"Direct Blog Monetisation" - Presentation to FBC5 in London - July 2013.

1. Direct Monetization
Nick Carter
Co‐Founder, Sous Chef

2. Monetisation
Direct
‐ Sponsored content
‐ Advertising
‐ Affiliate marketing
Indirect
‐ Publishing
‐ Freelancing
‐ Consulting
‐ Supper club / Food truck
• Content
• Visitors
• Influence

3. What do other UK bloggers earn?
Source: Tots100/Realwire 2012. Survey of 500 parent bloggers
http://www.tots100.co.uk/2012/02/01/how‐parent‐bloggers‐make‐money/

5. susaneatslondon

7. Direct Monetisation Techniques
Sponsored Content Display Advertising Affiliate Marketing
Examples
• Product Review
• Competition
• Product/restaurant
news piece
• Banner Ad
• Contextual Ad
• Retargeting Ad
• Product link
• Widget
• aStore
How to find it
• Inbound
• PRs
• Networking
• Ad networks • Affiliate networks
• Direct from merchant
How it’s paid
Free Sample
Negotiated Rate
CPC / CPM Commission

8. Sponsored Content

9. Sponsored Content
 You can pick and choose
what to feature
 You can decide how it
appears
 Non‐technical to
implement
 Some scope to negotiate
over price
X Risk of alienating readers
X Is time consuming to
produce
X Hourly rates can work out
very low

10. Compliance
“Online promotional activity, just like any other promotional activity, must clearly
identify when promotions and editorial comment have been paid for, so that
consumers are not misled”
Office of Fair Trading
http://www.oft.gov.uk/news‐and‐updates/press/2010/134‐10#.UdWyEfnVBXk
“We expect all advertising online to be legal, decent, honest and truthful”
Advertising Standards Authority
“Paid links: We urge webmasters use nofollow on such links. Search engine guidelines require
machine‐readable disclosure of paid links in the same way that consumers online and offline
appreciate disclosure of paid relationships (for example, a full‐page newspaper ad may be
headed by the word "Advertisement”)” Google
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/96569?hl=en

11. Market price benchmarks
Source: Tots100/Realwire 2012. Survey of 500 parent bloggers
http://www.tots100.co.uk/2012/02/01/how‐parent‐bloggers‐make‐money/

12. Price setting – other considerations
• Hourly rate
• Which one?
• Attractiveness, relevance and newsworthiness
• Would I (or others) write about it anyway?
• Relative negotiating strength
• In‐kind vs cash
• Opportunity cost
• What could I have earned if I didn’t do that?
• Delivered value
• How much value am I creating for the advertiser?

13. Sponsored Content ‐ troubleshooting
1. Too few offers (relative to your size/influence)
• Identify relevant PRs; network to them via the blogging community, twitter, LinkedIn,
introduce yourself and your blog
2. Too many irrelevant offers
• These are leads not spam! Turn them to your advantage with a well‐crafted response
3. Too many cheeky requests
• Irrelevant company + irrelevant agency + cheeky = ignore
• Relevant company or agency = sell yourself
4. Product was lousy
•Tell the agency or company first
•If you’ve done the work – e.g. tested it and written up the test – then its reasonable to
ask for payment irrespective of the action then taken

14. What turns PRs on and off
• Quality blog appearance
• Good photography
• Aesthetic design
• Well proof‐read
• Clear interest in food and drink
• Existing well‐written, positive
reviews of similar brands
• Different angle
• Content flexibility
Turn ons Turn offs
• Unexpected negative reviews
• No review
• Review shorter than expected
• Coy about traffic data

15. Display Advertising

16. Network Advertising
 Free and easy to set up
 Automatic
 Contextual targeting
delivers reasonably
relevant ads
 Some control over ads
served – e.g. exclude adult
themes
X Can spoil the design of
your site
X Don’t know what’s going
to be displayed
X Earnings variable and
often low
X Relatively inflexible – i.e.
little you can do to
influence earnings

17. Direct Advertising
 Free to negotiate your
own rates
 Full control over ads
served
 Earnings generally more
stable
 No network fees to pay
X Need to find the
advertisers yourself
X Negotiating/ billing/
chasing payments is time
consuming
X Can be difficult to
demonstrate value to the
advertiser

18. Some Ad Networks to Consider

19. Affiliate Marketing

20. Affiliate Marketing
 Free to choose who and
what to promote
 High level of control over
type of links or adverts
displayed
 Extensive scope to
increase earnings through
your own actions
X More fiddly and time
consuming to set up than
display advertising
X Merchant might not want
to work with you
X Direct affiliate
relationships are hard to
police

24. Continental Europe
Best Affiliate Networks for Food & Cookery
UK

25. Selecting Merchants
Program Merchant Fit
ALL EQUALLY IMPORTANT

26. Selecting Merchants
• Commission
• % of order value
• £ per new customer
• Flat or tiered?
• Cookie period
• Affiliate
requirements
• Restrictions
• Bidding on
keywords
Program Merchant Fit
• Online v multichannel
• Is your reader already
a customer?
• Product range
• Service / reputation
• Location
• Site conversion rate
• Delivery rates
• Average order value
• Net or gross of delivery?
• Net or gross of VAT?
• Your content
• Your demographic
• Your readers’ interests
• Your readers’ location

27. Ideas for affiliate and reader‐friendly content
• Kitchen gadgets I can’t live without
• My most‐used cookbooks
• Where to buy unusual ingredients
• Videos showcasing your photography equipment and
routines
• Recommendations for products related to dietary needs
(e.g. gluten free resources)

28. Affiliate Programs to Consider
Supermarkets
Speciality Food
Cookware/Cookbooks
Subscription Boxes

29. The Sous Chef Affiliate Program
Contact me for more details: hello@souschef.co.uk

30. Appendix

31. Useful things
Tools
• Google analytics
• Google webmaster tools
• Food Blogger Pro
• Pro blogger
• Gorkana
• www.payperpost.com
• www.sponsoredreviews.com
• www.blogsvertise.com
• www.foodies100.co.uk
Reading
• Pinchofyum
• Tots100 report
• eConsultancy

32. What to include in a rate card / Media Pack
Details of What You Offer and its Cost
• The space or spaces offered (ideally as an
graphic or screenshot) for ads/sponsorship
• Size in pixels
• Rotation
• Artwork format
• Rates for sponsored posts, reviews, freelance
work
• Price and duration
• Minimum term, bulk discounts
Information About Your Blog
• Traffic & Google Analytics screenshots
• Site overall, by month
• Specific pages, by month
• Topics covered
• Reader demographics
• Awards
• Unique Selling Points
• Social Media followers if significant
• Your credentials if relevant
Administrative Details
• Payment terms
• How to book
• Contact details

33. Example Disclosure Policy
This blog is a personal blog written and edited by [INSERT NAME]. This
blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship and other forms of
compensation. I am sometimes compensated to provide opinion on
services, products, websites and various other topics. Even though
compensation is received for these I will always give my honest
opinion, findings, beliefs or experiences on what I am reviewing.
I will always fully disclose, upfront, if compensation has been received.
I have a business interest in the following companies, INSERT
COMPANY NAMES, and will always disclose this when writing about
them or similar companies.
This blog is not responsible for what you might click through from
advertisements.