I don’t remember where I read that and really wish I did because it resonated enough to write a post about it. The author was saying that bloggers making money online were only making money selling their books about making money online, or getting a share on the sale of blogging tools, not really selling anything that would make the other person better or fill a need. So is blogging a MLM scam?
TRUE
If you are in it for the sole purpose of making money, and your blog is only a sales pitch for your or others’ products that provides little value otherwise. You are selling online courses and books on how to make money online, telling wannabe bloggers they just have to sell your book for a commission and other products themselves. It can be assimilated to people telling you you can make a lot of money from home, then selling you a starter kit with products to sell, and in 99% of the time, you will find yourself unable to sell products you don’t need to people who don’t want them either. 1% of the time, you will find your own gullible people to buy from you and make money with them.
Now blogging is a bit different because you are selling products to show people that money can be made online, and it sure can, with a great deal of effort. So you can blame it on the aspiring blogger that they did not follow your advice to a T and did not put enough energy into their online endeavor.
And well, to start blogging, you need a website. If you haven’t figured that out on your own, and have needed someone to flaunt an affiliate link for web hosting at you, maybe starting blogging is not such a good idea. If you know the steps to get started, know enough about affiliate marketing to realize that it won’t cost you more to go through a blogger’s link, and do it as a (free to you) way to thank them for all the advice provided, by all means.
Regarding buying and selling by-products and how-to guides by obscure bloggers, you will probably learn more from top bloggers who share 99% of their content for free than with any third tier paying product. Problogger or Smart Passive Income are great places to start. I give all my content for free because I don’t think I have such valuable information that people should pay for it and I prefer advertisers rather than readers to cover the costs of operation of my websites.
NOT SO TRUE
While you started to blog as a hobby and started making a little money, you now want to equip the whole blogging world with keyword research softwares and any kind of product that offers an affiliate program. No matter whether you use it or not, or if the product loosely fits your theme, there will be a review on your site. Technically, if you don’t do it, someone else will, and it should better be you. Your readers are adult people doted of reason, or at least they have to if they want to be able to sign up for the new credit card you promoted or buy the trading software you said no one should live without.
You have described the product to the best of your knowledge, which is limited since you do not use it, and made the review just a little more glowing than it really needed in hopes of improving your conversion rate.
FALSE
When you started blogging out of pure pleasure, a small community happened to form around you and to like what they read. Later on, that readership has grown to a level that makes advertisers notice you. Not for the quality of your blog, they couldn’t care less about your content, but they saw in your metrics, in the keywords you used (on purpose or coincidentally) something that could be of use for their campaign. They offer you to review their products, and you gladly accept, because you think you would like them, and some of your readers may too. Your mommy blog is now reviewing diapers and baby clothes. Your recipe blog scored you a neat set of brand new kitchenware. Your travel blog pays for your trip to Switzerland. And your readers keep considering it a helpful source of information.
You put a few banners on the side to related products you have used or would genuinely consider using if you needed them.
As long as your writing and products featured benefit your writers, there is nothing wrong in getting financial compensation for all the hours you have spent writing great posts, coding, or to offset the costs involved in running a website. Thanks to the opportunity to make money online, there is a great deal of free, quality content on many sites that helps millions of readers every day.
In conclusion, I think whatever you need to know, up to a certain level, you don’t need to pay for. Check out the biggest source of information in the niche you are interested in, and you should already learn a lot. Lots of bloggers have realized that better than selling an e-course or e-book, they should rather give it away and hope to finance it with affiliate links. As long as you NEED the product you buy, it is a fair way to pay the blogger back for all the information and help provided.
So thank you to everyone who has helped support this site, and helped me provide free content to more readers!
This post was featured on How to Blog Carnival, Carnival of Money Pros, Fat Guy Skinny Wallet, Financial Carnival for Young Adults, Money Bulldog, Canadian Budget Binder, thank you!
I definitely don’t think that most blogging is a scam. It takes a long time to get traffic going and start making money- surely if most of us were out to scam people we could come up with something easier and less time consuming!
