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Do You Read Paid Review Posts?

Posted By Darren Rowse 9th of March 2007 Pro Blogging News 0 Comments

It’s been months since programs like PayPerPost and ReviewMe launched – offering bloggers money to review products, sites and services.

In that time there’s been a lot of controversy around the ethics of paid reviews and whether disclosure should be compulsory or not. I don’t really want to get into that again here – but I do have a question.

  • When you see a paid review on a blog do you read it?
  • If you read it – do you give it any more or less authority or credibility than a non paid review?

I’m asking the question(s) without any agenda – but out of my own experience of seeing more and more blogs writing paid reviews (some blogs are doing them daily and are making good money doing so).

My own experience is that while I don’t ethically have a problem with a paid review as long as it’s clearly disclosed – that I can’t remember too many times when I’ve read them beyond the first paragraph.

Perhaps I am not a typical blog reader and have become a little hardened in my old age – but I’d really love to hear of other people’s experiences. Do you read paid reviews?

I’d also like to ask a question or three to those doing paid reviews:

  • What type of response (positive or negative) have you had from readers to your reviews?
  • Do you find comments on paid reviews are higher or lower than your other posts?

Again – I’m only asking this out of a genuine interest. While I’ve not gotten into the paid review game myself because it doesn’t quite fit with my style of blogging I’d love to hear from others who have – particularly around the questions of whether you feel the reviews have impacted the quality of the interactions you’re having with readers.

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. I have read several paid review posts on blogs I nornally read. If it’s a product I’m interested in, and a blogger I like anyway, then I usually want to know their take on it. When I discover a blog where it seems like a majority of the posts are paid reviews, though, I tend to leave, especially when it seems like they’ll review anything and everything.

  2. I have found the comments to be similar in tone to those to ‘regular posts’ – i.e. curious to personal anecdotes … i have found the number of comments to also be similar to those for ‘regular’ posts…

  3. Not only do I not read them, I delete any feeds that try to sneak a paid review by without marking it clearly as a paid review. I don’t have time to deal with people trying to be “sneaky” with their content.

  4. I tried paid reviews on my blog when ReviewMe came out. The writing experience was unpleasant (I’ve become accustomed to choosing my own topics) and — even though I know I could give a bad review — I felt somewhat restricted because I was taking someone else’s money. I think that was reflected in the quality of the posts, which definitely didn’t feel “100% me.”

    That was enough to ensure that I never post paid writeups on my site again. I make it a practice to skip paid post on other sites, because the “This is a paid post” tagline usually warns of less than stellar writing and mild (and perhaps unintentional) hucksterism ahead.

  5. i don’t read them. It takes a few sentences usually to figure out it’s a paid review then i quit reading.

  6. I read them, but I honestly don’t see that many on the blogs I read. Or perhaps the bloggers disguise them well and don’t disclose that they’re paid. Credibility varies; if the writer has actually used the product/service in question, that’s credible to me, even if it was paid.

    I write my fair share of paid reviews. The couple comments that I have received are neutral toward them. Comments do tend to be lower on my paid posts, but I don’t get lots of comments generally.

    Note: I always disclose paid posts with “Sponsored Post” in bold at the top. You’d have to be blind to be misled about them.

  7. I mostly turn down the offers through reviewme, because the sites I get offrered to review look really, really shady.

  8. I would read such a post if it’s from a blogger I trust, but I do feel it diminishes the overall credibility of a website.

    I actually like the idea of ReviewMe, as I get lots of requests for reviews by Web 2.0 startups, and as much as I’d love to review them all, I simply don’t have the time. ReviewMe would be a perfect way to sift through these requests.

    But, the really big sites I follow every day don’t have that Review Me badge, and since my ambition is becoming one of them, I feel that it’s best for me not to have it either.

  9. There are a couple blogs that I know of that *only* review products or services that they find useful and worthwhile. However there are plenty more who review anything and everything under the sun just to make a couple bucks. You can usually spot the difference.

    I personally don’t have a problem with paid reviews as long as what is being reviewed is relevant and worth taking the time out of my day to read.

  10. I generally kind of read through the review (I skim it) vs really paying attention to it like I would a normal post. It seems if someone is paid to review something I’m not as willing to spend as much time reading it, because I feel they may be biased. It’s different than someone just letting me know about a product they use and really love and something they are paid to review.

    I must say, though, I have tryied out one product because of a paid review.

  11. I rarely read them unless it’s on a topic that I really like. I usually take a glance at the title, do one or two lines and stop.

  12. I don’t read them. I don’t have any particular ethical problem with them if they’re disclosed, but I still consider them worthless to read. There are plenty of non-paid reviews out there that give me unbiased information – why should I waste my time reading paid ones?

