Paid Blogging: What’s the Problem? Is it Ethical?
By admin | October 23, 2009
SEO Politics of the Internet - I’ll pay you to vote for me! What’s all the hoopla about paid blogging? Is it good for business? Is it ethical? Should it be policed by the Big Brother of the Internet, Google? Lots of ideas and opinions are running around as how to view paid blogging. Here’s a quick rundown as we look at the pros and cons of compensating bloggers to review products and services.
Pros
- Positive Influence: Positive reviews can influence opinion of your product or service - This can be good or bad (see cons)
- Encourages reader response - this depends on the popularity and trustworthiness of the blog(ger). A popular blog that receives hundreds of hits a day and has garnered enough interest from its readers will create a buzz in the local blog community which can lead to…
- Viral Marketing – Increased exposure on one blog leads to another blog through word of mouth (or is that fingers?), back links and more discussion which leads to…
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and increased exposure throughout the Internet. The more other bloggers pick up on the review or story, the more exposure you’ll receive with the Search Engines like Google, Yahoo! Bing and others, which leads to more exposure – good publicity.
Frankly, the current search engine business model is based on a pay-per-click (ppc) paid inclusion so paid blogging fits. So, how can there be anything ethically wrong with paid blogging?
Cons
- Ethically is it in the gray area? Can a paid blogger be trusted to provide an objective review of the product? Should an honest blogger base their review on their experience and not what the company paying for the review wants?
- Write this! The majority of paid bloggers are not told directly what to write - of course they will be influenced by the fact they are being provided free products to test on their own or compensated monetarily.
- Can readers expect an objective review? Because the whole point is to get an opinion of a product before you buy it yourself
- Negative Publicity: What if the product doesn’t live up to the blogger’s hype? The product received a glowing review, yet it doesn’t function up to that level. If enough customers who buy the product based on the blogger’s recommendation don’t agree with how good that product is, not only will the blogger’s reputation suffer, so will the product’s sales and the company that manufactured it.
- Big Brother is Watching: Google says it is currently working to prevent their search engines from recognizing paid blogs. Is that possible? If at some point it is, could your product be black listed by Google? Is paid blogging truly a black hat tool?
Conclusion Paid blogging is no different than lobbying politicians, just on a different level. I don’t see our current government model going away any sooner than paying writers to write about products and services - particularly if the current search engine model promotes paid inclusion. Besides, it’s been done for years in the print world, should it be any different online? Consider paid blogging the advertorial of the Internet.
Topics: Blogging, Branding Strategy, Copywriting, Freelance Copywriter, Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-08-16
By admin | August 16, 2009
- @BrightMeadow You must be from across the pond. Most Americans who aren’t foodies won’t know that a Corgette is a Zucchini.