Dee @ Color Me Frugal recently posted…5 Financial Tips I’ve Learned from Bloggers
I definitely do not think it’s an “MLM scam” but I do think many (most?) bloggers promote products and services they don’t use or haven’t used. I think you can tell when someone is genuine about a product they are referring people to. I haven’t written about other credit cards yet but I’m not in a rush because I have used Discover for years now. If I use another card and find some benefit from it I will likely write about it, but it’s much easier to promote things you believe in versus throw out any old product/service that has an affiliate program.
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted…How to Find the Perfect Side Hustle for You
I don’t think most blogs are a scam. However some of the affiliate links can get a little excessive at times! I don’t think I have seen a ton of abuse though.. And I read a lot of blogs. I think most of us bloggers a fairly honest when we start talking about products and services.
Liz recently posted…Taking Care of Your Home while Living Frugal
Blogs are a business just like a restaurant or a car company. We have a right to sell products or services and to market our wares.
Consumers need to be aware. Do they always say YES when the McDonald’s salesperson says “Do you want fries with that?”
If you are too naïve to recognize that you are being marketed to you should have a conservator appointed to control your financial affairs exactly like Brittany Spears has.
Jane Savers @ Solving The Money Puzzle recently posted…It Costs Me Money In Taxes When People Just Don’t Want To Work
I try not to just people too much when it comes to making money online. There are plenty of ethical ways to get paid if you know what you’re doing. As long as someone isn’t breaking the law, I don’t have a problem with it.
Holly@ClubThrifty recently posted…Buying a House: HOA Fees and Other Shenanigans
Like Jane said, I think it could be argued that a blog is a business. I don’t know that every blog owner views it that way (if they just use it as a digital journal as an example) then they’re likely not going to be viewing it that way. I believe that if you’re doing it ethically then you’re just fine.
John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted…Two Great Days to Shop Online During the Holidays
There are two ways of making money through a blog: advertising and endorsing products. What I do not like is endorsing a product without using the product – how will your reader trust you?
When I reviewed brokerage firms, I joined 7 firms (I’m not kidding or exaggerating). It was a pain in the rear, but I had to if I’m going to review them and to be fair to my readers.
Moneycone recently posted…My Project To Switch From Incandescent Light Bulbs To Energy Efficient Ones – 2 Years Later…
I think that there are plenty of ways to make money ethically through blogging, but I get annoyed when I recognize that the primary purpose of a blogger’s site becomes affiliate links or private advertisements. It’s not that I fault them for making money, it’s just that it’s often not providing anything of value that I’d actually like to read at that point. I think you have to focus first on the value you’re providing and let the income opportunities flow from there.
Matt Becker recently posted…What to Look For in a Disability Insurance Policy
I like the way you’ve segmented the approaches. I personally haven’t monetized my blog yet, but will, and will give your post some thought before including an affiliate link. Thanks!
Done by Forty recently posted…November Net Worth Update
Well, most of the blogs I follow are mostly personal anecdotes and I don’t mind if they monetize their blog. If I’m going to sign up for a service that I know one of my favorite bloggers have an affiliate link, I would sign up through them to show my support.
H recently posted…5 Tips to Save Money on Laundry
I don’t blame anyone for making money online, but I do not enjoy sites much when all they produce is sponsored content or paid reviews. I think you can have new, valuable content and mix it with paid posts without making your site look like spam, and I think that’s the best of both worlds.
Kim@Eyesonthedollar recently posted…Retirement Planning Made Simple
As a whole I do not think blogging is a scam. I have no issue with people earning money through their blog whether it’s advertisement, affiliate links, sponsored posts or all of them. Great bloggers puts a ton of effort and time into creating and promoting quality content and earning some additional income from doing so is fine by me. Where I do have an issue is when it becomes clear the blogger no longer cares about creating excellent content but only making money. Meaning they promote products they do not use, all their content is now sponsored and ads have taken over their design. Sometimes I think this happens when a blogger starts earning money, they go a bit overboard. Those who are really earning significant money from their blogs tend to be very selective, which is smart – they can charge more where they don’t accept everything.
