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We’ve recently received a lot of emails regarding recent Premium Opportunities. How can I be Premium, they say.  Read my blog, they say, am I Premium! Are you, though?  Do you have what it takes to work with some of the most exciting advertisers this side of the blogosphere?  Walk with me, talk with me, roll up your sleeves to do some serious work if you want into this program.

Let’s take Armani, which was geared toward fashion/makeup/beauty blogs with an obvious reader interaction (as in, this person gets consistent comments).  Before you say, ‘but I DO write about fashion‘ and send me examples, hear this: Yes, you blogged about your 4 year old’s sequined swimsuit and yes, you wrote a post 8 months ago about your high school prom dress (with a picture), but no- you do not qualify as a Fashion blogger.  And, I say that in the most loving way possible.

Can You Spot the Premium?

Can You Spot the Premium?

Being Premium is about being passionate. It’s about becoming a trusted source for your information about your topic/niche, and providing valuable content of relevance to your community and having that community interact with you. Being passionate about something (your kids, cupcakes, gadgets, makeup, environmentalism, gaming, product packaging, or even your hometown) means that you genuinely care about what you are spending time writing about. Obviously, if you care more, you’ll be a better writer, a more in depth researcher, a more involved blogger.

Advice from Premiums:

“I think it’s all about the trust & relationship you have built with your readers.” -Melissa Garcia

“Quality, authenticity, and influence are things that make me think “Premium.” -Lori Falcon

“…I think going to conferences is very helpful.  I made tons of connections and got a couple hundred new Twitter followers in one weekend [at BlogHer].” -Jenny Rapson

“…someone who is a thought leader in their niche. This comes from a combination of strong stats compared to other bloggers in their niche, and a good number of repeat commentators.” -Dad’s House Blog

“We use all sorts of metrics to track engagement on our sites, including page views, bounce rate, average time spent, comments, sign-ups and sales through our links.” -She Finds

“What you need to do is assign goals (to get readers, newsletter subscribers, contest enteries, etc) and use stats to tell you what you are doing to acomplish those goals.”  -ShoeMoney

As mentioned in a previous  post about Premiums, there is no basic formula that automatically gets you into the program. Remember that we, not unlike our clients, are always looking for bloggers, not billboards.  It’s the voice we’re after- a voice brings listeners- oh, and a nice, clean layout.

However, there are some basic guidelines that we follow when evaluating bloggers into the program.  Last, remember that niche is important, too.  The tech blogger field and mommy blogger field are far more saturated than, say, the knitting or cupcakes field.  The standards are different for tech bloggers and mommy bloggers, than the number one source for knitting.

The Actual Blog

  • The design of the blog
  • Quality of content
  • Number of legitimate comments

The Blogs statistics

  • How many unique visitors per month (premiums usually above 50k)
  • How many page views per month (premiums usually above 100k)

Third Party validation

  • Real Rank (for those already in our system- below 1000)
  • Alexa score (Below 100k)
  • Technorati authority (Above 500)
  • Technorati rank (Under 20k)
  • RSS Subs (Above 2000)
  • Media Coverage, Book deals, speaking engagements
  • Twitter followers (typically 5,000+)
  • Celebrity
  • Corporate Sponsorships
  • Broad reach via YouTube (Millions of views)

If you feel your blog meets what we’re looking for, don’t hesitate to leave a comment and be sure to include your blog’s URL in the URL field.  If you haven’t already, visit SocialSpark and create an account!  The system will help you monitor your Alexa Score, RealRank, and unique visits.