A note about product links on GunPundit
November 10th, 2008
In the interest of full disclosure, I thought I’d put up a quick post summarizing the hows and whys of some of the products that appear here on GunPundit.com. If interested, read on.
Basically, a specific product can get posted about or linked to on this site for a wide range of reasons. One reason is that I own or have tried it out, I like it (or maybe dislike it), and want to share a little bit about my experience. This is pretty straightforward and not any different than what nearly every blogger does every day.
Other times, I may receive a sample from a manufacturer or marketing rep and will generally toss up a courtesy link as soon as it arrives, whether or not I’ve tried it out yet. I feel if they’re going to spend a little cash on getting Murdoc some stuff, the least Murdoc can do is help create a little awareness and post a link. Often, I will post about it again once I’ve had a chance to check it over.
Mentions and links are sometimes motivated primarily by advertising/marketing concerns. Like most bloggers, Murdoc isn’t a full time linker and thinker. The need to raise a little money to run the site and make the effort worth the time is always present. So the sidebar has some slots for ads, I put Google or other ads in the archive pages, and sometimes I will even post on something specific. The recent post on a green laser for $49 was one of these posts. The deal appeared on an affiliate program I’m part of and I thought, Hey, that seems like a decent deal. Let’s post it.
Often, when linking to products, I will use affiliate links if possible. This means that if you click the link and end up buying something, Murdoc gets a small percentage as a sort of “finder’s fee” for directing the customer to the store. If you buy nothing, Murdoc gets nothing. I don’t always have applicable affiliate links available, though.
Many of my posts, even those not specifically promoting a specific product, will contain these affiliate links. Books and movies are a great example of this. When I mention a book or DVD, I nearly always include a link to Amazon using my affiliate account. I don’t make a lot of money this way, but over time it can help cover the cost of running my sites. For instance, if you click on the picture of the 2009 Gun Digest and end up buying it, I make about 79 cents.
(If every single visitor every single day would buy just one copy, I could blog full-time…)
Finally, sometimes I link to stuff for the heck of it. Because that’s what bloggers do. Once in a while I see something cool or get an announcement of something interesting and, even though I don’t have an affiliate program with them or any other way to make money doing it, I link. And sometimes (like AmericanSnipers.org) I’ll put up a link to help support a cause I believe in.
I hope this helps clear up any questions about what I’m linking to and why those funny hyperlinks are in my posts. I’m not trying to trick anyone and I won’t knowingly link to questionable sites or bad products.
This post wasn’t triggered by anything other than my realization that I didn’t really have any kind of published policy about this sort of thing. I’m going to link to this post from my Advertising page and it will serve until things pick up around here and more solid advertising guidelines need to be established.
If anyone has any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to send them on.