in reply to BrightMeadow #
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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-08-02
By admin | August 2, 2009
- Sometimes your marketing message just needs to be reorganized. #
- Is tweeting an opinion based on fact a cause for a law suit? A PR conundrum. #
- If you cut back on your marketing due to the recession now is the time to get back in gear so you’re ready to hit the pavement running #
- Finishing up copywriting and design concept for a magazine coverwrap for the Good Sam Club Signature Visa card. #
- Copywriting isn’t a commodity - it’s an investment #
- Down time - Waiting for the client to get back to me with edits. #
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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-26
By admin | July 26, 2009
- RT @MackCollier: BURN NOTICE! #
- @joannayoung Tea is Great! Assam, Darjeeling, Ceylon, Kenyan, Java, Nepalese = yum! in reply to joannayoung #
- Welcomes New Client Bet Tracker - Web site, Flash Demo and Audio Script #
- Starting work on a new project for the Good Sam Club - Copywriting and design concepts for a 2-page magazine cover wrap and magazine ad. #
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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-12
By admin | July 12, 2009
- Just finished putting together 5 magazine ad concepts for an ad campaign for the Good Sam Club #
- @ladysncharms need any help setting up Word Press? in reply to ladysncharms #
- SEO and Copywriting: Can they co-exist? The best SEO in the world won’t necessarily win customers hearts and minds. #
- @RobertStover I know, rhetorical question. I would say it can be done. It’s not easy and you have to use other methods of SEO/SEM to assist in reply to RobertStover #
- @RobertStover True. I’m a copywriter first. I believe keyword density can best be served inside the html programming as meta/comments in reply to RobertStover #
- @RobertStover Excrescence? Can’t say that word is in my vocabulary. in reply to RobertStover #
- @RobertStover Awh, Jeez. Now I have to look it up and use it in a sentence! in reply to RobertStover #
- @RobertStover Somehow I don’t think that quote from Johnson dated 1759 took into account either changing tastes or technology in reply to RobertStover #
- Creative Directors: Could your marketing materials use a different creative angle? Drop me a tweet! #
- I don’t know. Google getting into the OS industry isn’t far fetched, but I wonder if it will fly. #
- @RoyBlumenthal Or Intel Inside… in reply to RoyBlumenthal #
- @NEWSUNSEO Smaller newspapers have had the ability to adapt to the online world that much easier. Now they need to charge for their services in reply to NEWSUNSEO #
- @MackCollier Mack, have you seen this article about Twitter-censorship? http://bit.ly/cCK0o Moonfruit got canned for becoming too popular! in reply to MackCollier #
- Inspiration: Born from experience or gleaned from our surroundings? #
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Twitter Updates for 2009-07-02
By admin | July 2, 2009
- Ira Says: Twitter Updates for 2009-07-01:
Ira Says: Twitter Updates for 2009-06-30:
Ira Says: Twitter .. http://tinyurl.com/l4v2pr # - @MackCollier I think that’s where you’re supposed to not think about work for 5-7 days or more at a time. When is that? in reply to MackCollier #
- @MackCollier Agreed. Excessive compulsive tweeting can be a real turnoff. It fills up the Twitter screen! in reply to MackCollier #
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Twitter Updates for 2009-07-01
By admin | July 1, 2009
- Ira Says: Twitter Updates for 2009-06-30:
Ira Says: Twitter Updates for 2009-06-29:
@Wordyworker Hi Jo.. http://tinyurl.com/m2qpfk # - Finishing a PR article for a local real estate agent. There’s more to copywriting than just producing high end ads and direct mail. #
- Ira Says: The Joy of Marketing: Marketing can be rather fun, especially if you look at the process as b.. http://tinyurl.com/l655oh #
- Just got a personalized twitter background at http://www.TwitterBackgrounds.com #
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The Joy of Marketing
By admin | June 30, 2009
Marketing can be rather fun, especially if you look at the process as being a matchmaker for couples as opposed to selling snake oil. (Then again there may be good snake oil that may have medicinal properties, but I wouldn’t prescribe any, and hopefully the snakes won’t blame me for saying so.)
The stereotypical evil snake oil salesman of old would sell anything to anybody. But I prefer the road of integrity. What does the product or service offer and who would be the best fit? Just like there is someone for everyone in the dating scene, there is someone for just about any product or service. The trick is finding it; or, finding a niche market for the product that the original intent hadn’t realized.
And this can be done truthfully and strategically without resorting to trickery. Because a “lemon-ny” product or service will have an extreme public relations backlash, particularly with the easy dissemination of information throughout the Internet.
Happy couples or happy customers – the proof will show in the bottom line. And there is a tremendous amount of satisfaction seeing that a product or service is being used effectively or with enjoyment by customers that truly purchased what they were looking for.
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Twitter Updates for 2009-06-30
By admin | June 30, 2009
- Ira Says: Twitter Updates for 2009-06-29:
@Wordyworker Hi Jo, your Twitter profile URL is either broke.. http://tinyurl.com/lw7zua # - @nathanparikh Web 2.0 feel? Should that be the next phrase added to the English dictionary after Web 2.0 itself? Ask them to describe it in reply to nathanparikh #
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If You Build It, They Will Not Come - Get Marketing! Create Some Buzz!
