Paid Blogging Cost Me A Laptop…
Gather round everyone and hear my tale of woe. This may be a long post, but I’m going to get it out there because I think it’s a bunch of hooey.
If you’ve been a reader for awhile, you may remember a promotion I did with ProFlowers.com back around Valentines Day. It was fun. I got to give away a bunch of gift certificates and you all got to tell us about your worst Valentines Day gifts. Anyway, that promotion was put together by a company called Buzzcorps. I had hooked up with them through Dad-Blogs and it was great.
I really put some serious effort into that promotion because I wanted to possibly work with them again in the future. And it went great. We got more comments than any single post ever and everyone that won loved winning and good times were had all around. I figured I did right by the Buzzcorps people.
So, a couple weeks ago, I’m contacted again. This time, they’re doing a long-term review of the HP DV2, which is this ultra-lightweight laptop, and they’d like to see if I was interested. So, I’m like, ‘heck yes’. Now I won’t get to keep it, but I’ll be able to use it for a couple months.
I won’t lie. I was stoked. Our laptop here broke last year and so we have to borrow and make due with whatever I can throw together. And since Jen has had so many surgeries, she has had a hard time with the stairs, so she can’t get online a lot with her peeps as often as she’d like. So, this was going to be a great opportunity.
We exchanged some emails and finalized some details and suddenly, there’s a big question mark in the mix. I get asked about my disclosure policy and whether I receive paid compensation here on the blog.
Let me make this crystal clear, as I always have. I receive paid compensation on this blog. I do some paid insertions (ewww, that sounds gross) and I’ve done some product reviews and I’ve run some ads. I have NEVER let it influence the content of the blog. I WILL NEVER let an advertiser tell me what to write. I either write what I want or the advertiser can walk. And my disclosure policy states this.
So, Buzzcorps says they have to drop me from the campaign because I receive compensation. Bear in mind, most of the ‘compensation’ I receive is about $5-$7 per ad, so I’m not getting rich. I have a day job for the foreseeable forever.
I decided to check out the other participants and see what their disclosure policies are. I’m going to pick on one because I don’t have that much time to research them all. GearDiary is participating in the review. Their submission page makes the following statement:
- Items sent will be used during the review process. For this reason we generally do not return review items provided.
In effect, they are receiving possibly thousands of dollars a year ‘in compensation’ for reviews and my $5 IS A PROBLEM. I don’t know. Maybe they’re giving the used tech to charities, but they don’t tell you on the page what becomes of it.
Give me a flippin’ break! It’s a bunch of malarky. I think I got dumped because of my association with PayPerPost. I’ve been doing some work with them and again, they REQUIRE disclosure and I support that.
It just sucks that it cost me a laptop.
July 8th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
That is ridunkulous.
As a reader, I’ve never felt anything you write is compromised or influenced by any sponsor, on any level, whatsoever.
I mean, seriously guys, get a freaking grip.
Jeannette´s last blog ..My Version of the Big Salad
July 8th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
This is ridiculous. I’m not going to get into the details but I will reiterate that value is value. Why is it ok to provide someone with a laptop for several months (rental value of several hundreds of dollars) and not pay someone $5 cash.
Ted Murphy´s last blog ..SocialSpark Post Payout Snafu
July 8th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
It is a clear double standard. Izea does things above board and fully disclosed, yet for some reason all their bloggers are considered below worthy. I’m not saying there aren’t some awful bloggers in the programs, but if this company has read your blog, they know you are one of the good bloggers. I cringe at the writing on some of the blogs I see around when I’m dropping Entrecards (don’t judge, I need the traffic) but obviously English is a first language for you.
I’ve gotten around the Izea issue with a second blog. I use my personal blog for book reviews and personal whatnot. I work with one of the “insertion” companies there. It’s steady work, if not glamorous.
My other blog for blog reviews, posts about social networking, and Izea stuff.
I think I’d have a better quality blog if I was doing all the posts on one both. It would be at least twice the content. But I need the money, so I do what I must to make all the sponsors happy.
I hope Ted does read your post. I’d love to hear his take.
Tina Kubala´s last blog ..Ugly Lamp Love
July 8th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
So what I’m getting is that Ted thinks it’s BS too but can’t/won’t/didn’t suggest anything to do about it?
It’s BS.
BeccA’s Buzz´s last blog ..New addiction: Restaurant City on Facebook
July 8th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
They are not worthy of your time.
July 8th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
You seem like a nice fellow, but in my opinion anyone that works with PayPerPost, or any other sort of site that pays bloggers for editorial content, can’t be trusted entirely. Sorry if that sounds harsh – but if I’m reading a blog and I see that they participate with pay-per-post schemes, it immediately puts a huge hole in their credibility in my eyes. It’s editorial whoring.
Now it might not seem that way to long-time readers, because they know and trust you, but for new readers like myself it calls your integrity into question. I’ve read blog posts by others and when they do their “disclosure” at the very end, it calls into question everything I just read. It’s hard enough to be considered credible on the Internet, but when there’s even a whiff of “editorial compensation”, you’re not going to be considered credible.
And, ultimately, why even dabble with ethically dubious schemes like that in the first place if they pay so poorly? Why bother? Surely being able to stand on 100% ethical grounds and say that you’ve NEVER been paid for editorial content is worth more than $5?
July 8th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
@Jeanette Thanks. I appreciate that.
@Ted I agree entirely. Thanks for coming by.
@Tina That’s a good idea. Maybe I should have kept that tech blog I had after all.
@Becca It’s not really Ted’s problem. I just asked for his opinion.
@Karen Thanks for the nice thought, but at least it was good blog fodder.
@Thundering By that logic, television shows can’t be trusted because they take advertising. And if you think that people who aren’t compensated are being honest, you’re fooling yourself. Everyone has an angle. I just tell you up front how I do things and I tell you that my opinions are always mine. I’m honest from the get-go. As for why do it? Because times are tough and some money is better than no money. If I believe I can do it while maintaining my integrity, why not?
July 8th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
I think @Thundering is taking all of this web content stuff WAY too seriously. It’s a blog!
BeccA’s Buzz´s last blog ..New addiction: Restaurant City on Facebook
July 9th, 2009 at 8:10 am
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