Paid Blogging: What it is and what not

The cries and hues about paid blogging and pay per post blogging is not without a reason. At one side is advertisers trying to capitalize on the credibility of bloggers as genuine commentators and on the other side is a set of bloggers who want to uphold the integrity and credibility of blogging community.

What paid blogging is acceptable?

I can pay someone to write for my blog. I can also accept payment for writing on someone else's blog. It is the same as ghost writing or column writing for a magazine, which has been around for quite a long time. Freelance writers make their living out of this type of writing.

The blog owner may choose to acknowledge the contributor or not. The present nature of blogging environment is such that such contributions are easily acknowledged. Anyone can pay professional writers to get enough blog posts to make his or her blog content rich. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this model of paid blogging.

What model of paid blogging is not acceptable?

When someone pay me to post something in my blog, it is not acceptable. I can't also pay someone to write what I say in his or her blog. Doing so is in no way similar to ghost writing. It is simple bribery. At first the blogger may be free to write his or her own views about a specific website, product or service. Soon there will be more strings as to avoid excessive negative comments about a product, then it will be avoid negative and final stage will be the blogger asked for blatant promotion of the product.

Such a type of paid blogging is comparable to bribing the editors of a newspaper to write favorable columns for a party, any party. Newspapers have ear marked areas for such expression. It is called advertising space.

With the present type of pay per post blogging or paid blogging, a blogger has to develop a reasonably populated blog and sell the post space as promotion space. Advertisers see several benefits in bribing bloggers. The main one is immediate access to a good reader base. Secondary advantage comes in the form of extra search engine juice. The damage is only for the blogger and for the whole blogosphere.

This can bring in considerable damage to the blogging community as a whole. The reputation of bloggers as reliable information providers will be affected. People generally start disbelieving bloggers as a whole.

The requirement to acknowledge acceptance of payment in the post is not a reliable option to separate paid posts and own posts. The marking can become so blurred that the creativity and genuine opinion too will be viewed as writing on someone's interest.

How to Write How to Articles

‘How to’ articles generally teach people something. It can be a new skill in Photoshop, or a DIY project. This article is about writing ‘how to articles’.

Do you feel so thrilled that you want to share your expertise with others so that you can gain the extra confidence of a leader? Here are two ways to bring your expertise to words.

If what you are going to do is an extra long process, running through several steps, use a list style. I.e. break down the whole process into as many simple steps as possible.

The number of steps doesn’t matter. But make sure you write each step in such a language and simplicity that a completely newbie will be able to follow your guidance.

Each step, written in simple words easily teaches the whole thing you intend to in a single reading. The reader may choose to print out your article to actually keep it besides him or her while doing something according to your tutorial.

I could break down the above tip into several tips, but I think it is self explaining and you understand what I mean.

If what you intend to tell is not that complex process, use simple prose language. But don’t use this method if you are writing a tutorial titled ‘how to simply create professional logos with Photoshop’, or ‘how to repair your grandfather clock’.

One suggestion: write how to articles only on topics you have a clear idea about.

Bad Image Creation with $1 Articles

It is an interesting trend to see people at online freelance job exchanges trying to get writers to write articles for $1. On the first sight it seems a good idea to hire people who can come up with an article of 500 plus words for such a meager sum. Have a reality check once again. Is it really profitable for you?

Leave the willingness of people to take up a job of writing a 500-700 word article for little to nothing. What do you get in return? You will get in return a few articles that are lifted from an article directory or your competitor site. Sure there will be some rewording here and there. Can you say it original work? Think about the damages of getting caught with charges of copyright violations.

You know the real worth of quality content. Why on earth do you cheat out on yourself?

The articles in most cases will violate existing rules of English grammar. Think about what kind of message you give your target audience with poor written articles about your company, products and services. Do you think you are making a better impression with poorly written articles? Of course, you will have articles published at hundreds or thousands of locations. Think if it is the only thing you ever want.

The working of search engines has created the need to get as much incoming links as possible. Soon article submission became the shortcut to achieve that target of uncountable inbound links. Website owners first used their in house resources to create the articles, and then they outsourced the work to freelancers. Now the trend is to find someone to fill a page with some pre-selected keywords somehow joined together with groups of words that can hardly be said a sentence.

Article writers really have nothing to worry about this trend. Quality will always be rewarded. There will be genuine business people who want to do business in the long run. They are always willing to pay the writers their share. Because, they know what they are doing.

How to Write Something from Nothing

It is a common problem for me to find an exact topic to write about. The title is some quite misleading I agree, it never comes something out of nothing or void. Yet again I am going to write down what I don’t when I don’t have anything special to write about.

Check Google News and Yahoo News technology sectionsIn most cases I find a new software, mobile phone, TV, car, motorcycle, etc that catch my eyes. Most times it is software – I usually download the free-trial versions and check out the functionality. The latest software I checked is Adobe Digital Editions. Write what you feel about the new thing.

Hit a new restaurant and appreciate their serviceIf technology is not your cup of tea, move in a different direction you have never tried and reach a new place and try out a new restaurant. What is the food like, is there any specialty in the dress of waiter/waitress, how do they handle the bill, how is the seating like, what kind of food presentation – you have more than enough things to write about.

Play with a puppy, kid or with your grandpa or grannyAnd write about the experience.

See a new movie/read a new book of genre you have never triedAnd write what you think about it
Learn a secret scienceSince reading da Vinci Code, my favorite is kryptology. I haven’t made any major inroads till, yet it is an amusing new experience. Write about cryptology or the experience of learning something new.
Have you been ill lately? How was the experience at the hospital? A good topic tingling?

Do you like what celebrities do?Writing something about celebrities is always a good way of attracting the fans of that particular celebrity. If taken board, you can even criticize for the sake of criticism, but be prepared for the kind of attention you attract.