The Ethics of Blogging For Dollars
Paul at Blogging Systems writes about Bring the Blog (see ‘Bring the Blog’ Not All It’s Cracked Up to Be) today, a new service by BloodhoundBlog contributor and Mortgage Reports Blog owner Dan Green.
Ostensibly, Bring the Blog is a simple blog platform but they take it a step further, they also provide a ghost-writing service – for $300 a year you can get your own real estate blog and not have to lift a finger.
The pitch from their web site:
Every business day, we post new, consumer-focused content to your blog for you. That way, you never have to worry about your blog going “stale” when you don’t have time to write. Heck, you never even have to write at all!
This is not a new idea, K2Bloggers has been offering to write real estate blog posts for a while (see Too Busy To Blog? Pay Someone To Do It For You) – what is surprising however, is that two well known REBloggers, Green and Teresa Boardman from St. Paul Real Estate, would be offering up their writing services so brazenly.
I’m troubled by these types of services, largely because like Paul, I believe the power of blogging hinges in the transparency and authenticity that the medium offers.
Clearly, blogging can be a money making opportunity. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t begrudge anyone the ability to earn a buck off their blogging efforts. (Full disclosure: the meager ad revenue I get from FoREM funds my raging gadget addiction). Paul’s company also sells a competing blogging platform, so even he has an economic interest in getting people to blog.
But there’s a difference between enabling someone to blog, or encouraging them to do it, and then flat out doing it for them.
Of course, one can make the supply and demand argument. These services exist because people want them. In that sense, blog writing services are no different from the essay mills that offer to write your college papers for you (see Slate’s How to buy a good college term paper online). But heck, why stop there? Why not skip college all together and just go buy a degree? Sure would be cheaper.
Shortcuts abound in all areas of life. But should you necessarily take them?
sellsius likens Bring the Blog to “skydiving strapped to someone’s back” – I think that’s being a little Pollyannish.
I doubt very much the people buying this product are going to use it as a way to dip their toes into blogging waters. More likely it’s the people who just want “a blog” with their name on it and don’t care how much it costs.
And, I’m sure Bring the Blog will rope in a few suckers who just want an easy way to jump on the blogging bandwagon. But they are the one’s being fooled. They’re the one’s buying degrees online.
The bigger question, is, just like PayPerPost (for more, see Techcrunch’s PayPerPost.com offers to sell your soul), services like Bring the Blog may be a way to bring short term financial gain to bloggers, but ultimately at what cost?
Are they legal? Sure. Ethical? Borderline. Something I’d get involved with? Absolutely not.
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20 Comment(s)
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- From Blogging By Ghosts? Bring The Blog Is Nothing To Fear - sellsius real estate blog - real estate, blogging, business, advertising, marketing, and technology | Apr 3, 2007
Greg Swann | Mar 20, 2007 | Reply
A closer analogy might be the ghost-written newspaper columns that have been available to Realtors for years. You subscribe to the service, then use the copy in paid ads in your local shopper or whatever. I wrote about a different kind of pseudo-blogging last night. There is a point at which it becomes pertinent to ask if the entire Scobleized/Sethified side of the weblogging equation — the commercialization of the original bring-it-on essayist’s ethic — is not inherently at odds with the idea of weblogging as such. In other words, if any part of the posted content is an ad, is the whole thing an ad?
jf.sellsius | Mar 20, 2007 | Reply
What is the best type of blog? Is it one person’s voice, a team, a community of writers? Heck if I know. I suspect you can have a great blog with any lineup. I did not invent the genre nor would I steer its direction. It probably isn’t Bring the Blog. But I don’t think it’s unethical, illegal or fattening if it is being HONEST in what it is. Are you saying that the reader does not know who the author of the post is? If that’s the case—I see your objection clearly. If the author’s name IS revealed I don’t see the objection that clearly.
I gave it the benefit of the doubt —that it COULD be used by agents who felt intimidated by the blog learning curve and would use BTB as training wheels. (You ARE allowed to post your own work, as well as the ghost writers, I believe. That’s a good thing, no?).
