A question that I’m increasingly being asked about is whether I agree with sponsored posts as a way to make money online from blogging.
Sponsored posts are nothing new – bloggers have been doing it for years – writing posts in exchange for payments. What is new is the organized way that the practice is happening with services popping up that match bloggers with those wanting to get blogged about.
PayPerPost is perhaps the most prominent service that does this but there are others too. They include CreamAid, inBlogAds and ReviewMe (others are popping up as well).
- So what do you think about sponsored posts as a concept?
- Have you used them?
- Would you do them?
- Under what circumstances would you do them?
I’m interested in people’s experiences and opinions on the topic and won’t cloud this post with my own thoughts on it (I’m happy to write my own opinions on it at a later point once others have had their say).
I know people feel pretty strongly about the topic either way so expect this to come through in your comments but simply ask that you keep to the topic and not take it into a personal flame war if you disagree with what others say. All opinions will be listened to and are welcomed.
So – what do you think about sponsored posts?
I disagree with them. I think it’s all for the money. If I wanted to know about a specific product or service, I would look for it. I don’t like ads anymore than the next person.
Paying per post isn’t a bad thing. I think bloggers need to be careful.
When someone recommends something I like knowing if they are paid to recommend it (tv commercials) or are truly endorsing the product.
On my blogs you know you are getting my opinion and thus pay per posts would offend my readers.
I’m not sure anything that helps put money in the little guys hand is particularly a bad or evil thing, although I’ve publicly questioned PPP on not forcing their bloggers to disclose their paid posts…and yes, it’s not really something I can see myself using. What it of concern though for me is the venom some of the A-List have for these sorts of services, those that can afford to be picky, venom which I don’t believe is either totally qualified, nor for that matter particularly useful, at least in the way it’s being delivered. Indeed, the net affect of some of the recent attacks by some is actually going to result in increased traffic and use for some of these services..all publicity is good publicity after all.
PS: I love the spell check feature in FF2! Just fixed up three words in the aforementioned text :-)
Is this when someone pays you to blog about thier product on YOUR site, or you get paid to write copy for someone else?
It seem slike the ads are a lot more honest, if someone pays you to put their ad on your blog, or something.
I’m going to watch for that. I guess I’ve probably read the paid blogs, and haven’t even known it.
Am I naive? :)
I think it’s ok as long as it’s clearly stated that the blogger was paid for blogging about the product or service. Then I can decide for myself if I want to read it. As a reader, I would obviously want to see the disclaimer at the beginning of the post instead of at the end. Newspapers have been doing it for years. They publish special sections that look like the rest of the newspaper, but are labeled as written by the advertising department instead of the news department.
Using your own advise with the comments?. :)
I think it is all right. Now I also think people should know when a blogger is being paid to plug for something.
So if you get paid to advertise, let people know!
-Chase
Well looking at the stuff they ask you to mention to use those sites, maybe not. How ever I would be really interested in seeking an agreement with companies to post say latest sale bargains at store or website related to DVD’s or audio visual equipment or similar. Though I guess that’s a bit different from heavily disguised product placement in what seems like a general blog post. When you think about it a site like mine is often sent press releases and such which while of interest to us and the readers do also form a kind of product placement / advertising so it’s not that different. I would see such an agreement as being the blog equivalent of page adds in magazines and personally would be much happier with that than pop-ups and maybe even banners. I am surprised it’s not more common it would seem a pretty good form of advertising for companies wishing to get their info out. We are always so keen on looking forward and being new school media we forget to take note of old school ways. Page ads in magazines are still a great form of advertisement and post ads would form a digital equivalent. I personally would be much more likely to take note of a paid advertising editorial in amongst the posts on a blog I read, than some fancy flash pop up or flashy banner, the former generally just acting as an irritation.
I don’t think my readers would be that bothered if one out of say 40 posts was a paid editorial for the likes of DVD back up software, LCD TV’s, Hard Drive recorders or films on sale somewhere. I imagine they would be much more happy with that than the likes of pop ups and such. I would rather do that than mess around trying to earn money from clicks.
