Why these guys are standing out in the middle of the ocean we'll never know.
What’s a conscientious blogger to do?
Here’s some historical context. I started this blog in 2007, and it’s been blissfully free of advertising since the very beginning. That’s right: no banner ads, no frakkin’ popups, no ads on my RSS feed, and no Google Adsense text ads. The products I’ve reviewed were purchased with my own money and I’ve never, ever written a paid review (or post, for that matter).
I’ve often referred to this blog as a labor of love, but it’s also a labor that costs money. My web hosting costs me $40 a month. Factor in the cost of prizes and other software bells-n-whistles and I’m looking at slightly more than $500 a year to run this site. I’m not complaining, just stating the facts, ma’am.
The most popular posts on this site are by far my “how-to” articles on subjects ranging from changing the oil in an SV650 to aiming a motorcycle headlight to making a visor squeegee out of a spare windshield wiper blade. Thousands of people have (I hope) gained something of value from my humble blog, and I’m very proud of that.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted, but in the spirit of blogging, I’d like to hear from you. Whaddaya say, dear readers: should I sell out or what?
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Selling out would be putting favorable advertisements for products that were given to you when in fact you feel the products are inferior.
Giving an honest review of a product (whether bought with your money, given to you be a friend, won in a drawing at a local store, found along side the road or sent to you by the manufacturer) is NOT selling out. The biggest thing I would see changing is the range of products you could review. Think about it, that cool gadget or gear that you would like to try but can’t quite see spending the money on.. well, maybe now you will get a chance to try it and review it.
Consider this, would you provide a link to a product you bought, reviewed and found favorable? If you thought the product was good you would let your reader know about it and where to find it, right? Same with products sent to you, if you use it and like it, review it favorably and give a link. If you find it less than optimal, let us know that as well.
Just my $0.02 worth.
–ServerGoon
Another thought just occurred to me as I read your blurb about reviews, you could create a section section, subsection or add a tag that would indicate the review was for a donated product as opposed to a product bought with your own money. That would allow for a separation of “I wanted to buy this myself” and “I was sent this, I may not have normally purchased this item”. There are many items I would *like* to buy but won’t spend the money on due to cost or the view that it would be a frivolous purchase when I really need product X. (I’ll pick on my wife here who happens to have 3 different riding jackets so she can match helmets or other gear).
Just another thought. Still not against honest reviews of donated products. And I am assuming these products are for review and there are no strings like “you must put an ad on the side of your blog for brand X products”
I wouldn’t change my opinion on you or your blog either way. I understand wanting to help cover hosting costs. An add free website is extremely rare these days, so its not like you are breaking a taboo. If it is a store that has appeal to your readers, go for it.
I’ll bet I received the same solicitation, in fact have received 2 of them in the last month and a half. Both were for sights that look good, but have no prior experience with and know very little about.
I emailed them back and said no thanks for now, but that I would possibly consider a purchase in the future so that I can gain a little experience with them. Might mention them in the future.
Maybe it carries over from my present job. I will not ever refer anybody to another firm or person unless I know that person very well and know their capabilities. Nothing can damage a relationship worse than a referral that goes bad.
Hell, maybe we both will agree to sponsor them and fight each other to try out new “stuff”.
1. It YOUR blog, do as you see fit. Labor of love of not, it’s nice to be compensated every once in a while.
2. $40 a month? What hosting service are you using? FWIW, I paid $125 for the year with Host Monster. That includes the domain, and unlimited bandwidth.
3. If I ever get lucky enough to have a sponsor or to, I’d probably do it.
I got a few of those recently as well. Each time I think about it and always come back to, “no” and don’t accept the offer. It IS enticing to be offered “free” goods. But I just,.. I dunno. It feels wrong for my site – at least in terms of the stores I have been propositioned by.
It’s kind of a fine line – kind of like – it’s called flirting unless the person is ugly. Then it’s sexual harassment.
If it’s your favorite online retailer who comes knocking then it might feel more like a natural fit. When it’s someone you’ve never dealt with and have honestly never heard of, then… it feels a little more strange.
The questions I came back to were –
What is the length of the term the link needs to remain?
What if you have an honest beef with the product – will they attempt to censor you?
What if their prices are generally not competitive or if their selection is awful?
What if they turn out to be aholes and you become associated with that?
Does anyone really click on those ads to go to as shop and follow thru with a sale or are they just visual noise?
On the flip side-
You get free stuff for doing what you are already doing.
You can get exposure to products maybe you wouldn’t have before.
You can widen the audience of your blog.
It can lessen the sting of paying for your labor of love.
I don’t think its selling out. If the relationship is beneficial to you both then you can see it as a reward for your efforts. I too wouldn’t think any differently of this blog if it took on adverts. You’ve been honest and forthright in your reviews. I would imagine you would continue on in the same manner regardless of how you obtained the goods.
