Blogging is a good form of communication, and anyone who can read and write can be a blogger. This is the chance of everybody to enjoy the freedom of communication. But sometimes, this freedom is being used improperly. Although it may not look intentional, there are lines that are unethical in nature. Here are some of them:
1.0 Let’s exchange links. You can usually see this as thread title in forums, especially in the Introduction or off-topic discussion. Actually, there is nothing wrong with asking anybody to link to your site. But if you are to link other site just because you want your site to be linked with others, that becomes unethical. I believe that if someone likes your site, he will provide a link to your site whether you ask it or not, and vice versa.
2.0 Fave me and I’ll fave you. This is somehow the same as asking for an exchange link, except that it is usually applicable for Technorati. Again, if a site has good content, it will be a favorite by many, and you do not even need to ask them to fave you. More so, you cannot ask force anybody to fave you if they do not like your site, even if you fave them.
3.0 Click Here. This is the most unethical line we always encounter. This means a direct instruction is given to the readers, which is very annoying. Remember that readers are your customers, and you do not give instructions to customers. There are so many friendly ways to lead a customer on what he needs to do. You can use a simple sentence with hyperlink on words your readers need to go, without really requiring him.
In addition, there are bloggers who forget to use the magic words such as “Please” and “Thank You” especially when asking for a favor. I guess one does not need a high education to do this; all he needs is just a little bit of breeding.
Again, blogging is a good form of communication, but it becomes bad if it is not being made with humility and ethics. Hope this post will be thought about even after raising some eyebrows.
Article Source: Humane Blogging Tips
Common Unethical lines of Bloggers
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4 comments:
December 23, 2007 at 12:47 AM
I think "unethical" may be a little too harsh of a word to use. The points you've made are great about rules of conduct. You know what they say about rules: they're meant to be broken.
Let's not forget the driving force behind all of that: SEO and Monetization. It's not about content... it's about money!
December 23, 2007 at 1:17 AM
Hi Rudy! Actually, I was thinking to use "unprofessional" but I decided not to do so because I want these bloggers to wake up.
Moreover, I beg to disagree with you about the "it's not about content" thing because I truly believe that content, SEO and Monetization are equally important, unless others would blog for money alone, and I feel that it's unethical to blog for monay alone. Thanks for taking time to comment.
December 23, 2007 at 3:20 PM
You might look into something Armand Morin calls 'Obvious Marketing' - and you may revise your thoughts here some.
While I understand what you are saying, I think that there IS a place for certain directives.
If you go to any site which Armand Morin produces, you will see an example of obvious marketing.
In a teleseminar a few months back (in preparation for his Big Seminar X) he went into this.
He doesn't leave anything to chance when it comes to his potential customers. They won't mistakenly miss the right cues when they go to his site.
Here: http://viralurl.com/pioniwol/BigSeminar (yes, that's my aff link) you will see few things.
It is bold and there is a very large button which is unmistakably the thing you are supposed to push to send your information into them.
The very large button is framed in a different color. Does it change colors when you hover over it?
What is he really doing there?
We need to study these things to understand the proper way to encourage visitors to engage with us more.
Believe me, I have a lot to do personally! I work on my posts in the hopes of making them 'obvious' in what I'd like you to do.
Is it working???
Pam Hoffman
http://seminarlist.blogspot.com
December 23, 2007 at 3:44 PM
Your suggestion looks interesting, Pam. I'll check it soon. Thanks for inviting me.
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