I should probably start by clarifying that this post is not about all paid blogging in any of its forms; rather, it’s about one particular “style” of paid blogging that I have been doing with one particular company.  The way this works, I get paid on a per-post basis to insert a “context link” into one of my posts.  I don’t have to write about anything in particular; I just have to use the keyword phrase given and link it to the URL given.  So “golf clothing” could just be a phrase used in passing in a fashion post, for instance.

Pros

• The money.  I would be lying if I said this wasn’t a factor.  (Duh.  It’s paid blogging.)  I am already posting, so getting paid for inserting a link is a nice perk.  And it has been a pretty steady, dependable income.
• Creative prompts.  Having a specific keyword phrase to use stretches my creativity, as I have to figure out how to fit that phrase into what I’m writing.  (Sometimes it’s easier than others.)
• Encouragement to post.  If I have to write a post, I have to write a post.  It keeps me writing.

Cons

• I can’t choose which assignments I take; it’s all-or-nothing.  (On rare occasions, if something is truly offensive, I can ask that it be removed from my account, but I can’t just do the ones I like and skip the others.)
• In-post disclosures aren’t permitted.  My site disclosure makes clear that I do these links, but I can’t spell out for you which links are the paid ones.
• Encouragement to post.  Just because I can write doesn’t necessarily mean I have something to say worth saying.  Sometimes, maybe I should just stay quiet. 😉

And Why I’m Quitting

The balance of pros to cons here is influenced greatly by the quality of keyword phrases and links I’m given.  As long as they’re pretty good, then it isn’t that big a deal that I have to do them all and can’t tell you, my readers, which specific links are which.  But when the overall quality of links and keyword phrases deteriorates, the balance starts to visibly shift in the other direction.  Unfortunately, I feel that the overall quality of the links is getting more and more what I call “spammy.” (Besides, weight loss links figure in heavily anymore, and how many ways are there of working things like “diet pills that work” naturally into posts on a blog where the owner is attempting to gain weight?  It’s getting harder and harder to write these posts without sounding like an advertisement!)

So, I’m quitting.  I want you to be able to know that when you see a link in one of my posts, it’s there because I hand-picked it.  (Or, in the case of a review post or something, it’s obviously a link to the product being reviewed.)  And I’m tired of seeing these “spammy” phrases on my blog.  (In the beginning, they were fairly rare, with more “normal” phrases being, well, normal.)  I do have a stack of assignments already in my queue that I will complete over the next week or so, but after that, these are gone.

(I may be willing to accept paid links in the future on an occasional, assignment-by-assignment basis, but not this all-or-nothing stuff, and only if I can clearly disclose that the post contains paid links.)

Thanks for bearing with me while I finish out this assignment queue, and please don’t leave me in the meantime!