Debate: The Ethics of Pro Blogging

I know there are a lot of amateurs and writers who abuse the system, but it is nice to see that the pro blogging community mature. I recently saw a client come up at PayPerPost who wanted bloggers to ‘say’ they saved a lot of money last Christmas by shopping at their website. That client’s post hung on the opportunity board for three days.

If you are unfamiliar with pro blogging, hanging on the board for 15 minutes without being snatched up would have been impressive. Most posts are taken before the average blogger can click the assignment and type in the verification code – which I can usually so in less than 4 seconds.

The ethical problem is one that is interesting. No one cares if a newspaper lies to increase readership. Everyone turns a blind eye when a magazine chooses their lead story ‘after’ they find out who their big advertiser is this month. And, no one complains when their television show is intruded on to post several minutes of ads in a row.

The information in this article has been compiled from information shared by the pro bloggers at http://www.divanetworking.blogspot.com

Disclosure Policy

I have full disclosure at the bottom of every page on my blogs:

This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. The owner of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question. This blog does contain content which might present a conflict of interest. This content may not always be identified.

This disclosure statement tells people the full scope of what my readers can expect.

The Content

The ethics of whether a company wants to sponsor a blog in exchange for a link is not the issue. The issue is bloggers who lie, write adcopy, and blatant advertising that misleads the readers. Whether there are no-follow codes in the blog – or not – doesn’t change the fact that the blogger is being paid to write that blog post.

There is nothing difference between a link in a blog post, and a link in a Google ad bar in the side column of a blog, except that Google ads hi-jack the reader and takes them away from the blogger’s site.

The content should be honest, relevant to the blog, give ‘real’ information to the reader, and not be misrepresented.

The Advertiser

The advertiser has certain expectations. Removing a blog post is not ethical. Some agencies permit their bloggers to remove posts after one year. Some even allow the use of no-follow links. Trying to trick the advertisers and their clients is unethical.

One way to overcome the advertiser problem is to sign with an agency which forces bloggers to accept posts. There are agents that let bloggers pick and choose which opportunities they feel comfortable blogging about.

Subscribers

The bloggers and agencies sometimes forget the subscribers when they are negotiating the aspects of ethical and moral blogging. It is unethical to write a splog. A splog is created to sell and promote a product. A legit blog promises readers that they will read about a certain topic or niche, and keeps that promise. They do not try to trick them, or use deceptive tactics to make sales.

One overlooked aspects of subscribers is the percentage of paid posts vs. organic posts. The minimum should be 30% paid posts. However, readers prefer a 50/50 balance. This means that to selection of 10 paid posts a week, then the subscribers will receive up to 50 posts a week through their RSS subscriptions. It can be considered unethical to spam the subscribers. Again, it all depends on how the information is sent to members.

A blogger who posts 50 or more articles a week should use a feed instead of sending emails to the subscribers inbox. Spamming anyone, even if they opt in, is unethical, and possibly illegal.


Conclusion

Honoring the moral and legal ethics of pro blogging does not decrease the chances of making a good living as a pro blogger. Just think of yourself as a digital newspaper. Keep the information insightful, honest, and cutting edge. Respect other bloggers, the clients and the readers.

Earn a good reputation – and you’ll easily make $1000 - $2000 a month. To learn more, and meet other bloggers who earn this much money each month – ethically – then visit www.divanetworking.com