At first, the thought of this, without any kind of disclosure were pretty upsetting to me. Wanting to find out more, I decided to take a look at thier terms and conditions, and I even decided to sign up.
A couple days later, they approved the blog that I submitted.
Since PayPerPost can not be on a blog that is also showing AdSense ads (that’s a tip that I haven’t heard too many people talk about), I decided that I might give this a try on “one” of my blogs (the one they approved).
Before I made the first post, worth $7.50, I decided to put a small disclaimer in my “About” page. I know that it won’t be seen by many, but I put it there to make myself feel better, I think.
Though the first post I made was about something that I was actually interested in, I can already see how this whole system could be abused. Writing misleading posts, just to make money could be “way” too easy. PPP allows you to post up to three times a day, as long as the posts are not consecutive. In other words, you have to post “something” in between the paid posts.
The amount of money available and the chance for abuse (at PPP, anyway) is really high.
And the difference between PPP and blogging with disguised affiliate links is?
I really don’t see what the big deal is.
So what do you think about sponsored posts as a concept?
* I think it’s good for the internet and it’s another extension of businesses being able to “blog for business” and readers to ultimately decide what advertisements we want to read. You can’t be a hypocrit and teach businesses to start blogging about their business and products and then complain when you start to seeing their products or services all over the internet. Personally, I’ve only seen one post that was an obvious one to me – and I had to look to find out if it really was one, and it was. It’s nice if the blogger (to save face) would just disclose that he/she is reviewing a product or service for money and I don’t care if he/she lies about it. It’s all information if I want to continue to read about that product/service. I think we (readers) and businesses will learn that regardless – deceptiveness, lies, the honest truth are the way to go because bloggers and people are crazy and never forget and can do more damage when our egos are hurt or misled.
Have you used them?
* I’m not sure. I have not been paid to write about any product or service. Yet, I post a lot of Ezine articles around my blogs and link out to the writers. On occassion, for instance on my Pet blog .. if I see a really great story but the link is to a puppy farm I will not post the story .. but in most other cases I pretty much post anything else. I assume people are not stupid and see that although I post the articles, I am not the writer. Also I have several product blogs that I have wordpress plugins that either obtain Amazon product embed code and I often post details found on Amazon itself to describe the product. Does that count? What about the other Affiliations that I have that I deliberately am posting to hopefully earn a small commission if someone clicks on a link and buys something in a reasonable amount of time?
Would you do them?
* If I had a product or service and trying to sell online – yes I would figure out a way that would benefit me the most and if this was it I would definately try something like that. I see no difference in this concept hiring people to write about your product and service – than paying some blogger to write about digital cameras, or other gadgets that you see everywhere.
Under what circumstances would you do them?
* Just as I’ve indicated in the 2nd question above.
I am not agianst paid posts – provided that…
The blogger is honest about it. They have to declare that the post was sponsered by so and so.
The blogger don’t lie about whatever he is talking about. If a product is bad, they should not call it a good product just because they are paid to.
I think as long as whatever you write is honest there is no problem with it.
I joined one of those sites to see what was there.
One guy wanted to pay for reviews of his new directory site, which didn’t have any links in it. It was a junk site and I think he was paying something like $3 for a mention. He did want a review though, not just a link, and he wanted it from quality sites.
Obviously I didn’t mention it anywhere.
To me this is one of those grey areas that could quickly turn shady. My personal belief is that it all comes down to intention – do you know that you are deceiving, or are you genuinely providing a review that you believe in. Disclosure can do a long way in defining that intention.
Now, I tend to be a middle of the road kind of guy, so I can see how some would consider it no more evil than affiliates, especially undisclosed affiliates. For example there is currently a book that a lot of sites are raving about. It might be a good book, but when I find that most of them are getting a kickback from the author’s special deal, I begin to wonder if it’s that good at all. At first, I thought – wow, this must be a really great book to have all these folks talking about it. After I went to the author’s page and saw that he was offing to cut a special deal with those who posted about it, I wasn’t so sure. Then to blur the lines even further, I’ve read that all the recent Adsense is Dead stuff was tied to one of those pay to post sites promoting an e-book (anyone else read that? – I can’t find the link).
