There comes a time in every blogger's life, once they start getting a good number of followers and page views, when the PR requests start coming through. To monetise or not to monetise? That is the question. Take some freebies in return for a review, take the money in return for a sponsored post, or remain entirely un-monetised?
I do think that there is a vast difference between getting a freebie that you would write about anyway and taking any sponsorship that comes along. It makes total sense to read a restaurant review of a free meal on Rosalilium, because Elizabeth blogs about food regularly. Likewise when Bethany on Arched Eyebrow posts about a bra she's been given; she's a fatshion blogger, she'd write about that kind of thing anyway. It's when I see posts sponsored by Argos, fer chrissakes, that I start to feel a bit stabby. I'm sorry, but you cannot convince me that even the most laundry-mad blogger would willingly write about a new tumble dryer.
It also seems to me that recently some of my favourite lifestyle bloggers have become more and more drawn into a depressing pattern of sponsored post after sponsored post. I'm all for bloggers sharing their interesting finds and lust lists, and if you can be sponsored to write about something you would want to mention anyway, then great! But one or two of my once-favourite blogs have become nothing but sponsored posts and very rarely write anything original, which makes me both yawn with boredom and respect them a whole lot less.
One argument which is prevelant amongst pro-monetising bloggers is that they deserve some reward for the time they put into their blog. There seems to be an attitude amongst some bloggers that blogging = professional writing and that therefore they should be paid, either in kind or in actual cash. Well I'm sorry, but blogging is not the same as journalism at all. Most bloggers aren't trained writers and the quality of the prose on most blogs is far off what would be acceptable in a magazine or newspaper (some of it is far off what would be acceptable in my year 7 English class, but that's another matter). That doesn't invalidate blogging at all, but it's naive at best and insulting at worst to pretend that it's the same as being a professional writer.
For me, there is a huge gulf between the bloggers I truly respect and admire - Sarah, Louise, Laura, The Girl, Elise, E & B - and a lot of the other 'lifestyle' bloggers out there, and when I sat down to think about why that was, I realised that none of those women ever blog anything except what is completely true to them. I may be wrong, but I don't think I've ever seen the dreaded words, "This is a sponsored post" at the bottom of their blogs. As a result, I genuinely look forward to each new post appearing in my feed, and when they express an opinion about a place or product or experience, I take notice because I know they must really mean it.
I blog because I enjoy writing, I enjoy having a dialogue with commenters and other bloggers, enjoy 'meeting' new people, and first and foremost because I enjoy having an online diary that I can look back on. It would make me very sad to think that the only reason to blog would be because I was being paid.
This is such a great post! I agree with you 100%. Often bloggers who go down the sponsored route they loose all the personality from their blog.
ReplyDeleteGiveaways and posts with disclaimers bore me. Keep doing what your doing Janet!
You've hit the nail on the head- it's about personality. when all you write is sponsored posts, where are you as a blogger in those posts?
DeleteAw you like me, thank you! This issue annoys me a bit too, although I recently cleared out my blog reader and mostly read blogs similar themed (and much better) than mine, so I'm not being bombarded with advertising all the time. I must admit I've had the very odd freebie, but I don't get the people who say they do it because of all the work they put into their blog - isn't it like a hobby? (except for the few people out there who actually blog for a living obv...) I mean, I knit a lot but I'm hardly likely to get given free wool and needles! :)
ReplyDeleteI think there's a vast difference between getting the odd freebie and going out of your way to monetise. I like the hobby analogy - you're absolutely right!
DeleteI'm currently still torn on the issue of monetising blogs. On the one hand, I agree that randomly themed sponsored post, flashing blog banner ads and the like are *super* annoying. I've also stopped following a few blogs that seemed to become more sponsorship/ads than content. On the other hand, there are several blogs I really like that offer high quality content, but have successfully monetised to the point that their blog is a key source of income (http://www.yesandyes.org/, http://www.abeautifulmess.com/, http://sillygrrl.com/ are some examples off the top of my head). I think if you put a lot of time into your blog, putting out a lot of useful/interesting content that’s a kind of a ‘taster’ for your main business (as opposed to, say, a blog that is more of an online journal), then monetising needn’t be a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteYou make an excellent point Jess - http://www.nowthatspretty.blogspot.com is another good example of a blog which provides tons of great, useful content. I have less of an issue with that kind of blogger choosing to monetise; it's lifestyle bloggers who seem to think that they deserve reward for taking pictures of their dinners and their feet (two blogger cliches that I fully admit to falling into myself!) that drive me a bit bonkers.
