I want to be genuine on my blog. I don’t want to write about products I’m not using myself,” says Izy Hossack, 18, author of the baking blog, Top With Cinnamon.
She’s only just finished her A-levels, but has been running the blog for three years – which now attracts about 200,000 readers a month. Oh, and she’s just had a book published too, following the blog’s success.
Shrewd bloggers and vloggers – video bloggers, usually using YouTube – are balancing the differing requirements of advertisers and audience, to make money from their digital content.
Brands are keen to work with students
Young audiences have a high commercial value, so student bloggers and vloggers can make substantial sums of money to supplement their studies, says Kate Ross, managing director of digital marketing agency eight&four, which advises brands on how to work with bloggers.
Student accommodation companies and the financial industry are particularly keen to grow their student audiences at the moment, she says.
“If you can generate successful content and have a loyal and growing audience, they’re not going to be concerned that you’re a student.”
Cashing in on your blog
Brands regularly reach out to bloggers and vloggers to promote themselves. Product placement, for example, involves them sending free samples to be reviewed and/or given away through competitions. Hossack recently collaborated with Teapigs for a sponsored giveaway, which fit seamlessly into a recipe post.
Sponsored posts are also increasingly popular, with bloggers collaborating with brands to create content that both parties are happy with.
Ngoni Chikwenengere, 21, a fashion design student at the University of Northampton, says sponsored posts are the most “organic” way to monetise her blog, IAMNRC. She has worked with the Swiss Tourism Council, Nike andSamsung.
Before your following is large enough to attract big name brands, you can monetise your content independently. Banner ads, which you can sell to advertisers for a set fee, are a basic way of doing this.
Affiliate marketing schemes are also popular among bloggers, who can earn a fee from companies – via an agency such as ShopSense or RewardStyle – if someone clicks onto their site or buys their product after clicking through from your blog.
Amy Mace, 18, an English literature student at the University of Bristol, uses banner ads and affiliate linking on her blog, Fashion Junkie.
The income from these hasn’t been “life-changing”, but she makes sure to only promote brands her readers will be interested in, rather than just the ones that pay the highest commission.
Google AdSense is another popular way to get ads on your blog. Google displays clients’ adverts on your site and pays you for every click you drive.
Monetising your videos
There are fewer money-making opportunities for vloggers, but they can still be lucrative. Regular uploaders with large audiences can become YouTube partners, meaning you share the revenue generated from ads – which can be placed before or within your videos.
Rosie Bea, 17, is an A-level student with over 80,000 subscribers to her fashion and beauty YouTube channel, MsRosieBea. She earns money from the ads at the beginning of her videos, with the amount varying each month depending on how many people view and click on them.
“The money enables me to be a bit more independent,” she says. “It’s been really helpful as I’ve just started sixth form and have needed to buy new clothes. I’m also saving up for my own car, which is going to take a long time!”
How much could you earn?
High-profile vloggers on YouTube can earn up to £4,000 per mention of a product and can charge up to £20,000 a month for banner ads and skins on their web pages, according to eight&four.
But don’t expect anything from your blog or channel at first, advises Hannah Farrington, 20, a law student at the University of Manchester who runsHannah Louise Fashion. “You have to put in the work to gain a following and regular traffic.”
Now that her blog has become successful, the most profitable methods are those that require the most personal input. “A campaign with a brand involving a large time commitment or some traveling is generally more lucrative than a post without much writing, which would take about an hour to put together.”
She also says affiliate links can be very worthwhile. But the sums made depend on the standard of the blogger’s content, their traffic, the number of links they use and their conversion rate – how often a clicked link leads to a purchase.
Bloggers can earn anything from thousands of pounds per month to between £50 and £300 through affiliate schemes, says Nastasia Feniou, blogger partnerships manager for Europe at ShopStyle. But with ShopSense, for instance, bloggers are only paid once the amount reaches £100.
Blogs and vlogs aren’t a miracle cure for students’ financial woes, but with creativity, commitment, business acumen and organisation, they can certainly ease the pain.
Tips for monetising your blog or channel:
- Content is king. Without top quality posts or videos, you wouldn’t have a large audience in the first place. “If you try to set up a channel or blog just to make money, it’s not going to work,” says Ross. “It needs to be organic and start with a passion. If it’s something you love, it shows.”
- Stay true to your audience and yourself. All sponsored content and advertising should be relevant to your audience – and ideally for a product or service you’d use yourself. It’s much harder to write authentically about something you’re not using, says Hossack. Be honest about when a post is sponsored and if you’ve been sent a product for free.
- Do your research. “Spend time researching different advertising companies,” says Hossack. This also means knowing what you’re worth. Don’t overcharge and put off brands that may have otherwise offered you opportunities, but equally, avoid being taken for a ride by PRs who want you to post about their brands for nothing in return. Talking to other bloggers can help you gauge what you should be expecting from your blog.
- Get your name out there. Be direct and network with marketing departments, says Ross. “Approach digital agencies and say, I’ve got this audience, is there anything you can do with it?”. When Mace is interested in starting a PR relationship with a brand, she emails them asking to be added to their mailing list. “It’s also useful to email PR companies rather than individual brands,” she says. “They have lots of clients and can put you in touch with brands that they think will fit your blog’s content.”
- Be organised. Juggling maintaining a high-quality blog or YouTube channel with student life can be tough, so you need to be constantly on top of deadlines and emails. “Some weekends I pre-film videos for the following weekend if I know I’m going to be busy,” says Bea. She recommends sticking to a schedule for uploading content and doing school or uni work as soon as you get it. “Never put vlogging or blogging before schoolwork, as you never know what the future holds.”
- http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/oct/10/-sp-could-you-be-a-star-blogger-vlogger
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