Can Paid Post’s Hurt My Writing?
Now you have all seen those “paid to post” sites out there, and some of you (including myself) have probably participated in one or two of these posts. Now I personally have nothing wrong with them, but there are one or two things that I want to point out before you go about signing up for one of these sites.
1st of all know what you signing up for
If you are getting paid to post basically you are telling an advertiser that it is cool for them to advertise on your site. In order to do this they ask you to post a review, on their site/product. This can earn you some extra money off your blog, however it can hurt your PR and can also damage your readership if you aren’t careful.
If you decided to do it, don’t forget to read the fine print
Each of these sites has a different set of guidelines, and terms. Make sure that you read it, as it can save you from getting ban, or from getting in trouble legally.
So what do I have to say?
Personally I only done a paid post once and that was when I first started out. I would not be against them on my other blog, but here on LoaTW I will NEVER, I repeat NEVER do a paid review, unless it is about a site that you could get excellent writing info from (even then I would be sketchy.) I think I might have got some people thinking that I did one for my book review on Fighting Ruben Wolfe since I lost 6 readers, but I didn’t. That was all on my own will, and if anyone thought otherwise I am sorry.
In the end it really depends on the purpose of your blog, and what you plan to accomplish. I would however recommend that you don’t take the decision lightly, and think it through for a few days. They usually sound like a great idea till you manage to lose your PR or start to lose readers because your posts are no longer genuine. It does however give you a few ideas for writing, and can sometimes be beneficial.
So what do you think? Are paid to post sites a good idea? What have you done to get/avoid using these particular sites? Would you say they are more beneficial or harmful?
I thought about going the paid to post route - and decided it would just be tacky for my blog. But I know some people who've done it really successfully...
Revelations Zero says
I would never go the Paid-to-Post route. The only time I'd ever consider it would be if I was running a blog which actually reviewed things. Even then, I'd only do it sparingly and I'd give honest reviews. None of this "we'll only pay you for positive reviews". It's the truth or nothing.
Terri says
I have actually used paid posts with success. My regular readers know that I do this and they understand that for me, it's just another writing job. As long as readers are aware you're not trying to scam them into buying something you don't personally recommend, I don't see a problem with it. Although it is easy to get out of hand if you're not careful.
Jena Isle says
Hi Izzy,
Those are good observations. In my writing site Gewggaw writings, I have done only 3-4 paid posts there and rejected many, because I couldn't connect the topic with my blog's purpose.
With my other blogs, all of them accept reviews, but even then I refuse to blog about casinos, gambling and drugs for promotion. I feel I cannot be sincere with these topics. I have refused several about these topics.
The extra income helps a lot especially in these dire, economic-recession times. But I do my best to write informative posts too in between my paid reviews. Sometimes , I get successful , sometimes, I am not., I just hope my readers will understand the paid post now and then.
All the best,
bingkee says
It's not gonna hurt your writing. Your writing is your "mark" so whatever you write, does not affect your writing.
The only thing paid post does to affect is your Google Page Rank. It can drop your PR, just like it did to everybody else's blogs that do have paid posts.
If your PR is 4 now, the next time Google updates your blog and finds your blog full of paid links, your PR might drop to 0.
I used to have a PR 4 but it dropped to 0 because of my paid links.
Some blogs , no matter how much they have paid posts/links, they still maintain their PR probably because there are also a good quality of backlinks to their blogs.
Writing paid posts in blogs should be more of incorporating it as an experience or opinion rather than a proposition to make your readers buy. This is essential so that your readers would still be interested in what you have to say and write and not what you're trying to make them do.
It's okay to write paid posts as long as you know the consequences of doing it and your readers know that you're doing paid posts.
Simon | Teenius says
Personally, I'm not sure if I'd do PTP. I've spent a long time building up my readership, and from that I know what they want. By going and posting advertisements to them I'm ruining all the hard work I've done to get a few dollars.
Izzy Daniels says
Well Simon its like Jena said up above... If you make sure that they fit your blog, and your readers know that you only do one here and there to generate a little extra cash than it shouldn't be a huge deal. But yes, I agree with your mindset.
Jena Isle says
I'm lucky my rank remained even then, perhaps because I'm also active in socializing with other blogs. Posting my links from my writing sites probably helped a lot too.
Izzy Daniels says
You should be fine as long as you make sure to use "nofollow" tags. Most paid posts wont allow them, but some will...That is when you take advantage of the situation.
Laura says
I joined a paid post site a while ago and all I did was put their code on my site. I never even wrote anything for them and I lost all of my page rank. I took it off immediately and now have had to climb back up the PR latter.
impNERD says
Paid reviews are perfectly fine with writing as long as you don't write them as such. As for your overall website, you should only do paid reviews for stuff related to your site and allow you to use nofollow. Otherwise you really are hurting your site.
Tina says
i think as long as your not lying and specifically say you have used a product or service, and just giving info that would be ok.
great info though, and stuff to think about :)