I disclose

Some of you might have noticed that there is an Adsense PSA on my blog. After a lot of thought, I decided why not sign up? I could certainly use a few extra dollars. The ads are supposed to be relevant to the content of my journal, and I have the right to cancel at any time. I've blogged before about how I signed up with ReviewMe.com to do paid reviews, and today, I just signed up with Pay-Per-Post. My registration with Adsense and Pay-Per-Post are still under review.
As long as I can maintain my own opinions and integrity and feel no pressure to sell something I couldn't honestly recommend, I feel basically okay about this as a way to get a little extra spending money. After all, I do have a cappucino habit to support.

I left the AOL journal community because large banner advertising was placed without notice or requested permission on the top of journals by paying subscribers. This was after having the subscriber journals promoted as an ad free space as a benefit of AOL membership for over a year. Bloggers had no control over what their words and ideas were helping promote and there were times when I found my blog advertising products, companies and services I didn't like. I think it took about 24 hours for that to happen and for me to leave AOL journals.

However, I want to make it very clear that with Adsense, pay-per-post and ReviewMe that I am accepting money for advertising. I will not try to deceive people in any way that paid advertising is anything but that, and I have created a disclosure policy about receiving compensation and link to Disclosurepolicy.org in my sidebar.

In a blog, we are nothing but our word, and that means something to me. I try to exercise care with my words and especially with my recommendations. This post is NOT paid advertising. It is not required by any of the third party groups with whom I have registered. I just feel it's important to make things clear.

Disclosure Policy
This policy is valid from 08 December 2006


This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact sistercdr@yahoo.com.


This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.


To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

disclosure,

New Endeavor

********Paid Advertising********

I’ve decided to try something with my blog, something that I’d never thought that I’d do. I’ve registered with ReviewMe to do paid product reviews here in my blog.
Now I left the journal community of AOL because of advertising that was forced onto the blogs there. I’ve never signed up for Google’s Adsense, and I’ve objected to other forms of commercialization of blogs, particularly those noxious pop-under ads, so why did I agree to be part of ReviewMe.com?

It’s really pretty easy. This is something that I can control. With ReviewMe.com, I’ll review only the products and services that I want to review, and I have the freedom to say what I like. If I don’t like a product, I’ll say so. If I hate a service, I’ll say so strongly. Even though I will be earning a little money for doing these reviews, I have no obligation to speak favorably about the product. That really appeals to my independent nature. I already do some product and service reviews. I’ve done book reviews here in my blog. I’ve bragged about products that I enjoy using, and I’ve complained about services that have not been up to my standards as a consumer. If I like a product or service, I’m glad to contribute my little bit to helping them make money. If I don’t, I’m even happier to keep my friends from getting the same raw deal that I experienced. ReviewMe.com seems to fit in well with the point of view that I already have. One important thing to mention is that every product review will also be clearly marked that this is a paid review or a sponsored post. There is no attempt to fool the reader into thinking that this is anything other than advertising, and that is something that ReviewMe.com insists upon.

I have to admit that I love the idea of making a little money from this blog. It will definitely ameliorate my guilt over the time I spend on it. Most hobbies cost money. It would be kind of nice to have one (can you really call blogging a hobby?) that brings in a little cash instead. I also like that I have no obligation to continue with ReviewMe.com if I decide that it’s something that I don’t want to do. This really does seem like a win-win proposition for bloggers and advertisers. I don’t have to go outside my comfort levels for blog content and control, and advertisers get the absolutely best form of advertising - word of mouth. My impression so far is very good, and if that changes, I’ll say so.

********Paid Advertising********

ReviewMe

Comments

When I opened my email this morning, I found that I had a ton of comments. What blogger doesn't like that? The feedback and interaction is a large part of the fun of online journaling. Most of these comments were from an anonymous reader. They were all complimentary, and they all provided a link to a business web site.

I just went through and deleted all the ones that I could remember. I left AOL journals because I didn't want advertising that I couldn't control in my blog. If the comments that included the link to the business web site were sincere, thank you. If it was just a way to build business, shame on you. Blog spam is not just intrusive, it's bad marketing that turns people away from your product, your company and the person who leaves it. I would like to distinguish between a comment that contributes to a dialogue related to an entry that comes from a person whose blog includes business material and one that is purely a way to draw in unsuspecting prospects.

I've been blogging for nearly three years, and I consider myself lucky. I've rarely been flamed in comments. Almost without exception, people have commented with courtesy and true kindness.

My little blog is not a billboard for anyone who wants to use it though, and I've enabled comment moderation to keep more ads out. I want to keep commenting on my blog easy. No word verification (it's too hard on my old eyes), and friends who don't use Blogger can still leave anonymous comments. Please leave your name though. I love knowing who's reading my Crazy Quilt and being able to visit your blogs in return.

blog spam