4 Commandments for Writing Sponsored Blog Posts

Pay per click advertising and selling “spots” on a blog are falling to the wayside as companies and bloggers embrace the “sponsored post” option. There is far more money to be made by sponsored posts than many other affiliate or advertising options.  If you are interested in making money, you want to be sure you do the posts well so that other brands will want to work with you.

The following four suggestions should help clarify your responsibilities when writing sponsored and review posts.

1. Know the requirements as laid out by the FTC guidelines.

DO make sure you are familiar with the FTC regulations. You can find the entire document here, but that is really boring and hard to read. I recommend this post which explains it in an easy to understand manner.

2. Disclose. 

Be sure to disclose any compensation and/or relationship with any brand or sponsor before linking to any external links.

Compensation includes the following:

• Receiving a product for free to review
• Reviewing a product from an advertiser on your site
• Receiving money or services for a post
• Linking to an outside website as an affiliate (new guidelines require “no follow” links even for affiliate badges!) ** this is one I had not even considered – also when you do a book review or product review and you link to an amazon.com or other link for purchases… a disclosure must be made!

You (and the company!) can be fined if it is determined that you have not followed the guidelines properly.

The good news is that disclosure is relatively easy to do. Just be sure to let your readers know (before you link to the other site) that you received product, cash, services, etc. in exchange for the post. A simple statement (Company X gave me these products to try for free for my review) is a good enough disclosure.

3. Make the disclosure as natural as possible.

There are techniques to organically work your disclosures into the body of the post so that the post itself does not stray from your usual writing style. Rather than scream “advertisement!” it should read as a ringing personal endorsement.

• If you have been writing sponsored or review posts and you are not acknowledging them as such in the beginning of your post, and in all of your social media blasts, you need to start doing so immediately. (And go back and fix the old ones!)
• If you don’t know what I’m talking about when I mention “No Follow” links, you need to do your homework before your site gets penalized. The SITS Girls site has a fantastic and very easy to understand article on how to create “no follow links” in your posts.

DID YOU KNOW that sponsored posts are not allowed on WordPress.com sites? It is a violation of their advertising policy, which can be found here.

4. Understand the difference between a “Sponsored Post” and a “Review.”

Sponsored Posts

Cash sponsored posts do not leave much room for personal opinion (in the negative.)   The blogger is accepting money to be an advertising arm for the company and should provide a positive representation for the service or product.

That being said, if the blogger determines that they have a conflict with the product or dislike the company, the blogger should address their issues with the company and determine how to move forward from that point. Otherwise, the blogger is being paid to promote the sponsored company or product and should do so in a positive manner.

Some sponsored posts may be pre-written and just require posting, in which case there is no personal opinion. Choose your sponsors carefully and be sure that it is a company or product that you would indeed endorse.

Reminders:

• The disclosure must be made IN the post.  Before any external links.  And again at the end for good measure.
• ALL of your tweets and posts must include a disclosure (#sponsored or #ad before links) as well!

Reviews

A review, on the other hand, leaves more room for personal opinion. Usually they are provided in exchange for an honest opinion of the product. By all means, if you’re giving an opinion, make it honest. However, as a word to the wise, companies may not want to work with bloggers who have a reputation for slamming products and services, so be careful in your approach if your review is negative.

 

 

Sponsored and reviewed posts are a great way to earn money on your blog. Just make sure you are in accord with regulations, for your protection and for the company you are representing.

 

Alexa B (who blogs under the name Kat Biggie) writes at No Holding Back. She started the blog in June 2012 as an outlet for her grief after losing one of her twin daughters two days after birth to complications from Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). Since she has always had a passion for writing, it did not take long for her to begin to write not only about living after loss and TTTS, but all things to do with being a stay-at-home mother raising three children five and under. Prior to making the decision to stay home with her children, Alexa worked in Homeland Security and Counter Terrorism and served over six years in the United States Air Force.   She can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, and  Google +.