Are you leaning more one way than the other?
Sell Out! Just do it honestly. Make it clear when you are reviewing a free/donated product and don’t hold back, if it’s a bad product let us know. If it’s a good product then everybody wins. If I had no experience with the company, I might do some research of there site, say a blind purchase to see first hand if there shipping and customer service are on par. Do they have products you would be willing to spend your own money on? Just my 2 cents, good luck.
I don’t think it’s a problem, as long as you keep a few things in mind.
1. Clearly disclose that an item was provided to you, rather than purchased by you in the open market.
2. You should be able to give honest (i.e. negative) reviews if it is appropriate
3. Please don’t make the link overly obtrusive. An appropriately sized in-line ad or banner ad is cool. Pop up windows, flash ads that block content, or a splash page that says “click here to skip ad” is not cool.
Seconding most of the opinions here, go for it if it’s appealing, just make sure you aren’t bound by more contract than you’d like. Ads wouldn’t make me read the site any less.
And also maybe find some cheaper hosting? There are plans that give you 6250GB of monthly bandwidth for $5/mo.
As always, you guys are coming through with some great ideas. I really appreciate hearing your perspectives on matters like these.
One last thing: don’t be distracted by the cost of my web hosting. The requirements of this site have outgrown the capabilities of cut-rate hosting, and it’s not just a bandwidth thing.
Anyway, thanks for the comments, everyone. If you haven’t yet, please post up and share your opinion.
Question is, do YOU want to review their products? Do you want to own and use them yourself?
If not, then don’t. If they’re not giving you cash, then that doesn’t help keep the site running. Will you re-sell things on ebay to cover hosting? Or are they just giving you content to keep/grow the site.
The site is most fun because you insert your own personality and stories into each post. I wouldn’t want to see that lost.
Stacy, Hi!
Two thoughts run through my mind. One is this sounds like a reaction to what appears to be an interesting offer, perhaps just spam, but still interesting. The second is could this be the beginnings of a blog business for you. I confess I think in terms of my previous life in public accounting, but why not rough out a business plan. This offer looks good on paper so far, because it’s better than you have now, but how does it look to have bigger options.
Take a look at other blogs out there that have sponsors to see what their content looks like. Instead of doing the deal for free product, maybe it would be better to charge a fee. In that case you could use the money to pay your expenses and independently buy things to test out. You also maintain the appearance of control, and you don’t become the virtual sandwich board for a particular company.
When you’re asked about remaining independent think about the magazines that are out there. Personally I think the difference between some blogs and magazines is only the media they are read from, paper or computer screen. For centuries the question of editorial content being influenced by the advertisers dollar has come up. There is a balance the magazine business managers and editors that some publishers are good at maintaining, and some not so much. My perception from reading your blogs is that you like, and probably will continue, to be an independent journalist. That’s good.
A few questions and thoughts:
Ask yourself where do you want to go with all this.
Is blogging about motorcycles and gear fun to do because you can when you want to do it, not when you have to? Will it stay fun or become a chore down the road?
Do you want this to be a business?
Is your quest to be the go to blog for motorcycle info?
Are there enough other advertisers who are interested in your space?
Do you have the traffic to warrant getting significant interest from others?
What are the hidden costs of getting bigger?
Will you need more help to take the bigger steps in the future? Are there costs involved?
[Shall I continue with these questions?]
In today’s day and age, successful blogging businesses are like the holy grail of online home businesses. A lot of people can do it, while very few make it financially. The ones that do have found a substantial niche that needed filling in the manner that they are capable of, pleasing the readers enough to keep them coming back. Is that you? Perhaps Bolty.net can be the next Huffingtonpost.com.
Has any of this been helpful?
Enjoy,
Liz
Another thing is if the “free” products would benefit your readers and give them good recommendation or even discount codes!! Its a win-win! Good luck!
As others have mentioned, if you are honest in your evaluation, why would it be selling out. Would you get to choose what to review or do they pick?
As long as you give your honest opinion of the product you are reviewing, and state somewhere in the review that you were given the product at no cost to evaluate, I think that this is just fine!
Go for it.
I say go for it so long as they are sites you would want products from, be honest about the products and if nothing else its always fodder to fill any gaps during down time. Plus hey…if you don’t want the gear, I’m sure you know someone who does.
My thing has always been…get paid to do something you love. If your blog/motorcycle/etc could someday support you would hopefully never have to call it “work” again. This may not be that first step but then again…
LifeOn2Whls said “…get paid to do something you love” and that sounds like a good thing to me too! As has already been said, if it is for a product you like or a company you like, go for it. Why the heck not? As long as you know what you are getting into, and know how you can or can’t get out of it, if you choose to later, go for it. Will you respect yourself in the morning? If the answer is yes, well, there ya go.
Of course, I’ve never been in your situation before so keep that in mind.
Allaina