Paid Blogging

Due to some certain circumstances with a certain paid to blog company, I almost decided not to post for them any longer this week. I'm not going to name any names right now because this company has decided to try to rectify the situation they created that outraged many of their bloggers, but once I get the details on everything that has been decided upon I will give you the full details.

Basically this certain company decided to change their TOS to state that not only did there have to be interim posts before and after any paid posts for their company, but they were going to require interim posts before and after any paid posts no matter what company they were written for. I certainly don't agree with this. While I do agree that it's good procedure to place at least one non-paid post between each sponsored post, I don't believe any company has the right to dictate the TOS of any other company, and that's exactly what was going to happen.

This would also effect the posts I do for another company. This second company allows me to insert contextual links into posts of my own content. Yes, I write the posts normally like I would any other post, but I can then find certain words to link for this company. You will sometimes see these posts back to back because they ARE my original content and would still be posted with or without the contextual link. Unfortunately if the first company had decided to stick with their new TOS change, I would no longer be able to conduct business with the second company as I have been doing all along. It a sense it also meant that paid blogging company would now have control over all content posted on the blogs of anyone who decided to conduct any work for them, and that's just not right.

I am NOT an employee of said company. I am an independent contractor who does occasional work for said company. If and when this company decides they wish to control my entire blog, I will no longer work for them. I hate to say that because I do love doing work for this company. I have found many interesting products and websites that I would have never known about if I hadn't worked for this company, but I don't believe they should have full control over my blogs.

I've gone back and forth over this situation for about a week now, and I've had a hard time deciding if I was going to continue working for them. I have decided at this point that I will continue to include paid posts from this company, but I'm proceeding cautiously.