Cyberlink Internet News and Views

Controversial it may be - a good income source, definitely! Sponsored blogging gives you the ability to earn from posting blogs on your own website. Now don’t get too excited too quickly, you can’t simply just turn on the flood gates.

So what is Sponsored blogging?
The basic concept is very sound. Advertisers want you to talk about their product, service or website. In return for you ‘blogging’ about them, they will pay you an agreed fee. They will expect at least one link back to their website and possibly a few other caveats included.

Why would someone pay for me to blog?
There are a number of very simple reasons a company will be willing to pay you to promote their website / product.

• Creates awareness
• Generates targeted traffic
• Generates relevant links for search engines

How much can I earn?
Most sponsored blog ‘networks’ operate a bidding principle where you bid to write a blog. The advertiser will then either accept or reject your bid depending upon whether or not they feel it is worth it. Typically bids start from $5 and will go up to in excess of $500 per blog! Yes $500 per blog if you’re lucky.

The amount you can bid is governed by the popularity and relevancy of your blog. For example if you’ve got a blog with a page rank of ‘0′ which talks about cheese, you’re not going to be able to bid very high for someone wanting you to talk about computers. Whereas if you have a computer related blog with a page rank of ‘5′ and 100,000 active readers - you’ll be able to bid a lot higher!

Is it legal?
Yes. There’s nothing to stop you charging a fee for writing a blog on your website

Are there any other terms or conditions?
Yes. Most of the ‘networks’ which managed sponsored reviews insist your blog is at least 3 months old, cached in Google and is relevant to the advertiser. They will also insist on a ratio of at least 2:1 non sponsored blogs i.e. they want your blog to have good quality genuine content which people are going to be reading.

It’s also important that your blogs (even the sponsored ones) are genuine i.e. not simply written as adverts for products.

Where can I find a sponsored blog network?
I’ve listed below a number of websites which managed sponsored blogging programs. I don’t support or endorse any. You need to look for yourself and see what you think:

1. SponsoredReviews
2. SocialSpark
3. PayU2Blog
4. ReviewMe
5. PayPerPost

Is there a downside?
Don’t let your blog be overtaken with paid for blogging…it’s simply not natural and your readers my take offense. However if you can write genuine reviews or blogs about something and earn money from it then why not.

As to whether or not it does improve an advertisers search position - I’ll let you be the judge of that.

If you’ve got experience of getting paid for blogging, please let me know and share your thoughts / comments.