Written on November 2nd, 2007 at 05:11 am by Darren Rowse
Paid Reviews – Have You Written Them on your Blog?
This week’s Reader Poll is sure to cause some interesting discussion as there’s lots of debate about paid reviews with some bloggers dead against them and others who see them as a great way to make money from their blogs.
So lets see what the community thinks. Have you written paid reviews on any of your blogs?
Have You Ever Written a Paid Review on your Blog?
I’d love to not only see the result of your vote – but to hear some of your reasoning why you responded the way that you did in comments below.
- Do you think Paid Reviews are a good thing?
- Have you done them? Do you still do them?
- If you stopped – why?
- If you do them – why?
Looking forward to seeing the conversation that this one generates.
77 Responses to “Paid Reviews – Have You Written Them on your Blog?” - Add Yours
Sue
November 2nd, 2007 5:33 am
I voted yes, since I was mailed a book to review prior to its publishing date. I also told the publisher if I didn’t like it, I would say so. Which was agreeable to them. I did like it, so did write a good review about it.
I see no problem in doing a “paid” review as long as you’re actually honest and upfront about whether you liked the product or not. And of course state in your post that it is a paid review.
About Blogging
November 2nd, 2007 5:42 am
I voted yes too. I do paid reviews on my personal blog. In fact I made $35 from them this week, which was nice.
I would write about products and services anyway so I’m happy to get paid for them. I’ve never done one yet that I wasn’t allowed to disclose as a paid review though. That sounds underhand to me.
ChrisB
November 2nd, 2007 5:43 am
If I read a review that was openly “paid,” I doubt I’d trust it. If I found out a review was secretly paid, I doubt I’d ever return to that blog.
Emma
November 2nd, 2007 5:43 am
My blog is a learning experience for me, and part of that is finding out what’s out there, and how to generate revenue. Yes I’ve done PPP. I know it’s not for some, and I’m not sure if it’s for me. But it’s easy and I’ve made more, than I have with AdSense. I try to keep the post somewhat relevant. And I would never post about something I disagree with like weight loss surgery or pay day loans. If I had a blog strictly promoting my business I probably wouldn’t muck it up advertising other peoples products.
Steve McGrath
November 2nd, 2007 5:48 am
I did order paid reviews(11) and I also done 2 paid reviews. I don’t do them for lack of time because I’m starting my own paid review service(I’m in the recruiting phase now).
Doing paid reviews let the advertiser to get great feedbacks when it’s done well. I’m however against negative reviews and I prefer to read constructive reviews which is better.
When I did do them, it was not for the money because it was for $5 each :D It was to practice my English and show the quality of a review being “burned” by poor quality ones.
Marko Novak
November 2nd, 2007 5:53 am
Nop and I don’t think I will.
Andy
November 2nd, 2007 5:59 am
I checked no because I have never done one. However I do have one coming up. I was able to sell my first 200×200 ad on my blog for $25 a month for 6 months – Woo Hoo. Anyway, I guess I will have a paid review coming up as that was part of the agreement. I told them that I would write a review of their product with proper anchor text if they committed to 6 months. They agreeed and so I will write the article. The question is why? I guess I enjoy blogging and heck, if I can make some money at it – Bonus! And YES I will be disclosing the relationship in full in the post.
Lori
November 2nd, 2007 6:00 am
Do you think Paid Reviews are a good thing?
It depends who is doing the review in my opinion. You will have some bloggers that will only write what the sponsor wants them to write and that’s completely worthless to the readers. Then, you will have those other bloggers that will
not only tell you the good points but will also highlight the bad points.
Have you done them? Do you still do them?
Yes and Yes.
If you stopped – why?
N/A
If you do them – why?
I make a significant amount of money doing paid reviews. It also helps me brush on my writing skills. I want my review to be accepted well among my readers, as well as, the sponsor. This has made my writing skills progress in a positive direction. My reputation for honest reviews is starting to take off too. All this equals respect, which is why I started doing reviews in the first place.
mgroves
November 2nd, 2007 6:16 am
Paid Reviews are a good thing, so long as I’m allowed to be honest in my review. I have done them. I would still do them. I have stopped because none have been offered to me recently (I use ReviewMe).
