I’ve never been a big fan of allowing articles on my sites that have in-content links back to some company. I’ve never allowed in-content links on Nerdy Nomad and I don’t think I ever will. I feel like they’re misleading… they tend to come across as an endorsement and they very rarely ever would be.
But I’ve been allowing article submissions on all of my other sites for awhile. The reason I keep Nerdy Nomad clean of them is because this blog is pretty personal – just me – and I don’t want people to read it and feel like I’m recommending something I’m not. But with my other sites, there’s no obvious person behind it. No personal recommendation. So I don’t think adding links is as misleading. Well, ya, of course it still is… just less so, I think. So I’m ok with that.
As it turns out, I only accept articles that are actually interesting and useful to readers… they just have a few links peppered in them and a small pitch about whatever company is being promoted. I’ve been pretty impressed with the quality of the articles… many are a lot better than something I’d come up with myself, actually! I feel like they have the potential to add value to my sites since I don’t allow complete sales pitches and make sure the articles offer value to the reader. But I’m still not a huge fan of them and on the sites that my face and name is attached to in an obvious way (Nerdy Nomad and Living in Kigali), I intend on keeping all of the content free of ads.
It seems like companies are going down this road in a big way. I get as many requests for link advertisements these days as I do for articles. If I were to shut out the articles completely, I’d be losing a large part of my income and a large part of my new content. Actually, all of my new content these days for my static sites seems to come from paid articles. Kind of lazy on my part… but it seems to be working ok!
For my static sites I tend not to allow permanent ads of any kind so I treat the articles the same way I’d treat a text ad. Advertisers generally pay a monthly or yearly rate and then renew when they expire. I know a few other blogger types who charge one-off fees up to $500 and I wonder whether this might be a better way to go. You get the one-off fee, you don’t need to worry about renewals, the content is there for good, and you’re just stuck with a few links on your site for life.
I just bought the site Blighty Traveller and Ross, the old owner, has been allowing articles on his site for GBP50 for a permanent placement. That price is pretty crazy to me and I’ve bumped it up to GBP100 and GBP150 in two recent deals. I think I look at these articles more as advertising and less as free content. Sure, I’m getting the content so that the site keeps growing (since I don’t live in the UK I won’t be writing new content myself and I have other priorities at the moment than buying new content) but the business is getting a few links on my site forever. To me that’s worth a lot more than GBP50.
Normally I wouldn’t even consider permanent links but I’m going to use this new site as a bit of an experiment in the area. I’ll play the field a wee bit and see what works out to be a fair price for both sides. I’m going to attempt to creep up towards $500 a post but my feeling is that most of the people Ross and I have been in touch with want to have a longer term relationship which means more posts on a continuous basis which means a lower per-post price from me. Either way, I’m excited to have the new site to experiment a bit with.
What are you opinions on this type of advertising? Do you feel like paid articles are misleading? Do you look at them as free content or as advertisements, even when the content is good? Do you feel like you’re selling your soul when you add a new one to your site?
Interesting to get your perspective on this. I have been getting contacted about paid guest posts as well. Similar to you, I have said no because my site is about my personal travels. But I have been considering changing my stance on this, and knowing that you’re seeing good content come out of these deals is good.
Hey Stephanie,
Honestly I’d feel icky having paid posts on my personal blog. Even my Kigali site is too personal for me. If you go down this route you risk alienating and deceiving your readers so make sure the money is worth it.
True, the content is good but it’s still somewhat tainted, in my eyes. It’s a fine line and I guess it depends on each article’s quality. I guess if you keep your standards high and are linking out to trusted and approved products or services, then it’s a bit better.
I actually have a question about this. I was doing paid links for a little bit on my site and then stopped because I think it’s against Google’s TOS and I don’t want to get deranked. What are your thoughts on this? I’d really appreciate knowing. I feel like I’m losing out on a lot of income that I could be making but at the same time I don’t want to get my site burned and move way down in Google.
