How To Write A Sponsored Blog Posting
Many companies are using sponsored blog postings to increase their Internet
profiles. Unfortunately, far too many bloggers think that writing an original
blog entry involves nothing more than copying a paragraph from somewhere,
linking to it, and then adding a one line comment. This is not original content:
it is little more that filling space on the screen.
A blog posting should be approached as you would any other piece of written
work. You need a beginning, a middle and an end. Or, as my old tutor used to
say, an introduction, a body and a conclusion. The introduction tells your
readers what you are going to do. The body of the essay does it - and then the
conclusion summarises everything.
It sounds easy, but if it was then everyone would do it, and we wouldn't have
all those cut and paste jobs, would we? Luckily, it is a skill rather than an
art, so you can learn how to write workmanlike sponsored posts; all it takes is
a bit of practice - and this article!
Let's say that you have to write 300 words on The Widget Company. You have been
given three keywords, and each keyword is linked to a page on the company's
site. Go and have a look at each page, and if you are new at this game, take a
few notes about what is actually written there.
Make sure that the notes are in your own words. This is very important because
you cannot copy and paste from the company's website. If you do then your career
as a copywriter will soon come to an end because Google will think that the
company is spamming, and they will mark them down in the rankings. Of course you
must use the keywords that have been provided to you, just don't copy all the
text - use your own words.
Start off with an introductory paragraph that sets out, briefly, what the Widget
Company actually does, then go on to introduce the three concepts that the
keywords embody. Let's say that the first of your keywords is John Smith,
who turns out to be the owner of the company. The second is blue widgets,
and you find out that this company specialises in this type of coloured widget.
Finally you have easy credit, and from your reading you know how the
company's credit policy works.
The Widget Company has been in existence since 1856 and specialises in the production of the blue variety of the product. John Smith is the current owner and he is offering some very easy credit terms.
Do you see? Two of the three keywords have already been used once, so you
could link to them in the introduction. If you wanted you could even change
"blue variety" for "blue widgets," but that would mean repeating the word
"widget" twice in one sentence.
Now, with the body of your essay all you do is devote a paragraph to each
keyword. Tell your readers about Mr. Smith, state why his blue widgets are
wonderful and go on to explain how easy his credit is to get.
Finally, your conclusion is just a summary of what has gone before. One sentence
will do:
John Smith's Widget Company: the people to go to for blue widgets on easy
credit terms!
Don't worry, it will get easier as you write more and more sponsored postings.
Looking at my watch I can see that I have been writing this article for exactly
15 minutes, but then again, I'm a fast writer and can construct a simple essay
in my mind without having to use notes. It's just experience, that's all.
Now, do you remember that you had to write 300 words? Well that means 300, it
doesn't mean 250. If you are short then you can write something else in the
conclusion. Or expand any of the main paragraphs. However you do it, you must
keep to the advertiser's word length. He doesn't mind you going over 300 words,
but he will be mightily unhappy if you write under his required length.
Now, many people think that it is easier to write a short posting than a long
one. I think that it's the other way around, because a 50 word paragraph is
actually quite tricky to write. It is longer than a 25 or 30 word couple of
sentences, and finding those extra words can have you racking your brains. To
make matters worse, with the short paragraph you need to bring it in at almost
exactly 50 words: the advertiser wants short and snappy, not long and involved.
Let's create a 50-word posting, and see how we do. I promise not to cheat.
Taking the example of The Widget Company again, and using the same keywords of
John Smith, blue widgets and easy credit, a 50 word sponsored post could run
like this:
John Smith is the owner of The Widget Company, and specialises in the production of blue widgets, for both home and industrial use. He is offering easy credit terms, so for widgets in general and blue ones in particular, John Smith's The Widget Company is the only place to go.
That comes to exactly 50 words and it wasn't easy to write! I added "for widgets
in general and blue ones in particular," just to make up the word count - and
that only got me to 49. So I added "only" to the final sentence.
Do you see the problem? I could have created the posting in 40 words, but the
advertiser wants 50. He will be happy with 50 - 75 words, but anything over is
liable to annoy him because if he wanted a 100 word posting he would have asked
for it. On the other hand, 40 words is not enough: it looks like you are either
trying to cheat, or that you can't write to order. Either way you have problems.
The only advice that I can give is to do as I did in the example. Write out your
paragraph and if you are happy that it covers all the ground, then count up the
words. If you are short, add a clause, just as I did. As I said, short postings
can be tricky.
Viewed overall, this sponsored blog posting idea looks easy, doesn't it? Then
you will sit down at your keyboard and start to think that it's impossible. So
take your time, and remember the magic formula: introduction, body, and
conclusion. Stick to it, and to the word count, and you will get there in the
end.
About the author:
Ken Bell has been blogging at The Exile since 2005. In 2007 he started The Money Blog, and he has his own Mexico City tourist site.. This article has been taken from Uncle Ken's Article Directory.