When you begin to monetize your blog, you need brass balls. Cajones, testicles, whatever you want to call them– as a predominantly female community, we genetically don’t have them. Why do we need them? As bloggers, we’re a minority, and a minority where the rules and guidelines have yet to be defined. This means that marketing and advertising companies see us as uneducated, uninformed, and–sadly– willing to do anything for a buck or a product.
In a tough economy, you want to stay afloat and look lucrative to advertisers– it’s harder and harder to attract them right now, so saying “no” when they come around feels like a silly thing to do.
One of the first things I did this year was put together my media kit. In it, I established rates for various forms of advertising I accepted on my blog, including sponsored posts, text ads, and banner ads. This helps because when a potential sponsor contacts me, I have a handy PDF that explains what I offer, what the rates are, and what discounts I have as well.
In the past two weeks, I’ve been approached by advertisers who have frankly tried to low-ball…. here’s how, and here’s the unabashed facts about my site & them.
Advertiser #1:
They contact me about getting a link on my site. Very simple email that doesn’t address me by name or mention my site. I write back,
“Rates for links are $20 per month, and appear under the “Friends Of” sidebar. There is a discounted rate for links purchased in 6 & 12 month increments. If you’re interested, please let me know.”
They respond within the hour, with the reply:
“Can you do a hundred dollar gift certificate for the year to SITE for a sidebar link? We just want a text ad, not a banner ad.”
The problems with this:
- The advertiser clearly didn’t research my site at all
- The advertiser was expecting a $140 discount for advertisements on my site, when we didn’t have any relationship together at all.
- They assumed I would want store credit to their site.
Advertiser #2
Contacted me with the following email:
Good day! We came across your site today while searching for quality sites to help us gain additional exposure in the fashion community. Our SITE has been helping students pursue fashion design & merchandising education since 2005!
With that being said, we would like to be considered for a link under your favorite reads section: http://www.mischiefmydear.com/dramatispersonae/ Here are the details of our site to add. To match the other useful links you could say.
We could offer you a one-time donation of $250 to help with this via paypal.
Please let me know either way to confirm or deny this request.
I responded to them with:
Thanks for getting in touch with me about a text link ad. Currently, I do not sell Text Link Ads under the “Favorite Reads” section of my sidebar, as those are for blogs I regularly read. I believe that selling links there compromises my reader’s trust in trying to find other blogs who I read.
However, I do sell links on the other side. Right now I work primarily through Text-Link-Ads.com (which reads “Advertisers” and will be ending soon), but do also sell them individually. For individual links, I place them under the “Friends of ” banner in the second column.
Rates are currently $25 per month for a text link, but I could do a reduced 1 year rate for $250. Then at March 1 next year, we could discuss whether or not you’d like to continue to purchase link space on the site.
If this sounds good to you, please let me know and we can make arrangements to get your link up and for payment.
I received 1 more follow up reply from them that said:
Hi, thanks for getting back to us. Unfortunately that option won’t work for us. If you’re interested we could provide a guest post on fashion design education, that is our other option.
I politely told them no thank you.
The problems with this:
- They clearly had no respect for the fact that I was unwilling to compromise my reader’s trust in where I placed my advertisements. So much so that they were willing to do a guest post for me!
- They had no respect for the work I put in to my blog or the fact that I have rates.
- I knew if I had accepted their offer of a guest post, they would have snuck text links in there.
- Why wasn’t I interested in a guest post? Here’s why:
- My Alexa ranking is: 270,295 with 207 incoming links.
- Their Alexa ranking is: 1,762,390 with 28 incoming links. (With Alexa, it’s important to know that the lower the score, the “better” you’re doing.)
- Their guest post would have increased their incoming links and overall score, and what would I have gotten out of it? I wouldn’t have gotten a mention on their blog, as they have none. I wouldn’t have been financially compensated. They would have been using and abusing my audience and the 2.5 years of hard work I’ve put in to building my blog for their own gain.
-
While these both happened to be instances were a company was wanting to increase their SEO profile, it can happen anywhere– it can happen with indie designers who want a super discounted rate or coverage because they’re “independent,” or a big company trying to bully you in to accepting lower terms and rates for banner ads, because you should be grateful that they approached you.
Every time I accept an offer from an advertiser.
How to prevent this from happening to you:
- Know Your Stats: Check up regularly on your rankings on sites like Google Page Rank and Alexa. It’s great to be able to type in the website that’s approaching you, to see if how close (or far off) they are from your own scores. If your own site is more lucrative then theirs, then you’re the only one with anything to lose by accepting their offers.