Lisa Marie Mary
November 2nd, 2007 6:21 am
They allow me, as a mother of three, to work from home – and have more control over my working life. So I would say that – yes, I love them!
Koen
November 2nd, 2007 6:25 am
I haven’t, and maybe that’s simply because I didn’t advertise for it, and nobody was asking me for it. And the last reason is probably because my blog is still growing.
Stealth Employed
November 2nd, 2007 6:26 am
I haven’t done any reviews on my main site. I have considered it but the fact is my blog is just too new and I dont want to act like a knuckle-head like my site is pimped out and you should get a review on it. I will consider it in the future though.
Nelson
November 2nd, 2007 6:26 am
Hey “About Blogging” is that a spam blog you got there? can’t hardly load with all the ads… it sucks!
I think paid reviews are biased, bloggers just write to please the who is paying, and hardly touch the truth on things. but heck; if you can please the shepherd, why would you care about the sheeps right?
my vote was NO.. don’t people know when their blog sucks? do I need to charge someone to them that? “About blogging” give me a 100 buck!!
Guillermo
November 2nd, 2007 6:44 am
* Do you think Paid Reviews are a good thing? Yes, if I can tell exactly what I think, good or bad.
* Have you done them? No, because there are also no paid reviews for Spanish bloggers.
homemom3
November 2nd, 2007 6:47 am
I voted yes and think they are a good thing, especially when google only pays once every $100. Sometimes there are some of us that need emergency cash for diapers or bills. But now I must really think about it as Google Hit me hard recently and I must figure out how to recover from the blow.
Krzysztof Lis
November 2nd, 2007 6:52 am
I did, once. In Poland there’s only one web site that gathers offers for paid reviews. Soon after launching it they offered paid reviews of their site and the idea of monetizing articles in general. So I wrote about that on my blog about earning money by blogging. I would write about this idea even if I weren’t offered money, but why do something for free if you could get some cash for it? ;)
BONTB
November 2nd, 2007 6:52 am
Darren,
I did wrote couple of reviews on different companies and blogs but I don’t think it’s good. Take text link ads for example, you write a review for them they give you $70 for review and then few months down the road people come back to you saying ” You are the one who introduced to text link ads, now my page rank is 2 grades lower thanks to you and TLA” again this is an example!
As well as if you write about other blogs, same thing can happen just reverse , “I paid you $70 and your review sux” even tho you wrote exactly what they wanted you to do.
Most people that go though PPP(Pay Per Post) write irrelevant reviews, visitors notice that and if you are running google adsense you get one of those “hurricane free ads”.
If you really want to make money from reviews, write in art that you really like the service or product they provide, but give your visitors impression like you are wanting them to join or buy from your review.
Taking you Darren for example, you had some awesome reviews but as well some irrelevant reviews especially paid posts which is fine for “problogger”.
Bloggers like you can afford having one or two bad posts, but middle class bloggers can’t, because
a. they are going to lose traffic
b. they represent their blog as advertising tool only
c. they don’t get paid as much as you do.
~ Bontb ~
Bill
November 2nd, 2007 6:55 am
I think in the grand scheme of things, there is uncertainty about a blogger being paid to review items. Really, the uncertainty comes from the unscrupulous few that write anything to make the product presenter happy, rather than writing honest reviews, though sometimes the payment is based upon the writing writing what the prodcut present wishes them to write.
Honestly, I have never done this – and if I were to do it, it would be on a blog specifically made for this form of writing, rather than one of my existing blogs.
Do I devalue the blogs that currently practice this? Not necessarily, but I do take their writing with a grain of salt, a pinch of reality and the understanding that they are not much different than many other “paid” writers.
Rhys
November 2nd, 2007 6:56 am
Have I ever? No.
Will I ever? Yes.
Tomorrow will be my first ever paid post. I said paid, I’m not technically getting paid, just getting a free copy of a video game which I’m reviewing.