Shannon @ The Heavy Purse recently posted…How to Create Your Child’s Holiday Gift List
I would never define blogging as a scam– besides, it never hurts to make money doing what you love!
Terry @EasyFinancialTips recently posted…5 Budget Friendly Winter Destinations
I think that’s a very interesting assertion, and I think it’s true of a lot of major blogs. I have been so massively turned off of some big blogs that only seem to post affiliate links to blogging stuff and to their programs. The ones that I read are genuinely sharing information that’s useful to me.
Anne @ Unique Gifter recently posted…It Is Still So Much Better To Say It With Flowers
Hey Pauline,
My post for tomorrow is about fake online review etc so this was a timely post that I managed to link to because I think it’s important to read. Not everyone is faking reviews or doing whatever it takes to make a fast buck. Most often it’s easy to spot especially if they haven’t read all of an article, tested a product for a length of time or have no idea what they are going on about because they didn’t do the required homework. It’s a sad reality the money talks… that’s no secret.
canadianbudgetbinder recently posted…Christmas Countdown: Traditions for a lifetime of memories
Thank you for featuring my post Mr CBB! It is indeed easy to spot when a person hasn’t used the product. The idea between the scam is also lots of bloggers selling hosting and domain names which is totally fine but they hope to make money by setting up other bloggers hoping to make money. That screams MLM to me.
I don’t think blogging is a scam. yes there are those out there that do it solely for the money, but as long as they are upfront with it, I don’t see the issue with it.
Jon @ MoneySmartGuides recently posted…How To Save Money With Credit Card Balance Transfers
I don’t make any money blogging about PF. I do it entirely for fun and the hope that some people might better learn to handle their money and invest by reading my blog. I imagine that most PF bloggers, even those who make money, also do it mostly for the same reasons as me.
Bryce @ Save and Conquer recently posted…Gas Clothes Dryer Repair
When I see a blog that is set up MOSTLY for advertising, and it adds next to no real value to readers, I lose interest immediately. This includes a majority of posts pimping affiliate products. Now, of course some is par for the course but credibility is important to me when reading blogs. Regardless, people do have the right to do what they want, and I’m not sure it’s scammy for those all it in for the money – just not my cup of tea 🙂
Squirrelers recently posted…4 Examples of Applying Math to Personal Finance Decisions
In my opinion Blogging is not an scam. Actually it is the best way to express your views and sharing them with the audience. You can get traffic to your actual site .As we all know that , Anything which is done in right way gives results and doing the same work in messy way can spoil all your efforts.
I’m with DC on this one. You can really tell if it’s genuine or if they are just out to make a sale.
Peter recently posted…How much are you worth
Having never tried a blog just for the money, e.g. niche or low quality content farm sites, I can’t comment on how successful they might be.
I started Enwealthen as an experiment, an education in WordPress and content marketing, and an opportunity to share my advice and experiences on the way to financial independence.
I think most of the people in it for the money lose interest quickly when they see how hard it is. In the long run, the best way to succeed in blogging is the same as any business – find a need, fill a need. If it’s a big enough need, and you have a good enough product, you’ll make money. If not, try, try, again.
Jack @ Enwealthen recently posted…How To Buy Personal Checks Without Getting Robbed (By Your Bank)
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Great site! Here’s a link to a report about a known employment scam at http://thedevilcorp.wordpress.com/ . Hope you enjoy.
Mark recently posted…THE DEVILCORP. SMART CIRCLE, CYDCOR, INNOVAGE, DS-MAX, GRANTON, QUANTUM, PERDM, THE LANDERS GROUP, THE COBRA GROUP AND APPCO GROUP ARE THE EXACT SAME COMPANY. A CORPORATE HORROR STORY WITH ALL THE MISERY OF HUMANITY PACKED INTO ONE SCAM.
Blogging is not a scam….