Today we are going to talk about 4 things you NEED to make sure that you have on your blog’s PR/advertise page.
If you are a blogger reading this and wondering, okay but WHAT is a PR page anyway, don’t worry, we’ll cover that too. —> You can see my PR/Hire Me page as an example, here < —
Although everyone calls them something different, a PR page is the spot on your blog you use to communicate business information about your blog to brands and potential sponsors. This is a great way to get brands to connect with you and reach when they want to hire you.
Yes, it is possible that you will get some not-so-great emails and pitches from people as well, but we’ll go over how to tell a good pitch from a brand from a bad one at another time.
To make sure that you aren’t missing out on huge opportunities from brands make sure that you have a PR page set up, and prominent in one of your menu bars.
It doesn’t matter what you call it, as long as it’s clear to a brand what it is. Feel free to get semi-creative so it fits with the feel of your blog if you want, but you don’t want it to be so creative that a brand representative knows that’s the page for them. Some ideas to get you started:
- PR/Advertise
- Hire me
- Work with me
- Advertising
Now that you have a good title for your page, you’re ready to move on to the page content.
Email address
After a quick introductory sentence or two put your email address clearly at the TOP of the page. The number one complaint I’ve heard about bloggers from PR reps is always that bloggers often make it too difficult to find their email address. And you know what the worst part is? Many of those brand representatives have told me that if a blogger’s email address is too hard to find, they will often click away and find another blogger to work with, even if they loved everything else about the blogger’s site.
Don’t miss out on work by not displaying your email! Contact forms are fine, but don’t let them replace having an actual email address there. Brand representatives need to be able to send their email to you from their email address so their supervisors can see all the emails they have sent. Many of them CAN’T use a contact form, so you are hurting yourself if all you have is a form!
How you work with brands
After your email address, make sure you create a list of how you are willing to work with brands. Highlight your strengths and try to stick with things you feel you are truly skilled at.
You might notice I didn’t include things like Live Video or vlogging in my list. I don’t consider those my strengths (and I don’t enjoy doing sponsored video) so I don’t include those things on my list.
Because of this, I never get cold pitches for video! PR reps that are looking for video content can clearly read what I am able to do for a brand, and if they need a video they know that another blogger is their best bet. This is good for both sides, because no ones time is wasted sending emails back and forth for a campaign that isn’t going to work out.
Work Examples
Next, make sure that you share some examples of past work you have done as an easy way for them to get an idea of what your sponsored work looks like. I try to be sure that these links represent the breadth of my sponsored post topics. For my blog that means I have a recipe, a travel post, a post for moms and a post about kids! That covers the main things I blog about and shows potential sponsors in those categories that those are topics that my readers already come to me for those types of articles.
About the blog
It’s also important to share a bit about the audience your blog reaches. Potential sponsors want to know that you are already reaching their ideal customer. For this site, I tell brands:
Beauty Through Imperfection was founded in 2011. The website and connected social media platforms reach moms between the ages of 25-35 with children age 7 and under. These moms are always looking for new ways to connect with their kids, save time and save money!
That lets them know a few things about my readership right away so they can see if their product is the right fit for my audience or not. Then, I have a short list of my most popular topics. This shows brands what I blog about so they can see if my topics align with their goals.
Numbers
No, numbers aren’t everything, but they are something! Share as many numbers as you feel comfortable putting public and tell advertisors they can email you if they’d like more specific or up to date numbers. On my page I have all of my social media numbers written down. Since this is public information anyway, I like putting it on my page so it’s easy for a potential partner to see them all in one place. They can also get a pretty fair guess at my pageviews from these numbers. They have to email me for pageviews or monthly unique visitor information.
About you
Lastly, share a bit of information about yourself. Be sure to include a photo and any credentials or qualifications you might have that are applicable to your blog. In my about section I share a bit about my family, where I live and my philosophy about blogging and working with brands. This adds a personal connection for my future partners and gives them a glimpse of what working together might feel like.
With these six things in place you are sure to start getting a lot more emails from brands and clients want to work with you!
If this post is encouraging you to work with brands like never before, I want to offer you to buy my pitching brands ebook! In it, there are examples of emails I send to brands, and tips on how to work with brands too! You can get your copy for $2.99 here!
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