Well, the end of your 30 days of being a blog sponsor are just about over. Passionfruit has sent you a heads up in your inbox...
Now you are posed with the question of renewing or not renewing with your sponsored blog for another month.
Before you click the Renew button, here are a few questions you should ask yourself:
- Did you experience any growth while partnering up with your blogger? It is a good idea to keep track of how many followers via GFC, Twitter, Facebook, etc. you have from one week to the next. This makes it easy to see if perhaps a guest post you did on your sponsored blogger's blog, or a group giveaway you participated in drove traffic and/or new followers your way that week. Yes, numbers are not all that matters. But you did expect some growth in numbers or why else did you pay for an ad? ;)
- Was your sponsored blogger responsive? If you emailed your sponsored blogger, did they get back to you in a timely manner? Did they follow through with your requests for promotion? Did you hear from them more than twice in the entire 30 days? If you answered no to most of these, I would say it is time to move on.
- Did get what you paid for? If your ad spot included a sponsor introduction or 4-5 social media shout-outs a week, did they uphold that? If your spot included a guest post or a giveaway, were you at least offered the opportunity to do that? Look back and see if you got what you were promised when you initially bought your ad.
- Was your sponsored blogger personable? Did they try to form a relationship with you? Not that they had to become your bloggy BFF, but did they make an attempt to get to know you as a blogger or small shop owner? Did it seem as if they tried to make themselves familiar with your blog? How can you tell? Did they ever comment on any of your posts over the 30 days? That should give you your answer. ;) If they are not reading what you are putting out there, then how can they thoroughly promote you?
- Did you possibly exhaust their readership? This can be a little more common with blogs with smaller follower bases who maybe didn't show much growth over the last month. If they have less than 100 followers, promoted you well, and show little signs of further readership growth, then you may have exhausted them in the past 30 days as far as new exposure for your blog or shop goes.
- Last but certainly not least, would you recommend them to any of your blogger or small shop owner friends? Because if you wouldn't, then why are you even thinking about renewing your ad with them??
You have considered all the questions above, and have decided to renew with your sponsored blogger for another go-round. Awesome! Before you click the Renew button, email your blogger real quick and see if they offer a discount for returning sponsors. Most bloggers who offer ads on their sites will offer some kind of discount to their repeat sponsors. And it never hurts to ask, right?
How do you decide whether or not to renew your sponsorship with a blog? What things can a sponsored blogger do that will increase their chances that you will return to work with them again? What are the deal breakers that will ensure that you do not work with a blogger for another 30 days?
*This is the final post in my 3 post series on becoming a blog sponsor. If you missed my first post in the series, It's Not Just About the Size of the Ad- CLICK HERE. If you missed my second post in the series, You Are Officially a Blog Sponsor. Now What?- CLICK HERE. I do not claim to be an expert on all things blog sponsorship, so I encourage you all to also share your insights and tips in the Comments section below.