    It also makes me think less of a site when I see such a review, and I’m not the only one. (Look up The Apple Blog – he posted an offer to do paid reviews, and was hit with tons of complaints.)

  13. I must admit that I write reviews more for the business than for the readers – which is why I do them sparingly. They create such great SEO traffic, and are more easily monetized posts (paid and unpaid reviews, that is). So in order to balance writing for my blogging audience, and non-blogging audience (wink), I think writing reviews are a smart strategy as long as they still fit in with the blog voice and niche.

    On the reviews I’ve written (paid and unpaid), comments seem to be a little lower than usual (or non existent).

    And frankly, I usually skim them myself, if I read them at all. But if it’s a product I’m interested in, I don’t care whether the review is paid or not as long as it’s valuable information.

  14. I haven’t done any myself.

    But so long as it’s disclosed on the blog that it is indeed a paid post, it seems OK–after all, info-mercials, radio spots, etc. etc. have been following a similar model for years and years. A blogger’s gotta eat too!

    I’ve only seen a couple on the sites I visit, and what I’ve seen has been pretty close to what James (comment #3) noted.

  15. This is the only part pay to view blog I know of: http://blog.eogn.com/

    Its target audience is the genealogy crowd, leaves generic genealogy content free, however exploits genealogists lack of knowledge when it comes to tech. Or their lack of confidence re searching. It also exploits people’s lack of RSS usage too, through a no advert newsletter.

    This blog annoys me *a lot*, because it capitalises on ignorance (isn’t all business about that?), and more to the point searching skills. E.g. 6 March post on Multiple Computers on your desktop. Which is basically paying for getting information on a KVM switch. Put key search terms into Google mutiple computers + one monitor + solution or something, and you’re likely to arrive at KVM. You get my drift …

  16. I read the ones that John Chow has on his blogs. The reviews are pretty down to earth and for the most part the sites are related to his blog’s content. I think it really depends on the topic of the blog and the topic of the paid reviews.

  17. I do paid reviews regularly, at the start I told my readers, this is what is going to be happening, this is why, all the posts will be fully disclosed BUT everything I write here is going to be well written & funny. I got several comments along the lines of “bring the paid reviews on, or it doesn’t matter it just means you’ll be posting more”. Sometimes my paid reviews get more comments than my non paid posts. I think this is because I try to make my blog useful, & the information in my paid reviews is still a good read, at least I think so.

  18. I think that, as with any post, it depends on the subject matter and also how interesting the first sentence is. Quality is always readable.

    Too many sponsored posts are about subjects that don’t interest me so I pass them by. I don’t want a loan, car insurance and so on. I feel that they should always be marked as being ‘sponsored’, though many aren’t – which I view as being slightly dishonest.

    As to comments. I have done three sponsored posts only, to find out how they work in practice, and they get very few comments.

    Mike.

  19. In my opinion, these are ruining some good blogs (http://www.pixelpruner.com/2007/03/01/reviewme-makes-me-feel-half-empty/)

    I havn’t really read any paid reviews that are useful to me. If bloggers are going to post them (and it should be occasionally not all the time like greedy son of the devil john chow) they should make them beneficial for their own readership. I have not seen any bloggers really do this. Their agenda is to make money, so they want to please the person paying for the review, and they are just having it done to get their link all over a high PR high traffic site, not to get the opinion of someone more experienced.

    I’m just fed up to death of them to be honest. Please don’t contaminate ProBlogger.

    Having said that, I would happily have my own site reviewed on a big blog if I had the spare cash! It is up to the blogger to take responsibility, or loose readers.

    pP

  20. I do not read paid reviews. They are almost always not the bloggers best work.

  21. Life’s to short to read link spam designed as ads on blogs. But that’s just me ;)

  22. It really depends on the topic. If the topic seems to be on the latest spam craze then I pass it by. If the information seems for real I continue to read and comment.

  23. If I spot a paid review–disclosed or undisclosed–I don’t read the article, and I quit reading the site in question altogether.

  24. Chris M says: 03/09/2007 at 4:41 am

    I skip them, and have unsubscribed to (at least) one feed because the item reviewed had nothing to do with the site’s topic.

  25. A paid review gets all of about three seconds to make me care. Most aren’t worth reading.

    I created an account on ReviewMe a while ago for schnicks and giggles, but I can’t imagine using it much; if I wouldn’t write about it in the first place, I wouldn’t review it, either. -j

  26. Yes, I read paid reviews, and if I trust the author, then I see them as being credible. If I find them on blogs I don’t usually read, then I check with other sources in case I want to use those reviewed products or services.

  27. The problem I have is being able to determine if the review is paid for or not. If I determine someone is being paid, I will normally read a few sentences and move on.

  28. The question is interesting – and whether justified or not – I think less of the site when they do paid reviews. If it is a site that I frequent, I do skim the review – but I certainly don’t give it the attention that I do a non-paid article.

