11.11.06
ReviewME: A New Service for Bloggers
Our friends at Text Link Ads have recently announced a new service to help link potential advertisers with authors of successful blogs in a way which has not yet been done. The general theory is that as people become more and more accustomed to seeing advertisements on websites, they become more immune to them and naturally begin to block them out. But what if an entire blog entry was an advertisement in disguise?
Welcome to ReviewME, a new pay-to-review service which allows potential advertisers to browse the inventory of available blogs and select the one site which they would like to have their review featured on. The advertiser will then contact the blog author through the ReviewME website and request for a review to be written and arrange for payment.
While I see this as a great way to earn a few extra dollars to pay for the costs of running your site, I also question whether or not posting paid reviews will damage your blog’s reputation. From reading the FAQ section, a few points stand out to me:
- Paid reviews must be marked as such. This means that your readers will be aware that you were paid to write what they are reading. This may cause them to question your motives and the value of your word.
- Paid reviews must be at least 200 words in length.
- Paid reviews may or may not be positive. I see this as a good point as it gives blog authors the freedom to write a negative review, or a positive one with constructive criticism.
I see this service as having great potential for both advertisers and us publishers and is certainly worth a shot. Should you decide to write a paid review on your site, please remember to respect your readers. They come to your site because they trust your word — don’t take advantage of this to make a quick buck.
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Matt,
Glad to see the new post! You have a large following with this site and I glad to see the fresh content.
Please keep up the great work.
I see ReviewMe as a great idea for blogs and companies alike. However, I think your point about respecting your readers is key. That is why it’s very important that ReviewMe allows you to *turn down* any request. Because maybe some pyramid scheme decides to use ReviewMe to advertise.
Here’s the key for me: if I wouldn’t consider reviewing the product if I *wasn’t* getting paid, I probably don’t need to be reviewing the product at all. That being said, a negative review is always a possibility, but they say “there’s no such thing as bad press.”
Anyone out there using Blogitive? Heard some good things here and there, but nothing solid about how it works and what it pays. Does anyone have anything to say about it, good or bad?
Interesting. I looked into Blogitive, and here is an excerpt from their FAQ:
Q: How much can I make per posting?
A: The standard amount is $5. This may vary depending on the sponsor.
Five dollars seems a little low to me, but I’ll explore it and get back to you..
Matt