Talk Back Fridays: Can You Tell When a Blogger’s Out for Cash? And Does It Matter?
Congratulations to Deanna from Tot TV Watch, my fellow 451Press’er, for winning the penultimate Talk Back Fridays comment contest! Now’s your chance - your last chance! (well, for awhile) - to win my editing services on a blog post of your choice. Read below, make your comments, and I’ll announce the winner next week.
Can You Tell When a Blogger’s Out For Cash? And Does It Matter?
Here’s the setup: I’ve noticed in the past week (something in the water? I dunno) several bloggers on my Bloglines feeds who’ve suddenly demonstrated a lust for cash that was, shall we say, obvious.
Now, I’m not talking about someone who decides to monetize a blog previously unadorned by AdSense ads. Nor am I talking about someone who decides to ask for donations, or puts up a first e-Book or PDF document for sale, where they’d never done that before. I’m all for capitalism, as readers know. I’m monetizing two of my own blogs as we speak (one already in progress, one still in the design stage). And I have no qualms about other bloggers making dough, either. I think it shows confidence in the value they contribute and I appreciate that, as a reader, and as a fellow blogger.
No, what I’m talking about is something a little more … hmm … distasteful, is the word that pops to mind. Consider a blogger with five blogs, who posts about the same topic on all five. If it’s applicable to all five blogs, you might say, what’s the problem? Maybe nothing. But what if all five posts are essentially the same? And what if they all point to the same e-book for sale?
Even so, if I saw this once in a while, I wouldn’t mind so much. But every day?
You know what I’m talking about. We’ve all seen them - bloggers that apparently get a whiff of success and seem to go temporarily insane with green visions. What’s the line, though? Like I said, I’m as dedicated a capitalist as any Republican you’d run up against (and no, I’m not one, and no, I’m not telling you what I am!). But there clearly is a line that, once crossed, means a certain loss of trust. Where is the line? Can you tell? And does it matter to you? Or am I just nuts? (OK, don’t answer that.)
Talk back to me! It’s your last chance to win!
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June 2nd, 2007 at 4:51 am
It crosses the line when content suffers.
To use your exapmle of 5 post on 5 different blogs all about the same e-book. If all five post are the same, and all just ads, that crosses the line.
If they’re all different and all informative I don’t see the harm in mentioning the pdf if it relates to the post.
June 3rd, 2007 at 2:26 pm
I have nothing against monetizing blogs, I even put up a “donate” button on one of my blogs at the request of my readers. I don’t like to make a lot of noise about earning money though.
I spend a few hours a week working on monetizing strategies, but to me it’s more important that people are digging what I have to say.
One very popular blogger spends an awful lot of time talking about how much money he earns and it’s kind of a turn off. When it comes to bringing in the bucks, discretion is key.