  29. I hate paid reviews.

    In theory I actually like the idea because the reviewer does work and should be compensated for their work. They also have the choice of whether or not to do the review and they can offer a bad review. I love all that.

    But when I see them on other people’s blog I automatically don’t trust the writer. I feel like the writer is blogging for profit and it just feels sleazy. It’s weird to me. I can’t exactly describe it.

    It feels like product placement in a movie. There I am, watching the movie, getting into the story, and along comes a giant sign for Coca-Cola. It distracts me and makes it hard for me to continue to follow the story. I feel like the director and producers don’t care about the content of the movie, they just want to make money. Rationally, I know it’s not true. Product placement isn’t always bad and it doesn’t have to affect the story. But emotionally I feel betrayed.

    I think blogging is sort of like that. Therefore, I shy away from most content-based revenue schemes.

  30. It really depends who is writing them. John Chow’s are great, everything he says should be taken with a grain of salt, but they are fun to read and I don’t feel like he’s trying to sell me anything.

  31. I breeze them. If it’s interesting I’ll keep reading.

    Otherwise it’s on to the next post.

  32. My personal experience on paid reviews have been very positive, if done right. Generally, they have to be “on-topic”. But even advertisers who want you to review a product/service/site that is at first blush “off-topic” you can accept it so long as you link the subject of your blog to the review. I made a post about that today so this is a timely question. If anyone wants to read my take on how to make “off-topic” reviews “on-topic” my blog is in my name.

  33. I don’t like the paid posts. I hate being ‘marketed’ to.

  34. Nope, never read them. As many others do, if I suspect a post is paid, I quickly move on to the next blog. A blog is a tool in a sense…but not that kind.

  35. I do paid reviews, but I’m pretty picky and don’t do that many of them. My preference is for those that actually interest me and the site in question is worthwhile.

    In many ways, it’s not so different from seeing a lot of people recommend affiliate products. One guarantees a set rate of pay while the other gives you the chance to earn if people buy from your link. If the incentive weren’t there, a lot of bloggers wouldn’t post about the products they use affiliate links on.

  36. I’ve found myself reading the “paid reviews” more often, mostly because I want to see how ‘sincere’ the writers are in the review of the product. I absolutely refuse to review a product that I haven’t tried or that I would not want myself. I just can’t pimp myself that way.

    I’ve completed 4 paid reviews via ReviewMe.com – but I’ve had a nice little gig going with a PR firm for some time where they send me the actual products to test and review – and I guess that’s when I realized that not all “reviews” are paid. Some are actually tried and true reviews.

    I think it goes without saying that you can’t always judge a book by the cover.

  37. I would read them, but I’d be very skeptical of any good review unless the points they made were more objective than subjective.

    I remember finding out that someone had been paid to write favorable amazon reviews on a product I was considering, so I completely discounted them.

    One way I would consider a paid review useful was if the reviewer had a history of giving products bad or average reviews even though he was getting paid. I would give his good reviews more weight, because I’d know he wasn’t just giving everything a blanket “thumbs up.”

    http://averageidea.com

  38. Honestly, I don’t read them because I don’t find them credible. The best reviews are the ones coming from the heart and not the wallet.

  39. We can bat around the morality/ethics of this ad nauseum but I’m curious about whether it pays off for the companies involved. All media use celebrities to sell and review stuff – why not the web? But the only people who know the truth of whether the cost is worth it are the websites that paid for the reviews. Did the review generate the traffic that it paid for and what was the cost of individual customer acquisition (and how was that cost measured?)

    I’m not saying ethics aren’t important but let’s not by hypocrites here. If we use celebrities everywhere else in society to shill stuff (even if only to get freebies) why not the web?

    And no – I don’t bother going to the sites mentioned.

  40. Good question, I think it depends on how a review is done. If I can convince or if a blogger can convince how a paid review can benefit a reader, it can be good. Saying “You may find this interesting as it is related to blogs” is not a good reason.

    If I see a paid review where a blogger puts more effort on glorifying the nice things than they usually do, while at the same time mentioning negative things, I think it is a biased review and I don’t like it. I give it less credibility, but only that post. I try not to pass the judgment to the entire blog because of one post.

    Also, if a paid review comes along that one would not have done normally [if they were not paid], it is most probably a biased review. So far, I have only done one review of ReviewMe itself, as it seems a bit biased to review things I usually do not review.

    One thing that can be experimented: having more quality content or fresh things around the site at the time when a paid review is done. That may offset any drawbacks of having that paid review on your site, like having some other interesting content making up for the paid review that people might find to be biased or simply something done to earn money.

  41. I’m among those who don’t read paid reviews because it’s hard to feel you can trust the opinons in them, disclosure or no disclosure. Yes, I’ve written a couple of paid reviews, but as James said up in comment 3, it just feels… wrong… somehow.