I guess I presume the best motives in professionals, that realtors and agents aren’t looking for a shortcut to get a blog out. But maybe you’re right and I’m wrong on this. Maybe it would be generally used for this purpose. But even if it were used as a shortcut, would that make it invaluable to a good intentioned agent who did use it as training wheels? I would not take this tool out of their hands because some others would use it improperly. (we also likened it to a blogletter.)
Here’s a poor analogy perhaps–Is my local newpaper unethical for printing AP UPI or Reuters articles word for word under their header? Of course not. (they subscribe to those stories written by news & wire services authors). And I think the reason is because they put the litte (AP) to identify the source.
Yes, we know blogs are different than newspapers but ethics is still the same—be honest as to the source /author and I think you’re OK..
We don’t know if BTB would fly (or skydive) but am curious to see if it could provide wings for someone who needs them.
I wouldn’t whiZ the idea.
Joel Burslem | Mar 20, 2007 | Reply
I think I’d be ok with the idea if it was clear that it was Dan or Teresa’s words being printed on the blogs, i.e clear attribution to the original author. More like the syndication models you guys cite. But at least from how it’s presented on the BTB site, it looks like the content is such that you can pass them off as your own. That’s what I have an issue with.
rudolph d. bachraty III | Mar 20, 2007 | Reply
hi joel!
i agree.
as long as attribution to the author/source of the content is clear and prominent, then in my opinion, that’s fair.
rudy.sellsius°
Ben Feltes | Mar 20, 2007 | Reply
I guess this could be compared to the automated drip-marketing email campaigns that I think some clients actually read and enjoy given they are informative and professional, of course. But will auto-blogging add this kind of value? I think not. When people read blogs, most assume it to be original content. Anything other than that might have an unappealing, commercial type of vibe. I think most automatic blogs (that don’t disclose this in some way) will wash out over time and the bloggers who are investing time into good content (thanks Joel) will gain the trust of more readers.
Incredible Agent | Mar 20, 2007 | Reply
This comes down to the debate of quantity vs. quality. Do I want to make sure my blog isn’t stale so I hire BTB to do it for me? Or do I do it all myself and provide valuable content to my readers to establish a readership?
I don’t believe the syndication format really applies. Why don’t the agents simply link up an RSS feed? RSS is an easy way to get content as long as you give credit where credit is due. I see the same articles on hundreds of different sites all the time. Why do I need to pay for syndication as long as it’s approved? Unless the content is 100% unique to each blog (doubt it), I wouldn’t pay for it.
One of the benefits of BTB would be that the fresh content MIGHT help you in the search engines. It all depends on your keywords and overall seo content strategy.
Ultimately, whoever has a blog should be focused on creating readers by establishing credibility and trust. Depending on the content, BTB may be a part of that strategy. It will certainly help a lot of agents if they simply want to take the easy road to keep their blog alive.
Andy Denton | Mar 20, 2007 | Reply
Joel,
I think you’re trying to adapt the Techcrunch-hates-PayPerPost philosophy here. I can appreciate your argument, but it doesn’t really translate.
Bottom line is that it’s a service for average agents. The tech savvy ones are offering their knowledge to the non-savvy agents who want an updated blog.
We don’t require full-disclosure when hiring techies to buy Adwords for us. “this ad actually purchased by Efficient Frontier, and optimized by Optimost”. We don’t require people to put a sign on their bathroom door saying “plumbing actually repaired by Joe’s Plumbing”. All that matters is that the ads and the toilet work.
You have to understand that for the last two years all Realtors have been hearing is “you need to get a blog”. 99.9% of them don’t know what a blog is, or would know the slightest thing about maintaining one.
We all know that blogs work. Why is it so bad that some of the bright ones recognize that they can help their collegues out while making a bit of money.
It’s a service. It’s an opportunity. And there is certainly a market for it. Kudos to Dan and Teresa for making the leap.
