How to Turn Down Advertisers for Your Mom Blog

By Wendy Piersall from Mom Blogging For Dummies

As a blogger, your personal brand and blog’s brand are your biggest assets and should be protected as though they’re gold, because they are. So it’s quite important for you to choose what advertisers you work with carefully. This isn’t such a big concern with big brands, because it’s going to be clearer to determine who you want to associate yourself with.

Sometimes it’s harder to determine whether a small business is a good match for you, because it may not have built up a reputation that you can evaluate.

The best way to gauge whether an advertiser is a good fit for your business is to review the following questions:

Would you take on this advertiser if money wasn’t an option? If your blog was financially successful and you had the luxury of turning this advertiser down, would you? If the answer is yes, then you should probably turn down that advertiser now.
Would other sponsors feel comfortable being associated with this advertiser? If this is a company that could be perceived as untrustworthy, or in an industry associated with scams, then you could potentially scare away other more appropriate advertising partners.
Can you really deliver results for this advertiser? It is best to work with advertisers when you have a win/win/win scenario: Your readers win because they like the product, you win because you have advertising revenue, and your advertiser wins because it has actually gained new customers from working with you.
Would your readers really want to buy this product or service? Don’t promote anything you wouldn’t be willing to buy yourself, because you never want to lose your readers’ trust. Maintaining trust with your audience is more important than any advertiser on the planet.
Does this product or service fit with my niche? If you’re blogging about raising ADHD children, you probably won’t offer a lot of value to an advertiser like Home Depot.

When would you want to fire an advertiser? Well, it’s mostly when you find that a company is (or has become) one you no longer want to be associated with, for whatever reason. You might also find that the marketing/advertising rep is demanding or difficult to work with, or starts to fit into some of the negative categories described in the preceding questions.

Whatever you do, don’t burn a bridge. The blogging and online advertising community is a small world, and you may find that burning one bridge has also burned several more without your realizing it.