    So what happens is, I bend over backward to write something original and thoughtful and useful and personal… so the extra effort just means that the price of the review is nowhere near commensurate to what it costs me in writing time…

    And even though I turn down 9 out of 10 offers. it still feels like my poor old blog is “sleeping around” like we’re all still back in the disco decade!
    Nah, paid reviews are soon going to be the province of low-end cookie-cutter blogs, I think… dime a dance…

    Paid reviews?
    Heck, I’m even starting to get paranoid about establishing an (ethical and above-board, fully disclosed) affiliate relationship with anyone — even if I’ve been loving their products for years!

  42. I read them when they are “on-topic” for the blog. If a personal blog where the blogger talks about kids and what not and then adds a post reviewing ie a russian dating site, I skip it, or skip the whole blog…

    So far I have done two paid posts. I chose “topics” that would interest myself. I just added a poll to my blog asking if anyone noticed that I blogged for cash, so far, only one noticed one of them.

  43. Personally I don’t come across many sites that do paid reviews except for John Chow and a few others. I do often read it just to see what they’re about. Well not really read but mainly skim through the post. If it’s something that peaks my interest I will check out the site being reviewed. Other times I just ignore them.

  44. I actually don’t mind the paid reviews that are more an introduction to someones services or product rather then giving them an actual rating. For example, John Chow’s reviews generally just introduce you to a site, what they are all about, and some reasons why you might want to check them out. He never says, John Chow uses this product, you should too, or give them a rating which would be pretty fake since you know he really didn’t use the site/software long.

  45. […] Darren wants to know if you read paid review posts. […]

  46. As an investor in PPP, I read sponsored posts quite regularly and find that the blogger and the topic make all the difference in the world. Blogger’s who recognize that quality is the common ground for everyone (blogger, sponsor, audience), write great posts sponsored or not.

    The topic also makes a huge difference, given that reviews are just a subset of what is possible with consumer generated media. As I learned that sponsored blogging isn’t just about product reviews it opened my eyes to what is possible.

    For example, I’ve seen sponsored bloggers write very entertaining “horror stories” about the last time they dumped their cell carrier — not as a review of cell carriers, but as fun content sponsored by a call center software company who helps address customer churn. PPP has used sponsored posts to prompt entertaining user-generated “PPP vs. ?” videos, wacky recruitment videos, and even PayPerDili to gain valuable user-generated due diligence on potential partners — in a matter of hours instead of weeks. Also, as a means of video distribution across blogs, sponsored blogging has created great viewership for trailers such as SpeedTV’s “Pinks” about drag-racing for pinkslips — multiplying domain-centric/YouTube.com viewership by orders of magnitude.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen plenty of great sponsored reviews, but reviews are just the tip of the iceberg when you unleash the creative talent of the masses. As an audience, would we rather watch one $100,000 Nike commercial or choose from 1,000 user-generated (for $100/each) Nike videos with their own humor, perspective or commentary? I prefer the latter and that’s what sponsored blogging models like PayPerPost unlock…

  47. rangga says: 03/09/2007 at 7:53 am

    I intentionally read them, most of the time not because curious about the product — it’s how the bloggers manage to get his/her task done.

    some say in the middle of the post that they “regret”, feel guilty for get paid and cannot focus on the product they review, instead they talking about themselves and reviewme/payperpost — although they already stated their disclosure on the upfront. That’s funny it’s like saying “oh I don’t know why am I doing this, honestly, I don’t agree with paid post”

    I think there’s nothing wrong with paid-post, especially if you’re using other form of ads like adsense, etc. Both method, you’re get paid from your blog — the difference is just, instead of you position your ads on the sidebar, you position your ads on the whole post.

    it’s less more like fashion/gossip magazine where almost all the content are just ads or advertorial but most people are happy to read that (and even pay for the it!!) — so long as it gives info and presented well, why ignore your favorite blogger just because he “get paid”? he still the same person after all. Of course, too many or bad quality adsense devalue any blog — and so paid review

    Gee, I’m talking all these but never bold enough to try paid-post, maybe in the future — even for now I put disclosure every time I review product from affiliate sponsors and it doesn’t affect my blog readership, well I’m not sure actually.

  48. I have no problem with paid reviews, as long as they aren’t overdone. If they don’t degrade the quality of the blog itself, let the author make a few bucks. However, when people start posting 1-2 reviews a day, that’s when it’s time to remove that blog from the RSS reader.

  49. I will read paid reviews if I have previously read and respect the blogger in question. If I stumble across one on a blog I haven’t seen before, or if there is an over abundance of paid reviews, I’ll skip it.

  50. As others said I skim through the review to see if its revelant, but I must say that I already discovered some good sites and products through sponsored reviews.

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