Joel Burslem | Mar 20, 2007 | Reply
Andy,
I guess it depends on what your definition of a blog is. If it’s just content that published daily to a web site then your argument makes sense.
I would argue that a blog is far more than that; it’s a conversation, a community and an opportunity for an individual’s voice to be heard.
A canned, ghostwritten blog is none of those things. Maybe what is needed is a new word to describe what’s being peddled to differentiate the two.
Loren Nason | Mar 20, 2007 | Reply
Problem Number 1:
Google will (MIGHT) penalize each blog that uses this site because the content WILL / (MIGHT) be duplicated across many sites. If the same article is posted to many blogs then people will figure out eventually that the content is copied and not important because they saw it somewhere else – so why come back when they find the same info elsewhere
Is this ethical – yes
Now I can see the usefulness of having a little fluff content but the problem still comes up of DUPLICATE CONTENT. Even I throw in quasi-fluff content on my blog WRITTEN BY ME just to keep ideas flowing.
If the blog owner discloses that the article is written by someone else then thats ok.
Basically (yes my thoughts are not clear right now)
This is crap and any realtor using this will have a blog that will not grow.
Loren
Jonathan Greene | Mar 20, 2007 | Reply
I think, aside from the obvious SEO benefits of having a blog, the agents who are paying for posts are losing out. I’ll admit, I started a blog because I wanted to dominate certain keywords in my area. But, along the way I’ve refined my position on ethical issues, made great friends, and learned an awful lot about the industry.
And the key: customers only respond to my blog because it’s written in my voice and parallels my work ethic and industry knowledge. If I wasn’t the person writing the posts, it would be immediately obvious as soon as they called me and the jig would be up, so to speak.
Dan Green | Mar 20, 2007 | Reply
Hi, everyone. This is really good talk and it’s nice to see that my blogging product has started a healthy discussion.
I think everyone has made valid points.
I have always likened Bring the Blog to a Buffini-like newsletter — targeted to clients and full of “news you can use”. Relevant, timely, and written in a language people can understand. The difference is that Bring the Blog is available on-demand, whereas a newsletter arrives monthly by mail.
So, maybe Joel, you have a point — maybe a “new word” is needed for products that fill this void. Sellsius referred to it as a “blogletter”. Would that be a better fit?
Teton Apartments | Mar 21, 2007 | Reply
Whats so hard about people spending 15 mins every other day writing about real estate in there area? Its very professional for someone to have a blog, especially a realtor, but its not very professional to random stuff posted daily on there blog..
Bryant Keefe | Mar 21, 2007 | Reply
There is no shortage of “news you can use” out there for our clients to find on their own. I have tried many “done-4-me” services over the past 15 years and they have never been as effective as my own production. So yes it is easy to spend $300.00 per year, I looked at the offer as a shortcut for myself, to have a “blog” but it will not generate the desired results we seek from having a blog.
A blog works for the simple fact that it is authentic and the reader knows this. If someone subscribes to this service and adds there own content in addition to the pre-packaged content it could work. But as Teton Apartments reminds us…If you can’t spend 15 minutes everyday or two posting to your blog, well your business may have bigger concerns than just needing yet another magic pill.
John Schroeder | Mar 21, 2007 | Reply
It makes sense that this service is available. If there is a demand someone will offer a product that meets that demand. It will be interesting to see how many other “ghost writing” blog companies are created. It seems like a good business model since many Realtors are curious about blogging but most of these curious people will not want to invest the time and resources into developing their own blog.
I would think that if a Realtor or real estate professional is dedicated to providing a regularly updated locally based real estate blog that they will still be more successful than a service that attempts to provide this. Isn’t this what still gives the locally based professional an advantage. In depth knowledge of the marketplace. This new type of competition for the blogging marketplace will only mean that those of us who have been writing our own blog for a while now will have to up our efforts.
