If you’re looking to make money blogging, sponsored blog posts are one of the best monetization avenues to experiment with.
As a form of advertising, sponsored posts let you get paid for publishing content on your own blog—and if you’ve built an engaged audience, you can charge a premium rate. The more blog & newsletter readers you have, the higher the rates you’ll be able to command.
Blogs in pretty much any niche can run sponsored posts, but some niches that are a particularly good fit are beauty, fashion, travel, health & fitness, and parenting.
In this guide, we’ll take a look at how sponsored posts work, see some quick examples, then dig into the practical steps for publishing sponsored posts on your own site.
How to Make Money with Sponsored Blog Posts in 2024 (11 Best Practices & Examples)
- What is a Sponsored Blog Post (and What Are the Advantages)?
- 3 Examples of Sponsored Blog Posts
- Step 1: Make Sure Your Blog is Ready to Run Sponsored Posts
- Step 2: Create an Information Page (Media Kit) for Sponsors on Your Blog
- Step 3: Join Sponsored Post Networks
- Step 4: Reach Out to Brands You’d Love to Work With
- Step 5: Decide Whether to Accept or Reject a Brand
- Step 6: How Much Should You Charge for a Sponsored Blog Post?
- Step 7: Creating Sponsored Blog Content
- Step 8: Best Practices for Publishing Sponsored Content
- Other (Similar) Monetization Options for Your Blog
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and at no additional cost to you, I’ll earn a commission. Know that I only recommend products and services I’ve personally used and stand behind. When you use one of my affiliate links, the company compensates me, which helps me run this blog and keep my in-depth content free of charge for readers (like you).
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What is a Sponsored Blog Post (and What Are the Advantages)?
A sponsored blog post is a piece of advertising content that’s paid for by a company or brand.
In some cases, the advertisers will write that content for you—similar to a guest post. But some bloggers prefer to write sponsored content themselves, getting sign-off from the advertisers before posting it.
Sponsored posts should be on-topic for your blog and should offer useful content for your readers, rather than being purely promotional.
What Are the Advantages for the Blogger?
The main reason bloggers publish sponsored posts is for the money! A sponsored post can be a great way to bring in a good fee, fast—whereas it can take a lot of time to make money from regular ads on your blog.
For busy bloggers, sponsored posts written by advertisers can also be a useful source of content.
What Are the Advantages for the Brand?
From the perspective of the brand that’s paying for the sponsored content, a sponsored post does several useful things:
- It gets them at least one high-quality backlink to their own website—boosting their SEO (search engine optimization) and helping them rise through Google’s rankings.
- It can bring in direct sales from readers of the blog.
- It helps build brand awareness.
- It associates their product or service with a (potentially popular or well-known) blog in a relevant niche.
Examples of Sponsored Blog Posts
So what do sponsored blog posts look like? Often, they won’t be obviously different from regular posts on the blog. You might see a short disclaimer at the start of the post (e.g. “This is a sponsored post from…” or “From our partner…”)
Here are a few quick examples of posts produced with brand partnerships:
Example 1: 5 Steps to Mastering Project Management for Freelancers (How to Manage Freelance Projects) (RyRob.com)
This is a post I wrote a few years back, though I’ve updated it since, talking about my experience of freelancing and managing multiple client projects. I use the introduction to talk about my own challenges, then share a bit about the sponsor before getting into the bulk of the post:
Although this was a sponsored post, I’d hope it’s just as useful and engaging as any other post on RyRob.com. Because I wrote it myself (rather than having a staff writer at monday.com produce it), the post is in my own voice and style too.
Example 2: What I Learned About The World By Being In The Coast Guard (Buzzfeed)
This Buzzfeed post is sponsored by the U.S. Coast Guard and features a number of links to their website. The content itself is similar to other posts on Buzzfeed, with first-person accounts and casual photos.
Example 3: Potential is No Longer Enough: What Founders Need to Know in 2023 (TechCrunch)
This sponsored post does a great job of being clearly labeled and includes useful tips for founders. It’s quite typical of sponsored content, in that it comes across as a little bland and generic—if you’re creating sponsored content, try to make sure you get a bit more voice and personality into it if possible.
How to Run Sponsored Blog Posts on Your Site: A Step-by-Step Guide
So you’re interested in publishing sponsored posts on your site—but you’re not sure how to get started. Here’s what you need to do, in 8 simple steps.
Step 1: Make Sure Your Blog is Ready to Run Sponsored Posts
If you’ve only just started your blog, then you might not (yet) have a big enough audience to attract sponsors. And if your blog’s been neglected for a while, you may need to do some work to get it into shape. Ideally, your blog should:
- Look professional. If your blog has a huge “Coming Soon!” image on the front page, or looks like it was created in the 1990s, then it’s not going to make the best impression on potential sponsors.
- Have an established readership. Brands will want to know stats like your monthly traffic. The more readers you have, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to attract sponsors.
If your blog is fairly new but you’ve got a large number of followers on your social media accounts, then you might instead look for opportunities to publish sponsored posts there. These types of sponsored gigs have become increasingly popular over the past few years.
