Last night, under the sway of a warm and fuzzy feeling following the successful launch of my new blog Blogging For The Money (and possibly a second martini), I decided I’d do something to help single out bloggers doing paid entries who actually do them right.
I posted, over on the forums at one of the companies for which I sometimes do paid work, that I was going to start an “I Pledge Quality” blogroll for those committed to blogging well and not just to turn a fast buck. I invited people to indicate their interest, but made it clear they would have to commit to blogging regularly, with more non-sponsored entries than not, and particularly to writing reviews that didn’t read like crap.
Seventeen requests to join the blogroll later, with the overwhelming majority of them coming from bloggers who are nothing short of awful, I had to beg the moderators to delete that forum thread.
I’ve been steaming ever since.
What the HELL is it about so many blogger-for-hire people who purportedly spend time trying to improve their site’s Alexa ratings, their Page Rank, their RSS subscription rates, etc. but are willfully clueless when it comes to doing the work to actually write well or have a good looking, fast-loading blog?
Do you have any idea how much effort it took to resist the temptation to respond to some of those inquiries with “Sorry, but your page is so indescribably bad that I refuse to read it, much less link it. In fact, whenever I DO accidentally run across your site (which seems to happen a lot because you Stumble so many of your own crappy entries), I quite literally ponder chopping off my own fingers so I never make that mistake again, then using them to gouge out my eyes just to ensure I never, ever, EVER look at a site as meaningless, tripe-riddled and otherwise uninformative as yours.”
Well, do you?
If I didn’t like the extra money so much I might consider abandoning paid reviews just to rid myself of the stench of being associated with some of them.
Instead, I decided to amuse myself. I only wish I could make it really happen.
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008, 8:12 pm | 
Idiots Bite | 
RSS feed
Comments and pings are currently closed.
January 9, 2008 at 8:17 pm
I am hoping that I don’t fall under the crappy ones
Lisa’s last blog post..Day In Review
January 9, 2008 at 8:25 pm
You know, you can tell us how you really feel. Don’t hold back, we can take it.
I know I’m safe from that line of criticism, because I don’t blog for pay. I blog for my own amusement and to rant at things that piss me off.
wg’s last blog post..Coastal photos
January 9, 2008 at 8:44 pm
If you posted where I think you did, I’m half tempted to pity the fools. It’s not their fault they get crappy things to write about in the first place.
But to do crappy posts on top of it is just too much crap factor. And I throw myself in that category as much as anyone. It’d be nice to have something worthwhile to plug every now and again.
jae’s last blog post..Eye strain
January 9, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Nice new blog! I am excited to learn from you – Linkworth is my favourite and highest money earner now and I have been trying to treat my linkposts like you
As for jae’s comment – it is not that people are given ‘crappy things to write’ about. This is what Kate is saying in essence: any paid post doesn’t have to be crap nor look like a paid post, make it personal, make it interesting.
Trish’s last blog post..Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?
January 9, 2008 at 10:15 pm
HA! I knew this was coming, however, I didn’t expect you to be so nice (insert winking emoticon here)…lol.
Lori’s last blog post..Random Photos 2
January 9, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Kate, thank you for saying what I’ve been biting my tongue about for months and months.
I read posts through a feed reader, and was actually embarrassed for one paid blogger I read last night.
She was posting about those college term paper writing places, and she must have written the word college at least 10 times, except she wrote collage.
Yes, her husband was considering going back to collage and he just may have to use one of those collage term paper writing companies, because between his job and actually attending collage, he probably wouldn’t have time to write his own term papers for his collage courses.
I laughed, I cried, I wanted to reach through the screen and grab her by her shoulders and scream,
“College! College! C-O-L-L-E-G-E!”
January 9, 2008 at 10:43 pm
I am proud to say that I am not one of those blogs, and really, who could resist a cuddly and loveable tiddlewinks like me, even when I’m posting pure unadulterated crap on my site?
January 9, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Trish – you haven’t seen my offers since PR dumps. I’m as creative as the next person but even I can’t figure out a tasteful way to post about laser rejuvenation of the nether regions.
jae’s last blog post..Eye strain
January 10, 2008 at 7:39 am
Collage? COLLAGE? I’d probably blow an artery if I actually read that one.
Opps do suck at one particular place, I have to agree. I can’t remember the last time I took one there since I refuse to write about Russian Weddings or gambling sites. That’s why it’s important to have other sources of revenue, so you can be picky with your opps.
Thing is, those kinds of opps land bloggers in a vicious cycle: when you take disreputable opps that are difficult to write about they often result in bad entries. Then bad entries make it more difficult to get interesting opps on other sites that, say, allow advertisers to pick and choose which bloggers they’ll hire.
Anyway, after re-reading this entry with my morning coffee I think it might be possible that I had a touch of PMS last night. Not that my opinion’s changed, mind you. I just probably wouldn’t have had nearly as bad of a headache while writing it if I’d realized that earlier.
January 10, 2008 at 8:07 am
I’m not sure which list I’d wind up on. I don’t blog for money. No, that’s not a holier-than-thou attitude, it’s the result of the fact that I know it takes a LOT of effort to do it well. As it is, I’d like to think that my blog is entertaining because it entertains me. Snippets of detritus on the web floating here and there, a chance for me to rant or be pithy. I try to do it regularly and it’s hard enough work. I’ll leave pro blogging to the pros!
Jeff’s last blog post..Teach Gives a Great Hummer
January 10, 2008 at 8:25 am
Kate, you can make even the worst crap sound interesting. Maybe those other bloggers aren’t really expecting to be read, so don’t read them.
Most of the blogs I visit don’t do ads. That tells me something, but I do ads anyway. Not many, but hoping for more once I figure out some of the technical stuff that’s escaping me. You are my role model.
January 10, 2008 at 12:25 pm
That was too funny!
I am by no means the best blogger in the world, but I think the reason so many people suck is that they are doing it for the money.
Most of the good blogs I read are the ones that were started just to have a blog and the money making came later.
I think it is possible to start a blog to make money and do it well, but I also think that a lot of people in general only do the bare minimum when it comes to work and that shows in their paid blogging.
I would imagine these are the same people that make lousy employees.
January 10, 2008 at 2:28 pm
I don’t make money off of my blog, although I have considered it. I think I might be able to make at least a few dollars. After all, I did go to collage:)
Life On The Planet’s last blog post..Not eHarmony, More like eHomeschooling
January 12, 2008 at 12:22 pm
LOL on the stumble.
sarahk’s last blog post..house stuff