Project: I, Blogger. I Have Questions…
By Desty on Jul 21, 2007 in I Blogger
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Check out all of the Project: I, Blogger posts and comments. This series is meant to be commented on and added to via comments or email. Add your voice to the conversation!
My goal is to give updates as to how we’re doing on Project: I, Blogger. I have two more emailed responses to give credit in this edition but before we get to that, I have some ethical questions for bloggers and from my perspective, they have a business feel to them.
Where I’m Coming From
I can’t help but see things from a business point of view. All blogs, whether they are used to make an income or not, are businesses. They are extensions of yourself and put forth your point of view on a topic, be it your personal life or a topic that you have interest in.
How Would You Act in Real Life?
The two prime ways to make money via blogs are through advertising (AdSense, AdBrite, etc) and affiliates.
AdSense is a great reflection of your blog; they use contextual software that reads your blog for keywords. Those keywords are used to match your ad blocks to what you wrote about. So, that means for the most part, if you are embarrassed by an AdSense ad, you should probably look at your posts and see if you wrote about something you would be embarrassed about. AdBrite on the other hand, asks you to submit keywords for your ads. On top of that, you have the option to have family friendly ads or “edger” ads (but no adult ads). It’s totally in your control. TextLinkAds offer a set dollar amount just for placement on your blog, regardless of clicks. If you were offered a set amount for ad placement on your blog, would it matter what the ad promoted?
Product sales through affiliates, I believe, are a great window into your thoughts and views. You control the products offered and how they are offered. When you sell an affiliate through your blog, in general, you are promoting and suggesting to your readers to buy the product. Have you used the product? Did you find value in the product? From my personal perspective, I have turned down products in my own off-line business because I didn’t like the products. They would have sold well, but I wouldn’t take them on for two reasons.
- I didn’t feel that I could get behind the product and give it my all. When running a business, you must support and be behind all products 100%.
- I have built up a relationship of respect with my customers. I deal with quality products only and give money back guarantees. I just feel that it isn’t right to sell a product that I don’t like.
The video below is an example that ties both ads and affiliates together. Would you put this ad for an affiliate on your blog? Note, this is an example and I am not actually promoting the service offered.
- $1.00 per unique visitor
- 75% commission for initial orders and 55% for recurring orders
- A one time $85.00 commission per member order
- Refer other webmasters and earn 10% of their payouts.
Does the promise of big pay days make your head spin? What would you do?
Now, on to the emails!
Tyler from TylerCruz.com commented:
Regarding your project, I’ll contribute one idea/ethic I have. It is to not blatantly copy somebody elses idea or style without at least stating where they got the idea from. I’ve had many people copy my style of post writing, from writing style to post outlines. I’ve also had many people copy various ideas and naming conventions. The lease they could do, ethically, would be to state where they got the ‘idea’ from.
For example, when I copied John Chow’s Review My Blog idea, I give him all the credit. Others should do the same.
Matt Stoddart from There’s Something on My Mind…I Think comments:
I tend to view blogging in a very simplistic way, but that’s just the kind of
person I am. I try to write every post with one thing in mind: “nobody is going to read this.” Sound crazy? It might, but it’s the most effective way I’ve found
to really be honest and true to the message I’m trying to get across. I find
that if I’m too worried about the audience, then sometimes the voice of my post can be affected. And to me, that’s not what blogging is all about. After all,
the term “blog” really means “web log” and I interpret a log as being something personal in nature. A sort of diary or journal, if I can be that cheesy.In regards to the online ethics of blogging, a little common-sense and good
manners are my guide. I’m not into attacking people through posts or comments. Critical opinions are absolutely fine and encouraged, as far as I’m concerned, but all too often I see gutless “anonymous” comments or overtly defamating posts and I just think that’s lame.I think a contributing factor in the way bloggers blog is the reason they’re
blogging to begin with. (That sounded confusing, huh?) But seriously, if I’m
blogging on http://blog.linkworth.com, I’m going to be exceptionally mindful of
what I put out there because I work for LinkWorth and I’m representing the
company, you know? I gravitate towards a little humor in everything I do and my posts there are no different, but I’m really careful about not misrepresenting our company’s message or philosophy as a whole.Now, If I’m writing on one of my personal blogs, the attitude and voice is the
same but the subject matter is probably a little less-guarded. (Especially if
it’s a Friday night and I’ve had a few beers!) But still, the same rules should
and do apply for posts on those blogs, as well.Have opinions, but don’t be stupid or close-minded.
Don’t steal other people’s shit and try to make it your own.
Participate in the conversation! (Until this year, for the most part, I was too
much of a lurker and being part of the conversation is much more rewarding and beneficial to the authors of the blogs you enjoy reading. Do them a favor and mix it up with them!)
Again, thanks to everyone who has commented or submitted their thoughts! What do you think?
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After seeing that video I’m trying to think what website I would want to put it on! Those stats, were they real or made up? Do people get $85 for the first referral and all that other stuff too? I may be in the wrong business then!
Check out adult frend finder. I think you can join their affiliates from the website the video promotes. I chose a sexy but not pronographic affiliate. There were much more explicit services offered.
BTW, my video card crashed Saturday evening after I published, so this article sat 48 hours with horrible editing errors!
They’re all fixed now, but still, some were just too aweful! 