How I Make $3,000+ Per Month With Sponsored Posts

Written by: Alexis Schroeder

Publish Date: January 18, 2023

This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I receive a commission for purchases made through these links, at no cost to you.

I went full-time on this blog in 2016. This was possible because I make money with sponsored posts. 

A sponsored blog post is when a blogger gets paid to talk about a product or brand on their blog.

You get to talk about a brand or product you love, share details on how you use a certain product or how it can benefit others and get paid to do it. I’m also going to share how much you should charge for sponsored posts, and rules to follow when it comes to sponsored posting.

At the end of this post, you can learn from my mistakes that I regret making.

If you want to learn more about sponsored posts and land partnerships ASAP, I recommend checking out my course: Making Sense of Sponsored Posts.

You learn everything you need to know, including real templates that you can use right away to send to brands to land jobs!

Below are ways to get paid to blog with sponsored posts opportunities.

1. Create profiles on websites specifically for sponsored opportunities

One of the easiest ways to get noticed by brands is by creating a profile on one of the below websites.

FYI, below are only a few sponsored post websites, so make sure to venture out and see what else is out there.

For example, there are sponsored post websites specifically for certain niches, such as fitness, mommy blogs, and more.

Make sure to fill your profile out and make it as detailed as possible.

On sponsored post websites, they’re going to ask you what your blog is about.

Make sure to make this sound exciting, welcoming, and detailed as possible without writing a long story.

For example, don’t just say, “FITnancials is about fitness and health.” I’d say, “FITnancials is a website for readers who want to get inspired and motivated to live a healthy lifestyle, take control of their finances for good, and travel the world without selling their soul.”

Also, many of these websites only accept bloggers that meet certain qualifications.

These qualifications will differ depending on the site.

However, I have been accepted to a site even though I did not meet the qualifications.

It’s because I reached out to a brand first, and the brand talked to the sponsored post company and asked to let me in for a collaboration.

Below are a few websites that I’m apart of and recommend using.

2. Reach out to brands

Getting in contact with brands through email has been very successful for me.

For example, if there’s a fitness product I’m interested in trying and have heard good things about, I’ll contact the fitness brand with a short but detailed email, something like this:

“Hello. I am emailing in regards to — workout program. I was wondering if you all work with bloggers in exchange for —. I have been using — workout program for 2 years and have seen massive results. I’d love to feature the product along with my results in a detailed post that will attract readers to your workout program. FITnancials gets an average x page views a month and has over x social media followers. I believe partnering together will benefit both parties since FITnancials is all about health and fitness. Thank you for your time and I’m looking forward to hearing from you.”

If I feel like the product did what it claimed to do and I was satisfied, I would continue on to make a blog post (or whatever the brand and I agreed on).

However, there have been times that I didn’t have confidence in a product after trying out, and therefore did not post it on my blog.

I would then get in contact with the brand, tell them that I appreciate their time and the opportunity, but felt that the product didn’t work for me.

Usually, they’ll ask why not, and what they can do to make the product better for the consumer.

Getting sponsored posts gets a lot easier once you’ve developed partnerships with brands as well as worked with sponsored posts companies.

Since I’ve worked with many brands, I now get emails daily with sponsored posts opportunities.

I turn most of them down, either because the brand does not fit my blog whatsoever, or if the brand’s budget isn’t high enough.

3. Save brand’s email and contact them in the future

After working with a brand and having a positive experience, I’ll save their email and put it into a special folder.

After a month or so, I’ll email the brand and ask them if they want to work together again.

They’ll either say yes, no or that they’ll want to work together soon.

By reaching out to them, I’m increasing my chances of getting more opportunities with a brand that I’m already happy working with.

4. Make sure to mark the email as “Need Payment”

Since payments from brands can take weeks (larger companies take the longest), you’ll want to make sure to mark the email as “Need Payment“.

I created a special folder in my Gmail account and store all emails in this folder. Once I’ve been paid, I delete them from the folder.

5. Do you need to disclose that you’re working with a brand?

If you are getting paid for a post or getting free products from a brand, you need to disclose at the top that it is a sponsored post.

