10 Things Every Blogger Needs To Start Getting Paid to Post
Here are some tips that you can use to help optimize your blog so that you can start getting paid to post:
Social Media Followers
Most agencies that approach bloggers with product use a social listening tool to identify who to look into contacting. We usually begin by contacting bloggers & social influencers who have the highest follower counts across all platforms. Make sure you have a Facebook Page, Twitter, and Instagram to link back to your blog or YouTube channel. Connecting with other bloggers and using hashtags relevant to your content can help you gain more followers.
Regular Content
We want to see that you are posting regularly. This doesn’t mean that you need to be posting daily, or even weekly; but if we see that you haven’t posted in several months, we usually assume your account is inactive and take you off of our contact lists.
Contact Info
If you are interested in receiving tickets to exclusive events, products etc. it is important that your contact information is easily accessible. Instead of including a contact form on a separate page from your homepage, include your email address as text along the side bar of your homepage and within your posts. The less time an agency spends looking for your contact information, the greater the chance you will be contacted.
If you have a YouTube channel, make sure to include your contact information in the description bar of each video as well as in the “about” section of your channel.
Social Buttons
Make it easy for us to find all of your social media accounts in one place. That way all we have to do is click to see how active you are on each channel and how many followers you have. Including social buttons on your site can help do this, especially because the visuals are easier to find than a text link.
Buzzwords in Twitter Description
Social listening tools also help identify you via your Twitter description. If you are a beauty blogger include “beauty blogger” in your social media descriptions. Make sure to use keywords that reflect the content you are writing about. If you are a music blogger and want to be contacted by artists, management or PR teams, you must include the word “music” and “blogger” in your descriptions so that you are more easily searchable online.
High Quality Images
We live in a visual world, and clients now not only want to see text reviews, but they are interested in high quality images of their events, products etc. that they can use to further push their brand. If you end up taking an exceptional photograph, the brand may choose to use it in their marketing campaigns and link back to your site; driving additional traffic back to you.
Contests
Hosting contests or giveaways is an excellent way to drive more traffic to your site. If you are contacted to be sent items to be reviewed, it doesn’t hurt to ask if you could be send additional product to host a giveaway for your audience. At worst they’ll say “no” and at best they’ll applaud your for your initiative and keep you in mind when they have something else to send.
Shareable, Engaging Content
It is important for your content to be sharable. The ultimate goal for most clients is to increase brand awareness as much as possible, so asking questions and encouraging comments, likes and shares is ideal. Creating a conversation around your posting tells marketers that you are engaging and that working with you is positive. Campaign success is often measured through “impressions” meaning the amount of people who have seen your content. Engaging with the content is more valuable than just seeing it. Bloggers & social influencers who have the most engagement tend to be the ones who are paid to post.
Link-backs (Direct Links to The Products You’re Pushing)
When talking about a brand you’ve been contacted to review or post about, linking directly to the website of that brand or using their campaign hashtag makes your posts easier to track and measure for the companies you are working with. Because your post is easier to track, the teams will be more likely to retweet or share your content from the brand’s page.
Disclaimer
Honesty is important. Many blogs post disclaimers stating that if they do not like a product they will not review it, or that they only post honest reviews. These disclaimers also state that they will write within the blog that they have been sent the product for free or have been paid. In some countries this is a requirement so please check with the regulations in your country before posting. Generally speaking though, your audience is smart. They will know if you are speaking positively about products that you might not like, and you will have less authority as a blogger if you lie in a review. Brands love to hear positive reviews and tend to post them on their own sites and social channels, but critiques of their product are also important for brand development and are very useful for these brands to hear about.
In conclusion, this is by no means a complete list. These are just some ideas that might help you leverage yourself and your content so that you are more visible to the companies who contact bloggers, vloggers and social influencers with product and paid postings.
