First things first. Just know that I am not claiming to be the queen of knowing the ins-and-outs of sponsorship. Thus, if you were planning on getting pissy in the comment box, no need! I feel like a cheeseball even doing a “how-to.” But, to toot my own horn for one brief second, I have been told by a few of my sponsors that this blog is one of their biggest traffic sources while they’re a sponsor. And there is nothing worse than sponsoring a blog and seeing ZERO traffic from it, yes? So what works and what doesn’t? I’m not entirely sure but after checking out the blogs that give less versus more, I’ve come up with a few hypotheses as to what those might be.
1. Don’t have your sponsors start halfway (or more) down the page. Your Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest account links shouldn’t take precedence over people who are paying to be on your page. Shuffle things around, get rid of things, do whatever you need to do, but sponsors, in my opinion, should start at the top of the page, or very close to the top anyway.
2. Rotate your sponsors! This is one of the craziest to me. You buy a sponsor spot. You get stuck in that sponsor spot and you remain at that very spot for the whole month (or however long) that you sponsor that blog. What??? The amount of traffic you get should not be based upon luck. Rotate that ish so that everyone is getting a spot at the top, the middle, the bottom. I rotate mine every few days so you’re always seeing some new ads. It makes sense to me.
3. Don’t accept too many. This is hard because, after all, you’re hoping to make money doing it, and turning down money is not something any of us are probably good at. But, I think the fewer sponsors you have, the more exposure the ones you have are getting. Sounds obvious. So, when I go to a blog and they have like thirty-plus sponsors, I’d rather sponsor the blog where I’ll be one of twenty over one of forty. Duh.
4. Do consider blog swaps. But, look for blogs in your range. It doesn’t make sense to be a brand-new-just-out-of-the-gate blogger and be e-mailing a four-year-running-five-thousand-followers-plus blog saying, “Let’s swap ads to promote traffic to both our blogs!” Which blog do you think is gonna benefit more from that? I’ll give you one guess.
And that’s all she wrote.
If you’ve broken one of these cardinal rules of sponsorship, I’ll still love you just the same.
agree to all of the above.
tell it like it is! Love it 🙂 Thanks for the guide!
How helpful! Thanks Bridget. I will move my sponsors up to the top ASAP. (I'm still learning)
love it! great advice bridget! the blog world will now be better because of you.
YES. Love this, Bridget.
love that last one. haha. I'm a newbie, and I can imagine that that happens to the more experience ladies. OH jeez.
~em
talesforkarina.blogspot.com
love that last one. haha. I'm a newbie, and I can imagine that that happens to the more experience ladies. OH jeez.
~em
talesforkarina.blogspot.com
Retweeted.
I agree, the rotation thing is so crazy. I told you about the time I got stuck underneath two "fancier" sponsors, even though they'd been there before me. And I never moved. And I was like, I'll never sponsor your blog ever again. And I got like no hits from that blog. And and and.
great post. i don't have sponsors, but i did get lots of traffic from you when i was on here. i think the rotating ads is best because they change catches your eye.
I like you and your cardinal rules, B.
Over and out.
Great tips! I've been considering having sponsors for a long time. I'm still considering it. I think. I don't know. I go back and forth haha!
i agree with all of these! thanks for the tips!
as a new blogger, i love posts like these. thanks for the tips, teach!
so i just thought of a question that i figured would go well along with this post. you know how a lot of bloggers with sponsorship do "large, medium, and small" buttons? How in GOD'S name do you figure out which sizes you should do??? that is one thing that I am completely confused about…
~em
talesforkarina.blogspot.com
Thanks for sharing! I am new to all of this and am looking around for blogs to sponsor. Now I will know what to look for.
Thanks. I didn't rotate my buttons this week. NOW I FEEL LIKE A JERK, punk!
<3<3<3<3
My mom asked if you were coming to the wedding. She likes you.
good shtuff, oh wise one:-) xoxo
Great info, Bridget! Thanks for your (modest) expertise.
I don't have sponsors, but I do have 7 individuals who pay me to be their friend. For $15/month, they receive four emails, 10 texts, and four compliments. $30/month gets you 8 emails, 15 texts, and 8 compliments. Win win.
@Erin, you are seriously funny girl.
@themermaidchronicles you should sponsor bridget! her sponsors get fabulous traffic!
@emily, good question… i only offer the two (duh) but i do think the one large feature ad is a nice option some blogs have… also, my small is literally just half the width of my big in case you were wondering sizing (but i dont think that was your question).
@erin, sign me up for $15 a month please and thank you.
seriously. ('cause i'm so on top of sponsoring myself…)
not that I am at that point yet but I really appreciate you sharing this! the rotation thing totally makes sense and really… people have balls to email huge blogs when they have a tiny following and ask to swap…
I wish there was something that would automatically rotate the ads or something. Unless there is and I just don't know about.
I've had my blog for about six months now. I've sponsored a couple of bigger blogs and barely got any hits from them. I've done ad swaps with blogs my size and larger than mine. Sometimes even as large as those that I've paid for. I received not even 10 hits from those paid bigger blogs. I've received so many hits from the ads swaps. Which is why I currently only ad swap with people.
Great advice! I just started taking sponsors a few months ago, and actually have only done mostly blog swaps since then. It has been a fun and easy way to get my link out there as well. There is always so much to learn in the blogger world!
THANK YOU! I'm one of those brand-new-just-out-of-the-gate bloggers and I've been wondering about sponsorship: how to go about getting it and how to do it right. This is awesome and common sense advice, and just what I need. 🙂
So what would you suggest to us new bloggers who are trying to get traffic and followers?
@olivia joy, i would suggest sponsoring blogs… of course… but i also, visiting blogs you like and commenting on them… thoughtful comments that show you read the post. the whole "love that picture, come see my blog" comments never work!
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