By admin | August 23, 2008
"If you build it, they will not come" is the new tag line for Web sites. Long, long ago in the not too far distant past of having an online presence on the Internet it was a whole lot easier to be in the top 10 never mind the top 100 or 1000 today. There are a lot more factors to consider when it comes to putting the right SEO / SEM into place. From more competition from thousands of sites with similar content, to ever-changing search engine algorithms, it’s a jungle out there.
For instance, it can take up to 6 months to get accepted as a listing on Google (indexed). The buzz has to get out in other ways. Strike up online conversations, make comments on forums and blogs, advertise on local Web sites - even start your own blog or discussion group. Marketing online including Social Media is only just an extension of what you’d be doing for a physical business in other media.
Sitting and waiting for business to come to you isn’t going to work. Market, market, market.
Topics: Freelance Copywriter, Online Marketing, Social Media | No Comments »
The Copywriting Sweatshop - SEO Anyone?
By admin | August 12, 2008
I’m contacted by a lot of potential clients looking for articles written about a variety of subjects. They want lots of articles with an SEO build so they can fill up their Web site and attract surfers. Basically filler material.
What good is filler material to the reader if it’s written haphazardly and doesn’t address what the reader was looking for? Nada. The back button is a click away and that defeats the purpose unless all you’re looking for is huge amounts of search engine traffic so you can claim site impressions from Google. But high traffic won’t happen unless you have phenomenal SEO because Search Engine Marketing isn’t going to work for this kind of site. For some companies, this is their niche. However, increased traffic and impressions are best built with repeat hits, return visitors who find what they want and value in what you provide - quality writing with the right content.
I visit dozens of sites using filler material every week while surfing for recreation or professionally. And I’m clicking away faster than you say - or think - go back. Why? Because I know that the articles are schlock. The articles or blog posts have been thrown together by writers in India or some other country who don’t have a firm grasp of the English language, or by part-time writers for a sweatshop dealing out a paltry $10 per article regardless of size or complexity. Even the most knowledgeable writer isn’t going to be able to put together a quality piece of writing in 30 minutes.
Other similar sites have plagiarized material from other sites, mirror images of articles and posts without a "by your leave" to use this information from the original author.
As a matter of fact, I find most of these Web sites when I’m actually looking for something else, which makes the whole experience that much more frustrating.
Legitimate Web sites should have original material that is truly informational and not a lure. It shows respect for the intelligence of the reader when the material is written with the reader in mind and not the search engine because insincerity can be smelled a mile a way.
An investment in quality copywriting is an investment in your readers - and your business.
Topics: Copywriting, Freelance Copywriter, Web Site Copywriting | No Comments »
Emotional Branding of the High Tech World
By admin | July 21, 2008
In the Simon Says column of the April 28, 2008 Brandweek magazine, Simon Sinek offers up the opinion that Advertising Agencies are making the purchasing decision too complex.
His statement, "They [marketers] can help reduce the need to think too hard by communicating the core beliefs of a brand so that we can just let the emotional parts of our brains guide our decisions."
Now, I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a general statement for marketing in all industries, or just the high tech industry considering he offered up the fact he was looking to purchase a flat screen TV and a computer. So I’ll comment about the high tech industry.
Mr. Sinek commented that many of the PC manufacturers had flooded their home pages with sales offerings. Well, they are e-commerce sites as well as information tools. In addition to promoting sales, these companies should also continue to interact with the consumer by having easy to find information about the products as well as customer service and brand fan tools like forums, games, etc. This also depends on how each company wishes to brand itself.