I wouldn’t do it myself, but then again, I’m still trying to figure out how to do affiliates in a way that makes everything perfectly clear where I stand on a product. I think disclosure is key – and the intention of the reviewer to offer up something real or an opinion they fabricated to get 10 bucks.
Just my $0.02
[…] When I reached home, I checked my mail and I got a Google alert about a Problogger post sponsored posts! So the idea is possible and its been out for a while. Sponsored posts are nothing new – bloggers have been doing it for years – writing posts in exchange for payments. What is new is the organized way that the practice is happening with services popping up that match bloggers with those wanting to get blogged about. […]
I wrote a long article about this yesterday in response to Michael Arrington’s tirades against PayPerPost and ReviewMe. In short, I think there is nothing morally wrong about the idea of paid for blog posts, especially when setup with the disclosure and honesty rules of ReviewMe. Arrington’s reasoning is muddled and my article seeks to sort it out. Rather than repost all thousand words in this comment, here’s a link: Why Techcrunch is Wrong About Paid For Blog Posts.
Insert Duncan’s post here and you have my thoughts :P
Put your advertising where advertising belongs – outside of the post body. The posts are supposed to be from you and not influenced by money, even if the fact it is a sponsored post is disclosed, it still seems very dirty.
It destroys the whole point of blogging and the main reasons why readers visit blogs – to read your genuine voice. If these products you write about for money were good enough in the first place then you and other bloggers would write about them anyway! It would mean that good products that did deserve your time but that aren’t paying you will miss out on being covered.
The companies who are willing to pay a blogger should invest their time and money into developing products and services that bloggers like and would want to talk about anyway.
If you are looking for other sources of revenue just put more advertising up, find more effective advertising or advertisers who value your audience more
I don’t think it would be a very neat idea, the blogger might (not to say will) become biased, I might be wrong but I don’t see anyone saying something bad about someone who is actually paying him
To do PPP or not do PPP does not seem to be the real question. Each of us needs to make a personal or business choice. I feel the context and implementation of the choice is more important. To whit: The implementation should be based on honesty, integrity, forthrightness and truth. This would include, at a minimum, a clear delineation of what is blogger’s own opinion and what is a paid “insertion.” Thus, agreements to not disclose a post is a paid opinion (whether written by blogger of others) is not honest. Make your personal choice and publish in an honest manner then readers know what is your editorial opinion and what is paid “insertion.”
Jason Calacanis is dead set against them and has been spewing all kinds of stuff at those companies.
I agree with Jason that there oughtta be FULL DISCLOSURE that it is a paid post. However, I am not 100% behind his self-proclamation that pay-per-post goes directly against everything blogging stands for.
Many people feel Jason’s network of sites ALREADY go directly against all blogging stands for.
For instance, I notice on many of the premium WeblogsInc sites they post ads that look deceptively like blog posts. Only when looking closely do you realize they are in fact advertisements.
In some way Jason gets so dangerously close to crossing the line that he draws the fury of the blogging community. Then when someone DOES cross the line he becomes a religious zealot of the blogging community and defender “of all that it stands for”.
I have no problem with pay per post if there is full disclosure. No biggie. On my blogs I don’t always post (aff) like you do Darren, so does that make me worse? I just try to post useful content 90% of the time so when I do post an affiliate link (always about something I personally use or stand behind) I feel like I’ve earned it.
I don’t follow anybody’s rules of the blogging community – but then really – isn’t that what the blogging community is all about? ;-)
DM
Trying to make money blogging is hard & discouraging at times. If earning $5 or $10 helps someone keep going, why not?
Quite a tricky Question. I am all ears for what your take on this is, Darren ;)
I don’t think it is morally wrong or anything to do it (as long as you’re expressing your actual, truthful opinion)… but it makes me personally uncomfortable. It’s harder for me to trust a blogger when I know that his/her decisions of what to post on are influenced by what they can get paid for. It helps when they at least disclose which posts are sponsored and which are not– but it still lowers my opinion of the blog, and my willingness to recommend it to others.