DeleteAgreed! I haven't heard of Now That's Pretty before - will check it out immediately! (I meant to say in my previous comment, I already follow and enjoy all of the blogs you mentioned bar one, so we must have pretty similar taste).
DeleteTHANK YOU!
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to bother blogging anymore, you say what I think anyway so it's much easier.
My major bugbear is that sponsored posts tend to be so badly written. Because, shocker, when you're not a professional writer it is going to be incredibly difficult to write about something when you're only writing it because you're being paid to do so. It's easier to write well when you're writing about something you like and not trying to tenuously link to the free piece of tut you got from Money Supermarket or whatever the latest craze is.
My favourite is when people go 'I love this thing I got free from this wicked expensive website'. No shit?! I'd love it if I got free stuff too! I'd be more disposed towards visiting said expensive website if you said 'Yeah I paid a lot of money for this thing but it's great and unusual and the service is great'
And do not get me STARTED on people blogging on behalf of gambling companies (yes Gala Bingo is a gambling company) and not putting a disclaimer or link to Gamble Aware at the same time.
In fact. I probably shouldn't have got started. Apologies.
Haha, I've often thought that about your blog - "why do I bother writing when she says what I want to, and says it all better than I do?!"
DeleteYup, I agree.
ReplyDeleteAs Jess said, bloggers who make a living from their blog are different, as they usually provide interesting and useful content, plus they normally have other income streams too and seem to be pretty selective about what sponsorsed posts they agree to.
I've also dropped some blogs from my reader because I can't be bothered with posts gushing about random household items or restaurants that I know the blogger is only recommending because they've been paid to do so. One thing I like about Elizabeth's blog, is that if she doesn't like something, she tells it like it is, and that makes a refreshing change in the world of sponsored posts.
As for me, my blog is for rambling, not for making money. I'd be happy to review freebies that tie in with my hobbies and interests but I like to think I'd do it because (a) the product/service is of interest to me, and (b) I would like to give other people an opinion of it. Getting a freebie or making money should never be the motivating factor in these things, but sadly it does seem to be that way in a lot of blogs at the moment.
I'm becoming tempted to drop some of these blogs from my reader, which makes me sad because I used to enjoy them. But I just don't like loads of sponsored posts, it's not what I read blogs for.
DeleteThank you for the mention! I will never have ads or sponsored posts. I like to think my blog is full of my personality and opinions rather than hollow posts about free beauty products and flashy adverts. I like to see the same on other blogs, which is why I like yours so much!
ReplyDeleteThanks :)
DeleteThank you! I *have* taken a free cake for review because, you know, it was CAKE, but I've always turned down sponsored posts, Frankly, I don't want the hassle of filling in a tax return for the sake of a few sponsored posts, but also, I already have a creative job which I love - I don't need to turn my hobby into a paid career; I think it would sap a lot of the fun out of it.
ReplyDeleteI think we can all agree that cake is another matter! I would have been upset to learn you *didn't* take it!
DeleteI also fully agree with you Janet and recently I cleared out a whole lot of previously favourite blogs just for this reason. The worst for me is when you read an entire post to find out it was sponsored - grrr....
ReplyDeleteYep, that drives me crazy. It turns me off reading anything that's just a list of products, because I know nine times out of ten it'll be sponsored. A shame for the few bloggers who do those kind of posts just to share nice finds.
DeleteThis was such an interesting post to read, and it's something that I think an awful lot about. Since the start of the year, I've been offered more and more PR opportunities, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't like it. As such, I've featured some sponsored posts on my blog that I probably wouldn't have written if I wasn't being offered money to do so.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I am really careful about what I accept. I was recently offered the opportunity to write about Vanish in a sponsored post, and I couldn't bring myself to do it. I have never written about stain removal on my blog before, why would I now? It would be so jarring for my readers to go from reading about a day out in London to a post about how I get jam out of a white top. No sir!
There is one blog that I see that seems to be so successful, but when you look at it, it's sponsored post, followed by PR item, followed by 'written in collaboration with...' and it's just sickening. I can't believe that anyone would want their blog to become that, but then I assume that was the reason this particular lady began blogging in the first place. Such a shame.
This - "I can't believe anyone would want their blog to become that" sums it up well for me. I can't imagine giving up posting what I loved in return for sponsored posts about Vanish! Good call on not taking that sponsorship- I really don't mind if bloggers take appropriate sponsorship, that's fair enough. It's the really jarring examples or when it becomes nothing BUT sponsored posts that bug me.
Delete