I attended #GNO on Tuesday night hosted by MomitForward. They always have great twitter parties, but this past Tuesday’s discussion was even more so of a interest to me, as it applies to a transition I am making shortly.  I am starting my first hosted blog, actually two blogs, one being a non-profit and one being a place where I will give PR tips/tools/software comparisons, and work at home tips as well.  With the non-profit I really did not plan on doing giveaways or reviews, although that may change if they are applicable to my non-profit.  However I have used some great tools/products that have been a god sent to me as a mom of a 16 month old that works from home.  So now with so much of the focus being on the transparency of blogs, and what is or is not allowed, I am really not sure as a fairly new blogger that I should be touching something that seems to have so much drama and controversy around it.  Not that I have any problem with disclosure because that makes sense to me, I am just not sure how in depth the rules and regulations are going to be and that would be another added facet, something else I would have to learn when it comes to the blogging world.  With that said I think I will wind up doing giveaways anyway.

I learned a lot from Tuesday nights #GNO and then was able to learn even more on Spin Cycle which also covered blogger transparency hosted by @extraordmommy. I do recommend that you check out the Spin Cycle on Wednesday nights at 9 PM EST.  I feel it is much more interactive then a twitter party, although I love the twitter parties, by the time I leave them, my head is spinning and I wake up with a headache even when there is no wine involved. I have their button and a screen shot below so you can get a feel for how the interaction is done.

What you will see when you join Spin Cycle

Click on this Button to Check out Spin Cycle

What is this FTC stuff all about anyway: I am sure everyone knows what the issue is by now, but to my surprise upon doing some digging I found that this has been in the works since 2006.  Maybe it is the pessimist in me or the realist as I prefer to say, but I thought it was journalist’s that were threatened that bloggers were becoming so popular and that they had complained, but I am not sure about that anymore as I connected the feeling threatened with the economy and I do not think things were even starting to get bad back in 2006. The grasp I have on this is that the FTC is questioning the ethics of receiving payments (what is a payment? That is not known yet) without disclosure that in some cases this can violate consumer-protection laws on deception. This is per Ron Coleman from his 2006 Article “Blogger Transparency Mandated by FTC” Another issue I just learned about is that ‘Google’ has already began tightening restrictions on blogs that link to the sponsor’s site and that bloggers are suppose to insert some type of a software code to negate the value of those links. I do not know all the details on this, but this does not seem right.  I do not think I understand fully either, is negating those sponsor links going to take your blog down further in Google; I get the disclosure piece, this part not so much.

What is the Consensus: As far as I can see the consensus from most bloggers is that they do not mind disclosing if they were given money or a free product, but that their personal blog and giveaways should be on one blog and not separate.  I am all for disclosure, I think being upfront and honest is a must, do I think that it is a little unjust that some outside of the blogger category can get away with this, but yet we are being put in the spotlight, yes I do!  With that said if you want me to review your product, and I do not already own it, well then the only way I am reviewing it, is if you send it to me for free.  To me it is a given that you would be sent a product for free to try it out and give your review or to hold a giveaway. I think the odds of this statement being true are very low “The FTC says it wants to protect consumers, who may take a blogger’s opinion at face value without knowing it was influenced by an advertiser.” From Douglas MacMillan at Business Week in New York on his recent article “Blogola: The FTC Takes On Paid Posts” This is why – when I go onto a post that talks about a giveaway or a review there are usually hundreds of comments, and usually always through those comments or through others on twitter I hear about others who have personally used the product, I am sure this does not apply to every product, but there are quite a few were I saw a second personal encounter right in front of my eyes, so it is not like this is one person and they are the only ones that are allowed to speak on this product with no outside interaction, does that make sense? Or no?

I said this at #GNO and at Spin Cycle, someone should do an eBook on everything blogging, on the ethics, on how you should do your press kit, to how to provide good content.  I believe there is a huge audience for this, unfortunately I just do not know enough about it to write an eBook on the subject.  However through GNO and Spin Cycle I have learned some great tips that I have below

This is a post that I recommend reading, although if I was an advertiser I would honestly be interested in seeing stats, as I want to see the whole picture and I would feel stats is a part of that, but you can almost always bet where there is good content their will be visitors, where you are being true to you and giving your audience useful or entertaining information your audience will come back again and again. I am going to aim for the useful part, as I can admit on an entertaining level my writing pails in comparison to others.

From @AlliWorthington blog post at Mrs. Fussypants

“It’s not your traffic, it’s your VOICE

I took a clip from her post that I found to be very dead on.

I am a believer in being persistent and proactive and to go after what you want. I have sought out work with a company that was not hiring before and they made a position for me, I have moved up at my last company 5 times within 4 years. I am not a bold person, well not if you do not know me anyway.  So if I did not stick my neck out there I would still be working at Glamour Shots as a Customer Service Rep. I think at first companies may not come to you, so if this is something you are serious and passionate about then you need to go to them.

There were some different opinions at this past Tuesday’s GNO on this exact topic.  Please keep in mind these are in 140 characters and one piece of hours of conversation so there could be more or the comment could be what it is, for instant @jessicaknows was talking about consulting and blogging, not sure which one she was referring to in her comment below.

If you do not feel comfortable approaching companies you could always write reviews on products you already have thereby allowing you to get noticed. As @classymommy noted as well, after you review a product you already have, let the company know you did a review on them.

A good Question that I invite anyone that may know to answer. I did taxes for a little but for not too long, but I believe gifts of a certain value have to be disclosed, but I am not sure if this is correct or what the value is, if you receive money I am pretty sure you do have to disclose that.

Some other excellent tips

Info on how to build a killer press kit sent by @gwenbell -

The last bit of link love I am giving for this post is: Gwen Bell Interviews Stephanie Precourt About Blogging for Money

My last thoughts:

Where I stand at this moment is:

• Disclosure is a must

• Do not say Yes to every opportunity that comes along, make sure it goes with your brand, think if your readers would be interested.

• Do not focus on traffic, focus on your voice.

• Support other bloggers, the blogger community is huge and we could be so powerful if we only all supported each other, I have seen us do it time and time again.  Since this has come to light, I see bloggers get snippy with other bloggers and attack each other.  With that said, someone told me a while back, you can not read emotions in writing, and when you condense it down to 140 characters it makes it even harder, so I am sure the things I could have seen could just be mis-communications.

• If I do get to the point of doing reviews or giveaways I will give my feedback on a product whether it is good or bad, I would never trash a company or be rude, but I would give my honest feedback.  Although I am new at this, I feel we have a obligation to our readers to give them the full picture, the things we don’t care for and the reasons why and the things we love.

• What would have been different for me if I did not attend GNO and Spin Cycle: Before last week I would have not really had a hold on what was going on or how to go about addressing it when I move over to my new home, and also I very much think I would have been a YES woman and go against everything I know, and would have chosen to say YES vs. just focusing on providing good content.

So what do you think on blogger transparency, should you have to disclose if you get a product for free, does it make a difference, or does it really boil down to how much you trust the blogs you follow, what do you think?

When bloggers first start out what should be our rule of thumb, should we reach out to companies, or just keep writing good content and entice them that way to come to us, would love to here everyone’s opinion.