{ I contacted the lovely Rachelle at Wiley Valentine to see what her thoughts were on having sponsors on their blog. I know that lots and lots of blogs have sponsors but most of the blogs out there that have sponsors aren’t selling a product like stationery, invites, planning, or even photography. These are the questions I posed to Wiley Valentine: What does it look like to have sponsors on a blog that sells a product? How do you know who to have as sponsors?, and lastly, is it something that works for you as a company?}
Since the launch of our blog in October 2008, our traffic has grown exponentially and overwhelmingly. I started to be approached by some of our retailers (stores that sell Wiley Valentine product) asking if we would consider offering advertising spots on our blog. It seemed like a great platform for them to reach their targeted audience as many of our readers are brides or even stationery lovers. It really just made sense. Since the start of the advertising in mid 2009, we have expanded to include such sponsors as event planners, jewelry designers and more. I am very picky and selective with my sponsors/ad spots as I want my reader to trust who I have sponsor the blog and know that these companies may very well be of interest to them.
As the blog has grown, it has taken more and more of my time to maintain. Receiving revenue from ad spots seems to help justify the time I devote to the blog. Not that I don’t adore blogging, because I do! However balancing running a business and maintaing a blog can sometimes be very challenging. So it’s nice to have some sort of revenue generated from the blog through advertisers.
I also feel that in some cases, like for example Francis Orr and Rock Paper Scissor (both current blog sponsors), these are stores that carry Wiley Valentine product so this is a great cross marketing strategy for us. Directing traffic to our retailers who in turn sell more Wiley Valentine product.
I think it’s important when considering taking on ad spots/sponsors on your blog that you be selective and remain true to your blog and audience. You want the sponsors to be great companies that you believe in and that you feel your audience might find interesting and/or useful.
Thank you so much Wiley Valentine! Your insight is wonderful and inspiring!