Blogpodium, The Business of Blogging : Part Two


After all the fun Nancy and I had leading up to Blogpodium, it was exciting to finally arrive at the event.

Held at the Arcadian Loft in the Simpson Building, it was an ultra chic location. Jennifer and Lindsay, the organizers of the event, truly outdid themselves.

 It was a flawless afternoon, full of information, socializing and food!






Nancy and I finally met the representatives, Amanda and Nelson, from Aya Kitchens, our generous sponsors who flew us out for the weekend. We pinched ourselves the whole time we were there, enjoying every minute. 




After a chat with Amanda and Nelson and a few photos, we sat down to listen to the key note speaker, Nicole Balch, of Making It Lovely. She is an inspiration to all, from a girl who started a blog to just share with her family the transformation of her home, to now a world famous blog and one that generates her family income.


After her inspiring talk, our attention was turned to a panel of Canadian "experts", Lindsay from Little House Blog, Christine from Bijou and Boheme,  Cheryl Kozoriz from Gluckstein Home and Laura Muirhead

Cheryl, Laura, Lindsay, Christine and Leigh-Ann

With witty and charming Leigh-Ann Allaire Perrault {Benjamin Moore Colour Expert and Cityline Expert}, as moderator, the questions and answers where about everything we would want to know about the business of blogging. Incredibly informative and enlightening.

Here is what I came away with from both Nicole's talk and the panel's discussion.

*Nicole didn't start entertaining the idea of advertising until she hit 10,000 page views per month, which was about a year after she started blogging.


* a combination of boutique ads {esty sellers or bloggers} along with larger ads designated to larger businesses is a good mix


*Rotate your ads to give all your advertisers equal exposure


*working with an Ad agency, such as Federated Media, a middle man that connects the advertisers with the bloggers. It can save you time, as they package the ads tailored for your blog. The negative aspect is that you need to sign a contract, usually 1 year minimum and there can be delays in pay, up to 120 days.


*Sponsored posts are another way to bringing income, it can be set up like a commercial, "This post is brought to you by...." but the general consensus among the Blogpodium attendees that sponsored posts should be kept to about 2 per month.


*Another indirect source of income is receiving product for review. 


* Don't be shy in approaching companies in porviding product in helping your current projects. Explain in a brief email, who your are, your blog, why you would be a good fit, and how you would use their product. Nicole, had a majority of her furnishings in her home provided that way!


*A great way to start out is to offer ads for free, then once your blog grows and you generate interest you can offer ads at reasonable rates.


* increase your rates as your blog grows


*Rates can be calculated based on approximately $3 CPM {Costs per 1000 page loads per month}. 


*Treat your ad space like a newspaper would into two parts; above the fold vs. below the fold. Those above the fold should cost more {those that are on top of your blog, the part that you see when you load the page without scrolling down}


From the Brand and PR Perspective, this is what they are looking for from bloggers:


Authority: How well informed are you, your niche and how professional are you
Context: How does your blog and the content relate to the brand
Engagement: What is your following, your comments, social media links
Reach: Your stats, how are you involved with the various social media outlets

I came away with my mind reeling. 

I am on the fence about advertising on my blog. But the time I take to write, sometimes it is tempting to get compensated for that. I have approached and been approached by PR companies and brands to use product for projects. So far, that is the only form of compensation I have had. 

After the session we had a meet and greet with various vendors present at the event. It was thoroughly enjoyable to connect with many of the companies that I love and a few that I was introduced to.


 Myself, Lindsay, Jennifer and Nancy

 Vanessa {Decor Happy}, Nancy, Myself and Sundeep {Designwali}


 Lindsay and Jennifer.


We were overwhelmed with the generous swag we received from the various vendors. My arm ached by the end of the evening from the weight!





What I want to know are your thoughts on the idea of advertising.

Are you taking advertisers on your blog? 
What have you learned from that? 
Or if you aren't interested, why?
Your two bits, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Come back tomorrow as I share what we did Saturday night and Sunday  - more exciting stuff!

XO Barbara

15 comments

  1. Great recap Barbara! It was so lovely to meet you in person! You are as charming and as fabulous as your blog!

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  2. I am on the fence about ads. However, if making a little money from my blog helped me to create better content, then sure. I only have about 2000 page views a month right now anyway. I just heard of something called Passionfruit - a new business that maintains your ads for you - with checkout, giving stats to the ad buyers, etc. I might do that and offer free ads on my blog soon, I'm not great with the coding anyway.

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  3. Great points that you took away, thanks for the recap :)

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  4. Fantastic recap. Please show us what was in your swag bag!!! At some point I would like to take on advertisers, as long as they are a good fit with the content and aesthetics of my blog. I like the idea of mixing small boutique companies with the big boys. Thanks for sharing what you learned! I'll be here for Part III.

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  5. Sounds like it was such a blast! I've been watching all your pictures and have enjoyed it! I've yet to be sent on a trip but it sure looks cool. :)

    In regards to ads, the least intrusive way to start is with ad networks. You can load their codes and still blog as usual. I highly recommend looking into BlogHer. They will take on any sized blog while some networks only accept those with very high hits.

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  6. Thanks for the recap and the photos Barb. It makes the rest of us feel like we were there just a teensy bit. You look like you're glowing so I am assuming you had an awesome time!!

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  7. I'm so proud you won the kitchen contest Barbara! and great recap of the blog conference. I am curious about advertising, and since were new, have to research a lot of options, plus work on our viewership. Best of luck to you. You look great!!
    Nancy
    Powellbrowerhome.com

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  8. Thank you so much, Barbara, for this great information. It has helped with some of the questions that are reeling around in my mind about advertising, too. Blogpodium looks like so much inspirational fun! I'm gonna put it on my "dreaming" list...:){ritajoy from harbourbreezehome.com}

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  9. Thanks for the great re-cap! Wish I could have been there! Great info re advertising... I don't have advertisers yet (not enough page views per month, I don't think) But I totally plan to do it when I hit my views per month goal. I don't see anything wrong with getting compensated for the time put into blogging. The only adds I don't like are the big tacky flashing adds that come from some networks... and I hate it when the adds don't have any relevance to the blog... I find that super tacky!

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  10. ohmygosh, Barbara, I so, so enjoyed following you along on instagram! Such a great recap! I wish I could have been there but feel like I got to experience it through you, so thank you!

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  11. Oh Barbara - It looks like you had a great time. How fun!

    I have a few Google ads on my blog but would really like to incorporate sponsors. I'm just a little worried about the time it would take to keep it all organized and if it would be worth it. So much to consider!

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  12. Great recap Barbara! So glad you guys had fun, and extra glad that we got to meet!

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  13. Thank you for sharing this info, and the awesome pics! I take ads on my blog, and am giving Google ads a go. I'm not crazy about the Google ads because it clutters up my page, and is 'very' slow to grow... I've written a sponsored post, and found that was more time-consuming than I realized it would be, just because I needed to familiarize myself with their product first to ensure it was a product I would endorse. And then the writing part - didn't charge enough on balance for the time involved in the end. I would give that another go, but not sure if it's a fit for me... I haven't had the opportunity to try and review a product, but would definitely like to!

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  14. Barb you are smart interesting organized (and pretty !) and a perfect fit for ads! I say go for it!

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