No one can deny the fact that most of the bloggers including you and me are attracted to the sponsored posts. And if those posts are found to be very much similar to the content that is being produced on your blog then we tend to accept them.
We don’t look after the things such as backlink that will be pointed through this blog post and how it can ruin your blog completely.
I do check my Facebook account a lot and I’m always wondering how one can accept any type of blog posts just for the sake of earning few dollars.
Well, there are reasons and I’ve been through the same phase. That’s why I’m sure that I can convince you to stop accepting certain sponsored posts.
I think it’s time to talk about the facts. It’s time to talk about how sponsored posts can ruin your blog.
So, let’s first talk about the type of sponsored posts that are good and bad.
There are two types in which a sponsored posts can be categorized i.e., Good and bad.
Good sponsored posts are those which are talking about the subject deeply. They are certainly the one who are written for the purpose of building network and trust. Also, they don’t really link back to spam website. Usually, they will put a backlink to their company website.
On the other hand, bad sponsored blog posts are those which are not well-formatted. Those posts are written for the sole purpose of putting some spam or casino website.
Remember, linking back to the casino websites will affect your blog’s search engine ranking. So, you better shouldn’t accept the sponsored posts which are linking back to casino website.
Table of Contents
Reasons Why Bloggers Accept Sponsored Posts
It’s important to get to the roots to find out why bloggers are accepting sponsored posts.
Quick Cash
This is the real reason and in fact I would say the most important one. Everyone wants to earn money from blogging however not each of them succeeds in earning.
So, they start thinking that this is the best way of earning the money. However, if you accept irrelevant backlinks on your blog, you’ll definitely be penalized sooner or later.
Well, I don’t feel that there is any other reason except the one that I’ve mentioned. If there is any, do let me know via comments.
Now, coming back to our original topic of discussion.
How Sponsored Posts Can Ruin Your Blog Completely
Poor Quality Article
You need to pay an extra attention to the quality of these posts. Generally, the advertiser tends to provide low quality blog posts because that’s easy to produce.
In fact, some advertisers go ahead and provide spun article which might have grammatical mistakes.
Readers? Don’t you care about them anymore?
Did you forget that you started your blog to help out others? That’s when you started having readership around your blog.
Well, then it doesn’t sound good to force them to read sponsored post which poorly written or which is totally unrelated to the topics that you’ve been covering.
If that sponsored post is not adding value to your blog, it’s totally useless to have one.
Selling links?
Well, you’re definitely selling backlink if the advertiser is asking for a link back to their site. And according to the terms and conditions by various companies such as Google, this is illegal.
If it is found out that you’re selling links, your blog’s page-rank will be ripped off. You may even lose search engine ranking.
Low quality backlink
I know that I’ve just talked about the fact that selling link is illegal however I know that there are thousand other bloggers who simply ignore it. So, I decided to include this section of low quality backlink.
What I mean by low quality backlink is the quality of the website that is being linked through the blog post.
If the website is found to have spam content that would certainly put your ranking down.
Is it worthy?
Well, there is a slight line between accepting good and bad sponsored posts.
When you decide to accept such type of blog posts, you need to take care of things such as –
- Will it affect my blog’s search engine ranking?
- Will it affect my position that I’ve been able to create in the minds of my readers?
- Is the content really worth posting?
- Is it adding value to your blog?
What are your thoughts on accepting sponsored posts? How do you go after them?
Feel free to add your opinion in the comments below.
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I do agree with what you’re saying. Although free guest posts aren’t always negative. B But of course you should have the time to manage them all.
It variates from your readerbase and how big your site IMO. You should think about all factors before introducing stuff like that.
Hello Martin,
I’m not at all accepting free guest posts at the moment. There are two reasons to this. First, you meet link builders and not the bloggers. They are more concerned about building back-link. Second reason is that – The quality of these posts is not as good as I want it to be.
I agree with this very much! We recently published a post on our blog (a guest post, actually!) titled You Should Remove All Ads From Your Site. The reason? The #1 most important thing to a blogger should be his or her audience. Money, SEO, reputation, all of that needs to come after the audience. And it’s so easy to turn off an audience with a bad sponsored post (or a lot of bad ads!).
