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59% of parent bloggers made money from blogging in 2011
88% of parent bloggers have accepted free products from brands or PR agencies
Tots 100, the UK’s largest community of active parent bloggers and RealWire the online press release distribution service have today published a comprehensive guide for, and about, UK parent bloggers - “How Parent Bloggers Make Money”. The guide includes exclusive research by Tots100 which reveals that the parent blogging community is becoming increasingly commercialised, presenting huge opportunities for brands that can engage with bloggers.
Tots100 polled more than 500 active UK parent blogs in December 2011, asking bloggers how they make their blogs pay – and what role brands play in this process. The results revealed that 59% of UK parent blogs have made money from blogging in the past 12 months, but 90% of respondents would either like to make more money or start to monetise their blogs. Popular ways for bloggers to make money include sponsored posts (22%), advertising (17%) and paid text links (12%).
A second survey of 250 parent bloggers asked about their experience of working with brands through public relations. The results showed that bloggers are receiving more pitches than ever before, and this means they are increasingly choosy about which brands they will work with. One in three bloggers will opt not to work with a brand they don’t personally like, while 67% of parent bloggers said their biggest frustration was PR professionals sending information that wasn’t relevant.
Sally Whittle, founder of Tots100, said: “Many families are stretched to the limit because of the recession, and blogging can provide a lifeline to parents by allowing them to earn an income flexibly, from their own home. These bloggers are enthusiastic about working with brands, but they are also becoming more demanding, and want tailored approaches that offer them the opportunity to have a great experience they can write about on their blogs.”
Other key survey findings include:
- 88% of parent bloggers have accepted free products from brands or PR agencies
- 78% of parent bloggers say their main motivation for blogging is to record family life
- 45% of parent bloggers say the best thing about working with brands is trying new products and services with their family
Commenting on the PR survey findings Adam Parker, chief executive of RealWire said “The results suggest that some brands are successfully building relationships with parent bloggers in a wide variety of ways and that the UK parent blogger community is keen for this to continue. However with the majority of parent bloggers saying that irrelevant pitches are still a significant problem, PR professionals need to continue to invest time in ensuring that their outreach activities are highly targeted if these relationships are to flourish.”
The eBook “How Parent Bloggers Make Money” is available to download at the Tots 100 website (www.tots100.co.uk).
Tots100
The Tots100 (www.tots100.co.uk) is the UK’s largest community of active parent bloggers. We provide brands and PR agencies with fast, simple access to profiles and up-to-date metrics on thousands of the UK’s most popular and influential blogs, as well as advising them on how to create high-impact social media campaigns, from competitions to sponsored posts and ambassador programmes. We also provide our bloggers with regular access to free blogging tutorials, webinars, social events and BlogCamp (www.blogcamp.co.uk) workshops, while highlighting the very best content being produced by British Mummy and Daddy bloggers.
RealWire
RealWire is an award-winning online press release distribution service with over 10 years of expertise and is first choice for many of the UK’s top digital PR and internet marketing professionals. RealWire’s service can increase your story’s coverage and improve your SEO results. RealWire has been the UK’s leading innovator in press release distribution introducing a Social Media News Release option in 2007 and its patent pending targeting system, PRFilter, in 2010.