Should Bloggers Write Commercial Content?

Feb 01, 2007

Scott Karp at Blog Herald ponders whether bloggers should write commercial content or not. I think this debate has gone on for a long time, and it got amplified with the launch of PayPerPost – the service pays bloggers for writing blogs for its advertisers.

Many such services have cropped up ever since then, and there are some bloggers that really resent this trend. I don’t know why. I think the Internet is vast enough to encompass every thought and occupation. Some bloggers write for passion, some want to share their personal and professional experiences with like-minded people, and some provide valuable content while trying to earn through advertising.

There are always good things and there are always bad things and this happens in every sphere of life. Even religion and science have their goods and bad and they have co-existed for centuries. May be people who resent commercial blogging have alternate sources of income and may be people who favor commercial blogging want to make it as their primary occupation. Both have the right to practice their ideologies and it’s plain silly to criticize the other.

Blog readers I think are wise enough to make out what is spurious writing.

Having said that, the Internet has its fair share of scams. Why blog-based scams are a touchy issue is because most bloggers gain an audience by building the structure of trust. Most blogs are ecosystems of camaraderie and appreciation. For instance, if you love reading stuff on my blog, you’ll easily trust me if I say product A is better so buy it. Many bloggers do that — they recommend products and services — but they do it out of personal experience. If I like a hosting service and if I feel some readers of mine might benefit from this hosting service, I have no qualms about writing about it on my blog. But then if my hosting sucks, I’ll write about that too.

So I think the best way to write commercial content is, declare it. Tell your readers that you’ve been paid to write the post. But then it doesn’t mean if you get paid you’ll write anything. You’ll have to set a consistent editorial standard and the product or service should hold some meaning to your niche readership.

Technorati Tags: commercial content, commercial blogging, pay per post, paid blogging