General - Wednesday, March 18, 2009 10:31 - 0 Comments

Is Paying Bloggers a Good Idea?

Recently I have been reading debates about whether or not Bloggers should be compensated for posting about a product or service. Also as a company, should you pay Bloggers to write about you? I say absolutely!

From the Bloggers perspective, they are providing a service that fits somewhere between PR and advertising. The message is delivered in the Bloggers voice but the payment guarantees the advertisers post. The advertiser gains from the association and credibility of the Blogger. Everybody wins, right?

Well, what about the reader? The reader should look for two things, transparency and authenticity. Transparency–is the Blogger disclosing the relationship they have with the sponsor? Authenticity—does the product or service relate to the topic of the blog? If the answer to either is “no”, the reader shouldn’t trust the post.

So Bloggers, go ahead and market your services. It’s a tough world out there so why shouldn’t you make a buck on your talents. But be honest with your posts…tell your readers how you are being compensated and if you honestly can’t write anything good don’t write anything at all.