Thoughts on blog sponsorship - a follow up

I thought it would be good to follow up on my post from last week when I was thinking about blog sponsorship.

I was a bit nervous about putting the post out there, but I'm so glad I did.  Thank you so much to everyone who commented - I really appreciated your insights and you provided me with some valuable perspective.  It was awesome to have a really honest, friendly and constructive conversation about quite a tricky subject.

Ralph's getting some perspective too!

I wanted to give a little summary of what I learned from the people who commented and where my thinking is at now.  So, from the comments I learned that most of you follow blogs for inspiration and enjoy seeing and reading about projects with originality and creativity.  Me too, so no surprises there!

Most readers said they find too much sponsored content a turn-off, especially if it replaces what used to be interesting and creative content.  People also find it disappointing when they feel like a blogger has compromised his or her integrity by promoting something he or she doesn't totally believe in.  I completely agree with this, and I'd even take it a step further and say that when a blogger engages in too much marketing activity it's hard to feel that blogger always genuinely means what they are saying.

That said, most readers didn't think that blog sponsorship was necessarily a bad thing, and most commenters thought it was possible to strike the right balance and do sponsorship well.  That was incredibly encouraging to me, and when I thought about it, I realised that there are plenty of blogs out there which incorporate sponsorship in a way that (to me) doesn't detract from their high quality content.  Several people advised me to start off slow and regularly re-assess, and that made me realise that I can try sponsorship out, but if I find it doesn't work for me, I'm not tied to it for the long term.

So where to from here?  I've decided to approach a small number of sponsors I know and love to see if they want to work together.  I'm going to restrict both the number of sponsors and the number of sponsored posts on my blog to make sure it doesn't feel like marketing is taking over.  And I'm going to keep doing exactly what I've been doing for the last year or so - making projects I'm excited about and sharing them with you.

Ivy's so excited about this project she can't even keep her tongue in her mouth!

Thank you again to everyone who commented on my post last week, and if you didn't get a chance to comment then, or you've had further thoughts, I'd love to hear from you!

Thinking about blog sponsorship

I've been thinking about something for a while now.  I've talked it over with a few people, and I've come to a few conclusions, but I'd like your thoughts.  You've probably worked it out from the title to this blog post.  I've been thinking about blog sponsorship.

Ivy's been thinking too.

Before I started On the Windy Side, I spent a year or so just reading and following quilt blogs.  It gave me a pretty good feel for what I enjoy in a blog, and what I don't enjoy.  When I started I thought it might be nice if one day I could make quilting more than a hobby. I thought it might be fun to try making quilts for sale - at least that way I could defray the cost of materials. At some point I realised that I was never going to make any money making and selling quilts.  At that point quilting got a lot more fun because I stopped thinking too much about whether other people would like my quilts.  I've realised that I really love the creative part and the freedom to do what I feel like doing at any given time.

Ralph thinks best when he is relaxed...

 

I still haven't given up on my idea of making quilting more than a hobby though.  I'm at the point where I'm thinking about looking for sponsors for On the Windy Side.   I'd love if my blog could go some way to supporting my fabric habit.  That said, there are a few things that make me hesitate:

- What if no-one wants to sponsor my blog?  That would feel a lot like rejection and rejection sucks.  I'm not fishing for compliments, I'm just being honest.  Writing up that email that says "hi - would you like to sponsor my blog?" is a bit scary.  That's not the biggest issue though.

- Too much sponsored content is a major turn-off for me.  I'm not going to name names but I can think of blogs where the sponsored content far outweighs the "genuine" content.  That's the point at which I hit the un-follow button. I'm sure that I'm not unique in finding too much sponsored content just plain old boring (yes, giveaways are lovely, but I really read blogs for inspiration rather than the chance to win fabric).  I think this can be managed though.

- I tend to keep my blog pretty non-controversial, but I wouldn't want to feel like I can't give my honest opinion on something because it might upset my sponsors.  I guess that's part of the reason I'm putting this post up now.  Potential sponsors be warned - I might say things you don't agree with.  Like this next bit.

- I'm not sure I'm ok with the constant pressure to buy the newest latest fabric right now all the time.  I can't afford to buy every new line that comes out (honestly, who can?), and frankly, I don't always want to (incredibly, I don't love every line of fabric that has ever been produced!).  Do I really want to be part of the consumer cycle?  On the other hand, I really genuinely love fabric.  I get excited about new fabric and I love seeing how other people use it.  When I first started quilting 6 or 7 years ago there weren't many quilting fabrics I did love, and omg it was so amazing to find more and more of them. So maybe this whole consumer cycle thing is not so bad.

- Yes, I put a lot of time and effort into my blog.  But I don't have sponsors right now, and I still write my blog.  If I didn't get any sponsors, I would still keep making stuff and blogging about it.  Does this mean I shouldn't seek out sponsorships?

- The deals behind blog sponsorships seem to be a bit hush-hush.  I mean, that's fair enough, it's commercially sensitive information.  The thing is, normally I'd have some kind of a benchmark for deciding whether an offer is fair.  For this? Nil, nada, zilch.



I think the cat's out of the bag...

I feel like I'm really laying my cards out on the table with this post.  In one sense it does make me feel pretty vulnerable, but in another way its a bit of protection for me - if a sponsor is willing to partner up with me after this, they must be a good egg.

 

Let's keep it friendly even if we don't agree.

 

I really really want to know what you guys think about blog sponsorship.  Is this something you even think about?  I've been wanting to have a conversation about this stuff for a while - I can't believe it only just occurred to me to post about it here!  Seriously, I want your honest opinions here, so chime in even if you don't agree with anything I've said.  One thing though.  Let's keep the discussion constructive and respectful.  Thanks!