The affiliate links in blog posts debate

I don’t care if a blogger uses affiliate links, especially in the case that you are mentioning them already why not make a little money while you are doing it. I consider your blog to be a valuable blog, which posts interesting and useful information and as such it is no worse to have an affiliate link than it is to have adsense. That was kind of a rude statement that Dan Thies posted. I have never liked that guy.

I’m sorry, Patrick - you’re right, there was no justification for it. Call it a bad day or whatever.

Please Dan, Stop watching TV or movies, don’t read magazines or newspapers and close your eyes when driving down the road. Why? Because all of these places overload you with advertising. TV stations don’t just let you watch cool movies out of the goodness of their hearts, they sell advertising there.

Now a blog post is often the same, but even better, because I am reading relevant content, and getting relevant advertising. It may come as a surprise to Dan, but some of us actually don’t mind some advertising because we are actually searching for services and products and these blogs point us to those. And if the blogger happens to make a little something, then so be it. He provided me with value, why should I act like a little kid because he had an affiliate link.

If you want to be a purist who wants to read advertising free blogs, then go read some 12 year olds personal blog, just don’t complain when you find no real value there.

No hard feelings Dan. It got me thinking about the issue quite a lot and I think BlogStorm will be a much better blog in future because of it.

Well, it still was rude and it sucked… a few weeks of regular blogging and I’m already turning into one of those “blogging purist” dickheads.

Anyway, FWIW, and since we’re publishing on similar topics: you stand a good chance of having a *higher* CTR on affiliate links when you disclose (yes, that’s my affiliate link).

At least that’s been my experience with it - presumably readers want to reward you for creating useful content, or maybe simply for honestly disclosing the relationship.

@John, advertising free content is unrealistic, I don’t think anyone wants publishers to go broke. However, undisclosed advertising in editorial content does eat away at trust.

I have no problem with affiliate links. They are a heck of a lot better than Kontera or whoever does the pop-up/hover things on certain keywords!

I *think* it was an old disclaimer on Shoemoney’s site that said “I’m not a lawyer and I don’t provide legal advice. I use affiliate links. Don’t think I’m not paid to say something.”

Since you got me thinking about it, I believe when I see an affiliate link in blogs I think the same thing Dan said. You question motives like when a link sends you to a long sales page. You immediately think “Oh, they’re selling me something…”

That doesn’t discount the quality of the post or the blog but I do think it tarnishes my perception of the blogger I’ve never met.

Look at the comments on this post from Shoemoney. Those folks aren’t very happy about affiliate links and they’re reading an affiliate blog with a post about how to cloak affiliate links. http://tinyurl.com/2y7fsp

That said, I don’t think I’ll use them anymore either.

I think if you write a post and link to a website that has an affiliate program, you have every write to use an affiliate link. If you feel uncomfortable about it just add some disclosure, such as “(aff)”, after the link. Those who care will know what it means.

I don’t care, and neither you should care. After all if someone does not want to click on a link because it is an affiliate reason, than PLEASE tell me why you would not click? And what if it was a random link, would you click?

I really can’t understand why people get criticized on what they are doing with their own blog? Okey, lets do it this way, Patrick will promise that he won’t be including affiliate links in his posts (links that maybe maintain the blog to remain live or even to upgrade to a better server) but every time we read Patricks blog we donate him $1 (it might not make sense to you, but if you think a bit on that you will understand what i mean).

I have to agree that I don’t mind and I thought that was normal for blogs even. If you are writing relevant content to your aff link, than why not include it?

I guess the main concern would be “You are only writing this great wonderful review to add your affiliate link”. Certainly this could happen, but if the blog provides a lot of other useful information than probably they are just doing the same with the affiliate linked post as non-affiliate linked post.

On BlogStorm I’ve only felt that Patrick blogs about what he knows and what he has experienced, so if he recommends or affiliate links something it does not bother me a bit. He doesn’t write to solely have a affiliate link displayed, clicked, and get a referral.

Also there are “click trackers” out there which I currently use to track clicks on all of my website for certain links, affiliate or not. Those might appear as affiliate links when they aren’t. I think you should judge each blog and article you read, not just base one flat opinion on the entire subject.

I am a supporter of links in blog comments…in fact, of the whole No No-Follow concept. Personally, I’d like to see blog software rewritten so that we could use proper anchor text or at least a site title to be tied to the link instead of resorting to calling ourselves “Cheap Viagra” when we comment on a blog…which is somewhere beyond tacky…but happens ten thousand times a day.

However, in my mind, a link should go back to the commenter’s base of operations (i.e., a legitimate web site) instead of including an affiliate link in a blog comment space. I don’t care if the purpose of the site is mostly to sell some affiliate product. I still think it should be to a site, not someone else’s product. When I click on someone’s link, it’s because their comment interested me enough to want to know more about THEM…not the product they happen to be hawking at the moment.

So, while I didn’t read Dan’s original post, I’m at least partly in agreement with the sentiment. The other just looks like naked greed to me…which I don’t think helps anyone.

I say do whatever you need to. If you need to put a link in an article to make some extra money go for it. If you want to write a post that makes certain adwords appear, do it. All I care about is that you can continue to write good content and I can easily read it. When you start putting flashing banners or other such distractions from the content then I might not read as much. But as long as the content is good and easy to read more power to you for making money at it!
p.s.
Many times the one person who speaks out about something is in the far minority of the issue. The vocal minority. Don’t assume that one comment is representative. If you get 50 comments all with the same slant you might start drawing some conclusions.

Problogger always insert affiliate links at his blog posts, such as seo book, amazon, tla etc…it is not a big issue for me.

I honestly don’t mind affiliate links in blogs, in fact I expect them most of the time. So long as the post holds true value in the content as well, I don\’t see what the issue is.

The same with AdSense, banners, etc. As long as the webmasters aren’t going nuts with it (your example of mesothelioma lawyers is a good one, unless of course, the entire blog IS about mesothelioma lawyers).

Count me in as someone who thinks affiliate links in a blog are ok. I can’t see what the big deal is really. We aren’t talking about pop-ups here. It’s not like an affiliate link is annoying. If you point me to some book on Amazon, and I buy it, you deserve the money, and I’d rather you have that $1.00 (or whatever) than Jeff Bezos.

(ulp) I just realized that the topic was affiliate links in blog POSTS, not blog COMMENTS.

I guess I was in “projecting” mode rather than listening mode that day.

DOH…!!!