food blogging ethics

Are You Making These 2 Mistakes When Writing Sponsored Posts?

December 8, 2015 by diannejacob 20 Comments

Are you working for brands for peanuts? Those are $1 bills, yet many food bloggers take them.

I meet lots of food bloggers at conferences who are writing sponsored posts. Here are two stories of their first experiences that didn’t turn out well:

1. Prioritizing the brand over readers.

In the Q&A after my talk, a food blogger wanted to know why readers suddenly unsubscribed from her blog after she wrote sponsored posts.

She said she usually buys a years’ supply at a time from a particular nut company. Eventually she [Read more…] about Are You Making These 2 Mistakes When Writing Sponsored Posts?

“Blogger Blackmail” Surfaces as a Trend

August 25, 2015 by diannejacob 91 Comments

What is “blogger blackmail?” One blogger demanded about $150 worth of macarons, marshmallows, and other goodies in exchange for a blog post.

How ironic. Last week I wrote a post defending hobby bloggers. This week the subject is “blogger blackmail!”

By now you may have heard about the Twitter thread called #bloggerblackmail. It chronicles, among other things, when food bloggers demand payment in kind for blog posts, including free meals at nice restaurants.

One story that came to a head began when a hobby blogger who writes London restaurant write-ups emailed a bakery and suggested she be “invited to review” their products in exchange for a blog post.

Here’s how things went downhill for the food blogger:

When she got to the bakery, workers offered her tea and [Read more…] about “Blogger Blackmail” Surfaces as a Trend

Q&A: Recipe Girl's Lori Lange on Working With Brands

January 29, 2013 by diannejacob 96 Comments

Lori Lange of Recipe Girl is in her 4th year of writing sponsored posts. (Photo by Amy Boring)

Lori Lange‘s food blog, Recipe Girl, made last year’s list of one of the top food blogs in the US, according to The Daily Meal. Upbeat and energetic, Lori never seems to run out of easy meal ideas.

One of the things that interests me about her blog is the way Lori works with food companies. As you know, I’m a hard nut to crack on the subject of sponsored posts. I’m no longer opposed to writing them, but I get frustrated by how few food bloggers write about products well.

Lori takes a professional approach, writing directly to potential clients in a “Work with Me” page, and creating straightforward, non-advertorial posts that always disclose she’s been [Read more…] about Q&A: Recipe Girl's Lori Lange on Working With Brands