I guess part of it is, do you see your blog as primarily for your readers? (Which doesn’t mean that revenue can’t be an important motivator as well, just that it’s a secondary one.) Or is it that you’re trying to make money, and your readers are a tool to help you do that? Again, it’s not that I think it’s wrong per se to do the second– I just personally don’t like feeling like I’m being used as a means to an end, and that’s what paid posting feels like to me.
That said, it’s all a matter of degree. If it’s fully disclosed and only occasional, I can certainly live with it. The more secretive, and the larger percentage of posts involved, the more uncomfortable I am.
I think pay per post does the same thing to a blogger’s credibility that taking money to write articles does for journalists. How can they be trusted to be unbiased if they’re being paid to promote something? It’s different for an actor, for instance, because their job is normally selling something that’s inherently false (a performance) anyway.
But, for someone who gives out information in a supposedly honest and unbiased way, it can really be damaging for them to take money to post about products. Also, these sites pay something like $5 for a post, right? How credible is somebody who’ll put their name on something, maybe three times a day, for so little, anyway?
I think that advertising, generally speaking, is good – it is the basis for progress, isn’t it? I do not agree with people who claim that advertising is bad – only the way some people do it is bad. Advertising in itself is gorgeous: it brings us information, it shows us new ways of living, it unleashes our creativity. As a person who lived her first 23 years of life in a country where advertising was forbidden, I can tell you it makes a huge difference.
Paid posts in blogs seem OK to me and I have no worry that some bloggers may lie or write non-sense only to get paid. If they do so, they will lose credibility so quickly… directly related to their traffic figures: the more people see such a post, the more people will spread the word that it lies. If it happens that the blog in question has a high traffic level, then the spread will get viral almost instantly and the blogger will lose much more than he earned for that awful (yet paid) post. So good faith people will have all the interest in the world to write true and useful things, either paid or not.
Besides, I never rely on one single source when taking decisions… and to find several persons which serve me the same bullshit at once, this would be quite a coincidence!
[…] For years now some bloggers have had thier blogs sponsored. They write blogs in exchange for money. However there are now new organized ways bloggers are being sponsored by different online services that are matching bloggers with those wanted to get blogged about. Payperpost is the most popular of these services. This idea of having ones blog sponsored is controversial because many people do not agree with it. I guess the downside to having sponsored blogs is that a reader can not be sure whether whatever is being endorsed in the blog is something the blogger truely recommends or if it is something they are just being paid to endorse. Liked It? Share It! Clicking on the icons below will help other people learn about this storyThese icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
So many people here say that “… as long as the blogger discloses it” , but I think that is shortsighted. You watch your favorite TV show whether or not you like the commericals, and you read a blog because you are interested in what the blogger has to say. If the blogger is filling up space with ads/advertorials that don’t interest you, then you either learn to ignore them, or stop reading the blog. It is a self-correcting system, blogs that clutter up posts with ads, or are obviously just a “mercenary” site for any company with an ad budget will quickly lose their readers that care, and the ones that don’t care/don’t notice will still be around to read the blog anyways.Wheter a blogger wants to disclose it has more to do with how they feel about making the disclaimer, not how it affects the different readers.
I use them when I can craft a post that I might otherwise write anyway but I get the inspiration from something at PPP, or when it is a site or product that fits into my niche. I always disclose that it is a sponsored post.
There have been more than a few opportunities on PPP that I might have used but which I passed on because they have requirements that don’t really fit in ethically; I’ve seen a few that prohibit mentioning that it is a sponsored post, for example.
I don’t see anything wrong with having sponsored posts, though. A hundred dollars might not be much money from a blog for somebody who blogs for a living, but for somebody doing it in their spare time that is another year’s hosting paid for in a few months of posts.
You work for a company selling a product and/or service. The company pays you for what you do. Isnt that sponsored as well? Is there any difference with sponsored posts? I dont know what the hype is all about. I think people are against it because lots of them dont get the chance of being paid for their posts. If you are against sponsored posts then you might as well quit your job.
I agree that as long as it is identified that it is a sponsored post, then there is no harm in it. No different than being an advertisement I guess.
