Life as a blogger: Things I’ve learned Vol:1 Advertisers

Source: avidaemazulcueca.blogs.sapo.pt via Maria on Pinterest

I was inspired to write this new column on my blog quite recently. After speaking with other bloggers and working with a few advertisers myself, I feel that there are some reminders that new AND experienced bloggers need to know. I chose to start this series with the topic of advertisers after receiving an email from a kind gentlemen who was looking for a few bloggers to write about his new product. Some of you might be saying: “ok, and what's your point?” Well this gentlemen could not afford to pay or offer sample products to bloggers for compensation.



Now I know after reading that last sentence some of you are probably saying, “oh he’s a user”, “he just wants good work for free”, “I should be compensated for my work”. Am I right? It’s ok you can admit it. Even I have thought these things in the past. But, after removing my wants from the equation I realized that there are different types of advertisers and we should be clear about when its ok to stand your ground and ask for product and when its simply ok to do free work.

Now again this is totally depending on how large your blog is. If you have over one thousand followers then yeah you should expect to receive products to review. But if you are below those numbers and you are approached by an advertising company here are a few things to keep in mind.

Sponsored Post

These type of post usually involve you receiving some form of press release and you are expected to share this on your blog. Usually , at least in my experience, you don’t usually receive product to review with this type of advertising. So the question is,when should you accept these and when should you say no. The latter is pretty easy. If they want you to write about their product or service, share on all of your social media site, and make it appear that you’ve tried the product by using phrases like”this product is amazing”, or “you just HAVE to purchase  this” those are usually the ones I will turn down. You want to be honest with your readers. Just like animals can smell fear, your readers can smell a fake a mile away.

Also if the sponsored post has NOTHING to do with your blog’s theme just say no. I had a huge problem with saying no when I first started and this just made me seem flaky and all over the place. So I ended up losing followers because I couldn’t stomach saying no. Its ok to refuse to do a sponsored post on your blog. Just always be mindful of how you respond to the advertiser. Never use rude language or speak down to them because this could hurt you in the future.

Product Reviews-How Not To Be Tacky

In reference to the gentlemen mentioned earlier, when he responded to my email with regards to his interest in being featured on my site. He said something that made me tense up. Not that he offended me or that he was unkind but he made the point that most bloggers expect free products to review when approached by companies. But, he said that he was a fairly new company and couldn’t afford to pay me or ship a review product at this moment, but that he would promote me on his social networks. I want to pause here and ask you to think about what your reaction would have been to this email. Would you have told him HECK NO, I don’t blog without compensation, OR would you have realized that this was an opportunity for you to receive extra exposure for your blog as well as help a new company gain exposure.

I thought the latter and so I agreed to write about his product because I do like it and I thought  it would be beneficial for my readers. After writing the post and emailing it to the company, he was very kind and assured me that my kind deed would not go un-noticed.The point of this story is that you don’t always have to receive products to review. Sometimes companies simply don’t have the means to supply you a free product to feature on your blog. But, by being kind and doing your best work for companies you will be able to build a strong relationship with brands which will help you out tremendously in the long run.

Have you have experience with advertisers? Do you think bloggers should work for free? Please discuss in the comments below!