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When did finding bloggers to work with become such a tedious venture?

In the last three days I have spent a decent amount of time coming up with my Fall and Winter marketing budget and strategy, and fell disheartened when I could not find blogs to sponsor. 

Granted, I am being picky. 

But even the ones I fell in love with were either inaccessible or caught off-guard.

Don't get me wrong. I love bloggers and have a few key ones I invest in and work with all the time. I was simply hoping to branch out a little and find new audiences and found very little success. 

I decided that from a small brand's end, I should probably share what I was looking for in my ideal blogger. 

1. Be clear about what comes with advertising and collaborations. 

A little less than 24 hours ago, this bizarre news started popping up all over social media. Trending on twitter was a blog post called Blackmailed By A Blogger. In essence, there was a battle about a miscommunication between a blogger and a brand and it was totally mishandled and blown out of proportion. 

This could have been well-avoided if the blogger stated her intents and purposes and the brand asked the right questions. 

Give your pricing upfront, state what services that price point entails. You could, of course, be open to discussion, but don't stray too far from your word.

2. Know your worth.

Now this is a little tricky and hits a hundred different points of a spectrum, but I am particularly talking about pricing yourself well. 

How many organic followers do you have? How many times a week do you post? Are you a consistent blogger? (P.S. If you're an inconsistent blogger, you probably shouldn't offer advertising!)

Do your research and see what other blogs of your standing offer. Aim for that, or a little higher. Evaluate yourself in the best way possible: would you work with yourself?

3.  Be accessible. 

There are little things more frustrating than finally deciding on what you want and then realizing it is so hard to attain it. 

That's life, I know. But if you are selling a product or a service, wouldn't you want to be reached?

Do you have other tips for bloggers that work with brands? Do you know of any bloggers that might work well with Class and Charm? Share them with me in the comments below! ;)