Blogola

Seems I touched a nerve yesterday with the defenders of paid posting in blogs. It's not every day that I get called "small," "bitter," and "mean-spirited," to use the more polite names hurled at me. Apparently some people are fine with selling their integrity, but they don't like it when you call them on it.

And before I go any further here, I'd like to offer an apology to Sandra at the Work at Home Newsletter, who sould not have received one of my comments yesterday. I made a point of not commenting on any blog that clearly labeled its posts as paid. Sandra doesn't flag the individual posts, but she does clearly--and rather eloquently--defend her position in a link in her bio.

I don't agree with her position, nor do I agree with the position put forward by Eric Lituchy, the president of Delightful Deliveries (who shall have his company referred to by its proper name from here on out for taking the time to respond).

They both make the same argument: "Newspaper and magazine writers get paid to write about products and companies, so what's the difference?" Speaking as a former newspaper journalist, managing editor for a regional film magazine, and newspaper owner, I've looked at this issue from more angles than most people, and I can say that there's a world of difference.

Yes, journalists get paid to write about products and services, but they don't get paid by the providers of those products and services. Any journalist in America who took money from a company to write a review would be fired on the spot. Journalists' opinions are not for sale. If they were, newspapers would be nothing but advertising sheets, and nobody would read them. Anyone who's studied journalism knows this, and I count a great many reporters and editors among my friends who would never take a cent for their opinion, because they know that doing so would destroy their credibility.

I'm also a radio host, and this situation calls to mind the payola scandals that surfaced in the 1950s and again in the last two years. Record companies paid disc jockeys to play certain albums, either through cash or gifts, thus unfairly influencing the Top 40 charts. The situation got so out of hand that the Federal Communications Commission got involved, and anyone who works in radio now has to sign an agreement that he or she will not accept any gift or cash payment to play any song or promote any artist.

Pay per post is nothing more than blogola, and I'm hardly alone in my condemnation of it. John Fine at BusinessWeek (a legitimate journalist), summed up the outrage at blogola in a June article entitled, "Polluting the Blogosphere," which features this rather telling quote from PayPerClick.com's Ted Murphy: "You can't believe anything you see or read." There was a time, Mr. Murphy, when you could, and it's people like you that are destroying our faith in the media. Mr. Murphy jumped into the Comments fray over at Naked Conversations, if you'd like to enjoy more of his "wisdom."

Marshall Kirkpatric at TechCrunch puts his opinion succinctly: "TechCrunch does not accept payment for posts." The words of a true journalist.

In the interest of offering some balance, Mark Woodman at inkBlots makes the argument that the blogosphere doesn't have much credibility anyway, so why not have at it? I think that's a bit of a cyncial view, because bloggers have been instrumental in breaking some major news stories to the mainstream press. The bigger question here is why don't we have more credibility? Maybe because people are selling their opinions and not telling their readers about it?

If you disclose the status of paid postings, plainly and clearly, I can almost live with it. If you don't, it's blogola. Either way, wouldn't you be better off seeling some things on eBay? Because while you're making a few bucks a post, you're also showing readers that, as Ted Murphy says, "You can't believe anything you see or read." That devalues your genuine posts, along with the blogosphere in general.

I hope that clarifies my opinion on this in a way that's not too mean-spirited.

As for the accusation that I deliberately went after a competitor, that's true. I make no claims toward being unbiased here--read anything I've written about our products--but I do not, and would not, under any circumstances, allow someone to buy my support in any blogging endeavor.

And to that end, I'd like to quote Mr. Lituchy:

"What I've asked, through PayPerPost, is that bloggers go to our website or be customers in order to write a blog about DelightfulDeliveries.com. I believe this is essential to our post otherwise it would be junk. I've also asked for bloggers to review the site. While they are only paid if the post is postive, bloggers are free to write whatever they like. I think that is were you are missing the point."

I think you just made my point, when you said, "they are only paid if the post is positive." That's the point where ethics get thrown out the window in favor of making a buck, and that's why journalists get paid by newspapers, not advertisers. If you paid equally for a negative review, then there's no problem, so why not start doing that? We run negative reviews on our site, right next to the product descriptions, because we value the honest opinions of our customers. I can't seem to find any reviews on DelightfulDeliveries.

By and large, Mr. Lituchy, you run a good business that's an example for the industry. Why would I chastise you for looking for an innovative way to promote your business? Because you only pay for the good reviews, and that's unethical from a journalist's perspective. You're buying links instead of earning them on merit, and you're contributing to the distrust readers have of the commentary found on blogs, which is bad for the entire blogosphere.

I think your company is above this kind of behavior. You're a category leader in part because you've taken an honest approach on your site and in your promotion, apart from this bit of blogola. My hope is that you'll see this as I and many concerned bloggers and journalists see it, and that you'll also understand that while this may be an easy way to get blog recognition now, it will hurt your ability to have legitimate bloggers write about you in the long run.

Dishonest? You Decide

It's nice when bloggers write about businesses they like. After all, bloggers are impartial, everyday people, right? That makes them worthy of our trust.

Or does it? The folks at Pay Per Post seem to think, with some level of success if their new round of $3 million in venture financing is any indication, that the opinions of bloggers are for sale. Here's how it works: You sign up with them, decide which companies you're willing to blog for, and you get cash, either a single payout or, in some cases, affiliate referral fees.

In other words, MAKE FAST CASH WITH YOUR BLOG!!!!, without all that tedious mucking about in AdSense. immomsdaughter claims to be having a "love affair" with the service. Who can blame her? Where else but in America can your integrity be sold for $4 a post?

