One for the bloggers: On sponsored posts

Hi guys,

I often get asked whether blogging is my full time job, and how I make money from it. Well the answer is that blogging isn't my full time job, and although I'd love to make my living from it, I don't (well not yet, but a girl can dream!) But I do make some money from it (a little bit!) and I do that in a couple of ways: the first is the advertising you see all around the site, the second is occasional sponsored links, and the third is in sponsored posts (yup, like this one!)

I was reluctant to get involved in writing sponsored posts for ages: they have a really bad reputation! I had concerns about legitimacy, relevance, and transparency: even though there aren't as strict rules about blog advertising in the UK as there are in the States I didn't want anyone to feel tricked, or not realise what they were reading was sponsored And frankly, I didn't want you to get bored of reading about stuff that isn't relevant to my usual fashion-y goodness and go away! So when I did decide to go down the sponsored post route (initially as an experiment) I decided to do it with ebuzzing. Ebuzzing have a really strict code of ethics, and always require full disclosure, which was exactly the kind of company I was looking for. You can also say exactly what you want, and unlike other companies they never give you the text you have to post. You can choose which campaigns you want to get involved in (so I only choose fashion or lifestyle ones) and they work with some great brands. My dream brands to work with would be ASOS or Topshop: I write about them so often that those are the kinds of sponsored posts that write themselves- more a girl can dream moments!

A good rule of thumb if you're thinking of writing sponsored posts is to have your own code of ethics:if you know what you are and aren't prepared to do then it makes it much easier to decide whether to accept or decline a campaign. Here are mine:

- I only write about brands I would genuinely endorse.
- I always tell the truth, even if there are negative aspects to the review.
- I am always fair. If I don't have anything positive to say about the brand at all then I don't except their money for the sponsored post.
- I always disclose that the post is sponsored, even if the advertiser doesn't ask me to.
- I write what I want to. It's my blog, and I wouldn't accept a sponsored post where I was told what to say.

Ebuzzing is a brand that works with my code of ethics, because it is very similar to their own! Find out more on ebuzzing.co.uk or register to start using the site.

Do you accept sponsored posts on your blog, and if not, why not? Do you have any rules for sponsorship, and what are they? I'd love to hear your guys thoughts on this!

Love, Tor xx

Sponsored Post