Buy Sponsored Posts Directly From The Blogger

I know this might seem like a disguised plug for our new Marketplace, and I have no problems admitting that the point I will bring up in this article is closely related to one of the reasons why I wanted to offer a marketplace at Bloggst in the first place. Fact of the matter is, most bloggers, just like myself, have a limited budget when it comes to promoting their blogs. There is nothing wrong with this, but I myself have learned the hard way that when you have some money between your hands, it's easy to be carried away and throw them away without doing the proper research and considerations first. The main reason why this is done, is because you are just so eager to start promoting your blogs, that instead of taking some time to think through your moves, you jump to the first and easiest method.

As the title indicates, in this article I will be talking about purchasing sponsored posts. This type of advertising has spread like a virus (not that it's bad) through the blogosphere over the past few months, and it has quickly become the method of choice for bloggers to earn money from their blogs. In one of my previous articles, I took a look at the three most popular services for buying and selling posts, but in this particular article I will argue the case that using these services from a buyer's perspective is a waste of resources that can be better spent elsewhere.

You see, by using services like these instead of dealing directly with the blogger you are purchasing posts from, you are adding a third party to the transaction. As most of us have learned by now, people don't participate in any transaction without the incentive of getting something in return for it, and that is most definitely true for these services as well.

ReviewMe takes a whopping 50% of what you pay for each review, while Sponsored Reviews are a little more modest and limit themselves to 35% of what you pay for each post you purchase. I'm not sure about PayPerPost, since I haven't worked with them as an advertiser. It is however redundant to say that paying twice as much as you potentially have to is a complete waste of resources, especially when you consider just how easy it is to cut the middleman. Doing this is not only favourable for you as the buyer however, but the seller will also appreciate it as he will be able to increase his earnings, even by offering you a lower price.

Like I already mentioned before, I have bought my fair share of paid posts in the recent past, and I can tell you right now that I will never be using these services again. From now on, when buying posts on a blog, I will be going straight to the blogger and cut the (very expensive and unnecessary) third party. One example of this is that I bought a review through one of these services for $40, and a while later I saw this same blogger selling reviews on his blog directly for only $15. This essentially means that I paid 166% more than what the blogger himself valued the post, and I could have purchased it for if I contacted the blogger directly instead.

And with services like PayPal at your disposal, that makes it extremely easy to transfer funds online, there really isn't a good reason no to take care of the transactions yourself, instead of going through a third party. The only real advantage I see when using these services, is that they make it extremely easy to buy sponsored posts in bulk. For people on somewhat limited budgets though, this isn't recommended, and in any case, I would advise on doing thorough research before buying a sponsored posts on any blog.

The question that arises when you're not using these services is where you will find blogs that you can buy posts from. This is simple. The best way is obviously to contact bloggers directly through the contact ifnormation on their blogs. If you've done your research, you should have a clear idea of which blogs you wish to target, and contacting them for a quote won't take up much of your time. Another alternative is to browse through various webmaster marketplaces (apart from Bloggst, I would recommend Digital Point), and possibly post your offers there as well. This way you can decide yourself which ones you want to approve or not. A third alternative is to browse through the listings of participating blogs at services like ReviewMe and Sponsored Reviews, and see which blogs you would be interested in buying posts from, and then just contact these bloggers directly.

I am aware that this might seem like a harsh suggestion, but with the commissions these services are currently taking, there aren't any good reasons to let them take your hard-earned money.