Money, Blogs, Trust, and Reward

Now that we've put out a new release and updated our web site, I have a short breather to blog. I was talking with a friend recently about our company and he asked a question that I get often, "Will readers trust a blogger who's making money from his product recommendations?" We discuss this briefly in our FAQ at our web site but I wanted to address it more fully here. It's a question that goes to the core of our business.

My answer is, "Yes, under certain conditions." Here are my top three conditions that determine whether a reader will trust a blogger enough to purchase through his affiliate links:

1. Pre-existing relationship. If I'm reading the blog of a friend whom I trust already, I will trust her recommendations. Makes sense, right? In fact, I want to give her a commission in return for her advice. I compare this to the offline example of the local shopkeeper. When I want to buy a book as a gift for someone, I'd rather give my business to a local independent bookstore that can give me personal service versus a chain store that can't. Applying this to the online example, I want to buy through my friend's blog and reward her for giving me a recommendation - like the bookstore owner. And I still get the benefit of an online superstore's selection and prices.

2. Virtual relationship. I would also trust a blogger that I've been following for a while and have grown to trust - even if I have never met the person. I believe people have an innate capability to judge whether someone is being truthful or full of b.s., especially if there is a history of repeated interactions, in this case a series of blog posts. Taking it one step further, the question may not even be about trust as much as reward. The reader in essence rewards the blogger by purchasing through his link. Each person makes that decision differently - the reward could be based on honesty, or expertise, or how funny the blogger is.

3. Third-party beneficiary. Given the absence of any relationship, I would tend to trust a blogger that has decided to give his commissions to a charity that I support (or at least I'm not against.) Sure, the blogger could still be trying to bamboozle commissions but I don't care as much since the money is going to a good cause and it's not coming out of my pocket. The merchant pays the commission as a cost of getting the sale.

My partners and I started Zoundry with the basic idea that 1) people are generally honest and 2) if we can encourage more people to share their product knowledge so that others can make more informed purchases, then it's a good thing. To do my part, I'm asking all my friends to start blogs so I can buy stuff through them. I hope you will do the same.

For more background reading on this subject, read this related article, The cost of ethics: Influence peddling in the blogosphere. It's the best article I've read on the subject of blogger ethics.