Using Sponsored Reviews To Promote Your Business

Sponsored reviews is a great way for you to promote your products and services, create a positive overall view of these services, and drive traffic back to your website.

You will need to know exactly what to expect from your endeavors in order to get the most of these reviews.

What is a Sponsored Review?

In order for you to use sponsored reviews to your advantage, you must first understand how it works. Simply put, it is a very subtle yet effective way to advertise your product or brand online without paying for actual ads on popular websites. You will essentially hire a blogger to review your product or service and write a blog post about it; the blogger will also link back to your website or Facebook page for an extra boost in website traffic. For the outcome to be worth the investment, there are several things you should keep in mind.

Finding a Blogger

The first step involves researching different blogs that you enjoy reading. The blog author must be able to engage his or her audience relatively easily, and must also have a fairly strong following in order to reach as many people as possible. Popular bloggers are always a great option because their work can be found in many different places – not on a single website. It will also be worth your while to find a blogger who is already familiar with advertising instead of one who is new to the idea.

Become a Follower

Like any other undertaking, if you want your product or service review to be positive and well-written, you must build some sort of relationship with the blogger who interests you the most. This may involve reading blogs faithfully for a period of time and leaving thought-provoking comments or positive feedback on occasion. This process will help you in the discovery process because you will be provided with an opportunity to interact with the writers and get an overall feel for their personal interests.

Initial Contact

Once you have chosen the blogger who appeals to you the most, the next step involves contacting them with the proposal for your blog marketing strategy. The best way to do this is with a positive email message that outlines your ideas in a step-by-step format.

• Introduce yourself and explain why you enjoy the writer’s blog posts.
• Advise the writer that you are interested in hiring them to write a review post or series.
• Provide information about the products or services you offer.
• Explain the compensation you are willing to provide.
• Provide contact information. Your email address is usually best.

After the initial contact, if you have not heard back from the writer in a week’s time, send a follow-up email in order to determine whether or not the writer is interested in assisting you with your advertising efforts.

Setting Goals for Your Sponsored Review

Next, after the blogger has shown interest in your idea, and in order to ensure that you are on the same page with the writer, you should be sure to set goals for what you hope to achieve. These goals should include the number of readers you hope to reach, how much traffic you expect the blog post to generate, whether or not you will provide the blogger with commission for each sale they assist you with, and the level of interaction you would like on the blog post itself. For instance, you may choose to completely disallow comments or limit the number of comments a particular reader can make.

Bring it Together

Finally, after you have successfully made an agreement with a blogger for blog marketing, it is important to tie this blog post in with your own website and social media pages. You should always advertise that a renowned blogger has reviewed your product as this will increase your online presence and further boost your brand. When possible, the blogger should include a satisfactory number of backlinks as well as the ability for readers to ‘like’ the post on Facebook or re-tweet the link to the post on Twitter.

By selecting a blogger who is well-versed in writing sponsored reviews, shares your interests, agrees with your goals and is trained in internet marketing strategies, you will undoubtedly generate more website traffic—and ultimately, sales—with the help of an effective blog marketing strategy using sponsored reviews.

Image Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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Written by Alex Hedder

After working in Toronto real estate for 10 years, Alex started his own consulting company, but also shares his online marketing and business strategy knowledge with small local entrepreneurs. Apart from looking for the best investment in Toronto MLS Listings, his biggest passion is helping out the community by landsharing and urban farming.

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