Blog Update: Supporting the Habit

Dear readers,

I've recently made a blogging decision that I want to share with you. This decision was a difficult one to make, but I feel that I've made the right decision [for me] at this time, and want you to understand the how and the why of it. 

Here's the thing: ever since it's inception, I've chosen to make Starr Struck an ad-and-sponsor-free blog. Despite receiving almost-weekly emails from random brands (everything from designer watches to British sports bras to cell phone game companies), I've never wanted to make any changes that might make Starr Struck feel less inspiring, less honest, and/or less aesthetically pleasing. 

As you know, up to this point I've never accepted compensation to post about any subject or item, and have kept the blog free of pop-ups, banner ads, and sidebar ads. 

However, after taking a number of amazing blogging classes through Alt Channel over the past few months, my perspective on blogs and advertising/sponsorship has shifted slightly. 

Although I'm still not a big fan of ads, I have come to understand that as a blogger who puts hours into generating content, there does come a point where you're putting so much time and energy into your blog that you need to be able to make some sort of income from the endeavor--in order to support the cause and to justify the sheer amount of hours spent writing, formatting, emailing, and creating. 

Therefore, after learning more about the various ways to receive a small income from blogging, I recently applied to and was accepted to the Clever Girls Collective, a social media agency that represents female bloggers from every corner of the web. Moving forward, as a part of this group, I will periodically be publishing sponsored posts here on the blog. 

Now that I am a member of Clever Girls, I have been and will continue to be very picky about the brands that I work with--and will only promote products that I really enjoy or feel will add value to your life in some way (maybe as a simple, sensory joy of the week!?!). 

I want you to know that this content will not replace any of my regularly-scheduled content, nor will it be in-your-face, and I will always make an effort to weave these posts into the blog in the least-intrusive way possible; I will also be very clear with you on which posts are sponsored, and will always label them as such. 

I hope that you understand my decision, and that this small shift will actually be a great change for Starr Struck, as it will allow me to spend even more time and energy on the blog, which in turn, will be better for the community at large :)

As always, thank you for your support, for reading, and for joining me through the ups-and-downs of my life journey.