Runbook
Sell backlinks on your city blog: a runbook for the editor
Plenty of local publishers get asked for sponsored posts and say yes to the wrong ones. This runbook keeps the decision with you.
CentralBlog editorial team ·
The runbook, in order
- 1
Decide what you will not carry
Write the list first: gambling, payday loans, adult content, anything that would embarrass you at the school gate. A list on paper settles arguments later.
- 2
List your site
Publishers can sell backlinks on your blog through the marketplace. You set a price, and buyers find your site by traffic, niche and language.
- 3
Set a price you can defend
Look at similar local sites in the marketplace, whose prices run from $1 to about $500 depending on authority, traffic and niche. Begin modestly and adjust.
- 4
Approve every placement
Each request comes to you before anything is published. Read the draft, check the link goes somewhere sensible, and decline if it does not fit your readers.
- 5
Mark it clearly for readers
A short 'sponsored' label is good practice, and Google's guidance asks that paid links use rel="sponsored" or nofollow. Buyers who want a dofollow placement will choose accordingly, so be clear with yourself about what you offer.
- 6
Collect the weekly payout
Payouts are weekly. Keep a ledger: placement, date, price, and the tax treatment your accountant wants.
Google treats links that are bought to pass ranking signals as a spam concern and asks for rel="sponsored" on paid ones. Marketplace placements are sold as dofollow, so you carry the editorial risk of what you publish. Choose with care.
Accept, ask, or decline
| Request looks like | Action |
|---|---|
| A local business, relevant to your area | Accept, after reading the draft |
| A national brand, loosely related | Ask for a rewrite closer to your readers |
| A subject that clashes with your coverage | Decline |
| A claim you cannot verify, such as health advice | Decline or edit hard |
Pricing a local audience, with an example
Take a hypothetical blog with 6,000 organic visits a month, covering one market town in English. It is not a typical case, merely a way to show the thinking.
Compare it with donors of similar traffic and niche in the marketplace and start near the lower end of what you see. Raise the price if requests keep arriving, and lower it if weeks pass in silence.
Remember that the buyer pays for relevance as much as reach. A site that covers one town, in depth, can ask more than its raw traffic suggests when the buyer is a business from that town.
Review your numbers every quarter. Google's March 2024 spam policy changes made thin sponsored content riskier, so quality is part of the price.
What this does to your own links
Selling placements is a business line, not a growth plan. A site that fills with sponsored articles will lose trust faster than it gains cash.
Cap it. One or two a month on a blog that publishes twenty posts is a sensible ceiling, and you can always say no. That cap is a judgement for you and your editorial committee, not a platform rule.
If you buy links yourself as well, the price bands show the other side of the counter. Before saying yes to any buyer, check the mistakes list.
A weekly rhythm that works
Monday: check the new requests. Wednesday: edit what you accepted. Friday: look at the payout and file the record. Three small visits beat one big panic.
Put the rules where your whole team can see them. A volunteer should never have to guess whether a casino brand is acceptable.
Revisit the arrangement at year end, once the books are closed.
Our view
Only worth it if the readers come first
A few good placements a month can fund a hosting bill and a freelance reporter. Dozens will cost you the trust that made the site worth buying on.
- Approve everything yourself.
- Keep a written no-list.
- Revisit the price each quarter.