Yes, yes, I know: the only thing worse than another blog post proclaiming the God-like virtues of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is yet another blog post fretting about whether or not the blogger in question should make money from credit card signup referrals. So, rather than belabor the point I’m just going to come right out and tell you what I’ve decided to do:
- I have a few permanent pages on the Frequent Miler site. These will continue to show credit card signup links that I’ll profit from, but I’ll only show a link if I believe it is a good deal and if I too have the card or I’m planning to get the card.
- From now on, I will not post referral links within my blog posts, with one exception: when I create new permanent pages on my site (or make major changes to them) I like to copy the contents into a blog post so that people who subscribe via RSS, email, etc. will get a chance to read the contents. In those cases, if the permanent page happens to have credit card signup links then the blog post will too.
Like other bloggers, I enjoy blogging and hope that someday blogging can become my daytime job. The reason I started using credit card referral links is that ad revenue doesn’t amount to much. I’ll be lucky if ad revenue covers some of the extra expenses of this hobby such as conferences and DOs. On the other hand, it is more important to me that you see me as a trustworthy source of information. I’ve come to realize that credit card links take away from that perception. The ads on the site are a BoardingArea thing which I can’t control, but I can stop hawking credit cards in my posts. For those who want to help me out by using my links for credit card signups, you can continue to do so. Just visit thefrequentmiler.com and click on Preparing for Miles.
Was this the right move? Should I have eliminated links altogether? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
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[…] like writing them either. Soon after I started using affiliate links, I changed my blog policy. I would no longer include affiliate links within blog posts. And, I have no intention of changing that policy going […]
[…] Beginning December 27th 2011, I stopped putting affiliate links in any blog posts (see “The Referral Backpedal“). I had tried putting links in posts before then (e.g. “if you sign up now for […]
@Greg The Frequent Miler I appreciate you doing this, you have become the #1 on my blogroll and #1 choice when using referral links because of this. I really appreciate your quality daily posts!
Daniel: Thanks!
You gave me some good advice by email, so I felt you deserved the referral fee.
Don T: Thanks!
[…] use any of the links on my credit card pages to sign up for a card, I’ll make even more. As I promised a while ago, I won’t put credit card links directly into my posts unless the post is slated to become a […]
[…] mу site. Thіѕ іѕ thе case wіth thіѕ post. Read “ Thе referral backpedal” fοr more іn […]
Great blog, I have no problem clicking on the referral links, they actually save me time and usually offer points that would be difficult to find. Keep up the great work FM
[…] is intended to be a permanent page on my site. This is the case with this post. Read “The referral backpedal” for more […]
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[…] Edited to add: I've gone out of my way to give frequentmiler every credit card referral I can since the referral backpedal. Last edited by HikerT; Today at 7:51 […]
Well, I will give props to Rick. I stumbled on his blog a couple years ago while googling for an orbitz discount code and it dawned on me I needed to get back into the credit card churning and milage accumulation game. I followed his blog until the imfamous “TPG took a hotel comp blog post”. I prompted me to read other blogs and I discovered that there was a lot more out there I was missing, including TPG, and the boarding area blogs which pretty much cover everything I need. This blog in particular is outstanding for some real cutting edge and out of the box thinking. So thanks Rick for leading me here and elsewhere, even though I don’t follow your blog any more.
“If I had a suggestion to FrequentMiler it would be to leave the referral links up and give it all to charity.”
Hikert, “Hope against hopen” 😉
You are one heck of a rebel. 🙂
Firm believer that some virtues cannot be taught in life , they are ingrained. Frequentflier writes interesting stuff , stuff with twists ;). HOPEFULLY , he will have conscience to do right but at the end of day this blog will still remain his blog.
Rick, for sure is definitely not the “common man” he depicts irrespective of what people or he believes. He sure might have helped many but blog is a business venture and blog focus is very profitable source(credit card sign ups). Charities I guess would help depict you as Saint but should also help at end of year at time of tax deductions ;). As a such an elderly person, I don’t even know why he has come back and reply to posts the way he does left and right on other blogs. And why he is the one who is in center of all these controversies. 🙂
I don’t see many people take their issues with bloggers like Gary, Lucky or other ( or may be I live under the rock :))
Rick, Please don’t mind but the first time I saw your pic I could see in your eyes that you are not Sincere.
People do help others but not necessarily by shouting on top of their voice and bragging about it,So HikerT must have contributed lot more ways than you know.
What you’ve proposed sounds like a good compromise. One of the areas you stand out in is the way you approach the possibilities of *how* you can use the best credit cards/malls/offers. The cards and bonuses are great, but there is often more out there than the one lump sum and it often takes creativity to figure it out. Keep up the good work and research, and thanks for trying to do what you can to differentiate between card offers and card strategies!
Rick, I sure hope I helped folks get their AMEX bumps when AMEX started to deny them. The silence was deafening from those who reaped the referral bonuses. But this is not about me. I say kudos for the backpedal. If I had a suggestion to FrequentMiler it would be to leave the referral links up and give it all to charity.
Congrats on a sound move! The Chase Sapphire was cool when it gave a way 100k instead of 50k points due to a glitch… 🙂