- Set Up Guidelines & Rates: By setting up your own guidelines for advertising and your rates, you have no reason to feel guilty when you say “No,” or counter their offer. You have set these up with consideration to how much work goes in to your blog, how many hours you spend writing each post, marketing yourself, and frankly, you deserve what you ask for!
Why You Should Care:
- You work hard on your blog, whether it’s full time & professional or hobby. You deserve to be treated with respect and compensated in a fair way.
- You’re part of a community at large, and when you devalue your own work, you’re also devaluing the work of your favorite bloggers.
- Nobody likes to be taken advantage of– and that’s what these companies are doing. They’re taking advantage of you.
- We all like money– but would you take up a boss on a sketchy side business proposal that broke company policy or the law? Is the money worth compromising your own views, your reader’s trust in you, your blog authority, your own page rankings and scores?
While I’ve said “No” to both advertisers and won’t be doing business with them, they’ll just move on to another blogger. That blogger could be you– and they may not offer you the same rates they offered me. They may not even offer you compensation at all. And you have to ask yourself– is it worth it?
Image by vigilphotography / CC BY 2.0
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This was a great post! I get so many marketing emails daily and so far I’ve not accepted any of them because of the possible threat to the integrity of my blog. I wouldn’t say no if the right one came along of course but I hate it when they don’t do their research!
This is a fantastic article! Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us – it’s a big help!
.-= Jillian´s last blog ..Suno F/W 2010 =-.
Very informative post and good that you stood up to them and said no. I feel that some companies think that bloggers are so hungry for opportunities or compensation and bloggers will accept anything. I received an email this morning for an opportunity, but I had to stop reading after I was addressed as “Jennifer”, which isn’t my name.
Great post- super informative.. As a new blogger, I could see myself easily getting duped by either advertiser! Thanks for this..
.-= Mikki´s last blog ..Italian Vogue Goes Rogue? Vogue Black & Curvy =-.
Thank you so much for a great and VERY crucial post for any blogger of today. This was very imformative!!
cheers xx
This is great — I’m going to have to work at monetizing one of these days (as soon as I do three million other things). I spend too much time writing to justify it by the jewelry sales alone! Bookmarking this.
.-= WendyB´s last blog ..Kornheiser, Storm and Age-Appropriate Dressing =-.
This post is freaking fantastic. The low-balling blogger phenomenon really reminds me of the underselling problem with indie designers & crafters – hopefully we can try and nip this in the bud before it becomes as big of an issue as that one.
.-= Michelle´s last blog ..Daily Outfit 2/25/10 =-.
Absolutely wonderful article. It is so helpful to have these discussions for those of us who are just getting our feet wet, so to speak. Thank you!
.-= Retrodiva´s last blog ..Zac Posen wants to dress larger women =-.
Thanks for the post.
I do have an interest in monetization, but always feel overwhelmed by it. Not just keeping in line with the integrity of the blog, but determining one’s worth is a little daunting.
I know rates will differ from blogger to blogger, but is there any source for bloggers about advertising rates and what to charge, like a rate chart based that would tell you how much to charge for x amount of readers? or really anything that gives an idea of what is a low ball?
.-= Kristen´s last blog ..Look Book: Strikes and Gutter Balls =-.
Okay… now THAT was fabulous! I think we’ve all dealt with this issue before, but you offered some great solutions!
.-= Jaime @ Denim Debutante´s last blog ..Sample Sale Alert: Juicy Couture on Rue La La! =-.
Well said! Know your worth, and remember — everything is negotiable.
Many blogs have “advertise” links that list how much ads cost. You can use these as a general guideline for how to price your ads. I’ve found that with trial and error, you’ll figure out how much you can ask for.
.-= La Carmina´s last blog ..ALTERNATIVE CLOTHING STORES, SHOPPING ON MELROSE IN LOS ANGELES: COSMO OF FLASHER & SPEED BOUTIQUES. =-.
This was one of the best articles I have read in a long time. I am new to the blogging community, and this article answered a lot of my questions. Thank you for taking the time to post it!
.-= Mary F´s last blog ..Boutiques: U Street in Style! =-.
I could NOT agree more! This is why I manage all ads through my *own* site, rates are clear and up-front, and while I advertise the benefits on the ad page, I don’t have to field low-ball offers.
