[mikemindel]

WordPress Terms of Service are Contentious. Here's my take on it:

These are the relevant portions of hosted WordPress terms of service

the Content is not spam, and does not contain unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third party sites or boost the search engine rankings of third party sites, or to further unlawful acts (such as phishing) or mislead recipients as to the source of the material (such as spoofing);

Sponsored / paid posts including PayPerPost and ReviewMe are not permitted.

Sponsored / paid links are not permitted.

Text ads are not permitted.

A discreet link to your business in the sidebar or an About page is permitted.
One discreet link to Amazon per blog is okay, but if the primary purpose of the blog is to drive traffic to affiliate programs that’s not allowed. If you’re not sure, contact support.

Am I allowed to put a banner for an Affiliate program on the side of my site ? It would just be a small square box pretty much that says click here.

Can I include Adsense or other company adverts on my blog?
Short answer: no.

A single text link including an affiliate links is allowed though.

(But from a recently disbarred staff member!)

OBVIOUS SPAM NOT ALLOWED

My personal take is that WordPress do not want you to throw up a single keyword targeted post and plug several affiliate links into it. Then the primary intention is to drive traffic to an affiliate program. That would probably constitute spam and get nuked.


ACTION ORIENTED TEXT ADS NOT ALLOWED

Google defines a text ad as an ad designed for text delivery, with concise, action-oriented copy and a link to your website. Because they are not accompanied by graphics, text links are easy to create and improve page download time. Also known as a sponsored link.

So an action oriented text ad like this is not allowed:
E.g. Click here to learn how to write a story (link disabled).

But then WordPress do mention that discrete links to your business, and one affiliate link to Amazon per blog is ok.

So it is a grey area.


MY PERSONAL TAKE

So my personal take is this (and I may be wrong - so please don't quote me).

If the primary purpose of your blog is to display quality content and give value to the reader as I have done for my How to Write a Story niche that is good. You are using WordPress in the spirit for which it is intended and they will love you.

If your secondary purpose is to drive traffic via an affiliate link, either in the body of the post as a non-action text link or in the sidebar then that is probably ok.

e.g. if you want to learn how to write a story then....

So it's a very, very fine line.

I'm about to put this to the test. So if my blog gets nuked then I will officially say no affiliate links on WordPress for the 30DC.

I hope WordPress have been sensible about this and take the view that as long as suitable and valuable content is provided, a single revenue stream is appropriate.

-Mike