Tuesday 3 May 2022

Why do people blog things that they're not doing? - Reviews

I seem to see a lot of blog posts that I assumed are sponsored of guides on 'how to' and 'top tips for....' 

'How to pack for holidays'

'Things to do at an airport with kids'

'Pet foods and accessories'

'Home renovations'

I don't have a problem with people writing these posts, although, seriously? just how many guides are there to packing and entertaining kids? I'm guilty of that in the past. Writing posts about experiences in the hope of helping others, but they were relevant to my blog and what I was actually doing.

I regularly receive emails from companies asking me to add a link to a post, publish their written article, or write a post, mention on social media and tag them.

Often the fee for this is £10 - £25 and if you blog you'll know how long it takes to write a post, it's just not worth the money to me. I appreciate for others that any amount can make a huge difference to their income.

A few years ago some bloggers said that these posts undermined the real value of blogging and brought the prices down for others, but there are so many blogs out there, so many accounts on social media to reach so many more people than when blogging and social media started.

The thing though that irritates me the most are the posts written by people who don't actually have kids, aren't having home renovations done, have pets or even go away that write about these topics. It doesn't fit with their blog, usually fashion or baking, but they pop in posts about dog leads and cat food or write about home renovations when they're not having any done, including links to companies that they can't actually vouch for.

I know there are lots of other things I should worry about and I do, but they're for other posts.

I'll never take a recommendation from something I've read online without doing further research. I mean we've recently had a new kitchen and I was approached by a PR company to include a link to a building website I had no experience of and another from a company asking me to tag their kitchens, I didn't buy my kitchen from them, so how could I possible comment? Besides they both were only offering £25 for each post.

18 comments:

  1. This made me chuckle. There is so many of these blog posts at the moment, all sponsored posts. I saw something along the lines of tips for visiting casino's in Las Vegas by someone who hasn't been there and the pet food one's for people with no pets over the past couple of days.
    I don't take sponsored posts because all of the one's I get offered are not relevant to me or my life. I do understand why people do, especially at the moment. Posting something for £10 could feed their kids for a day or two. x

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    1. Yep In fully understand the money incentive for most and I'm not in anyway critical of them, but please, some of them are just tripe

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  2. Yes! So important to write from real life!

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    1. It sure is, I would hate to be responsible for someone buying something based on a recommendation for something I had no experience of

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  3. I do agree with you, but some people might be very happy to receive £10-25 for their post!

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    1. Oh i do agree that for some £10 would go a long way, I did write that in the post

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  4. I agree with you about people writing their own posts or reviews about things that they don't know about or wouldn't actually use. I personally turn down most prewritten content requests because I won't have dofollow links, and those that will allow nofollow/sponsored have to pay me a reasonable amount. So I only do about 1-2 a year. I did have one recently asking me to write about taking kids on trains in Europe. I have no experience of taking kids abroad, and the only Euopean train I've been on was during our honeymoon. So I asked them to provide me with a post. It clearly stated ad, and some of my readers might have found it useful. But if I'm writing posts myself, it needs to be my personal views, and if adding links then it needs to be clearly stated it's an ad. This is where for me the whole nofollow/dofollow thing drives me up the wall more than topics. Because people agreeing to dofollow links are basically telling google, and therefore anyone searching, that the company they're being paid to link to and haven't experienced, is one they're recommending.

    Ultimately I think people can allow what they want on their blog. I just think they need to be open to clear when it's an ad and paid for/written by someone else, a paid link or affiliate link. But I do think personally writing posts about topics you really know nothing about or aren't experiencing is just ridiculous. (prime example is people who've been blogging about 6 weeks giving advice on how to have a successful blog, or how to be an influencer - then you look at their social media and they've got 150 followers!)

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    1. I have no objection or comment to make about people writing anything as long as, like you say, it is declared in the post

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  5. I don't blog for money, or notoriety ... I blog for ME. Period. I share what I share on Blog Hops because hops are about "sharing". If everyone else is lying about what they blog/why they blog/how they blog: that is ON THEM. If the articles are good, I read them (I may - or may not, take anything serious). If the articles are humorous, colorful, and show an inkling of humanity in them - I laugh (and am thankful laughter was sparked); I enjoy the colorful tidbits (I keep a LOT of color in my life); and if people are sharing and caring - what the beef?

    Just my 2-cents.

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    1. I agree as I wrote myself in the post I just find it very misleading to recommend something that the blogger has no experience of, could cost someone a lot of money they can't afford to waste

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  6. Hands up, I've earned over a decent amount of money for posting blogs posts that I haven't written. I even added a piece at the end of a genuine post to apologise but I really needed the money, I've had to pay a triple the cost gas and electricity bill this month. They don't come along that often so I'll take them when I can. I have turned down posts though, and I do have a minimum limit that I will accept for them. If the send them over I have to edit the bad grammar (where do they get these writers from?) but I charge a lot more if I write the post myself, and then it has to be fully researched so I 'know' what I'm writing about. I've done the whole blogging for me alone bit, but heck I need the money right now. I'm trying to build up another blog to transfer these paid posts too, but it isn't easy. I know what you mean, I do tend to avoid reading these posts unless they have something that interests me.

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    1. oh, I just wanted to add, I would never promote these posts on a link up party. If I really want to share stuff it has to be written by me from my life. I hope you enjoy my post this week.

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    2. Oh I've got no issue if it's declared as pre written and certainly no issue about bloggers being paid any amount, as I said in my post it can make a huge difference for some bloggers

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  7. Thisiswhereitisat8 May 2022 at 21:15

    I'm a believer it is hard to your blog, but I yiur space you can do whawt you want with it. Likewise the reader willx #pocolo

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    1. I understand what you're saying, I'm not compalining about people accepting money and doing sponsored posts it's about the relevance and recommending companies they have no actual experience of

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  8. I get why people accept these kinds of posts and as long as they're clearly stated to be a sponsored post/ad/paid-for-link insertion I have no problem with that. I blog mostly to share my own thoughts and experiences and as a reader, I tend to prefer blogs that are similar to that rather than a series of paid-for posts. #PoCoLo

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    1. It does get tiresome to read a post then discover at the end its a SP post

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  9. I struggle with the posts where they clearly isn't any authenticity - but equally I recognise that for some that money is essential especially now, so as long as they're clearly marked and marked up front then I understand, but I prefer to know this up front.

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