Once, I got an email stating they’d like a free 7 day trial (yes, that will So give you a good estimate of how your ad will perform–NOT!) AND on top of that they wanted to offer me a bicycle for one year’s advertising.
Politely, but firmly, declined.
.-= Kristina´s last blog ..Friday Faves: When Pink Throws Up =-.
Ashe Mischief, this was WONDERFUL! I couldn’t agree more, and example #2 sounds awfully familiar. I received an e-mail of an almost identical nature this week, and explained the same thing: that my ‘Links I Love’ section was for blogs and websites that I personally loved, and not for products or services. When I pointed out that I DID have an area of my website which *was* created especially for products and services, and was, in fact, a paid advertising space, they baulked, but not before adding ”but we ARE willing to advertise online computer games and Las Vegas hotels on Frock & Roll”. What?! Considering that both items were about as relevant as um, frogs to IFB, I politely declined.
Bloggers DO work hard. They work their butts off. If we’re not writing an article, we’re usually thinking about or researching one, and in addition to this, it takes a really, REALLY long time to build an audience, and once we’ve finally secured one, it’s even harder to earn their trust. So why would we throw it all away in a matter of seconds in exchange for a measly payment for an advertisement that has nothing to do with our content?! It’s madness!
Thank-you so very much for writing about this!
I completely agree, and I have both point of view, as I am both a blogger and an advertiser.
We work with bloggers regularly, but we always try to find bloggers that we regularly read, we like their site and aesthetic and hopefully they like our site and aesthetic.
We always ask for ad rates and stats up front. If we can afford the rates based on our estimated inbound traffic (we measure ad costs based on cpc), we buy the ad or sponsorship. If we can’t afford the ad (hey, we’re a startup here, and we pay nyc rents…), we tell them why and see if they would like to work with us anyway to create a custom advertising program that we could afford and could potentially benefit us. Most of the time, it works out.
I do feel some bloggers do not understand that not all companies are Dove and American Apparel. Some of us are just starting out, and while we want to pay tons of money to support a blog we like, we can’t always afford it. I think it’s important for bloggers to keep an open mind about that, because right now there are not a lot of ways to promote a small independent business on a budget, and blogs have been a great avenue for that. Most bloggers, though, have been infinitely supportive of us, and we’re truly, truly grateful.
I think respecting both parties and letting them know you genuinely want to support each other and respect each others time, money and ethical standards is key.
Great post, as usual. I’m just starting to get advertising inquiries and have definitely struggled with it, but have turned everything down so far. I had one company ask to do a text link ad, but then backed out when they found out that the link would be under a “Sponsors” heading. Like you said, I’m just not interested in compromising the integrity of the list of blogs and sites that I truly value and want to share with my readers. Hopefully one of these days I’ll find some advertisers that will respect my policies and be a good fit for my blog.
I’m glad that blogging is a hobby for me and I have a day job. I’ve had a few advertisers contact me w/ proposals similar to the ones described above. What a headache dealing w/ these people. As a result, I don’t allow any advertising on my site.
.-= Alan B.´s last blog ..A Homage to Prince Albert =-.
this was so useful!!!
.-= nookie´s last blog ..friday photo =-.
Ashe – GREAT post! You really show how important our work is, and not for a minute should we doubt we are worth any less than what we think we are worth! Glad you’ve been saying no – it’s a lot harder than saying yes!
.-= julia´s last blog ..Marchesa Fall/Winter 2010 =-.
these advertisers are something else aren’t they. honestly i don’t even respond to ad proposals unless they address me by name and they clearly state which site they want to advertise. even if they wanted to pay, i don’t always accept banner ads.
text link sellers are the worst of the worst, i don’t sell text ad links, yet they are the most persistent. since selling text links hurt page rank, i just don’t do it. one seller told me they could ‘do it in a way that no one would know.’ and i told him that it is unethical to have ANY undisclosed sponsored content.
sheesh.
It is stunning how little research would-be advertisers will put in before sending the e-mail. What especially annoys me is the cheeky wotsits from online stores that ask me if we can “trade links”.
.-= Lady Julianne´s last blog ..Review: Lily Lolo Mineral Cosmetics =-.
Very informational. Thank you so much for this post! I think I’m gonna start looking into monetizing my blog soon, and I’ll check out Alexa.
Thanks again!
Love,
Mara
.-= Mara Flores´s last blog ..on a jet plane =-.