Hi Ophelie,
I tried to find out that post. Would you please direct me to that article? I would certainly like to read it.
Yeah, the first thing that you should be concerned about is audience. That’s why most of my blog posts are not focused around one keyword.
Hi Pawan! Here is the post: flippa.com/blog/you-should-remove-all-ads-from-your-site/
I have seen many blogs that explained how a person can earn some quick bucks through sponsored reviews but none of them explained its I’ll-effects ..You have rightly said that link exchange between sponsor and a blog is illegal ..such posts can be penalized by Google .Thanks for sharing this unique information bro !
-Pramod
Yeah Pramod.
I’m saying that with the confidence because I’ve personally been hit by using such tactics. Apart from being illegal, they also affect the blog’s search engine ranking severely.
I did one once in the beginning Pawan and found it is NOT worth it. Why turn away readers for one post that you may make a few little bucks? Interesting to know about the Google effect too now too. It’s definately not worth being penalized by Google!
Hi Lisa,
Yeah, I too accepted few in the beginning. The possibility of getting really worth content through sponsored posts is very low. These folks are not worried about the content (for most of the part) and all they want is that one valuable back-link.
I will also never put any unworthy content on my blog.
This is the main reason behind me Not accepting too many Paid Posts.. Thnxx for letting others know… 🙂
Hey Gautam,
Good to see you man. How is your blog doing?
I’m also not accepting any paid posts for these reasons.
I certainly see your point here Pawan. I just don’t see the point of working long and hard on your blog to generate high quality content and traffic to build an audience, just to see it all possibly go up in smoke in one fell swoop because of a sponsored post that is of low quality, poorly written, and off topic. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Tom,
Exactly mate. All your hardwork and time would go into the vain if you accept low quality and unrelated sponsored posts on your blog.
Thank you for putting your views buddy.
Just recently i turned down a paid post that could’ve worth $250 just because i will need to link back to an online casino site with a dofollow link then i realized that as much as the money is tempting, this will definitely destroy my blog, so i turned it down. Sometimes some offers can destroy something you may have taken time to build. Thanks for sharing this post, it couldn’t have come on a better time.
After reading the post, you were the one who came in mind. I saw it on your fb wall when you updated with regards to how tempting a 25 dollar paid post which links to a casino site is eating you up! Hahaha. It’s good you never gave in!
Trust me man, I destroyed my first blog by adding a link back to the casino site. The blog is now completely dead because it got hit by several Google penalties.
That’s when I decided that I’ll never accept such links again.
Hello Pawan,
You have maintioned some of the reality of Sponcered Post ! Really sponcerd post will ruin our blog ! If we care on readers satisfaction…we should never post sponcered post ! Thank you for the advice mate 🙂
Hi Bishnu,
I would correct you here. We should accept sponsored posts provided they are adding value to your blog and adhering to the quality guidelines. Only thing you got to be careful is selling a link.
You should also be careful about what type of website you’re linking inside your article. If you link some spam site, your blog’s ranking may go down.
hello pawan. i think the bottom line here is that sponsored posts should still provide a quality content and must accommodate the interests of the readers. it must also add value to our blog ensuring that the sponsored posts is related on our niche
Yeah Marilyn. You summed it up nicely. I don’t really mind accepting sponsored posts if it adds value to my blog and to the readers. It should also match quality guidelines that I’ve in my mind for my blog.
I really don’t know that such things existed. Thanks a lot for giving us heads up. Now, I know what things to avoid so that it would not ruin my blogs. I have been working many years now and I don’t like to ruin it especially with some sponsored posts! Thanks, this is a great post! 🙂
Hello Aris,
Yeah man. You got to be careful about these traps. I’m still wondering how you weren’t aware of this even after working on your blog for many years. Never-mind! Keep blogging and avoid those sponsored posts which don’t add value.
