In late May, I received an email from VW about some video that showed a coffee filter attached to the exhaust of a diesel. Silly me. I figured I received the email because VW knew I owned a VW diesel and that I had a coffee web site. After posting Diesel Flavored Coffee?, I saw another coffee site with the same video post. And then I saw another. And another. I now regret that post.
Just a week or so ago I received an email from a fan of Coffee Hero that ran another coffee website that sold single cup brewers. I think single cup brewers are junk, but somehow I felt an obligation to help out a fan. I decided not to link to his site, but to interview him about single cup brewers. Sort of a convince the coffee snob piece. Just when I started working on the interview questions, I noticed one of the coffee blogs I follow did an entire post on his business. I canceled the interview. I have no desire to be an outlet for his press releases.
Now I ran INeedCoffee for over 10 years and got commercial requests all the time. INeedCoffee had a clear policy. We only link to the sites of contributors. Contributors must submit an educational or entertaining piece related to coffee that is not commercial in nature. All requests for shared links would be deleted. It was an amazing success. Not only did INeedCoffee develop and build a good audience, but I saw the search engines reward our contributors websites as well.
Coffee Hero is not INeedCoffee. One of the things I want to do is highlight other coffee related sources on the Internet. At the end of many of my posts is a Sources section. Apparently, this has made Coffee Hero an open target for sites looking to use bloggers to generate buzz about their websites.
Today I saw coffee blog reviewing a coffee which is being sent to me in the mail. Seems he got his before I got mine. And I actually thought this company read my New Orleans coffee report and wanted to clear their name. Nope.
These websites have everything to gain and little to lose. However, Coffee Hero can lose if it becomes a useful tool for promoting other websites. From the article Payola bloggers, FTC is watching you:
The AP reports that the agency (FTC) is poised to go after bloggers and the companies that fund them if they don’t disclose their payments and conflicts of interest.
When I first read this story and another one that indicated Google would punish Payola bloggers, I knew it was unenforceable. However, Google is the judge, jury and executioner when it comes to web traffic. If it detected a pattern of links, it could condemn the entire group. So if coffee blogs started posting reviews of the ACME Espresso machine and they noticed a no disclosure on a few they could punish the entire group. So if Coffee Hero ends up reviewing a product the same month that some Payola bloggers do then I run the risk of having the site put on double secret probation.
Even if all that doesn’t happen, any marketer that wants to pimp their wares could search back links to another product and see which sites are most likely to promote their product and which are most likely to give a positive review.
What is a new coffee blog to do? I want to embrace the coffee world in a way INeedCoffee didn’t, yet I also don’t want to be used as an outlet for press releases.