Lady Julianne: I once had a (dating??) company email me saying that they’d like to do a link exchange for date-MILFs.com (or something to that effect). I emailed them back and said “That’s not a link exchange, that’s a text link ad – and they cost money. And um, no, since that is entirely irrelevant to my website!”.
.-= Michelle´s last blog ..Daily Outfit 2/25/10 =-.
What a great post! I come from a background in print media and blogging is new to me. (Dare I say that I was even unaware of Alexa! That’s how much of a newbie I am.) I’ve bookmarked the post and thank you for being frank, honest and informative. I look forward to learning the process of increasing traffic to my blog. Writing it is one thing – that’s the part that comes easiest for me. Promoting it is something else entirely. Thanks so much again.
thanks for doing this post – definitely informative. i feel like there are so many “potential advertisers” that get in touch and then, once i tell them my rates (which are quite low), they’ll never get back in touch. It’s like, what did you expect me to say, that it costs nothing? In fact, I think that’s what many people who reach out to bloggers for advertising ops are hoping….
.-= SF Indie Fashion´s last blog ..Pop Stars: Noise Pop ‘N Shop =-.
This is golden advice, thank you so much! I hadn’t thought of checking their site against mine, I’ll definitely keep it in mind.
.-= Luana´s last blog ..This Week =-.
I’m glad you did this post! I have gotten so many BS offers. My site is ranked 800,000 on Alexa. I know what that means. I use SEO frequently. One company that was completely unrelated to fashion asked if they could give me $300 for the entire year for an ad on my blog. I HAVE NO ADS, besides the godaddy ad which I receive no money from. YOU MUST BE CRAZY, to think you’re going to pay me $300 to obstruct my blog with your foolishness!
AGHH they get me so mad! and yes ladies even if you have a blogspot, check your ranking. Let these people know what you’re worth. Know the difference between page views, visits and unique visits!
and smh @ the advertiser wanting to be on your favorite links list! I was on a blog (no names) that definitely had a list of advertisers as “links I love” hmm shady!
.-= roni´s last blog ..ewl ke$ha =-.
Thanks so much for sharing these experiences Ashe! Very informative and helpful.
XO Piper
.-= DailyDivaDish´s last blog ..Audrey Hepburn in Vogue =-.
I have a tiny little blog far from getting any offers, but still found your post very fascinating and helpful… you know for the future when I am a big deal and all. Thanks!
.-= mrs.notouching´s last blog ..Because… =-.
Thank you so much for this post! It’s very timely as I am getting extremely low balled by a few want to be advertisers right now, it is ridiculous what they expect! I haven’t been on alexa enough, I need to learn more about this ranking business, maybe you could do another post in the near future?
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I especially get many requests for the free use of the photography on my site. Almost every day there is a new request. Each company believes that they are actually doing me a favor by using my photography for free. As I make a living as a photo-journalist this can be a bit vexing at times.
.-= Kjeld Duits´s last blog ..Shohei Kitano =-.
Tnx for sharing
.-= M´s last blog ..Head Honcho Chic =-.
Well said Ashe! It’s amazing how disrespectful and condescending potential advertisers can be. Bloggers need to step up and not settle for less.
.-= lisa´s last blog ..The Secret Charm Of Shoe Clips =-.
well, this was very interesting and helpful. thanks so much for the info!
.-= meg, reckless daughter´s last blog ..bear upon the beach =-.
So well put. I get some absolutely laughable offers. In fact, just yesterday I had an email about a ‘blog partnership offer’ telling me ‘I think you’ll like this’ (immediate red flag!) and this is what I was expected to find to be a great deal (following Jennine’s verbatum example):
I have a client who is looking to build up brand exposure to their hotel comparison website. (how relevant to my fashion, art and design blog)
Would it be possible to add a very small badge to your website that links to our client? (Sure, I’ll add anything if it’s very small)
Of course, we wouldn’t just ask you to do this without some kind of renumeration.
(Gee, how generous of you)
In exchange, every 6 months you can apply for 2 nights in a double or single room for one / two people in a european 3-4 star city hotel. (will you pay me to get there?)
Full terms:
- The hotel provided to the blogger will be the choice of HRS.com. However, the blogger can advise preferences of the area of the city they would like to be accommodated in.
- cannot guarantee we can accommodate the blogger in the city / on the date the request. We therefore ask for the blogger to submit a 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice of city / date.
