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| Sometimes I say yes, because getting free stuff is fun for the whole family! |
The debate goes round and round between companies, bloggers and PR people. The big gun bloggers set their fee and it gets paid or it doesn’t. No skin off their nose. Plenty of others behind them. I think it’s a trickier business for a mid range blogger like me. Someone who has enough hits to be worth employing. But not enough to demand anything remotely close to the big bucks.
For me personally {and it’s up to each blogger to make up their own mind, I say} sometimes the product received makes it worthwhile. I know that this alone can lessen my opportunity for future paid posts. More and more I am charging for posts, because it’s work. It takes time and effort and costs money. Let’s take that toothbrush up there for example.
Firstly the product arrives and the householders tear into the postage wrappings like mad people. They argue {Hubby v Sister} over who gets what and why. They ARE trained to wait until I get the obligatory product shot. But then all hell breaks loose. Packaging flies. Instructions are discarded in lieu of going by gut feel. Plugs are plugged. Wars are won or lost. And that is all in the first 15 minutes.
Come the next day I notice my package sitting unopened on the dining room table. I decide to take it to the bathroom, where it belongs for a photo or two with the Nikon. Simple enough. Well, that is until I notice that my bathroom is in need of a good clean. It’s in a state unfit for the world wide interwebs.
So since the regular weekly cleaner {$60 people, get one, you’ll never regret it!} is on hiatus I must tackle this task myself. I shine the mirrors, I wipe the surfaces and I reorganise the ensuite double sink bench top. It’s an hour or so later {I’m not very good at this} and I place the product out in an attractive way. Posing it like Australia’s Next Top Model.
As I crouch on the floor to take a photo. I notice the floor is a disgrace. Well. This won’t do. I grab the mop and bucket and get cleaning. I slosh the shower screen and realise it needs to be cleaned too. Not long after I realise I’ve used the last of the glass cleaner on the mirrors. Darn. What I wouldn’t give for a Viva shower cleaner towel NOW!
Frustrated, hot and with frizzy hair I give up. Glare at the new product and grumbled about not being paid enough for this shit. I mean the bathroom cleaning, mostly. But after some fresh air {literally, have you noticed how bathrooms are like oven!?} I go back, get the shots. And the photos are ready. The BEFORE photos that is. I’ll be back saying cheese in the mirror in 30 days.
Now all there is to do is a month trial and write a post that is interesting, witty and makes you guys want to check out these toothbrushes {which BTW all reports are good. Sparkling, shiny teeth all around}. That’s the easy bit, right? Nooooo. The photos are the easy bit. We all can see what a fiasco THAT was.
Does that give you some idea on why Bloggers ask for payment or suitable compensation for featuring a product on their blog? It has nothing to do with cash for comment. It has nothing to do with us being hopped up, power hungry, greedy people out to take the big companies for all their worth {yes, I’m looking at you, in case you actually DO read my blog}. Sponsored posts take time, effort, bathroom cleaning {or hair primping if it’s clothing etc} and much, much more.
You are paying for that. And access to the awesome community of people we talk to everyday.
That HAS to be worth something?
Suger 
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