Haha… ya… I don’t really care so much. I’ve had no problems so far and I really feel like my sites offer good content which maybe has saved me so far? Who knows. I really feel strongly that this is a supply and demand thing… people want to advertise and I want to offer it… if it screws with Google’s ranking system then that’s not really my problem, it’s theirs. If they want to punish me because their system is open for manipulation then that’s up to them but I’m willing to take the risk.
I totally agree Kirsty – what annoys me is that some travel bloggers seem to be in denial about selling links, at the end of the day most of them aren’t getting much Google love anyways – so why not sell links?
Kristie: You´re actually promoting yourself from writer to editor, congratulations
Kyle: I once commented that she was maybe doing something the big G might not like and she commented back that she did not give a f*** about what G thinks of her doing what she likes with her blog. That was about two years ago and she still ranks high, so I think she is right on that point and in general.
Big fan myself.
Hmmm, definitely food for thought. I was making some good money for a while there. Maybe I will start again…
Ya editor is where I want to be! Or writing about fun stuff like for my Kigali site. But I’m more than happy to outsource my content. And if I get people to pay me to write for me… well, that’s perfect! Pretty damned fine business model, really!
Jez, sorry about that typo! Kirsty
No problem… I get it all the time.
It’s not a name that does so well outside of the UK.
I never sell permanent, you can’t guarantee that Google changes, or the site your linking out to wont get Google banned etc, and then your stuck links to a bad website that then hurts your own domain.
Agreed! I don’t mind selling permanent for in-content links. Not ideal, but if I ever sell permanent, that’s where they’ll be.
I’ve always said no to these. And I’m actually also going to stop the ‘proper’ guest blogs I often feature on my site. I think I need to focus more on showcasing MY voice, rather than other people’s.
Ya I’ve never accepted guest posts on this blog, either. Good call.
This one struck a cord with me as I’ve accepted a lot recently, almost 50% of my posts are guest posts now.
My site is about my travels primarily, but I later branched my style to travel advice, and then it just got a bit messy as I added in book reviews, photography, company reviews, how-to articles, and the odd personal post of what I’m up to in life.
This was all on my personal travel site. I stopped full time travel almost 2 years ago now (I travelled very slowly to a point where it’s just living not travelling). I still travel but not often, I don’t have much to say for months, and don’t want to waffle about rubbish, this is where guest posts come in. They fill the gaps when I have writers block (which is actually financial block because I can’t afford to go anywhere). When I spend a day out somewhere, I can make 2 weeks of content out of it (posting twice a week) usually.
I’ve got most criticism from my parents for doing this, but none from visitors. Some posts get huge traffic for me if they are written well about a decent subject. It all makes me an income which would be practically nothing without them too.
The guest posts are permanent which do offer better long term value to advertisers. I’ve never thought about charging monthly for guest posts, I may try that and see how far I get. I never accept permanent adverts in my sidebar though as that’s subject to change with design.
I’ve started a new website, which is purely about me and will have no permanent advertisement on (it will barely have me posting in the usual blog style). I think as individuals we definitely need an outlet where we don’t ‘sell out’ because it’s good for our own spirit, especially if we have incomes elsewhere which can support it. Although I noticed your sidebar Kirsty is full of ad’s at the moment, half of which are advertising with me also.
Interesting timing on this subject. I received an email today from a company in India wanting to place ads in content or at the bottom of pages/posts. They want to place up to 80 links and pay a one-time fee for each one (either $65 or $32.50 depending on where the link is placed). This seems like a good deal for them, and a bad deal for me. I don’t really want to be saddled with permanent links like that.
They also propose to place a link on the bottom of every page/post and pay $90 a month for the privilege. ??? Again, a good deal for them.
I’ve also signed up with a company in London to post articles on my site for 30 pounds each. However, they seem disorganized and I’ve never gotten paid for the one article they finally sent me. They’re hard to work with and more trouble than they’re worth. What’s up with these companies?
I’m glad to have this discussion as I need to respond tomorrow. I don’t think I’ll join their advertising scheme. Has anyone else gotten this type of proposal? And more importantly, did you accept (or reject) it?
I feel as though these articles are valuable to my readers and I would like to post more of them. I completely control the content and expect them to bring quality to the table or I won’t participate. For now, I think this is the best way to handle proposals of this type.