I’ve been in the professional blogging niche since the beginning. That first year was frustrating for both bloggers and clients. In many cases the clients expected us to write posts praising the company, even lie if needed. They thought they were paying for testimonials. However, professional bloggers are not freelance writers. A ghostwriter might write fake testimonials, but they are not expected to put their in their publications and trick their readers into believing that the blogger loves the company.
Understand The Purpose of the Sponsored Blog Post
At the same time, the bloggers tried a few dozen ways to include the client ethically. They added an add at the bottom of the page. A few bloggers tried making an abridged squeeze page which lead the reader through an article and then hit them with the ad. This was ‘hated’ by blog readers and lost countless subscribers.
The industry flagged twice. The blog ad agency, blogitive.com, was the first. They started to teach their bloggers how to improve their image. Bloggers started to demand an ethical form of writing posts that respected their clients as well as promoted the clients.
To understand this fully, you need to recognize the three players.
The Client: Wants links, advertising, or testimonials
The Agency: They bring together the bloggers and clients
The Blogger: Also known as the publisher
Each of these players has their own concerns, their own demands, and their own responsibilities to their clients.
What Is The Purpose of the Post?
The first step to writing a good sponsored post is to understand what the client wants. If they only want the link, then the blog post can be written with no regard to the client at all. The blogger just needs to include a few keywords that pertain to the page being linked to.
The blatant advertising post must review the client’s website and post neutral or positive elements of the website, product, or service. Many bloggers create a ‘tag system’ with their clients. They might write REVIEW in their subject line, or put a symbol such as * in the subject line, so their readers know this is a sponsored review. The blogger is upfront about the fact that they are advertising a product or website.
There are ways around adding ‘intrusive’ blog posts to a blog. The easiest is to only submit blogs that are so ‘targeted’ to a certain niche that other clients are not interested in posting links there. This works moderately well. The next way is to list with agents who let you pick and choose which posts you wish to accept. This is by far the best method.
How to Write a Sponsored Post
Writing a sponsored post is fairly easy.
The Intro needs to let the reader know that the post has a client and will be reviewed.
The Content needs to include two or three points of information that are important to your blog’s readers. This can usually be found in news sites etc.
The Ending is where I normally put the link, in the conclusion.
Do not: Write in a different style and vocabulary than the rest of the blog.
Do not: Try to sell or trick your readers by using ‘car salesman’ language
Do not: Write an article and then start selling at the bottom of the post, unless the intro suggested that the blog post is a review or advertising in the introduction.
Do not: Write lies in your post.
Do not: Copy and paste from free content articles, the company’s website.
Do not: Add tags to sponsored posts, or include them in your index/site map
How to Write a Good Post
One thing I do is to add a couple of posts before the sponsored posts on the same topic, even if I write these afterwards and change the time stamps.
Another thing I do is write the post as news, and to include news from non sponsored sources so that my readers do not see the difference.
Do: Find 2 keywords or keyword phrases on the client’s website that can be used in the post (this can be done by hitting the site in your browser and then clicking VIEW so you can see the meta tags. Use these keywords in your article.
Do: Try to make the sponsored review newsworthy
Do: Avoid any posts you cannot blog on with a clear conscious
Do: Add pictures to make the post look more like a real post and non intrusive
Do: Meet the client’s expectations in word count, number of links, focus and importance
These tips will help you meet all the ad agencies requirements for sponsored blogs. This 'check list' will almost eliminate the number of rejected posts, posts that you are not paid for, or banned/benched votes.
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