Ethics of Affiliate Blogging
The decision to monetize your blog through affiliate marketing isn’t as simple as using your blog posts as advertorials. The real affiliate marketing potential of your blog, after all, lies with the influence you have over the community of your readers.
Because blogs are a social medium, the readership is more than an audience. It’s a community. You have influence in that community because you’re a community leader (i.e. the blogger), and as a community leader you have a reputation.
Your potential as an affiliate marketer, then, stems from the influence that your reputation affords you. Basically, as a community leader you’ve built trust with your readership, so when you endorse a product or service, your readers defer to your judgment.
Don’t Abuse the Trust
If your potential as an affiliate marketer lies in the trust you have with your readership, it’s imperative that you don’t ever do anything to compromise that trust. Without it, not only will you not be able to refer any of your readers (and make a commission), but you’ll end up losing them, and the community that they make-up.
All this, of course, brings up the questions. How do you ethically promote a product (as an affiliate marketer) on your blog? Well, you do it simply by disclosing that you’re promoting the product.
As a blogger, the best way to (literally) capitalize on the trust that you’ve established with your readers is in your posts. After all, having a trust-based relationship with your readers doesn’t make them any less banner blind.
Catch 22: Product Placement
The real power of an affiliate blogger is in the (ongoing) conversation they have with their readers. It is here that they can generate the word of mouth buzz that converts into actual sales that they can subsequently make a commission off of.
Of course, when you start to insert product promotions in your post, you wade into the area of product placement. Because your readers are in a certain mindset when they’re visiting your blog, you have to mindful about you, er, place products throughout it. As Chris Brogan notes:
We have a little filter in our head that says, “We hope the news is as authentic as possible” and “we accept that TV shows and movies have product placement.” Those are two completely different contexts. It’s like one of my favorite sayings, “If I have you over to dinner, but then present you with a check at the end, something is wrong.”
So how do you handle product placement in a way that protects the authenticity of your blog and your voice — not to mention the trust you have with your readers? Here are a few tips.
Disclosure Page: Set up a disclosure page and link to it at the end of each post. Make sure to keep that page up to date with all the affiliate programs you belong to or have belonged to in the past. Even though you may have left an affiliate program a year ago, the posts you wrote at the time will still get hit with organic traffic, so you have to let new readers know that at the time you had a relationship with the vendor.
Be Straight Forward: Let readers know right off the bat that you’re an affiliate of the product/service in question. Your readers are smart people who can exercise their own judgment, and they’ll appreciated that transparency. Besides, the fact that they’re one of your readers means that they already trust you, so if you say that something is good, they’ll probably still be more likely to trust you than not even though you told them that you’re promoting it.
Keep it Real: Just because you’re promoting a certain brand or line of products, that doesn’t mean that you should be a full-time salesman for them. After all, you built a reputation and a community as a blogger. Don’t post only about the products you’re promoting. And don’t be afraid to give certain products negative reviews. It might seem like a waste of time because it won’t convert into a sale, but it will actually bolster your credibility for when you actually give something a positive review. Basically, call things as they are and let your readers know that you’re still looking out for their best (niche) interests — and not just trying to make a profit off of them.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, if you’re not sure how to go about promoting a product as an affiliate blogger, just ask yourself what you would expect from a blogger that you follow and trust. Basically, if you would put up with it from a blogger that you follow, read, and trust, then chances are your own readers are going to be okay with you doing it.
Written by CT Moore from Share ResultsPosted on September 25th, 2008 and filed under Making Money
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13 Responses to “Ethics of Affiliate Blogging”
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this is a very interesting article. anyway its advice can only be applied to blogs promoting products. my blog just speak abut tricks and tips. in my case people try a trick and leave and at the same time they are able to know right away if what i wrote is correct or not. of course you have to be honest, clear etc. anyway what you suggest is right…in the end what you describe it is common sense…the same common sense which seems to be disappeared from the internet…
> Set up a disclosure page and link to it at the end of each post.
Can you share some examples of blogs that are doing this?
@Shawn Collins,
As you probably know, Shoemoney has a disclaimer page, and he used to link to in posts, but doesn’t any longer. What’s important, though, is that this page is still accessible through the top menu on his site. I think that this is a reasonable substitute for linking it at the end of the post, because that’s where users’ eyes are going to wander if they want to investigate a blogger’s credentials, etc.
But Shoemoney is different because he’s an affiliate blogger. For most bloggers who are passionate about their niche interests, I advise them to disclose so that they don’t compromise their reputation as a relatively objective source of information in that niche.
Granted, many bloggers probably don’t disclose that they’re promoting the products they’re talking about, and most of those probably don’t get outed. But I can’t, in good conscience, recommend that anyone take that approach because (1) there’s always the chance they’ll get outed, and (2) I feel it goes against the spirit of blogging.
Some very good points there. I don’t have a disclousure page on any of my blogs at the moment but it’s something I should probably consider. I do stress which posts, if any, are sponsored (only 1 or 2 have been) and I am pretty open about what I use and don’t use but visitors might not be 100$ sure if I am using that site/product – particularly if a link has an affiliate referral code in it.
I do think certain blogs need a disclosure. Many of them refer so many services and products that it isn’t always clear whether they actually use them or if they are just trying to make a quick buck.
This is an interesting idea, CT.
I think it depends upon the blog’s niche. Don’t you?
For example, on Shawn’s blog, or mine, I think it’s obvious when we are promoting via affiliate links.
On other types of blogs, it may be less obvious and the readers may not be as aware of affiliate marketing, so perhaps a disclosures page would be a good idea.
I try to let people know that I make my living via affiliate marketing so they’ll expect links through which I get paid.
So, I was going to say that I didn’t think that I needed a disclosures page on my blog, but it may be a good idea for a couple of reasons.
1. As you noted, it makes the blog and what I am doing more transparent so there is no question that I get paid for sales resulting from my promotional links.
2. It gives me another page to link to all the companies I represent (using an affiliate link, of course) and to where my readers can join the affiliate program for that company, which would be especially useful for two-tier and multi-tier affiliate programs. That would make it more-or-less a directory page for all the affiliate programs I’m promoting, and even give room to tell why I’m promoting it.
At the same time, I may even add another section to the page where I can list affiliate programs I’m not promoting with a short explanation of why not. I’m not sure if this is a good idea or not.
I haven’t made up my mind, but I’m going to consider this idea more fully.
Act on your dream!
JD
@John Dilbeck
I wrote this post to help educated non-affiliate-marketing bloggers on what they need to consider if they choose to affiliate marketing to monetize their content, but you’re absolutely right: It does depend on the blog’s niche. And an affiliate marketing blog just might be the exception from the rule.
You idea about listing your affiliate programs on the disclosure page, moreover, is a great one! That way you can capitalize not only on end-users who want to purchase a product, but on referring other webmasters who are interested in the programs that you trust and participate in. It’s a good multi-tier affiliate marketing strategy.