The Importance of Honesty, Integrity and Disclosure
12 Important U.S. Laws Every Blogger Needs to Know has been a very interesting and informative read this morning. It covers things like copyright, deep linking, cybersqatting, SPAM, and lots of other things, but I think my favorite was the one about disclosure.
Disclosure has always been a big part of what this blog is all about. When I started back in 2005, the only people I saw posting how much they were making online were the ones posting scans of checks or screenshots of Paypal records that "proved" they were raking in five or six figures a month. Oh, and of course they'd be happy to show you how to do it for just $79.95. The first monthly total I posted was four figures, but two of those figures were on the right side of the decimal point -- $32.18. Not very impressive, but at least it was honest.
And when I started writing sponsored posts for PayPerPost, I was honest about that, too. Full disclosure, all the way. No other option ever entered my mind. Of course Google says that's not good enough, and wants me to jump through a few hoops to create a kind of disclosure that its spiders can understand.
I think disclosure is important for bloggers. I think it's important for radio personalities. And I think it's important for magazines, which is why I decided to write this post after reading about the sudden resignation of Harry McCracken, the Editor-in-Chief of PC World magazine. Although Colin Crawford, the CEO of PC World denies it, the reason McCracken quit is because Crawford and the marketing dept. were too willing to throw editorial integrity out the window, and to "tone down" criticisms that might have a negative impact on major advertisers.
When that sort of thing happens, whether it's online or offline, it means that every article or review can be considered an undisclosed paid "advertorial." I wonder if Matt Cutts is planning on coming up with a clever little HTML hack to help Googlebot deal with crap like that?
Technorati Tags: blogging, disclosure, PC World, McCracken, PayPerPost, Paypal, Google, Crawford, advertorials
Disclosure has always been a big part of what this blog is all about. When I started back in 2005, the only people I saw posting how much they were making online were the ones posting scans of checks or screenshots of Paypal records that "proved" they were raking in five or six figures a month. Oh, and of course they'd be happy to show you how to do it for just $79.95. The first monthly total I posted was four figures, but two of those figures were on the right side of the decimal point -- $32.18. Not very impressive, but at least it was honest.
And when I started writing sponsored posts for PayPerPost, I was honest about that, too. Full disclosure, all the way. No other option ever entered my mind. Of course Google says that's not good enough, and wants me to jump through a few hoops to create a kind of disclosure that its spiders can understand.
I think disclosure is important for bloggers. I think it's important for radio personalities. And I think it's important for magazines, which is why I decided to write this post after reading about the sudden resignation of Harry McCracken, the Editor-in-Chief of PC World magazine. Although Colin Crawford, the CEO of PC World denies it, the reason McCracken quit is because Crawford and the marketing dept. were too willing to throw editorial integrity out the window, and to "tone down" criticisms that might have a negative impact on major advertisers.
When that sort of thing happens, whether it's online or offline, it means that every article or review can be considered an undisclosed paid "advertorial." I wonder if Matt Cutts is planning on coming up with a clever little HTML hack to help Googlebot deal with crap like that?
Technorati Tags: blogging, disclosure, PC World, McCracken, PayPerPost, Paypal, Google, Crawford, advertorials
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