Dave K | Mar 21, 2007 | Reply
Hi Joel: I’m a new blogger . . . like in “really not sure how to do this” new. But I do have a new blog, Beach City Blog, and I am putting the fingers to the keyboard and trying to say something interesting and see if I can find some kind of rhythm.
The concept of having someone write my blog for me is interesting and I guess if blogging was just about generating leads and SEO then I would think about it. But as surf around the blog world and try and get a sense of what blogging is it just doesn’t seem like something that fits with what seems to be the spirit of blogging and why I would read someone’s blog with any regularity.
I don’t think I would find it interesting to go to someone’s blog on a regular basis and read what they have to say if I don’t even know if they’re really saying it.
Just an observation.
PS I actually wrote this comment myself . . .
Andy Denton | Mar 21, 2007 | Reply
OK, let’s define what roles blogs serve.
I’ve heard terms such as Community, Leads, Search Results, Personal, Local, Google, and SEO.
Loran makes a valid point that Google does track repetitive content. So, I do see the concern there.
But, all the reasons mentioned by everyone above is valid. The simple answer is that if you want to run your own blog for the community and for the personal effect, GREAT! That’s why we are all commenting here – to contribute.
But, the fact that Google loves blogs (or should I say fresh content) is no mystery. Blogs are an easy way to achieve high search rankings fast. Yes, it’s built for personal use. A blogs serve many social aspects. But, the simple fact that fresh content is delivered by their platform makes them useful for business reasons.
My personal blog generates significant traffic, and I am found by many people all over the world when they search for certain terms. But, the community on my blog is generally limited to family and friends. Which is fine by me. Some people will use their blogs for personal reasons, half personal and half business, and some will use it for strictly business purposes.
You can’t huff at someone’s idea just because you like the community feel that blogs create, or the personal character that you provide, or that you slaved behind a keyboard for a few hours and someone else didn’t.
In this current time, if blogs are what it takes to rise organically in the search rankings, then I’m surprised this idea hasn’t happened sooner.
But, let’s be clear. These automated type blogs are going to have a difficult time rising to the top of search rankings in a competitive market area for the simple fact that these blogs probably won’t be maintained well. There will be no community. Probably no link sharing, or trackbacking, or anything else which generally attributes to a blog’s increase in page rank.
So, in the end, the personal touch will win. The maintained site with the community will rise to the top. And an avid blogger shouldn’t feel threatened by new services like this one.
Marcus Burke | Mar 22, 2007 | Reply
There’s a simple response which encompasses most of the ideas above. Market forces. As with everything else, market forces will decide the outcome – and there’s nothing that any of us can do about it. I for one, won’t be loosing sleep over it. It’s just another facet of the blogosphere. The cream will rise to the top and if the blog is good, it will enjoy some success whoever writes it. Many sites have multiple contributors after all. No one seems to mind that Greg Swan doesn’t write all his own posts. Is he also “cheating”?
Todd Carpenter | Mar 22, 2007 | Reply
I think it’s a fantastic idea, especially for mortgage professionals. The thing is, not very many clients/readers are going to read a blog about mortgages every day, even if you are good. Clients are mostly only going to come along at a time when they need a loan. When they do, they’ll want lots of good content right then.
With BTB, the reader gets the info they are looking for while the broker gets time to work on his real job. A blog like this isn’t going attract a large, everyday readership, but who says it has to?
John Corey | Mar 23, 2007 | Reply
I do not see much of a difference between the RE newsletter services and paying someone to write articles that you use in your blog. For the newsletters you write a column and someone else writes the balance plus handles physical distribution.
As a reader it is the content and the value more than the personal touch. There is only so much I want to know about someones personal life and their cat. I prefer an agent share market information and that includes the broader country perspective and not just the local community.
John Corey- Real estate investor, 20+ years – multiple states and countries.
Check my blog – http://johncorey.wordpress.com/ – advice for real estate investors.
Runa | Mar 23, 2007 | Reply
I agree with the content of your post, but I do also agree with Loren Nason who said that Google penalizes such behaviours (not the same with Yahoo! and msn, I believe).