This is the week blogger outreach goes on trial.

In just a few days, an estimated 1,500 women will gather in Chicago for BlogHer, the mega-conference for women of the Web. And while there are sure to be countless topics for discussion, you can expect one to eclipse all others:

How should bloggers — most notably mom bloggers — be compensated by marketers?

This is a topic that has sparked heated debate for months (if not years), but it’s sure to come to a head this week as some of the largest brands and most influential Web personalities meet at the social media Mecca that is BlogHer. (Not to mention pending government regulations on how bloggers and marketers can work together.)

I should note I’m not exactly neutral party here. I’ve reached out to bloggers many times for coverage, product reviews, giveaways and more. More often than not, I don’t offer to pay these bloggers. This is a personal stance, one that likely lingers from my years in journalism and surely has cost me some potential coverage. But I believe (however naively) that paying for reviews and similar coverage usually creates more trouble than it’s worth.

That said, I’m constantly looking for ways to make our relationships with bloggers more rewarding, and yes, that includes finding ways to get them paid. I assure you this isn’t hypocritical; I’m happy to pay for projects where it’s obvious that money has exchanged hands (free-lance writing gigs, involvement in promotional events, etc), just not for product sampling that’s intended to spark earnest feedback. I also try to route client money to places where it can help the most people possible, most notably through event sponsorships that help bloggers get together, have fun and share what they've learned.

As you can tell, these aren’t easy decisions to make for people in marketing, and it’s about 1,000 times more complicated for the bloggers themselves.

Last month, Lucretia Pruitt wrote a hard-hitting blog post on GeekMommy’s WebLife called “Why mom bloggers aren’t flipping for just a sample of your product.” It pretty soundly eviscerated marketers who aren’t willing to pay for giveaways:

Here’s an excerpt:

That’s what keeps repeatedly being asked of us.  “Will you work for free?” And for many of us, the answer is now becoming “well no - I’ve got this other company over here who is offering to compensate me for the same work and isn’t treating me as if being a blogger and/or a mom somehow made me lose my business skills and common sense.” Because seriously?

Yes, I love helping my readers experience new things and potentially win something… but I’m not going to be the only person working for free in this equation.

Yeah you there offering me this wonderful opportunity for my readers?  Are *you* getting paid?  Or do you just do that PR & marketing gig out of the goodness of your heart because you love it so?

I’m a big fan of Lucretia’s, so it was especially tough to read a post where she’s essentially vilifying people like me. But I’m the first to admit it’s a conversation that needs to be had. And it sounds like BlogHer is where it will all come to a head. (I would go into my own opinions on the matter, but we'll save that for another day, perhaps for my presentation at the Type A Mom Conference in September.)

In an Advertising Age video posted today, BlogHer Co-Founder Elisa Camahort Page outlines her blog network’s rules on disclosure and separating your “real blog” from your “review blog” — guidelines that some high-profile writers have criticized as being onerous and micromanaged.

You can expect some of these policies — along with a litany of other real-world dilemmas — to be hot-button issues throughout many of the BlogHer panels.

A few questions that are likely to come up quite a bit:

• If bloggers feel they should be paid, how much is fair? Who sets the pricing, the marketer or the blogger?
• How much money does a successful blogger make in a year?
• Do you need a “PR FRIENDLY!” button on your blog? If you’re “PR hostile,” do you need a button for that?
• Should you have a standard policy for reviews and giveaways? If so, where should it live on your site?
• What happens if you’re paid for a review and it’s not positive? Do brands appreciate the constructive criticism? Or do they take their ball and go home?
• If you’re not paid for a giveaway, how do you make it worth your time?
• Are there long-term benefits to working with marketers that make it worth writing about their products unpaid?
• How do readers react when you switch from unpaid to “sponsored” content? Do they notice? Do they care?

What about you? What would you ask the experts, brand evangelists, Twitterati, social media marketers and mom mavens who will be headlining BlogHer? Be sure to share your questions (or answers) in the comments.

Photo credit: 4PIZON on Flickr.