the Muse’s Mail Bag: Who Sponsors Musings of a Muse?
I’m going through e-mail today GASP! Whoa! My mail box is a mess but I was trying to answer some e-mails today. If you haven’t gotten a reply from me please realize it does take me a while to get back since I get alot of messages daily. Lord knows I’m away behind on comments never mind e-mails!
Normally I reply in private e-mails but sometimes I like doing mail bag posts that I feel would be helpful to everyone. Last month and this month seemed to have a popular theme as I got at least five e-mails asking if I’m sponsored.
Let’s take a look!
I won’t post each e-mail here but the popular topic at hand is “Hi, is your site sponsored?”
Sadly, no. Damn straight I wish it was sponsored! Ha maybe I’d save money. This site and most everything you find on it is paid by me with my own personal money.
I have to pay a monthly server charge to keep this site up and running plus money I put out for products for review.
So no, no brand sponsors me, pays me, or gives me money of any kind.
I am part of an ad network but they do not sponsor me either. I simply run three ads on the site to make money to pay for the server bill to run the site plus products you see me review.
On occasion I am offered samples for review but I don’t consider this payment as it’s my personal choice if I choose to feature these products or not on Musings of a Muse and any review I give the product is based on my own opinion of the item be it good or bad.
Occasionally I post affiliate links but it’s really rare because I find it’s a hassle to bother with them. I know alot of blogs who include affiliate links in ever post they do and I can’t even begin to wrap my head around dealing with doing that, just seems to much work. Affiliate links are basically a commission based link that allows a reader to click and purchase the product featured on a blog and the blogger who posted the link gets 8% to 10% (sometimes more) off the sale of the product. If I do use an affiliate link I always disclose it so you know what is happening should you click the link embedded in the post but 99.9% of the time any links I include to a product are just for your personal use and I do not make a commission off them, I simply like to point you in the right direction where you can buy the product and I am not making money if you do use the link and buy the product.
As for compensated or paid posts I try to avoid this as well as it’s alot of drama and time which gets sucked away from doing posts that I really want to do. I did this once with a fragrance launch. It was my first time doing one and probably will be my last because of the time it takes to actually promote the posts, write about the product, etc…..
I hope this helps and answers your questions.
You can read my Disclaimer/Disclosure by visiting this link and you can also learn more about the review process and FTC regulations about product reviews by clicking this link.
If you have any other questions regarding Musings of a Muse please feel free to post them! I’m always happy to discuss the behind the scenes aspects of the site as no one really asks much about it and it’s kinda fun to discuss it on occasion as alot of work goes into bringing you what you see here daily.