Wordpress has become one of the largest blog platforms. Wordpress.org allows bloggers to download Wordpress and use it at their hosting account. Wordpress.com is the service that allows bloggers to create blogs and have Wordpress.com host them. Is Wordpress.com affiliate marketer friendly?
Brucesmoneyrants.com is the second incarnation of my making money blog. My first attempt was hosted at Wordpress.com. I chose Wordpress.com because of my past dealings with the Wordpress software. I had tried out software from Blogger.com and several other sites. Wordpress has several features that drew me in. Wordpress allows users to easily extend their blog’s functionality through widgets and plugins.
Wordpress.com was attractive because of its builders. The gentleman who created the Wordpress platform also created Wordpress.com (Wordpress.com vs. Wordpress.org, n.d.). There were several features that prompted me choose Wordpress.com.
1. I already had experience with the Wordpress software
2. Wordpress.com stated they had over 70 templates available
3. Availability of plug ins and widgets
4. Daily stats can be tracked easily
5. Having an address of “xxxx.wordpress.com”
My experience started out wonderfully. I developed three different blogs. One was geared towards emergency management and the other two were geared towards making money online. I focused on one of the two making money blogs. I noticed two potential issues right away. Without paying, I only had access to about 12 templates. Wordpress.com also does not allow you to upload outside templates.
I started adding widgets to my blog. Wordpress.com did not allow me to upload my own template but Wordpress.com could be personalized through the widgets, right? Not at all, Wordpress.com offers a few widgets but is limited on the widgets that you can add. Wordpress.com also does not allow any javascript in their widgets. Wordpress.com’s rules about java script greatly reduced my ability to monetize. Java script is required to run ads from Google Adsense and Amazon.com.
Wordpress.com does allow some monetization. Small banner ads can be utilized by placing HTML into widgets. There are some downsides. Changing the ads requires manually changing the code. Not a deal breaker for me. I loved the ease of Wordpress that much.
I reached a point where I was happy with my blog’s look. It was not perfect but was the best I could reach without paying Wordpress.com extra money. I was not trying to get something for free. I was more than happy to pay for Wordpress.com’s extra services. I just wanted the blog to be self sustaining. I began posting links in different blog directories and posting everyday. Within a week, I was seeing some results. My Wordpress.com blog had a high day of 12 unique visitors and was already indexed in Google.com. I was pretty pleased.
My posts focused on resources to help readers make money. I only wrote about things that I had found useful or resources that were helping me (i.e. e-books, Zac Johnson.com, etc.). I included reviews of products or courses that had helped me.
My next move was to register with blog directories. I searched the web and came across a listing of 50 web directories. Each directory required you to register to submit your site. I spend two days registering the site.
Doomsday soon came. I signed up with a internet marketing course called Blogging for Dollars. In my view, this course offered some very useful tips. I believed readers would find it helpful. I wrote a review post about my experience and posted it.
The next day, my blog was gone. I attempted to check the number of site visitors. I was shocked to see the blog was gone. Gone! Not just could not login or it had been suspended…no it was GONE! There was a message from Wordpress.com on the screen. It read “This blog has been archived or suspended for a violation of our Terms of Service”.
I did not write anything bad. Every time I quoted someone else, I stated the author, site I quoted, and linked to the source. I reviewed Wordpress.com’s Terms of Service. Of course, Wordpress.com’s Terms of Service is a couple of pages long. I was looking for restrictions that could be relevant to the posts I had made. Here are the ones I found:
1. “the downloading, copying and use of the Content will not infringe the proprietary rights, including but not limited to the copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret rights, of any third party”
2. “you have fully complied with any third-party licenses relating to the Content, and have done all things necessary to successfully pass through to end users any required terms”
3. “the Content is not spam, is not machine- or randomly-generated, and does not contain unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, or to further unlawful acts (such as phishing) or mislead recipients as to the source of the material (such as spoofing)”
4. “your blog is not named in a manner that misleads your readers into thinking that you are another person or company. For example, your blogs URL or name is not the name of a person other than yourself or company other than your own”
There was the culprit. I had included affiliate links in my reviews. So I could tell people about products, whether or not I had used the product, as long as I was not an affiliate. It did not matter that I had bought the product, offered proof of the purchase, and had found it useful.
It is important to hear both sides of any story. Wordpress.com has the right to run their site and business however they see fit. I sent a note to their tech support. All I was asking for was an explanation, nothing more. Again, it is their business. But, it would be good business to offer customers an explanation. Patiently, I watched for a return email.
I went to my World’s Dumbest Criminals blog to check my statistics. The Wordpress.com statistics widget now showed “account suspended”. I went back to Wordpress.com and attempted to login. I could not even login now. I guess this was the answer to my support e-mail. Do not answer my e-mail just shut off the account.
I am not writing this article out of revenge or spite. My goal is to allow other budding affiliate marketers the chance to learn from my story. Wordpress is a great blogging platform. Affiliate marketers only need to be careful when trying to make money. It appears that Wordpress.com wants to provide a great blogging platform…as long as you are not trying to make money.
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categories: wordpress,affiliate marketing,business,make money,monetize,terms of service,marketing,money,blogs,blogging,advertising,article marketing,home based business