Now, I studied about Sponsorships in my Sport Marketing class in college. I get the whole idea and point of it, HOWEVER, I am a bit confused on how bloggers REALLY benefit from it. Like why not just swap buttons and do guests posts? Why does a blogger have to PAY for the sponsorship. I am more or so asking, where does that MONEY go to? What does the receiving blogger do with the money that other bloggers pay?? Am I out of line to say 1. I think the whole pay to sponsor is kind of outrageous and 2. why are some bloggers charging CRAZY sponsorship rates?! Yea, I get it... you've got tons of followers but is it really necessary to charge someone $20.00 or more to have an ad on your page?! I guess I am just wondering why people can't sponsor for free??
By no means am I criticizing fellow bloggers for charging for sponsors{there are obvious benefits to it that I just have not really seen}, as I have many close blogging friend's who do, it just may be my ignorance of the processes of the blogging world. Hence why I'm posting this, so that hopefully someone can educate me more on it. I know for a fact I will definitely entertain sponsors as I love supporting other gals but it will be of no expense to anyone. One thing is for sure, this blogging experience is one I enjoy and appreciate, but I am not out to make money off of anyone. I want to be the supporter, the cheerleader, and maybe even inspirational to other bloggers and my readers! Sometimes I feel like this blogging world is a bit of a popularity contest, who can host the most give aways, contests, get the most followers, etc etc. And with that I feel some lose a sense of why they started their blog in the first place.
So yes, please feel free to explain to me the reasons why you may charge for sponsorships. Or why you buy sponsorships. Or both. I really do want to understand the exact process! Who knows, maybe in the future I will charge, buuuut I'm thinking free sponsorships are the way to go, at least for my page!
Hope y'all are having a HAPPY TUESDAY! Apparently I'm still tired as my eye is still twitching today!
XoXo,
oh man, this is truly a good, honest (did I say good?) post. ok, so here's my honest response to this ... I totally agree with you on so much of this. I have done two giveaways on my blog and it does feel a little strange. so, the only reason I started was because my buttons (free sponsorships) were getting out of control (and this is what I hear from most bloggers). I had 42 buttons on my page! ha. No one could even see the bottom ones and it was getting hard to remember to rotate them, etc. So, I could have just said "no sponsorships period", but I like buttons. :) and of course, you know I donate half of my proceeds to the animals and half to sponsor others blogs. I agree that it can all seem a little crazy at times ... it's kind of like the circle of life (or the circle of bloggers). a blogger pays me ... I pay a blogger ... that blogger pays another blogger. HUH??? :) Ha!
ReplyDeletei do not currently charge (or pay) for any sponsorships... i am not saying i will NEVER do it, but i don't really see the point, either.
ReplyDeletei don't put a ton of buttons/ads on my sidebar because i don't want to lose focus of my blog... i blog for me. and to have a relationship with those who follow me. so what i do is sponsor swaps, where monthly i'll swap buttons with a few people and just do a small feature or have them guest post for me if im on vacation or something... that way it hopefully brings in traffic from other blogs, but doesn't overload my readers with ads.
I have wondered the same thing...if you wont to have sponsors, why not just ask? Does money really have to be involved? I am all about making new friends and finding awesome new blogs (like yours :) to read, I really do enjoy it. But I don't like the idea of having to pay someone to get my name out there for more people to find me. I mean $2 or $5 isn't really that bad, but I have seen some people asking for $30+ for a sponsorship...I just don't understand. I am all for swapping buttons and having guest post. But hey, I am new to this too, maybe I am the one missing out on something. :) Thanks for your post, it made total sense with me!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the other ladies...the sponsorship deal is confusing. And I have also gotten to the end of my rope with blogging at some points because it IS so "clique-y" - but to solve that, I just stopped following those "big bloggers" who only post about their blogging BFF's 24/7, and only hosted giveaways and did promo's for products I don't care about. Once I "opened some new doors" (ie, BlogHer, etc) I found some really cool bloggers who do button swaps and have like 3K followers! All for free!
