We decided to launch Shortbord because we don’t like the other options available to bloggers when they want to monetize their tweets, blog posts, etc… As consumers of content, we don’t like reading sponsored posts, and we don’t think bloggers want to sneak advertisements into their stream. Shortbord’s goal is to provide a transparent way for people with large followings to make money from all of the great contributions they make to the web, and to do so without representing someone else’s message as their own.  One recent blogger even said that paid blogging “violates the trust that your followers place in you as a person of influence.”  Even though bloggers monetize their web presence through Shortbord, we are a different kind of service entirely.

From the outset, we couldn’t get comfortable with any service that can only be used once out of every 15-20 posts.  When blogger represent a sponsors paid message as their own, only a small fraction of their followers typically see the ad, and when they do notice, it puts the blogger’s valuable reputation in danger.  According to last night’s episode of Glee (I’m paraphrasing here, and I swear my girlfriend makes me watch this show!): a reputation takes a lifetime to build but only a moment to destroy.

Honestly, my girlfriend makes me watch it.... and last season was waaay better.

Followers, like-minded individuals and complete strangers know you and your blog because of the interesting content you produce.  You’ve spent years cultivating a reputation that enables your digital persona to generate as much exposure as many entire websites do.  When you think about all of the times your content is viewed across the hundreds of websites where people view your content, it can be a staggering amount of views.  We think you should be able to make money from all this exposure, just like a website, without damaging your reputation.

Embedding shortbords on your blog gives you a way to monetize your digital persona without interrupting your stream.  You can make money and still write about anything you want.  Even better, you have total control over the brands you let rent space on your shortbord.  Our goal is to have shortbords on every blog, microblog, social network, message board, review site, forum and anywhere else your posts are viewed.  Shortbord provides you with authentic, genuine endorsements that don’t put your reputation at risk. Continue being noticed, and there is no limit to how much brands are willing to pay to be associated with you.