So the internet is in an uproar about the recent PR penalty assessed by Google. I’m actually feeling rather zen-like about the whole thing. I see people scrambling to remove paid links from their blogs, or references to the companies that they work for. I see bloggers obsessing over how to link people in their sidebars, clamoring to get off blogrolls they’ve been a part of for years, all hoping to find the magical combination of things that Google is looking for in order to get that high PR.
I’m not doing a thing. I’m blogging the way I’ve always blogged, I’m linking who I want to link to, and I’m not deleting links or content from any of my sites. Stupid? I don’t think so. I don’t want paid blogging to change me, or how I blog, or what I do, and I’m not going to obsess about my pagerank, especially since Google will never tell us exactly how to obtain a higher PR.
I also see bloggers worrying more about monetizing their blogs, and less about the content of their blogs. As a moderator on the PayPerPost boards, I see a lot of people talking about interim posts, and what’s allowed. Does an Amazon.com affiliate link count as being sponsored? If you receive a free product from a company and blog about it, is that post sponsored? What about Kontera links in your interim posts? People are complaining that PayPerPost wants to control their blogs and they can’t blog what they want, when they want.
To that I say…good for PayPerPost! A little quality control goes a long way, too little, too late, and all that jazz.
I want to read original, NON sponsored content when I come to your blog. I consider myself to be a fairly good writer, but I know people really aren’t here to know what I think about mixers or loans or clocks…and all of the other products I’m paid to review. If every single post on this blog was “sponsored”, I would lost a lot of traffic from the so called “regular readers”. Focus less on monetizing every single aspect of your blog, and worry about your CONTENT. You can’t rely entirely on search engine traffic, and one part of my blogs success is that I have a regular group of readers who come here once a week, if not daily, and seek out content. I abhor blogs that have some form of a sponsored link in every single post, be it contextual, or an affiliate link, or a sponsored link. I find myself skimming those entries, discounting the writer’s words, because the link screams to me, “I am only writing this to get paid.”
What’s so hard about inserting some content that’s just for the sake of blogging? If you want to review a book you purchased off Amazon.com, and you want to link to the book using an affiliate link, so be it. But please put some of the great content that made me start reading you in the first place on either side of that book review. Tell me about what your kids are up to, or about the idiot receptionist at the office. Make me remember why I came to read your blog in the first place!
As for me, I’ve made a conscious effort to place original non-sponsored content on either side of any sponsored review / post / link I place into a post. What are YOU doing to take back your blog?
I’m not worrying about PR either. Google gives, Google takes away, and it’s thier page rank, anyway. And while I’m not going so far as to put a sponsorship-free post between posts with just a contextual link, I am making a bigger effort to build good content, to bring the blog I linked above back to being about more than fluff. Fluff has it’s place, but even chocolate would get old if that’s all you ever ate.
I’m not worried about it either, but then again, all of my blogs increased in “page rank” (even one with TLA). I think that maybe there is more to it than some have suggested but I really don’t know. I agree that ignoring it and dedicating oneself to making their site(s) the best they can is really where the most profitable focus will always be with any of this stuff.
Hello! I’m not worried about PR either. I really don’t care, but that could have something to do with the fact that I had never heard of PR or Google rankings before all the hub-bub started last week. Now that I know what it is, I still don’t care.
Anyway, I found your link on the http://www.johncow.com subscription email I received today and I’m so glad I clicked. What a fresh perspective! I’ll be back to check out your site again later on…!
Ha, since my PR is a big fat ZERO, I could care less! Cereal Sunday will live on regardless!!
I’m not Google’s bitch. LOL! Your blog is one that I’ve always loved reading, because even when you’re writing a sponsored post, you make it personal – you tell a story about your family, an experience you’ve had, something that relates it to you personally. (I try to do the same thing!) I’m SO sock of hearing about PR. Honestly, if Google’s going to discount sites net-wide, besides just blogs, PR is going to start mattering less as a measuring device of a blog’s worth, y’know?
nice post Colleen, on many fronts. Great content benefits everyone: audience, blogger, and sponsors…
You do a great job with it too, Laura! I’m just sick of reading blogs that are trying TOO hard to monetize. They’ve lost what blogging is supposed to be about.
Your content keeps me coming back!
My review blog is the only 1 of my 3 blogs that ever has a paid/sponsored post and those are few and far between. When I do have them, I make sure to have non-paid reviews before and after. I do however have links in nearly every post I write on my personal blog and I always have a link to the item or items I discuss in my review and scrapbooking blogs. I am a link happy person with an average of 2 per post. Is linking looked down on?
I agree. I got spanked, but I am not going to waste my time screwing with what I am doing. There are more important things in life than what my PR is.
Hear, Hear, Colleen. I’m not changing anything from the past, either. I have cleaned out my sidebar, but that’s a personal thing. I never cared about my PR up until now and I’m not going to start. Though I haven’t been in much of a blogging mood, it will come back and if some of those posts can be sponsored content, great. If not, that’s fine, too.
I’m actually a little thrilled that mine tanked. Now I won’t feel so bad when I move everything to the new domain.
I agree that a lot of people out there are trying too hard to monetize their blogs for the sake of monetization alone and are totally losing the personality of their blogs. I understand the need for income, but where’s the value for advertisers if you have no readership? I, too, have been guilty of scanning posts that all seem to be sponsored. I’ve quit visiting quite a few blogs that I used to for that very reason.
Ladonna – Losing PR is kind of like…breaking up with a jerk of a boyfriend. You’re free to move on and focus on more important stuff without trying to please him. LOL!
Here I am! Your content only reader! LOL
I used to care about PR only b/c advertisers seem to care about it so much, but I’ve actually received more private offers for advertising since the big PR crash. I admit I only dropped 1 notch on my 2 blogs that fell, but now I’m more or less laughing at Google and their attempt to try to change the way we blog.
My blog is my own content, and it’s going to stay that way. If I want to link to another blog, website, or product, I’ll do it because I would do it anyway whether or not I”m writing paid posts.
I do agree that PPP should be taking a stand on the quality of blogs in the system, but just like Cass I’m not going to go out of my way to make sure I put another non-sponsored post between two posts containing contextual links when those two posts are my own content. If i can find a way to work a contextual link into a post I would write anyway, so be it.
If I have to go out of my way to come up with a post just to work in that contextual link, then I treat it like any other sponsored post with an interim on each side of my own content. If you’ve got a quality blog, none of that should be an issue, but if you’re nothing but a paid sponsor farm you don’t deserve any of the traffic that heads your way.
I may write paid reviews, product reviews and even family life things, but I’m not focusing on just one thing. Never have, never will. I’ll tell it how it is and rant about the stupid things like I always have. While having a high PR would be nice, I can careless. I think if I keep up what I’m obviously doing I’m doing something right. Don’t think people are visiting me because of my page rank anyways.
I agree, page rank is no big deal. The only people who obsess about it are people who make spam sites and target very specific niche keywords and what not. In the end, the golden rule of blogging always applies. Write good content, let people know about it, and the traffic will come. As far as advertisers caring about page rank, you can just show them a page of traffic stats to legitimize your site.
Mine went down as well, but oh well….life goes on. I’m not doing anything different these days than I did before the google fiasco and I don’t plan on doing anything different in the future. I figure everything in life usually balances out in the end anyway.
Two Words. “Well Said.”