I have always wanted to be “one of those bloggers”– you know, the ones that make a great income just from their blog. They have great advertisers, have tons of offers to review free product. What blogger doesn’t want THAT?
Oh to be a Dooce, or an Ali Martell, or a Barefoot Foodie, or heck — a Pioneer Woman. The ones that are offered writing deals, book deals, television shows, trips around the world, and the like.
I have stuck my toe into the advertising waters a few times over the years, doing sponsored posts, inserting ad-links into my blog, and even reviewing free products on occasion. Obviously, I am taking the wrong route– because my bank account? Doesn’t seem thrilled at the lack of blog income I’ve got coming in.
Recently, I was approached by a “writing service” asking me if I would be interested in adding a few ad-links to some of my blog posts. They would pay me $5 for each link I added, and it didn’t really sound like a bad deal.
Until they told me where I needed to add them.
I assumed they would be small ad-links at the bottom of my posts every once in a while, but oh NO. These people were thinking bigger.
They actually wanted me to add the ad-links into my post content on five posts, making it look like it was something I wrote. I read the email they sent me, with the list of links and wording they wanted me to add to my posts, and I felt violated. Was I willing to compromise my crappy writing for a few measly dollars in my pocket?
Five dollars for a link wasn’t worth selling my soul for. I’ve seen other bloggers doing it, and I keep thinking that maybe it’s ruining things for the rest of us. It makes us “mommybloggers” seem cheap and easy… not a good reputation to have.
Product reviews are a different matter, I guess. I don’t mind a company sending me free items for me to try out and review, as long as they don’t expect me to write something good just because they sent me something for free.
What’s your take on blog advertising? Do you accept ad-links into your site? Do you sell ads in your sidebars? Do you review products?
For me, I think I’ll just keep my zero income and the five readers I have and sit tight.
