The big questions about your blog, your future and blogging as a business generally come out the first time you receive a pitch for your first sponsored post. It opens up a whole world of questions.
Receiving Your First Sponsored Post Pitch
Firstly, celebrate! This is a great milestone to achieve and you should be really proud of yourself.
Secondly, there are a number of questions you will likely need the answer to:
- Is the product a good fit for the blog?
- What will my readers think of it?
- What does it pay?
- When and how do you get paid?
- Is there a specific date the post needs to go up?
- Are many other bloggers working on this campaign?
- How will you promote the post?
- Will the brand promote the post?
Break this down a little further by looking for the answers of these questions.
Audience
Does the product fit your blog? Is it on topic? Is it something you might have written about if you hadn’t received the sponsored post pitch? How will you let your audience know it is a sponsored post? Will you disclose it at the top of the post? Use hashtags when you promote it on social media?
Tip: as a blogger, you now work for yourself. Read my thoughts here on what this means for decision making.
Money
What does it pay? If this is unclear, ask the company/PR “What is your budget?” to get an idea. How do they pay you? Do you need to issue them an invoice? Will they pay by PayPal? Do you get paid before the post goes live?
Promoting
When does the post need to go live? Do you have time to write it before then? Are other bloggers doing this post too? Is it likely that you share an audience with them & is over saturation of the product to the audience a concern? Which social media channels will you promote the post on? Where is your audience most interactive? Where will your audience be most likely to share the post? Is the brand going to promote the post too?
What questions did you have when you received your first sponsored post pitch?