Best of luck to you!
One of the misconceptions about pay per post is that the blogger has to review or write in a positive light about the sponsor product/service/website.
In fact, in many cases the sponsor’s only sipulation is the backlink: the blogger is free to give their honest opinion. This makes it really not much different that a paid text link ad as far as I can see. It could even been a source of writing inspiration and certainly a viable revenue stream.
Not sure what all the fuss is about really.
$9m in VC capital says something that is pretty tough to argue with…unless this really is
WebBubble 2.0.nah I don’t believe in pay per post…kinda dilutes the message of what you are trying to do with your site if you have the advertising dollars invade your content as well
If you can be honest about the review and disclose to your readers that you were paid for a post, then why should it matter if you were paid? Magazine writers a get assignments they don’t like sometimes and they get paid, no one disparages them. Heck, they’re called “professional” writers. I do product and restaurant reviews on my blog all the time and don’t get paid for it. Of course I have the freedom to pick what I write about. If someone will pay me to do that – that sounds fantastic.
I tried signing up with one of them in the hope of being ‘hired’ to write about some product or site. Unfortunately they refected my application because they do not accept Asia-specific sites like mine. Oh, well there’s always next time.
My first thought is no, definitely not, then I waver and think … well, maybe under certain circumstances I could see it working.
But my biggest issue is the money. If, as Staying Anonymous (comment number 8) says, they were offered $7.50 for a post and they couldn’t put Adsense on the same page, then no matter what — you are limiting yourself to a maximum of $7.50 for that blog.
You must make other blogs in between, so you are really only ever going to get half that amount at most. $3.75 per blog doesn’t seem worth it to me.
[…] PayPerPost your way to wealth? Filed under: PayPerPost — Andrew Wee @ 6:19 pm Tags:PayPerPostDarren Rowse’s post about: What do You Think About Sponsored Posts? is an interesting one, because it seemed to draw a number of negative responses. […]
I can’t really condemn it, since I started all my blogs with the purpose of making money. I do it from Adsense and affiliate programs, but I’m not sure there’s that much of a difference.
As a journalist, I definitely reject this type of thing. I respect those who don’t mind, however. I have a little less respect for bloggers who do it, but they’re not killing children with their bare hands, right?
I would like to (respectfully) point two things to Ken:
1) At least in Argentina, from where I am, those special sections look a little different from the rest of the newspaper, and if they’re not enough different they’re frowned upon. The small notice “Espacio de publicidad” (I suppose it’s simply “Advertisement” in English publications) is not considered enough to make it “fair play”.
2) I certainly appreciate disclaimers at the beginning (preferably) or ending of paid posts, but I wouldn’t bet on them to be present on every occasion. Much to the opposite: for the system to work, it has to look as if the blogger were writing from his/her own heart, and so the company paying for the post will want it to look as if it weren’t paid.
Sorry for my bad English. We speak Spanish over here. :)
[…] Blogs have been around for years, and so have sponsored ones. sponsored posts are simple, bloggers write in exchange for money. A concept that has recently come about are services to match bloggers with people who want to be blogged about. i dont really see paying per a post as a bad thing, but if something is being recommended i think it’s important to let other readers know. That is what is causing the controversy- people aren’t aware the blog is a commercial instead of a true recommendation. Liked It? Share It! Clicking on the icons below will help other people learn about this storyThese icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
I think they are yet another method of making money with blogs. Some people find it crossing the line to blend adsense ads into your blogs, some people find promoting ANYTHING to be crossing the line. I personally think that anything can be misused or abused.
It’s really up to the indivual bloggers to either be honest or dishonest with their reviews. If they continue to give good reviews for bad products they will eventually lose their readers and their reputations. If they are honest they will gain readers and improve their reputation. I don’t think that the idea is bad in and of itself. I think it depends totally on the bloggers implemetation of it.
At least that’s my thought on the topic.
To me, it’s no different than when people used to turn on the radio and the host would be singing the praises of the latest cigarette or chocolate milk mix.
