Transparency - Why Bloggers Without It Will Fail
ADVERTISEMENTSThis post was written by Aditya Mahesh of BlogOnExpo, a free digital conference for bloggers that will feature sessions about blogging and interviews with Darren Rowse from ProBlogger, RandFishkin of SEOmoz, and others. The conference kicks off on December 3rd, 2007.
For the purpose of this post, transparency will be defined as being upfront and honest with your readers. That being said, if you are a blogger and are not transparent with your readers you will fail. Not being transparent not only means lying, it means not revealing any special interests you have with a specific post.
For example, if you are being paid to write a review, say that you are being paid to write the review. If you include an affiliate link in a post, create a �Disclosure Page� that says you may occasionally include affiliate links in posts and link to that page from the sidebar.
The most important asset that any blogger has is his or her credibility and once a blogger loses that credibility, it is very very difficult to earn it back. Blog readers generally want unbiased information and if they feel that you are hiding information from them because you have something to gain, they will most likely not come back to read your blog. It really is as simple as that.
This doesn�t mean that you can never include affiliate links in posts or write about a sponsored review of a product, it only means that when you do so, make sure your reader knows that you are receiving some form of compensation for the content.
In any relationship, honesty is vital, and it is no different for the relationship between the blogger and the reader. If you are honest with your readers, you won�t have to worry about losing your most valuable asset.
Search JohnTP.com or view a random post
Related Articles
Find out what I am doing currently by .
Posted on October 19th, 2007 | Category: Blogging |
Bloddard
October 20, 2007 at 4:05 am
Man, this is worth its weight in gold. Thanks a lot.
Jude
October 20, 2007 at 6:57 am
Very nice! I like what you’re saying and it really hits the nail.
indyank
October 20, 2007 at 1:00 pm
But with paid reviews,most of the sponsors do not want it to be mentioned as paid review.What is your say on that?
Girish
October 21, 2007 at 3:09 pm
John,
I don’t know whether you have come across this video from Mark at 45n5 explaining his view on guest blogging. What’s your take on it ?
http://www.45n5.com/permalink/.....-time.html
Tony Chai
October 21, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Wow. You really have a great blog with great tips for bloggers like us. Thanks.
hafreze
October 21, 2007 at 9:52 pm
yeah, as usual, most sponsored review don’t want us to mention about paid review. Like myself, I’m disclose at my sidebar that the content will be mixed with paid review and my original content. I’m also saying that I want to earn some money with paid review. So, I think they will understand me..hehe
Aseem Kishore
October 24, 2007 at 3:50 am
I’ve heard somewhere that Google does not like paid reviews and is trying to discount them? Is this true or not?
Thanks
James Armstrong
October 25, 2007 at 1:51 am
An excellent point made.
apollo
November 2, 2007 at 7:00 am
i agree with you.every article must give the reader ‘gain,right? only do this ,the website can attracts everyone who come first.thanks,i will make my website better.