There is a lot of debate about this subject - you can read the more than 70 comments on this post from Problogger to get a bit of a feeling for some of the thoughts out there about them Do You Read Paid Review Posts? … alot of bloggers are dead set against those that write sponsored posts, and then there are others that don’t seem to mind one way or another.

Why do Bloggers do Sponsored Posts?
Well to answer a simple question with a simple answer in most cases I assume it is for the money. Most Bloggers do sponsored Posts so that they can create some sort of return from their Blog. This may pay for hosting of the site, a bit of development to the blog or any other reason.

Do they believe in the Product they are writing about?
This is a good question and it may be the case that yes they do, or most bloggers realize that they can even write a negative review (if it is warranted) and still get paid for it. So the chances are that the blogger is stating the facts as he/she knows it.

What if the readers don’t like it?
This is a hard question I guess its a bit like what if viewers don’t like a particular advert on T.V or a movie maybe. The best course of action if you are offended by a sponsored post is not to read it… yep its as simple as that really!

Will Sponsored Posts ruin my Blog?
Well the answer to this is yes or no, depending on whether you let it or not. Sponsored Posts have been around for a long time and if you handle them in a mature and honest way there is no reason that they should affect your blog in a negative way - however you may want to obey the following five ways of sponsored post ethics…

1./ Always make it obvious to your readers that a sponsored post is a sponsored post.
2./ Write a “real” article straight after the sponsored post so that a visitor to your site is greeted with a real article.
3./ Try to keep sponsored posts in line with the topic of your blog.
4./ Don’t boast (to much!) about the money you make from sponsored posts on your site.
5./ Don’t sell yourself too cheap - only write for reasonable paying opportunities- your time is probably worth more than 5 bucks.

As you can see there are fors and againsts depending on what kind of person you are and how forgiving your readers are - they are going to be turned off your site quickly if all there is every time they visit is a bunch of sponsored posts - however as long as you include other good quality articles I doubt any reasonable person would hold it against you. (lets hope not anyway!)