Here is an in-depth FAQ page by the FTC regarding sponsored posting.

Read this.

Many influencers (especially Instagrammers/celebrities) are getting in trouble due to not clearly labeling that their picture is an ad or sponsored post.

6. How much should you charge for sponsored posts?

Everybody has a different opinion on this, but I feel that bloggers should never charge less than $250.

You’re investing your time as a writer, putting their brand on your blog, and you might even have to do a bit of back and forth with the brand until you get everything right.

Bigger brands are MUCH harder to work with, which is why you’ll want to charge more.

There’s a ton of back and forth, revisions, and wait time to publish and get paid.

You’ll know if they’re a popular brand if their social media accounts has tens or hundreds of thousands of followers.

Social Blue Book is a helpful resource to use if you need help figuring out what you should charge.

However, many bloggers have said this Social Blue Book undercharges and is not accurate.

I connected my numbers to Social Blue Book and charge double what they recommended.

So I recommend pitching at double the Social Blue Book amount and negotiating with brands from there.

You can connect your stats for your Google Analytics, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube channel, and Facebook.

7. Sponsored Post Newsletter

Are you wondering how to find potential sponsored posts for your blog?

A great solution to this is by signing up for this email newsletter specifically for sponsored post opportunities. 

For $19.99/month, you’ll get sent sponsored post opportunities ranging from $65-$5,000. You’ll get 10-15 sponsored opportunities per email, and 3 emails a week. There are a variety of opportunities, meaning both small and large blogs will benefit from this. You can cancel at any time. 

This newsletter sends the best sponsored post opportunities right in your inbox, so you no longer need to log in to 100+ sponsored post networks to find the one paid post that works for you.

What do I charge?

At the time of writing this, I charge between $750-$1500 per post, and $100 per social media share (which I will increase when my social media followers increase).

The rates go even higher if I have to create graphics, or if I’m asked to send an email to my subscribers.

I’ve read posts where bloggers with my stats are charging $100.

I seriously wanted to email them and be like, no, you should be charging WAY MORE, but it’s also not my place.

Do you have a media kit?

Yes, and I created it for free using Beautiful Dawn Design’s free media kit. 

A media kit is a great way to send a brand your statistics, demographic, bio, and more in one PDF page.

You’re basically selling yourself on one page, so make sure to spend time creating your media kit.

UPDATE YOUR STATS!

You must update your stats in all of your profiles if your page views or follower count changes.

A lot of people forget to do this, which means lost opportunities.

These brands are specifically looking at numbers, so stay up to date on this! This is so crucial.

If you’re a blogger, you should definitely take advantage of sponsored posts.

Sponsored posts are a great way to get paid for sharing products you love and also believe other people can benefit from.

Take action now: Before we begin, get access to How To Send An Email Pitch To Land Sponsorships checklist. This quick checklist will help you stand out from other influencers and increase your brand sponsorships.

Ugh, now learn from my mistakes.

After blogging full-time for a year, I’ve realized that I have been undervaluing my work and myself as a blogger.

I’m too scared to charge “too much” because I’m afraid the brand will either say no or tell me I’m not worth that fee.

The worse that’ll happen, is they’ll say no.

However, if you feel comfortable, you can negotiate and offer them a lower price.

OR you can not email them back and wait for them to come back with an email saying yes, they’ll pay the fee. This has happened to me several times.

What I’m getting at, is you should feel confident in you yourself, and your brand. Don’t waste a year like I have, undercharging for hard work.

Learn everything there is to know about sponsored posts with my course Making Sense of Sponsored Posts.

Over 600 students have taken my course so far and have landed major brand sponsorships, charged 3x what they’d usually charge, and worked with brands multiple times.

Sponsored posts helped me become a full-time blogger and is my favorite way to make money blogging!

You also get access to a private mastermind group where you can ask any blogging questions and get help from me and other successful bloggers.

What to read next: 9 Ways To Boost Affiliate Income On Your Blog

If you’re a blogger, do you have any tips to share related to sponsored posts?

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