Delivering Content Without Flipping
Last month I talked about Delivering on Your Article Title Promise (meaning, does your article body give content that delivers on the hook or promise you put in your article title).
Today, another related topic: Articles that are mis-representative and leverage on the goodwill of others for the purposes of flipping the reader to their brand or product will be rejected. For most people, this is common sense… but there is a percentage of authors that this concept escapes them…thus:
Example of what not to do:
- Promote the disadvantages of cable TV and in your resource box, pitch satellite TV products and services. Worse: Name a cable TV provider.
- Discuss specific Mastercard or Visa brands and pitch an American express or Discover credit card sign up form.
- Write about the benefits and disadvantages of Alli (the new weight loss drug) and pitch a competing brand.
Anytime you mention a brand name in your article title or article body, we’re going to slow down and really review your use of that brand. In the majority of cases, we rejected it to avoid a Cease and Desist order. You can reasonably expect that any article that mentions someone else’s brand in the article title may become trouble down the road and should be avoided.
The difficulty becomes in product reviews (which we do accept, generally) where a mention of the brand is required to review the product. If you present the brand in a positive light, most brand owners are appreciative, but there is always a percentage that will not appreciate it, regardless as to how positive you review is.
Nope.
It’s wrong to do a review of ABC company and then link to XYZ company.
That’s like doing a review of a Ford but then linking to a competing GM or Chrysler product. It’s disingenuous and it’s leaning on the good will and brand name of Ford to flip their clients over to your product.
I’m guessing the main reason you’re doing a review of ABC company is to attract the eyeballs of people who might have an affinity for ABC company so you can flip them to XYZ company, right? That is why it’s wrong.
October 26, 2009 at 8:19 PM[Reply]