There’s an art to selling a product without sounding like a commercial. I’m not going to say I’m perfect and never, ever have a cheesy line or two, but I’m kind of killing my own plan for How to Write a Sponsored Post (that doesn’t look sponsored). Oh, you wanna know my plan, too? (turn on cheesy self-promotion voice) Well, then, friends, you just come on down to NerdyMamma’s used car lot and find yourself a seat at my sales desk, ’cause I’ve got you a good ‘un. Heh.
How to Write a Sponsored Post (that doesn’t look sponsored)
So, selling something online through my blog was a COMPLETELY new thing to me a year or so ago. My first post is so shamefully bad…and I only had 5 hours to write the thing, so I was doubly ashamed. I mean–the photos were bad the sponsored content sounded like a tv commercial and I was so non-creative I am embarrassed it’s still up (don’t worry, at the year mark, I think I’ll fix it up, give it a facelift, you know…). These, my friends, are the tricks I wish I’d known…
- Drink Your Own Kool-Aid. Or lemonade. But, seriously. Don’t write about anything that you wouldn’t honestly use or have in your home. For example, I do a lot of allergy-friendly recipes, but I am also kind of loose about them, because not everyone in my family is allergic. But I draw the line at peanuts. I will never write about peanut butter–no matter how tempting the fee is.
- Don’t TRY. Just write your post like it was a normal, regular, nothin’ post. So, if it’s a recipe, throw together your recipe, then go back in and add the sponsor material organically. Don’t write it with the sponsor in mind. Even if that means you have to spend more time on it…OH SNAP (that’s #3).
- Spend More Time On It. If you’re writing your post like any other–then adding the sponsored information, you’re inherently going to spend additional time working-out the kinks. It’s gotta happen. Especially if there are a lot of sponsor requirements. Writing a sponsored post typically takes me 3 times longer to write than a standard post. Which means I work 3 times as hard for a post that I need to look like I took NO time to write. Heh.
- READ Other Blogs. Check out what other people are posting for other sponsored posts. See how they’re working the sponsored information into their posts. If you don’t like something they’ve done–then you cross that off your list. If you REALLY like something they did…replicate. Seriously, this works. And it’s easy.
- READ Your Post. For reals. Read it out loud–to your spouse, your dog, whatever. Just read it out loud. If it sounds all commercially–you’ve struck-out. Start over. Don’t try to massage it to happy–it’ll just get worse. It’s ok to just delete and start over. Don’t cry. I promise. It gets easier.
Tell me, what are your tricks for how to write a sponsored post so it doesn’t sound sponsored? Can you add anything to this? Or am I TOTALLY off-base. Honestly, I think that this is the way to go and makes writing the sponsored posts less stressful.
Leave me a note in the comments or hit me up on Facebook. And if you want to know how to GET sponsored posts, well, just wait a few and I’ll get you a post written-up for that, too. Heh.