He went on to comment that the branding messages put forward by Sony, Samsung and Philips were inadequate. He ended by saying that Philips provided too much technical information about how LCD screens work. It seems that Philips has changed their Web site since the article was published to be much less technical and more branding.
But, hey we are dealing with technology. "Tech"-nical is built right into the name. Consumers go to online sites specifically to find information about the products they wish to purchase. Companies should allow the consumer to be as technical as they want to be while learning about a brand and its products.
So, in retrospect, Web sites for technology products may want to follow a path from simple to complex as they emotionally charge through technically "WOW" their prospective customers. Because you know, there are a lot of techno-geeks out there that do get emotionally charged by the technical "WOW."
Topics: Advertising, Branding Strategy, Freelance Copywriter, Marketing Opinion, Online Marketing, Web Site Copywriting | 2 Comments »
Is Social Media Making Direct Response Irrelevant?
By admin | July 17, 2008
Has social media got you down? If you are a member of the direct response marketing community you may be feeling the pinch from the pull of social media as companies shift more of their marketing budget to Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and other social media outlets.
But don’t despair. This to shall pass as Integrated Marketing continues to make itself known throughout the marketing sphere. As the Internet has fragmented the music industry and cable fragmented the television viewing industry, advertising and marketing has had to adjust.
This media fragmentation is keeping the industry on its toes.
But the question is, will social media make direct response irrelevant? No. For all the wanton opinions being thrown around the Internet by a product’s or brand’s fans, lovers, haters, and doubters the truly interested customer still requires direct communication to find out what a company’s products and services can do for them. They still need to be sold. And while they may have formed some kind of opinion from the multitude of information they have read and heard, honest, factual, direct response communication still turns the tide.
Topics: Advertising, Blogging, Direct Mail, Direct Response, Freelance Copywriter, Marketing, Marketing Opinion, Social Media | No Comments »
Don’t Go Green, Be Green and Prove it
By admin | July 16, 2008
I’ve been bashing the whole green marketing movement the last couple of posts because there is a big difference between saying your going green and being green. So I say, prove it. And the educated consumer will say the same thing. My concept takes a page out of fiction writing; Show, Don’t Tell.
Stating that you’re going green is like a kiss and a promise. Following up with statistics on how your company’s green programs are working, possibly with an independent auditor ratifying the outcome, makes good on that promise and shows the consumer that you stand behind your ideals. So, instead of just telling everyone that you’re going green, you are showing that you ARE green. Period.
And keep up the good work!
In the meantime, if your company is contemplating adding green-ness to its marketing programs, yet haven’t solidified the means and ways to reach those goals before advertising the programs, listen to Yoda. Do or Do Not, There is No Try!
Topics: Freelance Copywriter, Marketing, Marketing Opinion | No Comments »
An Example of Trying to Be Too Green: Sprint
By admin | July 14, 2008
Here’s a great example of what I’m talking about. http://www.sprintenterprise.com/sprintingreen/?id9=Email_0708lnlcustomer_green. Sprint is turning "Being Green" into a marketing program. And they even ask for input from customers on how they should be environmentally responsible. Here are the options.
- Reduce our carbon footprint
Offer environmentally-friendly wireless devices
Expand our wireless device recycling efforts
Ensure that our office and network facilities are sustainable
Expand our e-billing and online store options
Shouldn’t they be doing this anyway? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a marketing concept that works, but this can come back and give them a nasty bite in the tailpipe. Especially if they make any of the answers public on a large scale. If they don’t , skeptical people are going to realize this is just a stunt anyway. It acts as a very short-term image boost. But then again, any company that doesn’t "keep up with Joneses" will just look bad. If the consumer really cares. We’ll have to see what the studies say about the success of this marketing tactic.
Well, at least they do have a cell phone recycling program where they will donate all proceeds to help support Internet safety for kids. Now that’s being green in a responsible way.
Topics: Advertising, Branding Strategy, Freelance Copywriter, Marketing, Marketing Opinion | No Comments »