I'm afraid my integrity costs a bit more than that, in the sense that no amount of money in the world would ever posess me to write favorably about a company just to make a buck. The concept is a slap in the face at the integrity of bloggers everywhere, but if you happen to feel a twinge of remorse at selling yourself out for less than even beer money, they've got a little disclaimer you can add to your blog to explain that you've sold yourself out for less than beer money.

This came to my attention after a bunch of posts about Delightful Deliveries showed up in the blogosphere, all with the same images. It took me all of two seconds to realize that these people were being duped into becoming marketing shills for some small green.

But hey, it takes time to search out and solicit legitimate blogs and try to get them to write about you, and even if you send them some free samples, you can't control what they write. They might say something negative. Let's bypass all that hard work and risk by bribing Suzy Homemaker with a couple of bucks. She's too stupid to understand what we're doing here, and she's sure to sell out.

More reprehensible behavior from the snake oil salesmen who've found their new footing in the online world. It won't be long before the blogosphere is crammed with useless blogs full of this crap. People in China spend more time clicking on links for a smaller payout.

I'm appalled, and any bloggers out there who respect what little integrity the blogosphere retains should be similarly appalled. It's predatory, dishonest, and despicable, and companies like Despicable Deliveries that utilize this service betray their "anything for a buck" ideals.

Before this gets too far out of hand, let me make two suggestions to the responsible bloggers among us:

1. If you see this stuff on someone's blog, leave a comment asking them if they realize they've sold themselves for a pittance.

2. Google, take action now to filter out any blog results that contain these paid placement posts. You've got parasites feeding off Blogger's success and making it harder for those of us who try to publish legitimate blogs to be found.

Edit: It seems I spoke not soon enough on that last point. Run a search on "Delightful Deliveries" in Google Blog Search, and by the time you hit Page 5, it's almost all spam.

Now How Did That Happen?

Site development is an imprecise science, in much the same way that computers are an imprecise science--they work often enough that we tolerate them without too much complaint.

For those who've never done this before, relaunching a Web site involves taking the existing site, moving it to a development server, upgrading it, then moving everything back. Since it's an imprecise science, some things can get lost along the way, like our separate Cakes and Tarts categories, which seem to have morphed back into Cakes, Pies, and Tarts, ruining all the bookmarks you've set.

Now I'm going to ruin them again by putting things back the way they should be. No more Category changes after this one for the rest of the year. Promise.

Major Changes

Today marks the culmination of almost a year's worth of development for us here at 1-800-Bakery.com, as we unveil the biggest public-facing part of our newly enhanced site. Pick a product, any product, and take a look at the calendar at the bottom of the page. Not only will it tell you when things will arrive, it will allow you to compare shipping methods and pick the delivery service that offers you the best price.

The new calendar also allows us to bring back Monday delivery, this time with a much larger group of products than were previously available. It also allows us the flexibility to introduce seasonal items earlier and keep them available on the site longer. Plus, it explains why certain shipping options aren't available for certain days of the week, and automatically blacks out days when there's no shipping.

It may look simple, but as you can see, it does a lot, and it's been a lot of work getting it to do all the things it needs to do. We think it's the best calendar-based ordering system online, and we'd love to know your thoughts. Love it? Hate it? Leave me a comment.

Over the next two weeks, we'll be rolling out additional enhancements. Some of them you'll see, some of them will just work quietly in the background to make life easier for our Bakery Partners. As with any site enhancements, there may be the odd moment of downtime or something that doesn't quite work the way it should. If you experience any problems with our new site, please call us at 1-800-287-9870, and we'll resolve them as quickly as we can.

Thanksgiving Desserts

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays--number two to Christmas most years--but let's face it, if you're cooking dinner like I am, it's a ton of work. Other people might be out watching football, but I'm straining to pay attention to the Macy's parade while I'm buttering and stuffing an obstinate turkey.

One of the great things about this job is that I don't have to give a second thought to dessert. Chef Steve shows up with a variety of pies from La Patisserie, and everyone gets a slice of their favorite. After spending all day checking on the bird and making sure the squash is cooked, the mashed potatoes aren't lumpy, and the onions aren't cooked to mush, it's nice to know that I don't have to jump up after my second bite of stuffing and make sure that a pie is cooking.

I can't say enough for letting someone else make dessert, and we've got some good ones. No, we don't have the tradtional pies online, but if you're near the Winchester, Massachusetts area, we've got them in our store--stop by and order by November 20, please, or call 781-729-9441 and we'll be happy to help you.

We do have petits fours, cookies, our fabulous, amazing, astounding Turkey Cookie Centerpiece (pricey, but very impressive), pumpkin cheesecake, and pumpkin and pecan tarts. You'll find them all on our Thanksgiving Desserts page.

Without going back and rereading all my old posts (mildly amusing but largely painful), I'm pretty sure I promised to have pies by this Thanksgiving. I tried to find some--oh, how I tried, knowing that I could hardly call this a full-service bakery site if we couldn't meet your pie needs.

Then we got caught up in a site development cycle, and football season began. So no pies.

But we've got tarts! Tarts, I say! Really extraordinary tarts. And what is a tart, if it's not a pie in a butter cookie shell with a saucier name? And let's admit it--you're sick of pie in the same way that you're sick of turkey year after year. So once you've ordered your Turducken, why not order a tart? I've even made that easier for you by setting things up so you can get two of our pecan or Rum Pumpkin tarts and pay shipping for one, as long as they're going to the same address. If you're expecting a big crowd, that'll save you money, money that you'll need when you realize on Thanksgiving day that you're out of Bell's Poultry Seasoning and have to go buy some at the gas station, which has opportunistically stocked it for the holidays.