I know, it sounds like I just called you to the principle's office, but I swear, you're not in trouble! I just have some questions for you, my bloggy friends. I am starting to think about possibly doing reviews or posting ads.. but I'm not sure if I want to. So I have some question for those of you who do (or don't, for that matter, I want to see both sides). I used to do book reviews on an older blog, but I felt like I couldn't be honest if I really didn't like it, because they sent me the book for free, of course! And then, I felt like I was misleading my readers.
So here goes...
1. Do you make any money blogging? how do you chose which ads to run? Do you run whatever you are given?
2. Do you do reviews? If so, do you feel pressured to give a good review, even though the product sucks?
3. Do you turn down any reviews for products or do you do all that are presented?
I have no problem with any of those, by the way. I totally get it. I wish I made money at this, or at least got free stuff! I am looking into it, but I want to be honest and not sugar coat. I guess what I am saying is that I don't want my blog to turn into a job. Although I need the money!! Maybe I should start a second blog just for reviews?? I don't know. Help me out ladies!!
I can't answer those questions but I can answer the one you asked on mine.
ReplyDeleteI have pieced one quilt top by hand. It is the Grandmothers Flower Garden in my quilt world (if you click on the quilt on my blog)
I usually sew the tops together and hand quilt once it's together.
well. dangit. i have been contimplating the same thing and wanting to ask questions too...what is PROK and do you make money and the whole honesty thing too. I would want to be totally honest with everyone about the product/book!
ReplyDeleteLet me know what you find out!?!?!
I don't do either. I could probably make some money every month with ads, but I just have been lazy, and frankly, I don't love the look of Blogher ads for my site. I have no problem with them for anyone else, but I just don't love them for me.
ReplyDeleteI don't make any money on either of my blogs, and the reviews I do do on my book blog are not from someone giving me a free book, they are all books I picked up on my own free will!
ReplyDeleteGuess I was not very helpful huh? Best of luck in your decision making
I have BlogHer ads on my main site, that I make spare change on...they'll send you a check if you hit $25 or more each period (about a month, but a bit more now).
ReplyDeleteI have a review/giveaway blog now. I started because I didn't want to bore my regular readers unless they want to read reviews/giveaways. So far everything i've been approached with has been something I have and loved, or was a smart product i've tried. I do expect to come across something at some point I may not like and I will be as honest as possible. I think it's only fair to readers and the company as well. They need to know if they can improve a product, makes for an honest company as well.
Sorry for the word vomit.
I don't do advertisements or reviews on my blog so I am clueless, although the thought of putting ads on my blog has crossed my mind. I am just not sure if they are worth the clutter.
ReplyDeleteI have blogher ads and it gives me a little spare change and that's about it. (I don't have a ton of traffic, I'm sure people who do make a decent amount) The BlogHer people have been really good to work with though.
ReplyDeleteI have only been sent one thing for review and I don't want to do it too much (for the reason you stated, what if I hate it and it was free, I don't want to lie about it) So I don't think I'll really get into that unless it's a product I really care about.
I did turn down an advertiser who emailed asking me to put their button on my blog. It just wasn't something I really believe in and there's already so much clutter on my page. I would only do that if it were something I'm truly excited about.
I probably just confused you more, sorry. :)
I haven't really thought about it - I've not been approached by anyone though either. I don't get enough traffic to do advertisements and I'm not sure how I'd feel if I was approached! How's that for a non-answer answer??
ReplyDeleteI do visit blogs that have advertisement links on their blog, and to be honest, I don't really pay that much attention to them - the ads I mean.
Try it for a while and see what happens - can you do that?
I don't know enough about all this to make any money...I don't even know how to go about getting adds or reviews.
ReplyDeleteBut I do know that I do not enjoy reading blogs with reviews. I just do this for fun and to develop frindships and for mom support.
I don't have any personal experience with ads on my own blog. I will however say that I don't mind a few. A few being the word..there are blogs that I purposefully avoid because of too many ads. I know that is harsh, but for me, it circles back to why I blog...because I want to share my stories and network with people, not to be sold something. It doesn't keep me from reading in google reader though, I just comment less often if the blog is rich with ads. So there ya have my two cents worth!
ReplyDeleteP.S. How do you get companies to send you free books? That is something I am all for!
as if my previous comment wasn't long enough..I do book reviews on my other blog, and if I don't like, I'm honest about it. (Of course, the books are borrowed or belong to me, so I feel no obligation to give it good reviews)
ReplyDeleteI don't know anything about it - really, cause I don't do it. However, I have considered it. I think the ads take up too much room. I like my blog looking cute. Even with the clutter in my side bar, I'm just supporting blogs that I love or blogs who love me. :) I'm not sure I could do the ad thing for that reason.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if you wanted to start doing reviews you could put it into a new blog to not clutter this one with random reviews - and then put the ads on the review blog?? That'd probably sum it all up.
I don't see any harm in trying it out. Just Google the accounts your thinking of. I've heard that Google frowns on using any Ad company other then Adsense for the simple fact that it's competition to their own application. :) No real problem though - I could only assume that Google is one of the easier companies to go with anyway.
I'd also be honest when your doing reviews. I'd probably be too honest, lol! I've never been approached though - wasn't even aware that people offer up free books to ppl to review! I'd do that! lol
Anyway... I've rambled long enough. ;)
I don't make any money blogging. I did a review once, but I liked the product, so I didn't feel like I compromised anything. For that review, I started it on my home page and added a link to continue it on another blog page; that way, whoever wanted to read it could, and everyone else could ignore it. I think it's a big commitment, because you'd probably want to do some giveaways, and I'm not sure I'd want to commit the time necessary. I'm thinking about it, though...
ReplyDeleteI don't make money or do reviews at this time. I have been contacted about doing reviews but I am not sure that is really where I want to go...although if it was something I could make FUN I would be into it.
ReplyDeleteI did try to get into BlogHer but it was closed by the time I got to it! Bah.
i haven't done either reviews or ads, but i know after they way google ripped weaselMomma off there is NO WAY i do an ad for them.
ReplyDeletenow receiving free books to review is something i would LOVE to do. i'm an avid reader and have always wanted to get paid to read books (like proof reading for errors, etc.)
if i was reviewing any kind of product, i would be completely honest about it and not feel the least bit bad, if i had to give a negative review. it wouldn't matter if i received the product free or not.
if they didn't want an honest opinion they wouldn't have asked for it. plus, it wouldn't be fair to others who read the review if you weren't honest about it.
just my two cents :) if you could email me some info on the free books/review angle i would really appreciate it!
I have BlogHer and can ditto what others have said about it. I have turned down everything else because that is just not how I want to do my blog. But, to each gal her own!
ReplyDeleteHey Kel, good questions. I will be doing a few reviews in the future but through a 3rd party so even though I have to post the review on the 3rd party's site I have the option to post it on my blog. I am not sure how much focus I want to put into the reviews since I think it might change the direction of my blog so I am thinking about building a blog that would be attached to Evolving Mommy that would be for reviews mostly.
ReplyDeleteI am planning to be as honest as possible. I would hope that companies would value an honest opinion more since readers will vaule an honest opinion more.
As far as ads go I have some adsense and amazon ads on my page. I am still trying to figure out the right amount and layout for my site. I haven't made much money so far, but I look at it any money no matter how small the amount is more than I had before.
Sorry this is such a long comment...
I don't know anything about that, but check out the award I just gave you!
ReplyDeleteI'd check out BlogHer ads if you can- they are a very easy way to make money blogging. If you just want to do reviews, I'd review only what you are interested in (so that means you can say no sometimes!) and just ask away! Check out Mom Select (there's a button on my sidebar) and sign up there- they have review opportunities now & then!
ReplyDeleteSteph
Questions #1 YES! And I do it well :)
ReplyDeleteIt's not dumb - I've been cleaning up my blog and hid my profile to make room for all the other stuff I have on my sidebar - anyway - it means "Life After Meghan", my daughter. Since she has gone off to college this past fall, I had to come up with something to do with myself and time. Kristen (something-about-nothin) and I work together and we came up with it before I ever started blogging and it just evolved from that!
ReplyDeleteNow you know - I basically have no life!!
I'm fairly new to blogging but decided to try Google AdSense because 1) It is free and 2) I guess it can't hurt to try. I realize though that I will probably never make a lot of money (or possibly any) from blogging. I just put a little ad in the top corner -- nothing obtrusive. I think I've gotten two clicks on it. But I don't see that it hurts to try.
ReplyDeleteAs far as book reviews, I got one book to review for free via LibraryThing and thank goodness I liked it. I think you owe your readers an honest opinion more than you owe the publisher a good review if you didn't really like it. I think more than anything you owe everyone a thorough and honest review -- not just a tossed off thing just to get a free book. If they never send you another book because of a negative review, well then you are off the hook.
I split out my personal blog from my book blog because I feel they are just two such different creatures ... the book bloggers are pretty darn serious, though. I would love to see you do a book blog!
Hope this helps a little. I had read this post a few days ago but ran out of blogging time so I wanted to come back and leave my thoughts!
I have google AdSense on my blog, which is free and easy to set-up but you cant control what ads go on your site. I also have it limited to just one or 2 little ads in the side bar...which is probably why to date I've only made $0.24 (yes, that's 24 cents) and I think they only pay out when you reach $100 - so I've got a long way to go.
ReplyDeleteI think I would do reviews if someone approached me and it was something I was interested in testing out and was relevant to my blog/readers. I would be totally honest - if they are asking you to review, they should know you're going to be honest. If they ask you to promote something that would be a different story - and I probably wouldnt do it...
A friend of mine and myself have looked into trying to make some extra cash with the ads, but neither one of us understands how it works well enough to do it. If you can come up with something let me know, maybe we can all 3 work on it together and be able to host giveaways and such.
ReplyDeleteI have BlogHer ads and make enough to pay the trash bill each month:) I have a book review blog but it's for my own enjoyment--to keep track of the books I read and so I can remember if I liked them or not!
ReplyDeleteHey there - I've passed an award to you - if you get a minute - swing by and pick it up!!
ReplyDeleteI make a little money with my blog via PayPerPost. I'd like to made more but haven't figured out how yet. I do reviews of homeschool products, which I receive for free (just as good as making money, right?) Most of the products, I've liked or even loved.
ReplyDeleteSome of them I haven't liked. At all. In my review, I gave my reasoning for not liking the item but I also gave the positive sides of why some families might like it. I definitely will not "rip" a product that I received for free, but I won't lie about it either.
As far as what to accept, I entered an agreement to review homeschool products whether I actually want the product or not. I'll be giving away some of the items on my blog in the future. On PayPerPost, I choose only the companies/sites that I want to write about.