Would you Buy A Used Car From An A-list Blogger?

Like many other people, I read some articles from a lot of the A-list bloggers in this category. On the whole I find most of them pretty reputable. For many of them, their blogs are their primary source of income, and while they do not dwell on the fact, they also do not try and hide it. Of course they could be very talented writers, and write in such a style that the reader does not notice that the underlying motivation is to generate income for the blogger.

Now I am not casting aspersions on used car salesmen, but when I read some of these A-list bloggers sites, I can’t help having the feeling that the blogger is trying to con me in the manner of the worse used car salesman.

There is a standard pattern to their blogging, that begins with their posts; they write about some new service they have discovered that can make you money, such as the latest advertising widget. The article is normally quite long and well written, espousing the virtues of the service and how effective it will be as a source of revenue for your blog.

You will even find convenient links to the widget throughout the article, that make it so much easier for you to go to the site and find out more information, or better still sign up for yourself. What you will not see, or read however, is the fact that the blogger bringing you this latest information on the service has previously been contacted and already signed up for affiliate marketing or some other revenue sharing model.

Now, there is nothing wrong with writing revues for services that you feel are of benefit to your readers, like I said, many bloggers do this. What is wrong with this type of blogger is that the service primarily serves them, or more importantly their bank account. For them, this seems to be the primary motivation for writing the post. I cannot distinguish between this form of blogging and the derided PayPerPost service, yet for these particular A-list bloggers, either their readers cannot see through them, or are simply caught up with the aura of the personality and feel that it is entirely acceptable, as the blogger makes a lot of money from their blog, and as we know, that is the goal.

Maybe these particular bloggers feel that they are really giving a service to their readers and imparting knowledge about possible revenue streams, maybe this helps ease their conscience about the way they hide their own mercenary interest in their posts. Then again, they may simply think that if they don’t do it, someone else will and it might as well be them making the money.

Personally, I prefer to read content that is not prostituted or has the primary motivation of screwing the reader for the betterment of the blogger writing the post. I totally agree with making money from your blog, that is after all one of the goals for myself with this blog, however, I do not intend to do this by misleading or deceiving the reader or without giving some value to the reader.

Let me know in the comments if you have felt conned by any bloggers.