Most bloggers love a good sponsored post. It’s a great way to earn money as a blogger and a fun challenge to figure out how to make topics work with your blog. It’s not just about choosing the right number of sponsored posts for your blog, you also need to work on choosing the right posts themselves.

Here are four questions to ask yourself before you take on a sponsored post.

Is it relevant – Can you make it work on your blog in a way that is consistent with your brand? Before taking a post try to think of how you would write it and if you could create a post around the product that your readers would actually want to read. If the answer is no, you probably should not take that opportunity.

Is it reliable – Especially when you are being approached by brands directly, it’s important to check that the brand is a reputable one, before you agree to work with them. Imagine the trust you would lose with your readers if you wrote a recommendation for a brand and then that brand treated them poorly or never delivered their products.

Are you excited by it – Is it a brand that you are personally excited about. It could be a reputable brand, but if it’s not one that you personally love, then it will be difficult for you to write about them in an authentic way. Readers can tell if you are talking about a random brand or one you truly believe in or use on a regular basis, so keep that in your mind when taking or denying opportunities.

Is it worth it – Carefully consider what your time and the time of your readers is worth. If you aren’t being offered fair compensation or enough to make it worth your time and effort, don’t take the opportunity. If your blog is small and you aren’t being offered much money yet, you don’t have to take $5 posts. Instead, focus on building your readership so you are offered more money!