Many bloggers depend on search engine traffic to get their visitors. Such bloggers would benefit from a high page ranking. Blogs that have a good page rank usually show up in a prominent spot within the search engine results. Administrators of these search engines carefully monitor how websites are listed. These administrators want to prevent spam and an unwanted monopoly of websites from the same author. Most page rank ratings will come from a number of links to the blog from other websites. This is where having paid posts on a blog can lower the page rank.
Paid Posts Contribute to a Lower Page Rank
Since paid posts typically include links to a third party website, bloggers are helping someone with their page rank who has not earned it. As a result, search engines may lower a blog’s page rank or remove it from their results altogether. The popular search engine “Google” has done both, decreasing the rankings of some blogs and removing others from search results pages. There have been many arguments for and against Google’s action throughout the blogosphere.
Removing the paid posts and links from a blog seems to be the only way to get around being axed by Google and similar websites. Getting rid of paid posts is a crucial task for bloggers who depend on search engines for traffic. An even better solution would be not writing paid posts to begin with. Once a page rank decreases, it may be difficult to restore it.
A blog will suffer as a result because the monthly and daily visitor average will go down. This can affect any advertising revenue that you are pursuing. Paid posts may not be a bad idea for bloggers who can still attract visitors without search engine traffic. However, they are not the best way to go for publishers who want their blog to evolve.
Paid Posts Interfere with Blog Themes
Paid posts or paid advertisements should not be the prevailing content offered on your blog. Some online publishers start a blog with one topic in mind, find out about paid posts and then focus more on promotional content to increase revenue. As a blogger, you can end up alienating loyal visitors who read your blog because of its central theme.
Once bloggers get a handle on making money for paid posts, their priorities may change. This becomes a conflict with the blog’s initial theme, especially if the content was geared toward a specific topic. Writing about tools for camping trips and then focusing most of the content on hair loss treatments will make visitors lose interest in your blog.
Paid Posts have the ability to Confuse Readers
Many paid-to-post programs and paid advertisement placements for blogs vary in topic. This can turn out to be a confusing situation for readers of your blog. No one will know what to expect when visiting your blog. Paid posts cause bloggers to bounce around in their writing from tips on the latest video games to celebrity gossip followed by an endorsement for new dieting plans. Eventually, readers will not visit because there are no specific reasons to read your blog.
Paid Posts may Ruin a Blog’s Reputation
If you blog for the purpose of growing a business or building a nice sized following of supporters, paid posts can ruin those plans. The average online visitor may not care about paid advertisements, but there are many women and men who do mind. They are loyal online blog readers who frown on paid or “sponsored” blog posts. These particular visitors will think of you as the spamming blogger who is only after a quick buck.
As a result, you will most likely not get any referring links or even build a list of subscribers. The online destination that you created will become known as “that blog filled with advertisements”, which is not worth visiting. This does not create positive results for your online reputation. Consequently, any goals that you had for the blog or your business will be more difficult to achieve.
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