Are pro bloggers really just cheap tricksters?

Well that may be a little harsh, but it’s essentially true. Just about everyone who blogs about how to make money blogging is little more than a street magician. A simple illusionist and nothing more.

Some bloggers even go so far as lying to their readers about how they earn their money, but most of them will simply withhold small amounts important information that you need to make informed decisions.

Why? Because if they told you everything, you’d be able to go out and take all their business.

And that’s why I use the terms “tricksters” and “illusionist”. They may not outright lie to you, but their income is often based on keeping things from you. Like a magic trick, if you knew exactly how it was done, you’d soon lose interest and not bother watching again.

So what tricks do pro bloggers use?

The most often used trick is the affiliate link disguised as a “review” or impartial link. If a blogger suddenly starts talking about a new service or product, the first thing you should do is ask yourself “what’s in it for them?”.

It’s quite likely that they’ll give a well rounded review of a product, but at the same time use (and often try to hide) affiliate links when sending you to the product’s web site. So even if they haven’t given a shining review of the product, you have to ask why that blogger is still trying to sell you that product!

Now I’m just as prone to using these techniques as other bloggers. Case in point - those “Recommended” links on the right of the Money Blogger page? I only recommend them because they pay me too.

The chance you take when you decide to click on a link, is whether or not they will also pay you or give you the knowledge you need to make money yourself.

If you really want to learn how to make money from blogging, the best advice I can give is to read as much as you can - but take everything you read with a pinch of salt. If a blogger is sending you to obvious affiliate link, ask yourself why. Read the comments for the post and see what other people are saying about the particular product or service the blogger is talking about and then make up your own mind.

There are many more techniques which some bloggers use to trick their readers and I’ll be doing another post on the subject next week including specific examples. So if you want to know what to look out for, you’d better subscribe to Money Blogger now!

Share this post on: