Seeing as Shae and I quit our jobs to go on our 5 year, 50 state road trip, you might be wondering how we can afford it.
One method many other travel blogs use is to write sponsored posts. That’s not something we’ll be doing though for several reasons.
Here’s an explanation about what sponsored posts are and the reasons why we don’t write them here on No Home Just Roam.
What Is A Sponsored Post?
In case you’re not sure what a sponsored post is, it’s where a blogger writes an article about something in exchange for some kind of financial incentive.
There are different types of sponsored posts and they can vary depending on the website’s niche. For example, a recipe blogger might be paid by a brand to write about their new product. Someone running a photography blog might receive a free camera in exchange for writing a review about it.
Here in the travel niche, many writers accept free flights and / or hotel stays in return for writing a review about their experiences.
You’ll therefore often see disclaimers at the end of a post saying something like:
Thanks so much to xxx hotel for making this trip possible. All opinions are my own.
Or
We worked with xxx Tourist Board to bring you this review.
Why We Don’t Write Sponsored Posts
There are several reasons you won’t find sponsored posts on our site:
Trust
I’ll be honest – I don’t tend to trust sponsored posts on any kind of website. Ultimately, the reason that person’s writing the post is because they’ve received a financial incentive, whether it’s a product, service, trip or just a straight payment.
Even if they’ve tried their absolute hardest to provide an honest review of something, I find it hard to believe that I’m getting their 100% completely unbiased viewpoint. There are a number of reasons why that can be the case:
- Their view of something will usually be different if they’d paid good money for it rather than received it for free.
- If they give something a bad review, there’d be the concern that other brands wouldn’t want to work with them in the future. It’d therefore be tempting to gloss over or sugarcoat any negatives to ensure they keep getting freebies.
- When someone’s given them something for free, they’ll likely have a more positive image of them which can inadvertently affect their review.
For me, the biggest red flag is when you see a page on a blogger’s website explaining how they can “work with brands.” That page explains how the blogger can position a company’s product or service to help them get sales from their readers. In my view, that indicates they’re working for the company’s benefit and not necessarily for their readers’ benefit.
Your Experience
When travel bloggers write sponsored posts, they’re almost guaranteed a great experience. After all, the whole point of the hotel / airline / tourist board paying for their trip in the first place is so that they’ll write a positive review.
As a result, the blogger’s likely to receive service that’s above and beyond what a regular guest would normally receive to ensure the most favorable review.
We want our reviews to be a better reflection of what you could expect if you visited the hotels we stay at or eat at the restaurants we check out. That means we’ll pay for it all ourselves.
For example, we had a crappy experience with Hertz in Dublin, Ireland. If we’d accepted a free rental from them in return for writing a review, we wouldn’t have known they’d have placed a €5,000 on a credit card for declining their insurance. When we got a flat tire, we’d have received better service. We wouldn’t have been overcharged (like we were), and even if we had been, I’m sure they’d have resolved the issue more satisfactorily.
If we’d been writing a sponsored post about Hertz, our experience would therefore have been entirely different to what other customers could expect to have. So even when people writing sponsored posts are completely honest, it’s still unlikely to be an accurate reflection of what other people could expect.
Focus
As I mentioned at the beginning, Shae and I quit our jobs to go on this 50 state road trip. As a result, our jobs will be our websites.
If I was writing sponsored posts, it’d mean my focus would be on reaching out to hotels, restaurants and other businesses to try to convince them to give us free stuff.
Instead, I can focus on you – the reader – and give you inspiration for your travels without it being affected by whoever’s paying our way that day.
Autonomy
Both Shae and I value our autonomy – we don’t like being told what to do or what to say. When you’re “working with brands”, they have expectations of what you will or won’t do. Not writing sponsored posts means we can do or say as we please.
Freedom
Similar to the autonomy aspect above, writing sponsored posts would mean parts of our road trip would be dictated by the companies we’d be working with. We’d have to stay at certain hotels, eat at certain restaurants, do certain activities.
Not writing sponsored posts gives us the freedom to stay where we want, eat where we want and do what we want whenever we want.
How We Can Afford Not To Write Sponsored Posts
Back in 2011, I started building some websites. Over the years, I’ve created many more and currently have over 40 sites, all of which earn an income of some kind. Some only earn a few dollars a month, while others earn hundreds per month. I also spend ten hours a week writing for Frequent Miler. Check out this post for a better explanation about our different income streams.
We’re therefore not well-off by any stretch of the imagination. However, by having that income, maximizing hotel loyalty schemes and taking advantage of travel credit card rewards, we’re able to fully self-fund our travel on a budget of only $100 per day.
What This Means For You
When you read a review of something on this site, you can be assured that it hasn’t been received for free from that company. We’ve either paid for it ourselves or, in the case of hotels or flights, might’ve used loyalty scheme points.
That means we have skin in the game and aren’t influenced by whether or not a company will give us freebies in the future.
Question
What are your thoughts on sponsored posts? Are you as cynical about them as I am or don’t you mind them? Or had you not realized they existed?
I’d love to know your thoughts in the comments below.
Elizabeth says
Y’all are my kind of people! I’m not a fan of sponsored posts at all.
stephen says
Great! I’m glad I’m not the only one 🙂
Angela (ALC) says
Hi Stephen, yeah I’m also totally cynical. I researched reviews of a couple of new products I thought were pretty awful out of interest in recent months. Couldn’t understand why so many reviewers were complimentary about items I thought were rubbish (in particular a toilet cleaner that gave off chemical weapon grade fumes to the extent that my dogs wouldn’t go upstairs!!) ……. then I noticed the teeny print and obscurely worded disclaimers! PS on another matter, do you know if inbound international passengers getting onward national flights still have to go through security checks again?? Used not to be the case but happened at JFK last Sept & I missed my connection. Reckon I need to allow 2 1/2 hrs. Coming over to VA in October, wonder where you will be by then!
stephen says
Yep, I think you have to pick up your bags at the first airport you land in to get them rechecked, then you have to go back through security. Shae and I have Global Entry and TSA Pre-Check which is a lifesaver over here – we got to bypass a ridiculously long line at JFK when we got back from Australia last year that likely would’ve resulted in a 1-2 hour wait otherwise.
JFK probably has the worst waiting times for immigration and security, so if possible it’d be worth flying via another airport. I think Delta / Virgin Atlantic have Atlanta as a hub; although it’s a busy airport, it’s definitely better than flying through JFK. Even flying through one of the airports in DC you should have a shorter wait.
In October we’re due to be all the way over in Texas. October’s a perfect month to visit Virginia though – it’s usually still warm enough to be in shorts & T-shirt, plus the humidity of the summer has died down by then. Is it Richmond you’re visiting? I feel like that’s where you had family, but can’t remember for sure.
Angela (ALC) says
Yep, Chester Forest area a few miles outside Richmond. Thanks for the info on JFK. Never had a problem at Dulles but can’t get suitable flights both in & out. Looking at Newark, Boston or Chicago but layovers are either 2 hours – or 4!
stephen says
Newark can be a nightmare, so personally I’d go for Boston or Chicago.
Jo Pepper says
I never trust sponsored product reviews on YouTube, so it makes total sense why you don’t write sponsored posts.
I had no idea you had that many websites!!
Jenn says
I can agree with some of these aspects but not all. Their are bloggers that do write true review regardless of sponsorship or choose to decline providing a review in case of a negative experience. You fail to mention that your blog has paid for advertisement which is some cases is not tailored to the consumer. These ads that can bring in 1000s of dollars to you and are honestly annoying especially when used on a mobile device. Like I said I can agree with some of the reasoning behind this post but not all.