Where I draw the line is that I won’t be paid to endorse a product. The one site I’ve done this for (Blogvertise) says you can say whatever you want about a company as long as you link back. I know little about SEO, but I wrote a post. It satisfied Blogvertise, the advertiser, and my readers ( who didn’t go away en masse.)
I’ll take a look at some of these others, but I think the key is not to bog down your blog with extraneous material.
Ok, let’s say I like OpenOffice …I have wrote other articles on OpenOffice and then someone from OpenOffice comes and wants to pay me for a new post on them. I’m gonna do it. Why? .. I already know it’s a good product I can recommend them. I think I would of wrote it anyway in the future …for free …
I can see both sides, If I were to sign up for a service like that, I would have the intregrity to not only disclose that it was paid, but to choose ads that were honest, in other words, if I do not like ‘Product A’ then I would not take that offer, even if it were for alot of money, I would be limiting my self to only those ads that I am ‘into’ but I would rather that than selling out.
And because I am a fairly nieve person LOL, I still believe that MOST bloggers will be the same, you have some that wont, but most likely thier blogs are not intresting, without the intregrity and the passion I dont think you could make very many great posts (unless you stole them)
So my answer is that I am not against the thought of paid posts, but I am against people taking advantage, you should never advertise something you dont believe in, nor should you lie to your readers about it. I dont think I would do this on my blog, just because I do not see how it would fit well.
So honesty and integrity should be everyones first goal in business… even if it might mean less money.
In a lot of ways, this argument over sponsored posts is similar to the argument over advertising in the early days of internet radio. Basically, you had services like Live365, and Soutcast, (which was run by AOL) willing to provide bandwidth for free to anyone who wanted to get involved in the internet radio hobby. At this point, it was free to broadcast. Then, things like royalties started getting introduced, along with other various fees involved with broadcasting. Well, that kind of thing gets really expensive, really fast. So stations started including advertising. AOL balked, trying to say that ‘net broadcasting was supposed to be about the love of music, broadcasting, yada yada yada. And you have people saying the same thing about blogging, that it’s supposed to remain in this pure, undefiled form. But in order for people to do this, they have to pay certain bills, and they have a right to possibly make a profit for spending their spare time blogging. In short, I’m not against sponsored posts, as long as it’s clear that the post is sponsored. If people can contextualize ads, then they should be able to write sponsored posts. I’m taking some on myself, and as of yet, I haven’t been hamstrung into writing a post favorably just because it’s sponsored.
Eve: advertising something you don’t believe in is the heart of advertisement. Do you think that agencies select their clients because they like the products? I don’t think so. But that’s not the point. The point is that sponsored posts are advertisements that look like content.
[…] The American Chronicle tackles a debate already touched upon amongst bloggers, “Blogging for Cash – Ethical?” “Blogging is a form of journalism, expressing views and ideas upon the best judgment derived from available information. Come on, even the writers, reporters, priests get paid, why not bloggers? They are better than traditional writers, in the sense that, community gets involved.” […]
[…] At the end of the day, PPP is really about having a paid backlink on your site pointing back to the sponsor’s website. I believe that in many cases you are not required to write about the product or service in a positive light as long as you have the link, so you are free to give your honest opinion. Here’s a long thread about the pros and cons of sponsored posts. […]
I haven’t got a problem with sponsored posts myself. I make sure they are clearly labelled as such and if I disagreed with the topic I would just refuse to do it. I know Blogitive and Blogsvertise aren’t too concerned what you write as long as you include the relevant link – publishers can give an honest opinion without fear of retribution! Pay Per Post on the otherhand specifically ask for some posts to be written positively, thus placing an external influence on the publisher. That is not right at all. If you want to be an ethical paid poster avoid PPP!
I don’t mind sponsored posts as long as they are labeled as such.
I have a personal blog and a professional blog. I’ll happily post on post sponsored reviews on my personal blog, but not on my professional one. I label the posts clearly as sponsored, and I’m honest in my review. If I don’t like a company, product, etc. I won’t post a review about it. If I like it, I’ll happy tell other people about it for free, but, hey, if they want to pay me to tell others about it, well, I’m not going to object. I’ll gladly take their cash.