Step 2: Creating an Information Page (Media Kit) for Sponsors on Your Blog
Once you feel ready to start attracting sponsors, it’s time to create a page on your blog that gives potential sponsors more information so they can decide if they want a partnership with your blog.
You don’t need to link to this page from your navigation menu if you’d prefer regular readers not to come across it, but you might include a link on your Contact page or have it ready to send out if you receive emailed inquiries.
Your information page should include details on:
- Your basic details: name, how to contact you, the name of your website, and its URL. Yes, a lot of this should be obvious—but you want to make it really easy for advertisers.
- How many monthly page views you have, usually based on Google Analytics’ figures for page views.
- Your email newsletter subscribers if you have a good number of those.
- Statistics about your follower count on social networks.
- Basic demographics about your audience, e.g. “My blog is mostly read by women in their 30s and 40s who want to splurge on gorgeous craft supplies” or “Most of my readers are college students and 20-somethings looking for cheap and fun vacations.”
- Details on what you can offer, e.g. “A sponsored post of up to 1000 words, which I’ll write, that includes 2 links to any page(s) on your website you want. This will go out on the blog itself and through my email list. I’ll also share the post and tag your social accounts from my Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages.”
- Your rate for sponsored posts (or for different packages). We’ll come onto this in more detail shortly.
Tip: Some bloggers call this a “media kit” and include extra details like their blog’s logo, more statistics, and perhaps their own photo.
You might also want to include other information and metrics, such as details about awards your blog has won, relevant statistics (like your Google PageRank or domain authority), or further insights into your audience.
Step 3: Joining Sponsored Post Networks
You’ll likely need to put in some work to find sponsors, especially if you’re a new blogger—and an easy way to do that is by joining sponsored post networks or influencer marketing groups. These help introduce bloggers to brands and companies who are looking for sponsored posts, and many will also handle payments for you.
A few great ones to get started with are:
- Adsy—you’ll get provided with the content for free and you can set your own prices. Adsy guarantees payment, too.
- Blog Meets Brand—working with bloggers and social media influencers, Blog Meets Brand has a simple sign-up process and accepts bloggers from a whole range of niches.
- Link-Able—if you have subject matter expertise, then Link-Able can match you up with brands looking for sponsored posts. Keep in mind that Link-Able is focused on link building, so you may need to build connections with other sites and publish the sponsored posts there.
- Acorn—you’ll need to complete your profile so that Acron can send you relevant proposals from potential sponsors.
- Clever (aka “Real Clever”)—doesn’t require a minimum amount of followers/traffic to join, though you’ll need to be “active on at least two social media channels on a consistent basis”. It focuses on social media influencers rather than bloggers.
- Linqia—also focused on social media, Linqia requires creators to have 10,000 or more social media followers and be located in the US or Canada.
While you wait for sponsored post opportunities to come in from the networks you’ve joined, work on building your blog’s traffic and growing your social media presence too.
Step 4: Reaching Out to Brands You’d Love to Work With
As well as joining sponsored post networks, you can get in touch with brands who you’d particularly like to feature on your blog or your social media platforms.
You might want to think about:
- Brands that you already know and love. Perhaps there’s a product or service you’re constantly recommending or a brand that really resonates with your values.
- Brands that you’ve seen publishing sponsored content on other blogs in your niche. This is a great indication that they might be up for buying a sponsored post from you too.
- Brands that you’ve already interacted with on social media—perhaps you tagged them in a product review, for instance, which the brand’s account then liked or commented on.
- Brands that seem like a great fit for your target audience: perhaps several of your readers have mentioned their new products, for instance.
- Brands that have advertised on your blog in the past, either through a direct relationship or through a program like Adsense.
When you approach a brand, keep your message straightforward and to the point. Let them know what you can offer, give them some basic and essential details about your audience, and briefly let them know the price.
Step 5: Deciding Whether to Accept or Reject a Brand
Great news—a brand wants to publish a post on your blog! The trouble is, they’re a small company that you’ve never heard of before, and you’re not sure whether to accept their post or not.
Ultimately, it’s your blog and completely up to you what you publish there. If you want to keep the trust and loyalty of your readers, however, you do need to think carefully about what posts you’ll accept.
You’ll want to weigh up:
- The quality of the post. If the brand has produced it, then it may not be such strong content as you’d normally want to publish. You can always ask to rework their post to make it match up with your usual blog content: most brands will be perfectly happy with this, so long as their links and product mentions remain in the post.
- The brand’s reputation. If you’ve not heard of them before, check out online reviews. You don’t want to inadvertently promote a brand with a reputation for shoddy products or terrible customer service.
- How much they’re willing to pay. If a brand is offering a lower rate than you want to charge, then you may need to decide whether you’d rather have the money … or hold out for a different offer.
Step 6: How Much Should You Charge for a Sponsored Blog Post?
Figuring out how much to charge for a sponsored post can be tricky. You don’t want to leave money on the table … but you also don’t want to set your rates so high that brands simply aren’t interested.
