Publisher Playbook
For bloggers & site owners · Deals come to you
Sponsored posts, without the pitching
Cold-pitching brands for sponsorships is a part-time job with a terrible hit rate. List your site where vetted buyers already shop, set your rate, and review the offers that arrive with the article attached and the money in escrow.
No pitching · No invoicing · No surprises
What is a sponsored post?
A sponsored post is an article a brand pays to have published on a site it doesn't own — written to fit that site's topic and audience, published with the owner's approval, and disclosed as a commercial arrangement. On social platforms the currency is follower counts. On blogs and content sites it's authority: brands sponsor posts on sites that search engines and AI assistants treat as sources.
That authority angle is why blog sponsorships survived every ad-market downturn. A banner impression is gone in a second; a sponsored article keeps working — ranking, getting cited, referring readers — for years. Brands know it, which is why a focused site with modest traffic can charge real money: $25-50 per post at DR 20-59, $120-280 once a site crosses DR 60.
The old way to get these deals was outreach spreadsheets and a media kit PDF nobody opened. The marketplace way: list once on the publisher platform and let matched offers come to you. Sponsorships are also just one lane — see the wider options in how to monetize a blog.
What decides whether you get sponsored post offers
Topical focus beats size
Buyers filter by niche first. A site that clearly owns one topic gets matched constantly; a site about everything gets matched with nothing. Your archive is your pitch.
Clean link history
Buyers check where you've linked before, the same way you should check them. A site that linked to anything-for-money in the past earns less, or fails vetting outright. Guarding your standards literally raises your rate.
Honest disclosure
The FTC requires disclosing material connections, and readers respect labeled sponsorships far more than discovered ones. A visible policy also repels exactly the buyers you don't want. Win-win-win.
Frequently asked questions
What should I charge for a sponsored post?
Anchor on authority, not traffic. Marketplace rates run $25 per post at DR 20-39, $50 at DR 40-59, $120 at DR 60-79, and $280 at DR 80+. Engaged niche audiences justify charging above the ladder — you set a custom price per site and buyers see it before they offer.
How do I get sponsored posts without pitching brands?
List your site where buyers already search. On a marketplace, brands filter by niche and authority and send offers to matching sites — the pitching direction reverses. Direct outreach still works for big one-off deals, but the steady volume comes from being findable.
Do sponsored posts need to be disclosed?
Yes. The FTC's endorsement rules require disclosing material connections, and a consistent disclosure policy protects you with readers and search engines alike. Any sponsor who asks you to hide the arrangement has told you everything you need to know about them.
Who writes the sponsored post?
Usually the buyer — offers arrive with the article attached, ready for your review. You can edit, request changes, or reject it entirely. Some publishers charge extra to write the post themselves in their own voice; that's a per-site setting.
What's the difference between a sponsored post and a guest post?
Payment and direction. A guest post is contributed content, usually free, pitched by the writer for exposure. A sponsored post is commissioned by a brand and paid for. The editorial bar should be identical — if it wouldn't survive as a guest post, don't run it as a sponsored one.
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Stop pitching.
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Your rate, your rules, your final say on every article. The money is reserved before you publish a word.
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