When My Favorite Blogs Go "Corporate"

I follow quite a few blogs in my reader, though truth be told, I only really read about 10 faithfully.  Some of us blog purely for ourselves or far-away family, while others dream of making it big--who wouldn't want to get sponsored posts/free stuff/ads going on their blog?  Who wouldn't want to make some side cash to support their SAHM dreams?  (Or put back into their blog--like Deanna--which I think is awesome!)

I know I wouldn't be sad.

But there is another side to it.  Blogs I really, really liked that became big suddenly feel...like constant advertisements.  Every post refers to a brand, linked for your shopping convenience.  Or product reviews, or sponsor posts, or whatever they do to make that dough. 

We get it shouting from us at all angles already--TV, radio, other internet sites, special emails from companies--buy! buy! buy!--and then you want to relax and catch up on your favorite blog and it's like "sponsored post by..."  blah. 

It's a fine line, isn't it?  Because this success that some crave can also alienate longtime readers, you know, the ones that made you popular..

Not long ago I decided to pay for an ad space on a blog.  I'll do this from time to time, especially with blogs I really like, because what's a few bucks between friends?  Anyway, I didn't really LIKE this blog, but the writing style is similar to mine so that's a good way to find some new readers (and in turn, some new blogs to read!). 

One of the "perks" of my ad "package" was a sponsor post (yep, just like the one I complain about above).  I wait, thinking the blogess will certainly email me.  I wait.  I wait.  No email.  "Fine." I think.  "Maybe she's going to visit my blog and write her own take on it."  Again, waiting.  

Guess what?  Month ends--no post. No email.  No acknowledgement. No new readers, in fact, no traffic whatsoever from her site that I could tell.  And probably a big part of that was that she just plain didn't care enough about her "sponsor", a little fish, a tiny fish in a big, big, huge pond.  

That's the part that irks me that most I think about "success."  It's a very false success in this blogging world and it's easy to assume you are so big you can forget about the "little people."  

I just felt like complaining.  Maybe some of you can also relate.  

-The Writer of a Small, but Very Awesome Blog.