Bloggers, are you being taken advantage of?

    It is a sad fact that there are those out there who are knowingly taking advantage of others. One would think in such a great community like bloggers that this would not be the case, specially not from one of our own.

  I found myself on a blog, you the type, one promising great information about blogging with a catchy title, only to find the content really lacking. I thought maybe it was just one poor piece by the writer. Above the headline was a huge image talking about a blogging contest. Curiosity had me click, like many I am sure, the article I had initially been drawn in by seeming like a lure to the contest.

 What a smart way to get page rank and visibility I though as I read the contest. Enter to win $200! Write a blog review of this guys site, to enter you have to include two links to his site, talk about the contest (giving him further promotion) and so on. I would share his links here as he says he wants honest feedback but alas, that is not the case. So I will simply say, I wouldn't trust "dukeo.com" and here is why.

 I along with other bloggers commented on what a great idea the contest was and how much he was saving on doing it this way. Why? Because links and reviews like this from even small blogs normally cost about $50 a piece, be they sponsored posts or guest posts. It is about having content about a business and the links to that business. I would think a site all about SEO and traffic would know such things but instead the owner of the site acted as if he was clueless, that no blogger is paid for such things, and that he wasn't doing the contest for any other reason. Suddenly he changed the contest and added another prize, as if this would make up for it.

 He didn't believe I could make $60 for a piece like he was asking for. So I not only showed him a piece I was paid $120 for but also an important link to show how he taking advantage of bloggers, bloggers who go to his site expecting to be informed and helped. I shared this great link and he at first ignored it:

You can click on that image to go to a great article that can help you explain how much bloggers should charge for links and posts on their blog! 

  By my math, just assuming the bloggers are a basic PR2 that are entering his blog so far he has at least 10 reviews, and if he paid for them he would be paying over $500 so far. 

 He then goes and posts this: The rules for this contest are extremely simple, but it appears that some bloggers really like trying to mislead people and twist the rules… As a result, I have also received a couple of reviews which do not qualify for the contest. Here is why:

• the review can’t be included inside of a longer post about unrelated things, (you can’t have a “weekly recap” with just one paragraph about the contest)
• the review must clearly disclose that it’s part of a contest to win a prize. (don’t try misleading the reader, Dukeo doesn’t support misleading bloggers)

Making me think that he is upset people are not advertising his contest for him and are not giving him a full blog page about his blog, meaning less SEO for him. He knows what he is doing with this. I gave him the benefit of the doubt at first. But then when I posted valid information he stopped trying to act like he didn't know any better and then deleted ALL opinions on this matter, from me and others. 

 So much for wanting honest opinions about how he is doing and his site. He FAILED. Sté Kerwer stop being the big bad wolf in sheeps clothing! You will notice that I do not have any clickable links to his site on this post. I am not going to give him the SEO he so wants. Not that it would help too much though because I am using this tiny blog. It is a great platform though to show you what not to do. 

 Of course you could do it, it is smart, but it isn't really fair and if your called out on doing such a thing, at least own up to it and not cowardly hide behind the delete button. I expected better of the person, alas, a blogging God he isn't, unless he is the god of fools or lies. 

 Be sure to do your research and value the work you have put into your blog. Find out what the going rate is for your blog PR level and views. Your worth it!