Sponsored posts on the blog - how does it work?

Sponsored posts on the blog, how does it really work? We tell you how we think about sponsored posts, and think that this post should be aimed both at those who have their own blog and are curious about the possibilities - and at those who read blogs and want to know how everything works. Simply put, transparency!

What are sponsored posts?

A sponsored blog post is a post written by a blogger in return for payment. For example, if a company wants to gain more visibility, it may hire a blogger to write (for a fee) on a topic related to its business, with a link to the company.

Why sponsored blog posts?

The entrepreneur chooses sponsored posts to gain visibility on the Internet and perhaps find new customer groups. The most obvious purpose for the blogger is to get an income from the blog. A really good co-operation can also provide new interesting angles and themes to blog about.

Why monetise your blog?

Of course, if you run a blog as a hobby, it is not necessary to earn money from it. However, if you put a lot of time and energy into it, it might be nice to have a little extra income. If you (like us) run the blog full/half time, income becomes almost necessary. First, you need to cover the expenses that the blog generates, and then you need to cover the loss of income.

What are the expenses of a blogger?

You can start a blog in your spare time without any real extra expenses. However, as soon as you start investing in your blog, it's easy for your expenses to skyrocket. These expenses vary and depend on your priorities, but here are some examples of expenses that a blogger might have:

• Operation and development of the blog in the form of web hosting, support, web developers, themes and plug-ins.
• Technical equipment such as a computer, camera, film camera, underwater camera and battery charger.
• Software such as software for editing photos or managing invoices.
• Operation of enterprises including cost of accounting office and office equipment

Why not adverts instead?

Why don't bloggers choose adverts instead of sponsored posts, as adverts are more distinct from editorial material? Well, some certainly do! Our personal experience is that it is very difficult to get any reasonable income from ads, at least if you don't have very many readers.

How do you know if a blog post is sponsored?

Serious bloggers notice always of sponsored blog posts, and the labelling should stand out. at the top in the post so that the reader can see immediately that the post is sponsored. We write "In collaboration with ..." and other bloggers might write "Advertising collaboration" or "Sponsored post". Unfortunately, there are also bloggers who write sponsored posts without labelling them, but this is very rare among the blogs we read.

How to write sponsored posts?

We write sponsored posts from time to time, and have to say that it takes quite a lot of time. This is the workflow for us:

1. Initiate contact with the company in question. It can be smart to pitch companies that you really want to work with, but so far we haven't taken the time to do so. We are happy if we can get through the mailbox to respond to all email enquiries...
2. Google the company (if you don't know about it) to make sure that it seems to be a serious company. Sometimes we also ask around in the circle of acquaintances if others know about the company.
3. Email back and forth many times and try to agree on things like content, price and labelling. Surprisingly many (even serious companies!) refuse labelling ("In cooperation with ...") and then we end the conversation. Some are very creative in their attempts to persuade us as to why we should not should call the collaboration a collaboration. For us, maybe one in ten email conversations leads to a collaboration.
4. Writing a proposal on posts. For us, it usually takes longer to write sponsored posts than regular ones, because we want to write a quality post while finding a good personal angle. Once we have finalised the proposal, we send a preview link to the company.
5. Edit is the next step. The company almost always has some comments and hopefully we can come to an agreement. If not, you have to email some more. In the worst case scenario, we have had to terminate the co-operation attempt in this situation. What a shame!
6. Publishreply to comments, possibly share on Facebook and, if so, tag the collaboration there as well.
7. Invoicing the company according to the agreed amount. Sometimes, if they do not pay on time, this includes sending reminders.

Can the post be written by the company?

Some companies suggest writing the post themselves. We usually decline and prefer to write ourselves, as we see an opportunity to write more personally. In a few cases, for example if the company wants to talk about something we don't have experience with, we let them write.

We will also mark the post with "Guest post by ...." to make it clear that we are not the author. so that it is clear that we are not the author. Please note that we sometimes have guest posts that not are sponsored - a post is only sponsored if it says "In partnership with ..." at the top.

What can you charge for sponsored posts?

What a blogger charges for a sponsored post probably varies enormously, depending on the brand, number of readers, quality, niche and a lot of other things. Influencers of Sweden recommends that SEK 2,000 is an absolute minimum for a paid collaboration, regardless of the size of the blog, and large bloggers of course charge significantly more. Of course, you have to pay tax on the income.

Are sponsored posts getting boring?

Writing sponsored posts is a balancing act! Whether they are boring or not is up to the reader to judge. It's probably best if you manage to collaborate on topics that you like to write about. We do our best to find good collaborations and fun topics, but we can certainly get better! If nothing else, you can count on us to always label sponsored posts at the top of the post. If you don't want to read these, you can choose not to.

What do you think?

We will continue with sponsored posts, and we will try to be careful when choosing partners, work even more on good content and not have sponsored posts too often. Stop sponsored posts altogether? Yes, we can do that if someone sponsors us with a full-time salary! Just give us a shout if you're interested, haha!

We will soon publish the results of our survey and let you know what our readers think about this topic! If you still want to comment, you are of course welcome to do so!

The images in this post are borrowed from Pixabay.