Some of you may be wondering why I randomly talk about a store or product. When I blog about a product or company, most times that’s a sponsored post and you’ll see something like this at the bottom of the post…

If you’re a blogger, then you likely know what a sponsored post is.

If you aren’t a blogger, I thought I would lay out some details so there is full transparency in here. I don’t want my readers to think i post about products in an effort to make money off of you just for swinging by to see what i’m posting about that day. That’s totally not the case.

In a nutshell, a sponsored post is…

1. A means for blogger’s to earn a little bit of money.

2. A great way for a blogger to try a new product.

3. A great way for us to introduce our readers to a new product.

There is a variety of ways in which a blogger can locate sponsored posts, but for me they typically come from an ad network I am connected to or when a company contacts me directly.

Here’s the way it works (or at least in my case)…

** I receive an e-mail from a company sharing their product details and some photos or links. They generally ask if I would be interested in writing a 250 word (or more) post about their product. They offer me a cash payment for blogging about them. The amount is typically $25 to $75 to write that post. Not bad – Especially when a blogger needs income to create and share fun projects for their readers. The downside is that most times the payout doesn’t come for 30-45 days.

** I am VERY selective with the products or companies I share here on simply organized. On an average week I receive about 5-7 sponsored post offers. Sadly, most of the time I have to politely say no because the company or product has absolutely nothing to do with organization. My goal is to keep everything 100% related to organization and/or home topics. This could include food or any special coupons that i think will help out around your house.

It’s so hard to turn away that income, but my #1 goal with a sponsored post is to be genuine about what I’m doing and sharing. I care very much about this blog and my readers. I wouldn’t do anything that could potentially turn you away or make me look like i’m being “product pushy” just to make a buck. To give an example of an offer I would turn away, last week I received an email from a woman asking me to promote her peace, love and jazz music. ?? Clearly that wasn’t going to mesh with my general topic…Although I did enjoy going to her facebook page and learning more about her music.

** Sometimes instead of paying me cash, a company will offer a free product for me to review and write about. Again, I keep this to products closely related to organization or home. When I receive an email like that, I kindly ask if the company would also be interested in offering a giveaway item for my readers. If you’re here to read my post about a random product, I’d like to make it worth your time! 🙂 As you can see by many of the giveaways I’ve hosted, the companies are usually more than happy to offer an additional product for my readers.

** If you click through any links on a sponsored post, i will not make money on that. If I share something that does have the potential to earn money, I always make that clear with some sort of disclosure at the bottom of the post. Those types of posts only earn pennies if someone clicks through. Nothing to write home about, trust me!

** Sponsored posts are totally sporadic – thus the reason Ive shared 3 sponsored posts in the last week. And prior to that, it was a long stretch with nothing coming down the pipeline. So when they come my way, and they are a match for the blog, I can’t pass them up. That couple hundred dollars I earned last week for writing 3 posts will get me through the next few organization projects I share in here…If I’m that lucky to stretch out the money.

** Finally, when I do receive a sponsored post, I try my best to go above and beyond with my writing. I don’t just hit that 250 word requirement and hit the publish button. I treat sponsored posts the same as I would if it was a general organization post I was writing. this serves 2 purposes – 1. The company will see my care to detail and potentially offer to work with me again in the future and 2. Again, this is my blog. I want everything to be genuine. So I truly do either have an interest in the product or thinks it’s something you would like…So I write in detail about it and add a lot of photos. Readers love photos!

A perfect example of that final bullet point is the recent dollar general sponsored posts I’ve written. They contacted me the first time about writing about the soda/candy offer – which worked out well because I am planning a candy bar party favor for our son’s holy communion party this weekend. After I was done writing that post, they contacted me again about writing a cleaning product post. Then this week they contacted me yet again with another sponsored post offer. Sadly, I had to turn down the offer because it’s regarding clothing (yes, at dollar general – of all places) but that topic wasn’t going to work here on simply organized. It was nice of them to consider me, but I politely declined the offer. If you continue to write great content for companies that have contacted you, it will continue to pay off.

Anyhoo, I thought I would touch on this topic for those with questions. My goal is to not turn anyone away from simply organized. At some point, a blogger has to make a little income – and it’s very very hard to get any income at all. Seems to be only getting harder these days. Matter of fact, just this week I received an e-mail from the google affiliate network (which was one of my ad networks) that they are shutting down the program to focus on other more successful programs. Over the last year or so I haven’t earned much money from GAN, so it won’t be a huge loss for me. But it proves just how difficult it is to make a little money in the blog world.

Bloggers are really doing what they do day in and day out because they are passionate about their niche. Not because they are earning loads of money.

Whatever the case, my goal in terms of sponsored posts is always to keep it focused on organization/home products and not overwhelm you by seeming product pushy. You are more than welcome to scroll right through my sponsored posts if they annoy you – I get it!

If you have any additional questions, I’m always happy to answer them!