I’ve also been paid to blog for corporations – to pitch their stuff on their blogs.

Disclosure is always the key… leading a transparent life is so much easier than not.

The whole pay / free stuff issue really isn’t new or unique to blogging at all – think anything from good ole payola to authors sending out review copies to traditional review outlets. It’s old hat, “new” tool.

If anything, I’d say blogs by their very nature are far more transparent. Bloggers tend to be themselves more than they might be if they were working under an editor with a more traditional publication. They also often post frequently. In other words, readers are given a heck of a lot of insight into a blogger’s true style, and it’s not that difficult to spot when something changes. It’s harder to mislead your blog’s readers than some people seem to think.

You’re right in that blogs involve (and require) a certain amount of trust. But it goes back to readers getting to know those bloggers. For instance, if I posted a “glowy” review of pretty much anything on NakedPR, my readers probably wouldn’t know what hit them. They might instantly wonder what the motivation was. It just isn’t how I write here for this particular audience. On my writing blog however, my reviews are always pretty well-balanced – the good side, the bad side, whether I get behind the product or not. Again, they know my style. With that comes trust – they know I’ll always include something constructive rather than just saying “hey, this rocks, buy it.” The reviews are designed to help them make their own purchasing decision. Only with the trust do you really earn significant money anyway – that’s when people want to pay you decent money for space and when people don’t care if you include an affiliate link. Screw them over once, and you screw over your earnings for good. So it’s never in a blogger’s best interest to be influenced by a payout.

Sorry for rambling. In the end, I think the inherent trust is still there for any serious blogger (obviously not on the splog side). It just comes down to the individual blogger’s ethics and whether or not they allow their opinion to be influenced by goodies or green – whether or not they can keep that trust. It’s relationships 101. Trust isn’t always earned up front (people give you the benefit of the doubt), but if you’re full of shit, you’re not going to keep it.

Gretchen – Honestly, I don’t think many readers really care about the issue. Many have no idea what a sponsored post is to begin with (just because we’re well-versed in blogging and online business doesn’t mean the bulk of readers in each niche are). And that’s kind of my point – it really is a non-issue for any even remotely ethical blogger, and not worth the criticism the issue gets.

What I find amusing is seeing PR folks talking about the unethical nature of it all, as though their motivation for blogging (or advocating blogging as a solution for clients) isn’t just as self-centered. Businesses they advise aren’t getting into blogging for the hell of it. They’re doing it because there’s something in it for them (additional reach within their market, the ability to gather real-time feedback, the fact that blogs are excellent tools for demonstrating authority status, etc.). Who’s to say those benefits don’t influence a blogger, what they write, and how they portray things just as much as cold hard cash? In the end, trust is important to any blogger looking for results of any kind, and readers are certainly capable of deciding whether or not they trust the source.

i’m not saying this isn’t an important issue, but i’m of the opinion that we’re (bloggers) all making it out to be more than it is.

I am a fan of the natural market place. Let these non-disclosing blogs be exposed and readership suffer. Things will generally take care of themselves esp. with posts such as this one to help clarify things.

It’s a good read, if a little ranty (but I like a good rant, it shows passion!), but it had me nodding my head in agreement throughout.

I have no issue with bloggers earning from their blogs, as long as they’re honest and the quality stays good.

We all have our own agendas for blogging, as does a client that might contact a blogger for sponsored post.

Achieving both goals doesn’t necessarily mean anyone has to compromise. Clients know a blog has achieved a target audience by identifying with them, why would they want to change or influence that for the sake of an ultra positive review rather than an honest one.

Equally a good blogger will see a sponsored post as what it is. The opportunity to do what they already enjoy but receive something in return.

I’m all with you on the support of honest sponsored blog posts.

Thanks for the interesting read!

Are blogs that print ads centimeters from editorial copy somehow exempt from this outrage? Obviously, readers have enough intelligence to sift through the writing and understand when a viewpoint is overly influenced by sponsorship.

If people think blogs should be devoid of sponsored posts, they must also think we can stuff the genie back into the bottle. The question isn’t whether or not we should have sponsored posts, but how best to present them.