- Although all efforts will be made to accommodate the blogger with their first choice of destination/ date, on occasions there will be factors such as sports events, public holidays or festivals which prevent us from doing this.
Wow, how on earth could I pass up such a fantastic deal! I’d love to travel from city to city to stay in some hotel not of my choosing! You were right, I really do like this!!
I deleted it, then went back and replied, asking him if those terms would get him excited about giving up premium advertising space for an ad that bears little to no relevance to your website content. And I mentioned that companies actually do pay me for the space on my blog! He replied to that but I couldn’t be bothered to read it and I permanently deleted it. I didn’t send a rate card, I certainly don’t want him to ever consider my blog for his business again!
.-= Denise @ Swelle´s last blog ..London Fashion Week – Hanging Out at Orla Kiely’s House =-.
Sorry Ashe, I meant your verbatim example!
.-= Denise @ Swelle´s last blog ..London Fashion Week – Hanging Out at Orla Kiely’s House =-.
I’ve gotten a few interesting offers from people, but they expect me to advertise for free. It may be because I don’t have rates on my site–but that’s due to the fact that I only started my site in Dec., and I’m not ready to jump into the big game (I only profit through shopstyle and other affiliate sites currently). I know absolutely who I want to work with, so I kind of work on promoting them a little more on my blog, but as for people expecting free advertising, I really only do free advertising if I feel I’m getting something out of it, and I think advertisers should realize that.
.-= Maggie´s last blog ..Featured Find: Delia’s Trista Striped Dress =-.
to add, I will always, always promote bands or musicians for free on my blog. It’s a women’s music blog and I’m a big believer in self promotion and helping others in the scene. But as far as big business, they have to offer me something I want in return. It’s just fair.
This article is brilliant! Encouraging bloggers to get savy and value their worth is the key raising what we do to the next level and encouraging companies to treat us as professionals in our field, if we set high standards we help each other!
Thanks for sharing your expertise and experience. Good perspective.
.-= Citizen Rosebud´s last blog ..Ingenue =-.
COJONES not CAJONES lol
I didn’t even know about Alexa page ranking!! So that right there has been a nice learning curve for me to pursue…long before I get to thinking about ads!
Huzzaha & BRAVO!!!
there has gotta be an office in Nigeria (sorry but it must be so) where all these scammers are putting out this stuff. Not hard to sus them out- I simply do not respond. But maybe I should so they know I have Balls of Steel and WILL NOT TAKE THEIR S***T
Pisses me off no end that these nobodies are trying to hitch a ride to my wagon
HMPH
Merci for this excellent post!!!
Great article, so glad I have read it and now feel like I know much more about these issues.
Just about to read your “How to Create Your Media Kit” now too and will have to read up on Alexa as Ihad never heard of it before.
Fantastic work.
.-= Beth Ruby´s last blog ..Where fashion and music meet- Beyonce =-.
thank you so much for this wonderful post. it is incredibly helpful and informative for a beginner blogger as myself. it’s so easy being sucked in this advertising wirlwind, so your advice is much needed. would love to find out more bout alexa and page ranking in general or traffic tracking sites. maybe you could do a more detailed post on this subject.
xoxo,
miha
.-= skinny buddha´s last blog ..the world is not enough =-.
Fantastic article. Thank you for sharing such great information and insight!
Michelle – wow, a dating company! And I thought the trainer store who asked me for a link exchange was irrelevant! At least they were selling a type of shoe!
All the responses above are so true. I’ve poured my soul into writing our blog, done my best to create original content and establish thought leadership in what i write about. Every month, even I get some of the most asinine requests for link exchanges, advertising requests, etc.
The most recent one was someone really floored me, the wrote “We think your blog is worth enough” of posting our content. – Jaw drops. The email then proceeded to tell me how to write a post about the company’s innovated digital media use. – loss for words.
What they sent was actually an example of what I would say not to do. It’s not just bloggers – it’s us independent professionals too.
Cream rises to the top – pour your passion into your writings and never compromise what you believe in, you’ll succeed. There are more than 10 bloggers who deserve the fashion limelight these days, there are at least 100 of you on IFB.
Cala
.-= Macala Wright´s last blog ..Angel of Darkness by TOMAAS Photography =-.
Thanks you for that and thanks to IFB. Hopefully in the future we will all be singing off the same hymn sheet (so to speak!)
.-= nicky´s last blog ..Find of The Day on Dublin’s Clarendon Street =-.