What Are Your Thoughts on Sponsored Blog Posts?

This week’s reader question (forgive the late hour today), was from Carol over at the All Freelance Writing Forums.

“What do you think about sponsored posting? I know that you have to have well established blog to do this.

I know that you can say what you like, as long as it is not defamatory, but at the same time, doing sponsored posting does feel a bit, in some way, compromising. It could be interesting too though, writing ones opinions about various goods and services. But how would you know what they are like unless you have tried them out? Do they send you samples?”

Answer:

Unlike many writers and bloggers, in a general sense I have absolutely no problem with sponsored posts to help you monetize a blog. I currently only accept sponsored posts on one blog, and I earn at least a few hundred dollars each month with them, meaning I can justify spending more time on that blog’s more traditional content, making it a better resource for readers. Here’s the way I see it:

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the mechanics of a sponsored post. The only problems that arise are due to the personal ethics of the blogger behind them. That said, I would always advocate transparency if you use sponsored posts (labeling them as “sponsored” in some way). I would also never condone selling “positive reviews.” As I see it, the sponsored nature of a review is not a means of buying your opinion, but buying your time in reviewing a product, site, or service that you would otherwise ignore in favor of larger reviews (more popular books and products, new tools in your industry, etc.). If you hate what you’re reviewing, that should be clear in a review, sponsored or not.

In cases where I’ve done product or service reviews (sponsored or not, depending on the case and site), the person requesting the review has always set me up with a product, manuscript if something’s pre-publication, or access to a service. For site reviews, I just visit the site (and if it requires membership, they set me up with that too).

Personally, books are one thing I probably won’t ever charge for with reviews. That’s because the review fee couldn’t possibly account for the reading time involved. If I review something particularly time-consuming it’s always because I’ve personally scouted for it and chosen it, or it’s through a pitch from an author or publicist. That said, I do very few time-consuming reviews these days.  As a matter of fact, most of the sponsored posts I personally do aren’t reviews at all… they’re articles (where I mark them as sponsored, but don’t allow the company or products to be blatantly promoted in any way) or feature-based / news-based posts (announcing something new, discussing a site’s features, etc.).

Like with any other kind of monetization strategy, know your audience. While I can have sponsored posts often on my business blog, my PR blog audience wouldn’t tolerate it for a second, and I’d lose credibility. Also, don’t come to rely on them too much. Always diversify your income streams as much as possible.

If you do decide to offer sponsored posts on your blog(s), you can sell those spaces yourself or go through a service like ReviewMe.com or PayPerPost.com. I prefer the solo route, so I can set my own prices and collect the full amount. Again, in my market, there is an abundance of potential advertisers around. In smaller niches, a go-between service might be helpful.