Should You Do a Blog Post Review for Free Products?
So now that we've talked about a lot of ways to make money blogging . I wanted to start going through some other money related topics and question/concerns I've heard from other bloggers. Making money online is still a relatively new process and there is a lot to learn and discover about it. It is also constantly changing and adapting as new platforms are started and new ways of making money discovered. So you want to start treating your blog like a business and want to figure out how to make money blogging. I get that. What should you do though if you are being asked to do posts for either products or discounts and not getting paid a fee for the post.
I think that as a blogger your time is valuable and if you are going to spend the time creating a post, an image and sharing that post with the audience you've created you should be compensated for your time. How much you should be paid and in what form is up to you the blogger and no one else. It's a matter of what works for you.
In the beginning of my blogging journey for the first two years or so I did do posts in exchange for products or discounts on products. Now though that I have a bigger audience and am working harder on my blog I won't do a sponsored post without payment.
The posts I did for products though I only took if the product was something I wanted and I thought my readers would really like to hear about. It's important whether or not you are being paid with money or products to not share things that your readers would have no interest in or aren't good quality. It will make you seem untrustworthy as a blogger which will loose you readers.
So if you receive an email or message about doing a post in return for a product I think you should as yourself these 3 questions.
- Would I want to pay for this product? (If you wouldn't be willing to spend money on a product why are you suggesting to your readers that they should?) One of the best products I received for a post was a wall print of photos of my daughter. Since I still love that print years later it was worth my time to review it in a post in exchange.
- Are you comfortable writing a post on the product or topic? Is it relevant to your blog? I have been contacted to write posts reviewing lingerie and even though I wear lingerie this wasn't something I felt comfortable doing a blog post about. So I declined to do the post.
- Are they asking you to do a reasonable amount of work in exchange for their product? When I'm being paid to do a post on a product I am willing to go out of my way to go pick up the product, test it, take photos, write the best post I can, create an image, and share that post as much as I can with my readers. It's what I'm being paid to do. On the other hand if you are giving me a free $30 product don't expect me to do $200 worth of work.
So in my opinion it's really up to you and your blog whether or not you will do posts without getting paid a fee. It depends on what your going rate for doing posts is at the level your at and if you think the product is enough of a payment. You can always change your mind as well. As I said I use to do posts in exchange for products but I haven't in probably 18 months or more now. I only do sponsored posts for a fee.
