This is a sponsored post however all opinions are my own.
As you’ve worked on your blog, you probably have started to consider some of the ways that you can start to earn money from your blogging efforts. Between all of the options, working with brands can result in highly compensated campaigns featuring products and services that you already use and love! But in order to work with brands, you really should set yourself up for success. I’m going to share some tips that will you prepare your blog and you for working with brands so you can start making money!
First, you need to have a media kit. This does not have to be something fancy by any means. You need one because you need to be able to present information to a brand or influencer agency easily and cleanly. Your media kit will tell them at a glance who you are, what your blog is about, and the kind of reach you have. In this media kit, be sure to include analytics from Google Analytics like the unique number of monthly visitors and the number of pageviews you receive. You can also dive into demographics and share who is reading: male or female, from what countries, with what interests, etc.
Have navigational menus and a search bar. I’m serious! If an agency wants to see if you’ve mentioned certain products or services before, the search bar gives them the ability to search your entire site. The menus will make it easy to see what categories your blog falls into. Be sure that the search plugin you are using or the hard-coding actually works, you never want someone to come to your site in hopes of hiring you and run into issues!
Keep those agencies and networks updated with your latest social media numbers. Places like Socialix allow you to sync your social accounts directly with their platform so the numbers are updated automatically. Other places don’t. Make it a habit, perhaps on the 1st of every month, to go in and update those numbers and check those connections.
Use a calendar. I’m talking to you from experience – you need to be organized. Know your due dates, when contracts need to be signed by, when you are publishing your post, and when payment dates are. This calendar will help you stay on track, turn in your projects on time, and know when to expect payments.
Create quality content and post regularly. If an agency, PR rep, or anybody lands on your site and sees you haven’t published in weeks, they just might not reach out to contact you. To them, not posting means you might be too busy, or you are no longer blogging actively. Keep all of your accounts active and publish content on all of them!
If you have to apply for campaigns, DO IT. Plain and simple, don’t skip out on opportunities because you don’t want to take the 5 minutes to complete an application. If you keep your numbers handy, this won’t be an issue for you and you’ll breeze through applications. But do them. Seriously. You never know when you’ll get an email back saying you’ve been selected!
I hope that as your blog grows, you continue to find new readers and new opportunities to make money from your blog!