..!

My personal story:

When I first started accepting sponsors, I was almost to 1,000 subscribers/followers and was about 5-6 months into my blog. I was contacted by a small Etsy seller to see if I would be interested in having an ad on my blog! I hadn't really thought of it before, but with my closet dwindling down and with my bank account exhausted... I couldn't really afford anything new or fresh to feature, so I thought.. why not? I spend over 40 hours a week on my blog and it's really nice to be rewarded for all of my hard work! So, I started! I had no idea what to charge at first. I was clueless. So I started very very small. I created three ad sizes: large, medium and small and charged them at $20, $15, and $10 for a 30-day period. Once all of my slots started filling up immediately, I knew I was charging too little.. so each month, I just kept increasing as my readership increased. As long as sponsors were still continuing and coming back, I didn't mind raising the costs! Now I charge an amount I feel comfortable with and what I feel my time is worth.

So how do I get started with sponsors?

You can start anytime you want. You don't need to have a certain number of readers or daily page views. But you will need to have an organized plan.

Steps to prepare yourself for sponsorship:

1. Do your stats research: You'll need to figure out your stats! You can sign up for Google Analytics or if you use Blogger, you can track your stats through the stats tab. You'll want to know: monthly page views, daily unique visitors and readers/subscribers/followers. Jot these down.. you'll need them soon.

2. Figure out sizes: What sizes do you want on your blog? Make sure the width will fit perfectly into your right sidebar. Make sure all of your sizes have the same width.

3. Create a sponsor page or post: You'll need to create a place where you can put down your sponsorship details, ad sizes and stats! You can link to it on your blog so that companies can easily find information if they want to sponsor you.

4. Create a spreadsheet or notebook: You'll need a way to track sponsors! You'll need to make sure you remember the name of the person you're working with, what size they ordered, how much they paid, and when their ad starts and stops!

5. Reach out! Pick some of your favorite companies and contact them! A simple email will do! Just explain yourself, what your blog is about, why you want to work with them, some of your stats, rates and see if they'd be interested!

A few tips:

1. Don't be nervous to host a giveaway for free at first. It'll be a great way to show people that you are good at promoting a company and you might gain a good relationship out of helping a company out!

2. Don't let companies haggle you. If your blog is about personal style and fashion, and a bar stool company wants to do a link exchange, let's just say.. they are probably only looking to benefit themselves and not you. Only do a link exchange if you'll receive an equal amount of traffic from them as they will from you.

3. Only accept sponsors that you are passionate about! You don't want to have a blog about baking and promote tools on your blog! Your readers will be put off and confused and probably not return.

The Difference between Sponsorships and Affiliates

Affiliate programs: You can sign up for an affiliate program to make a certain percentage based on sales. Let's say you sell $2,000 worth for a company and make a 10% commission, you just earned yourself $200! Affiliate programs are wonderful if you know you can be a good sales person for that company.

Tip: If you know you might not be able to sell anything for a company but can provide clicks, go with sponsorship. If you know you are able to sell items for a company, an affiliate program might be the better option!

Tip: When your sponsors term is ending, follow up with them! Shoot them a quick email reminding them that their sponsorship will be expiring, ask them if they'd like to renew, maybe offer a discount as an incentive to continue? If they say no, ask why and you could learn a lot! They might say, "Because you didn't promote us enough, we didn't receive enough clicks," etc… and it can help you learn how to be a better blogger. For the next sponsorship, you might learn to do a few extra tricks!

How do you promote a sponsor without looking like a sell out?

1) Do a feature on your blog with some of your favorite products or a "wish list" and include some sponsored items that you love! (Remember: if you are only working with sponsors you are passionate about, this will be SO easy)

2) Give them a shout out on Twitter or Facebook!

3) Inform your readers of a really good sale they are having or a promotion that will be expiring soon.

4) If you love one of your sponsor's clothing articles, wear it on the blog and link to their website! Your readers will trust the company if they see you wearing one of their items and you really do love it.

5) Don't ever give praise to an item if you hate it, but don't entirely dog on it either. Readers won't want to read awful, snarky reviews… just be honest, but kind. Say you receive a dress from a sponsor and it's poor quality… just explain it without being rude!

What does C/O mean? And why do bloggers even say items are C/O?

C/O items means "courtesy of". It means the company sent the blogger the item for "free" or in trade for ad space to promote the product! You are legally required to announce that something was given to you, so make sure… if you receive an item for free, you say it is courtesy of or given to you by the company.

Paypal, Check, Trade?

It's up to you, completely! There are no rules! If a company asks if you want to trade a month's worth of ad space for $100 worth of clothing… that's up to you to decide. If you like the clothing, feel it's mutually beneficial to both of you, then go for it! If you want only cash, make sure you say that up front so that sponsors aren't confused. If you want a check instead of Paypal, be very clear. Typically, bloggers use Paypal to request money from sponsors. Once the payment is fulfilled, you can add the blog to your sidebar and start promoting!

And note: Don't feel bad if a sponsor stops sponsoring! Don't take it personally! Most of the time companies are trying out new bloggers constantly to try and create a widespread range across the blogosphere! Don't ever get mad at a sponsor and call them out online. You'll ruin some great relationships and your readers might not trust your input! Be a professional!