Blog Advertising; Things You Should Think About

Blog advertising is something I've taken part in for almost two years now, and I think it has amazing benefits. I am someone who sells blog advertising, and also regularly buys advertising from other bloggers too. Both of these have gone very successfully for me, and I wanted to talk today about some important things you should think about before buying or selling advertisement.

SELLING BLOG ADVERTISING:
I feel quite confident in my advertising packages, and I think they work well for people. I actually have someone who has found it so helpful, that she's advertised with me for over four months already, and has booked another four with me too. Something must be going right huh? Right now, my advertising slots are booked up until July 2016. Yes, July. A lot of people are surprised when I say that it's booked so far ahead of time. But I think there are a variety of reasons for this.
I have spoken to advertisers past and present, talked about the reasons why they bought with me, and what worked well for them.

HIGHLIGHT YOUR STRENGTHS:
For me, Twitter and Instagram are my biggest source of traffic and the highest follower counts I have on social media. So I have designed my advertising packages around this, in a way that benefits my advertisers. I have made sure to include options of multiple Twitter promotions and also an Instagram promotion (I do include Pinterest and Facebook promo, but I know Twitter and Instagram are my most popular). People know I'm that girl ALWAYS on Twitter, and I'm always chatting away. They want that promotion to my followers, who are a very active and loyal bunch (I'm lucky I have a great, interactive following), and I try to make the most of that for my advertisers.
I also make sure that in my advertiser post each month, I try to present each blog in a fun and creative way if possible. I like my readers to get to know the bloggers, rather than just listing them and 'selling' their blogs. I enjoy this process because I myself love getting to know each advertiser, and I spend all month browsing their blogs and finding what makes them unique. I then try to put all this into my advertisers post each month, and I've had great success in others appreciating this.

PREPARE:
A few things to remember if you are selling advertising to bloggers; 
1. It's best to plan ahead what the maximum number of advertisers will be each month. 2. Ensure that you can fulfil all the agreements you make in the package. 3. Remember to use no-follow links for paid advertisements 4. Create a check-list of duties for yourself for each blogger, each month. 
So for me, I use a notebook (although I'll probably switch to spreadsheet soon!) to list all advertisers for each month, and the things I must do for them within the month. I cross off things on the list as I go, and also try to spread the promotion out evenly throughout the month. That way, they have a better chance of the promotion being effective, and also it doesn't fill up my feed and annoy my own followers! :) Very important.


BUYING BLOG ADVERTISING:
I have bought advertising from other bloggers regularly for almost two years now and there's a few things I've learned along the way that I always try to tell people who are thinking of buying ads with bloggers.

DON'T GET LOST IN THE NUMBERS
I regularly buy advertising with people with less followers than me, and some people would never consider this. As well as being a great way to support a fellow blogger, it can also be really effective! I look for bloggers who are really active in the community, very often online, takes parts in chats, posts regularly on their blog, and has a very interactive audience. Sure, if they have 10,000 followers as well, that's going to be super appealing to me. But it's certainly not the most important thing for effective advertising.

COMPARE PACKAGES
Rather than just buy an ad with someone who has 20k followers, shop around and compare what sort of packages are out there. So instead of just having your button on someone's blog that may not get clicked, you could have a package that does regular promotion on Twitter/Instagram/etc and even includes you in blog posts. I have bought advertising with Erica before, and I absolutely loved her package (LOL, rude!) and think it's a great example of effective promotion.

GIVE YOURSELF THE BEST CHANCE POSSIBLE
Okay so you've bought advertising with someone, great! Now let's make the most of this opportunity. Get yourself an awesome looking blog button that you think will appeal to people (I actually design these for a small fee. If you would like one, pop me an email!). I think the blog button is really important, as I know that can make the difference between a click or scrolling past. I would also prepare by making sure you have regular posts planned for the month you are advertising with someone. Really try to show off your best content, and leave them with a great first impression. Making sure you're promoting yourself on social media helps too, especially if part of your package includes retweets from the blogger - they can't retweet you if you don't tweet! It also doesn't hurt to make sure your blog layout is looking FINE haha.


Those are just some of the things I consider when buying/selling blog advertising.  I'd love to hear your thoughts though.

If you fancy advertising with me, you can check out my packages here.




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