Don’t worry because I will. Thanks for the encouragement! 🙂
you have mentioned solid points here but the truth is that, paid or sponsor post is how some bloggers or webmasters actually make money.
Nice points mentioned
Hi Damilare,
Thank you for agreeing with my points. I know that some bloggers are making money out of it. Even I was one of them when I started blogging. Soon I realized that making money from such low quality sponsored posts will earn you short term money however if you want to earn long term, stay away from “low quality & unrelated sponsored posts”.
If the post rocks Pawan no worries. Making money is a good thing 😉 But accepting low quality posts, or posts selling something outside of your niche can hurt your reputation in the long run.
Thanks for sharing!
Ryan
Yeah man, I don’t really mind if the post is brilliant and related to the niche I’m blogging about. However, it’s really tough to get such quality content. Advertisers are most probably worried about getting link. There are only few of them who pay close attention to the quality.
Thank you Ryan for putting your views.
Hi Pawan,
Thanks for sharing. I totally agree with the selling links. I think that is definitely not advisable as you will get yourself penalized by Google.
Nice list you got there. Voted!
Reginald
Hey Reginal,
Exactly my point. Selling link is illegal and if you’re penalized for selling links or paid links, Google will take a strict action against your blog. And that’s when it becomes hard to recover from that penalty.
My site is doing good Bro but your commentluv is not showing option to reply.. Why?
I think it’s there mate. Just check out the button below your gravatar.
If money is the only stump for which this is working then it is completely wrong. I mean to say that money must be given the second priority because the prime ones include reader’s interest, quality content and a genuine piece of work.
Thanks for sharing your views. 🙂
Hey Charmie,
Exactly my point. If the content is genuine and useful, I don’t hesitate to count the sponsored post. Its generally hard to find such posts.
Hi Pawan,
It’s good topic you’ve raised. A few days back I saw a status update in Facebook from one of my blogging buddy. He was quite confused if he should publish a sponsored post that links to the casino site. If it was only up to here, nobody gets confused, the confusion started when he learned that the money offered for 1 link in that post was $250.
It often makes it hard to decide in such situation. But one time money should not kill your blog in SERPs.
Hi Suresh,
That $250 would kill the blog once and for all. Believe me, I was trapped for such link and I’ve even accepted such links in the past. I know hard they hit your back.
It’s good to stay at least 10 feet away from such links.
yes you are right!
Sponsored posts are a way in which our blog can be ruined.
Hey Mia,
Thank you for agreeing with my point of view. I hope you’ve got the point dear. Keep blogging!
You are absolutely right – too many people simply try to earn money from blogging and feed the reader anything at all in order to achieve that. The Internet is now rife with poorly-written content and sponsored links that are actually spam.
Hello Chase,
Yeah, and advertisers generally target newbie bloggers who are not aware of these facts. They usually have one aim – Earn as much as possible.
martin I am agree with you . Free guest posts aren’t always negative. We should have the time to manage them all.
I’ve been talking about sponsored posts. Anyways, the same set of rules applies to the guest posts as well. I don’t really mind accepting guest posts from bloggers however, if they are from link builders who are trying to create a backlink to their company website, I generally don’t accept.
Still lots of things depend on the quality of the article.
Great Post Pawan,
Sponsored posts are not harmful if they are of good quality or if possible you are writing the post by yourself and charging your clients for it.
Sponsored posts is a great way for bloggers to earn good cash, but we all have to be wise in our dealings and think about our reputation and readers first.
Great Post man!
Awesome Post Pavan,
Agree With All Your Points 😀
One Should Always Check Quality of Post even if it is Paid Post.
One Wrong Move & Whole Blog Goes Down.
Thanks For Sharing!
I had such an offer today and was wondering what to do. The dollars seems a little too much to let go. Hence started browsing the net and found my answers here. I will say No to that Casino Offer.
Thanks for this
Puru
Very sensitive topic. How would they differentiate between a normal post and a sponsored post. I can just write a review or mention a list of cool resources for my audience, and there will be no indication that this is a sponsored of normal post
any suggestions?