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How I Made $4,900 in 8 Months from Newsletter Sponsorships
I’ve earned close to $5,000 from newsletter sponsorships in the past 8 months alone, and this has almost all been passive income for me.
Newsletter sponsorships can be a very lucrative income stream for bloggers, and yet most bloggers still have no idea how to get started.
This is a great way to profit from your email list and diversify your income.
So let’s talk newsletter sponsorships today!
What Are Newsletter Sponsorhips?
First things first, what are newsletter sponsorships?
Basically, it’s an advertisement in your email newsletter. As a blogger, an email list is one of the most valuable assets that you can have.
Unlike social media platforms, where you are at the whim of constant algorithm changes and could theoretically lose your account at any time, you have complete ownership and control over your email list.
Sending email newsletters is a great way to build a relationship with your audience that goes beyond your blog, and keep them coming back for more.
Your email list is also a great way to sell products, whether it’s your own digital products that you’ve created or products you’re an affiliate for.
And brands recognize that email lists are a good marketing tool, which is why they are willing to pay for space to advertise in a blogger’s newsletter.
Types of Newsletter Sponsorships
There are two main types of newsletter sponsorships.
The first is a dedicated newsletter. This is a full sponsored email that you send to your list that is completely dedicated to the sponsor of the newsletter.
And the the other type is a sponsored blurb. This is a shorter advertisement that may be located near the beginning of your newsletter, or towards the end.
A sponsored blurb may be as simple as a few sentences to a few paragraphs about the sponsor of the newsletter, rather than a full dedicated newsletter.
I’ve done both of these types of newsletter sponsorships.
For dedicated newsletters, I charge a lot more than I do for sponsored blurbs.
Usually, brands will provide the copy for me to use in a sponsorship, although sometimes I will tweak it a bit to better fit the tone of my newsletter.
How I Landed My Newsletter Sponsorships
As I mentioned at the start of this blog post, I have earned $4,900 in the past 8 months from newsletter sponsorships with various sponsors.
Since my audience on Blogging Her Way is people interested in blogging and online business, my sponsors have been brands in the same niche.
I’ve done dedicated newsletters with RankIQ and TravelPayouts, as well as sponsored blurbs with Matt Giaro and Premium Ghostwriting Academy.
I’ve landed these sponsorships in two different ways.
For a couple of them, I actually reached out to the brand directly asking if they were interested in sponsoring my newsletter. I did this after seeing the brand sponsor other bloggers in the same niche as me, so I already knew this was a form of advertising they were open to. This worked very well!
However, pitching to brands directly does require more work on your end.
The other way I’ve landed newsletter sponsorships is through the Kit Sponsor Network. This has been a really great way to get sponsors.
I already use Kit for my email list, and this is a really cool feature they offer. Basically, they connect you directly with sponsors for your newsletter.
They do take a cut of the earnings as the middleman, but it’s a totally passive way to find sponsors for your newsletter without pitching them yourself.
In order to join the Kit Sponsor Network, you will first need to be a Kit user and have at least 10,000 subscribers to your email list.
How Much Do Newsletter Sponsors Pay?
In the interest of full transparency, I wanted to share how much I charge for newsletter sponsorships because it can be hard to figure out pricing yourself.
You’ll find various suggestions online for how much to charge for newsletter sponsorships. Your rate is something you can set yourself, and you can negotiate with brands to agree upon a price for the sponsorship.
I charge $275 for a dedicated newsletter and $100 for a sponsored blurb.
This is based on me having over 10,000 email subscribers and an average open rate of around 37% (which is a pretty standard open rate.)
I haven’t had any problem with sponsors agreeing to these rates.
How to Start an Email List
So now that you know a little bit more about newsletter sponsorships, let’s talk about how to start an email list for your blog if you haven’t done so yet!
I personally use and recommend Kit.
Kit is fantastic for bloggers. They make it easy to start an email list, create opt-in forms, set up email sequences, and grow your subscribers.
Another great thing about Kit is that they offer a totally FREE plan up until you reach 1,000 subscribers, which is helpful for newbies.
I already wrote an in-depth, step-by-step guide on how to start an email list for bloggers, so go check out that post to learn how to get started.
Setting up your email list is something you can easily do in an afternoon.
If you’ve been blogging for a while and you haven’t started an email list yet, it’s one of the most important things you can do for your blog!
Making Money from Newsletter Sponsorships
This guide showed you how to make money from newsletter sponsorships!
Having a newsletter is a great way to connect with your audience and earn more money as a blogger. For years, I have been using my email list to sell my own digital products as well as products I’m an affiliate for. But newsletter sponsorships are still a pretty new income stream for me.
I’ve been able to earn nearly $5,000 from newsletter sponsorships in the past 8 months, and I am looking forward to watching this income stream grow.
For more tips on making money as a blogger, check out the following posts: