Tips for Successful Sponsored Content Articles with Labroots

Sponsoring an article with Labroots is a great way to promote your company, product, or service. However, some sponsored articles are more successful with readers than others. But what makes this difference?

Consider this your guide to what makes a successful sponsored article on Labroots.

Title

Having a great headline seems obvious, but there are some things to consider when putting your title together.

1. On Labroots, sponsored articles are already labelled as sponsored, with your company name listed as the author. Including the company name in the title can be a bit repetitive and, in the end, might dissuade readers. 
2. In the same vein, including a product name in an article title can be risky. On one hand it can clearly promote an item or service you want to get out there, but on the other it could feel like an obvious advertisement.
3. Avoid sales pitches in your title. Having a sale on a certain laboratory product? Mention it in the body of the article, not the title. 
4. Having a title that asks a question or offers guidance on ‘How to’ can be particularly effective depending on the audience you’re trying to reach. 
   1. A great example of this can be seen with these titles that did very well:
      • What Causes False Positives? Understanding Blood Culture Contamination
      • How to Avoid Greenwashing Your Lab
      • Choosing an NGS workflow: What are you looking for?
5. When in doubt, keep it short and sweet. We have a maximum title length of 60 characters but keeping your title to the point makes it easy for readers to decide if they are interested in hearing more. 
   1. Some great short & sweet examples are:
      • Neurometabolism: A bold, new frontier (also a ‘two-part’ title!)
      • Digging DEEP into Metabolomic Space

Body

You want your article to tell a story, not just sell a product (that, believe it or not, is an afterthought).

1. Make sure you are writing with a specific topic (or topics) in mind. Tell the readers why something matters before presenting them with a solution. 
2. Never underestimate the power of keywords. SEO optimised keywords and phrases can make a difference in how many people find your article on Labroots through search engines.
3. Word count: find your happy place here. In general, we recommend sticking to 500-600 words for the body of your article. There are times when having a longer article can work for your content, especially if you are presenting readers with a lot of detail about a complex scientific topic, but unless that is the case, keeping it around 600 is a good target.
4. Work in other media. Do you have a video that showcases the product in action? An interview with one of your scientists? A company video showing what you do? Include it in your article to give readers an extra interactive element. 

Images

A picture is worth 1000 words. When people see your headline, they also see an image that you’ve chosen to go with it (a featured image). This image can tell readers everything they need to know before they even click through. There are several factors to keep in mind when choosing your images. 

1. It’s an advertisement, but it doesn’t have to look like one. Using a featured image showing a coupon, a sale announcement, or a promo code can backfire. Better to include an image like that in the body of your article.
2. It can be tempting to use a company logo for your featured image, especially if you are using your sponsored content to announce a recent award, grant, or as a press release. However, keep in mind that your company logo will already appear next to the author description at the end of your article. 
3. Featured images that show your product in action, or even the end result of your product, do great. Do you make a microchip? Image cells? Perform quality control tests? Show us! 
4. When in doubt, a generic stock image will probably work just fine for a featured image. By all means, it should have something to do with your company or product, but related stock images do just fine. 
5. Images in the body of your article are another story! A promotional image, a product image, or even an image that links to your company website can all work great in the body of your article. Go for it!

One more thing!

Sharing is caring. In addition to posting your article on Labroots, we share it across our category-specific social media pages (those that correspond to your category choices). Re-sharing -or re-Tweeting- these social media posts on your company accounts will increase the reach of the article and your views. 

If you have any questions about optimizing your sponsored article contact the Scientific Editor, Sarah Hoffman sarah.hoffman@labroots.com.

For more information on pricing, check out the Digital Advertising page in our Labroots 2022 Media Kit and get in touch with a sales rep!