Your Minimum Base Rate
When deciding on your base rate, you’ll want to consider:
- Your traffic. If you get 100,000 readers a month, you could charge $500+ per sponsored blog post. If your traffic isn’t so impressive, I’d suggest a minimum of $50 for a sponsored post. Some big blogs charge $1,000 or even considerably more.
- Your time. Is the advertiser supplying a well-written, ready-to-publish post complete with great images that you simply need to copy into WordPress? Or are you going to need to do some work to get the piece ready (or even write it yourself)? You’ll need to factor this in.
Let’s say you decide on a base rate of $100 per sponsored post, on the basis that the advertiser writes the post and you supply an image plus some editing to make sure it’s in line with your blog’s voice and brand.
Add-Ons to Your Minimum Rate
You might well provide extras, like social media posts, email ads, and more for your sponsors. You could offer these as additions to your base rate (e.g. an extra $100 for 5 social media posts, with specific hashtags) or you could come up with a full sponsorship package that includes things like ad space in your sidebar.
When you’re getting started with sponsored posts, you’ll likely have to experiment a bit with your rate. If you’re getting lots of interest, try increasing your rate. If no one wants to buy a sponsored post, reduce it a bit.
Step 7: Creating Sponsored Blog Content
I believe that sponsored content is best—for you, for your readers, and for your sponsor—when you write it yourself.
That’s because you know your blog’s audience better than anyone. You know what sort of content they’re used to, you know what you’ve already covered, and you know which posts have gone down best with them in the past.
When you’re creating sponsored blog content, you’ll want to keep in mind:
- Your sponsor’s requests or requirements. Obviously, you’ll need to include the specific link(s) they ask for. They may also want you to describe certain aspects of their product. Or they might be happy for you to simply write whatever you want, so long as it’s positive.
- All the usual best practices of writing great blog posts. Your sponsored post should match up to the standard of all the other high quality content on your blog. Don’t rush something out there just to get your sponsorship fee.
- Whether your readers need any extra context. If you’ve never published a sponsored post before, for instance, you might want to include a brief explanation (e.g. “I’m partnering with some of my favorite companies and brands who are helping pay this blog’s running costs.”)
- The timescales involved. Your sponsor will usually want to approve your post before it’s published … and depending on their timescales, that could take at least a few days, potentially longer. This means you may need to plan ahead more than you normally would.
If you want to keep your sponsored content consistent, you might want to produce a simple blog post template for you (or the sponsor’s content creators) to use when producing the content.
Step 8: Best Practices for Publishing Sponsored Content
When you publish sponsored content, you should always:
- Make it clear who the author is (if it isn’t you). You could create an account for each sponsor on your blog, or you could create a general “Blog Sponsor” account that you use for all your sponsored content.
- Disclose that the post is sponsored. Many blogs will use a “Sponsored” category for sponsored posts, but you should also have a disclaimer in the post itself. This normally goes at the top of the post. You could say something like, “This post was sponsored by [company name] but all opinions expressed are my own” or “This is a post from our partner [company name].” If your post also includes affiliate hyperlinks, or if you received a free product, you should disclose that too, under FTC rules.
More generally, you’ll want to consider how best to use sponsored content on your blog without it detracting from your readers’ experience. That might mean running a limited number of sponsored posts (e.g. one or two sponsored slots per month) and having high standards for the quality and relevance of sponsored pieces.
Other (Similar) Monetization Options for Your Blog
Sponsored content is just one way to make money blogging—and it may not be the perfect technique for you. A couple of great alternatives are to monetize through affiliate marketing or through selling your own product (or service).
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing means promoting a product or service from someone else and earning commission on any sales that they make as a result.
You can become an affiliate for all sorts of products—like cameras, books, homewares, pet equipment, baby gear, and much much more! You can also promote services and software, like web hosting.
If you’d like to know more, check out my full guide to affiliate marketing and my list of the best affiliate programs for bloggers.
Selling Your Own Products or Services
Prefer not to promote other companies? Then how about selling your own products (or services) to your readers?
You can sell anything you can imagine: popular options with bloggers are digital products like ebooks, printables, and online courses. If your blog has a keen following, you might also be able to make money selling “swag” with your logo on it.
Physical products can be trickier: for a cautionary tale on that, check out the sad story of my college entrepreneurship fail, the iStash. But they’re also an option, especially if you can create something cheaply or on-demand, so you don’t lose money on unsold inventory.
Start Making Money With Sponsored Posts
Sponsored posts can bring in revenue for small blogs as well as big ones, and it’s never too soon to start thinking about the possibility of sponsorship.
Some niches do tend to have more sponsors than others, so if you’re particularly keen on monetizing through sponsored posts, you’ll want to think carefully about your blogging niche. Lifestyle-related blogs—such as travel, beauty, health & fitness, and parenting—are all good options.
To check whether a niche has the potential to do well from sponsored posts, take a look at large blogs in that niche and see if they’re publishing sponsored content. If not, try my list of profitable blog niches to help you narrow down your ideas.
Want My Free Blog Business Plan Template?
Grab my free blog business plan template in both Google Doc and PDF format (that’s helped me build a six-figure blog) and reach 500,000+ monthly readers today.
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