ReplyDeleteI think it just takes time, and definitely the ability to be true to yourself. You can still market yourself and expand your readership without paying.
(All of this coming from me, the girl with 50 followers..bahaha. Like I'm one to talk?)
Either way, you MUST do another post to share what you learned and what is going to work for you - I learn by example! :)
I think alot of reasons people charge is so they can turn that money around and do their own sponsorships, which in turn promotes your blog too. I'm just doing free button swaps at this point and time (just started in May).
ReplyDeleteThis is a great question.. why are we paying for friends.. like what? I do have sponsorships available for a small price but I offer everyone a swap option.. and I'm okay that no one pays. I just like to have fun buttons on the side
ReplyDeleteI, personally, purchase a spot on at least 1 bigger blog (larger numbers than me all the way around) but no more than 2 (if that) per month. I don't spend a whole lot doing so, but I also only sponsor those that turn that money into sponsoring someone larger than them or who just put it back out into the bloggy world (share the love kind of thing). I do this to drive traffic...but don't mix that with that I care only about numbers. I still blog for me. Numbers are nice, but that's not what I set out to blog for...
ReplyDeleteIf I want to be bluntly honest about something going on in my life, I will post it. If I step on someones toes, it's my blog (and while I don't intend on doing so, you just never know what will cause someone to lash out). If I want to write fluff, then I'll write fluff. :)
I only swap ads on my blog (although you will see my ad swap space say $5...this $5 is for someone who doesn't want to swap with me...and it is really just a random number). I won't rule out a possible "feature" spot or something in the future, but that's not anytime soon or anywhere in the near future...unless I become famous or something...lol (I kid, I kid)
I'm not really sure why some of the bigger bloggers charge so much for their spots. I haven't followed them long enough to figure it out. I don't do a whole lot of sponsor spotlights on my blog. I typically will group them together and I have a limit of 8 swaps spots. I try to interact with my sponsors and re-tweet what they are posting about on their blog to try and drive traffic. I don't want someone who swaps with me to think they aren't getting anything out of swapping, but I don't want someone to think that I'm doing sponsor shout-outs all the friggin' time (that's just not all that fun to read about all.the.time as a blog reader).
Okay, I'll stop writing my novel now. ;) PS...want to swap with me??
But I agree...I'm more the cheerleader type of person. I want to support people and help each other out. If it grows my blog, great. I want people to read my blog because they like me and what I write about. I'm not out here to win any popularity contests. ;)
I don't charge yet, but I'm thinking about it. Like Tiff said, it's easier to control the number of buttons, but more importantly- if I add up all the money I have spent on stamps, stationary, present swaps, supporting the causes of others, blog redesign, etc. there's quite a bit of money being sent out. I tried out paying to sponsor blogs this summer, and it was really fun, but I had to squash it because I don't want even more $$ going out without reciprocation. I don't know if I would ever try to "make money" off of my blog, but I would like to break even!
ReplyDeleteAll in all, I just think we all need to do what makes us happy, and supporting each other makes us all happy!
I love that you posted about this. I feel like bloggers should support each other without having to pay them to do so. I understand the whole cost situation when it comes to blogs, but for me personally that comes out of my pocket since it is for my blog. I don't think I will ever do paid sponsorship on my blog and in the end I want people to read my blog because they want to. We are newbies together and if you find out any more info on the questions you asked, you should do a post on it!!
ReplyDeleteI do not have sponsors and have no interest in adding that to my blog at this time, but from what I can see, its straight up making money, and I don't really see anything wrong with wanting to make a buck somewhere. If people are charging $30/ad, that means people are paying it. So if those people want to contribute to a bloggers expenses, be it hosting/giveaways or a new purse, I say go for it, wish I were dedicated enough to get rich off my blog ;) There are lots of big bloggers making over 6 figures off theirs, so I can see why the mid level would want a piece of the pie too.
ReplyDelete