But that’s the thing, I’m reviewing things which my readers will be interesting, rather than insurance companies and what have you.
maneesh
November 2nd, 2007 6:56 am
I don’t see any reason why paid reviews should harm any blog, blogger, or its reader.
It’s like an ad on TV, those who want to watch it will see, the others they’ll skip to another channel, but that doesn’t mean (and shouldn’t) that they won’t come back to the blog later to read genuine posts…
However, I notice on some sponsored review posts, that the advertisers ask that the blogger doesn’t mention that this is a paid for post… am strctly against such requests, and believe any paid post should be made public..
It also depneds on the regularity of these paid posts, if a bloggers adds these posts almost daily, then the readers begin to lose trust in a mnner that they think the blogger is just after money…
othe than these twor easons, I don’t think paid reviews are bad…and somethign to be stayed away from..
interestingly, today I got approved by payperpost ..talk about coincidences…
FreeFromBroke
November 2nd, 2007 6:58 am
I voted No but that’s because I haven’t done any yet. I recently got an offer for one and I’m considering doing it.
I think they can be a good thing. If you monetize your blog why not do a paid review so long as it’s not against the principles of your blog. You should also disclose that you do paid reviews. Aren’t we already endorsing any ad that we put on our site by the nature of it showing up?
Steve McGrath
November 2nd, 2007 7:03 am
Bill: Most services don’t want blogs being just about paid reviews. So, your ideal of using a blog for that would not work.
Like maneesh wrote, people would not like having only that anyway. I guest it depends on the ratio of post versus paid reviews.
I see it has a consulting job but the result are public ;)
Hot Librarian
November 2nd, 2007 7:19 am
This is very timely for me, as I just questioned on my own blog WHY people do this (I think it’s obvious what side I’m on)
Carleenp
November 2nd, 2007 7:23 am
I do not do paid reveiws. I worry that if I started doing them, it would taint the perceived credibility of my other posts. Even though I would not write falsely positive review, and even with full disclosure, I think that credibilty questions remains for many readers. So I just avoid the issue by turning down paid review requests. Instead I offer to sell standard advertising or will accept PR products for consideration with no promises of a good review or of any review at all. If I do not care for the product, I will either not review it at all, or will write an honest review that will include the negative aspects.
Max Powers at http://ConsumerFight.com
November 2nd, 2007 7:28 am
Interesting. I put product reviews inserted between news so it all flows and looks alike. These reviews are done by me searching for interesting products or services that would be of interest to my readers, including a link back to their website.
I wondered “should I contact the company and let them know I am reviewing their product or service and ask for a fee?”
I have already “approved” the product or service with research so paid or not, I’m still going to review it.
But being a new site (going on 2 months) obviously the traffic is not the greatest yet so do I even have the right to charge a company with such low readership at this time?
Mike Gray
November 2nd, 2007 7:37 am
I voted “no”, but reading some of the other responses, maybe I should have voted “yes”. I say that because while I’ve never been specifically paid to do a review, I do occasionally get review copies of books.
To me, a paid review means I get some cash, good, or service in exchange for a review. With the books I’ve gotten so far, there is no promise or expectation of a review at all. Certainly, the publisher hopes for publicity and a good review, but there has been no condition put on me in that way so far.
So, while I do get a free book, it doesn’t help pay the rent (or even get me a lunch).
That said, did I vote incorrectly?
Kiltak
November 2nd, 2007 7:40 am
John Chow earned $3000 this month with his paid reviews..
Yep, that’s a lot of money.. At $400 a piece, I would probably be interested in doing a few too , but I don’t right now.
Tom Hanna
November 2nd, 2007 7:44 am
I’ve signed up a couple of places, but never done a paid review because I’ve just never run across anything I cared to write about. I have written reviews of products I actually used and included affiliate links.
Steve McGrath
November 2nd, 2007 7:47 am
Kiltak: I did not noticed that he did 15 reviews(it’s $200 each time in is pocket 50-50) because he had more than 75+ posts in October.
Hamish M
November 2nd, 2007 7:51 am
I answered no. My blog isn’t popular enough yet for anyone to really care, and I’m guessing that payout is based (at least in part) on page-views/hits.
Andrew
November 2nd, 2007 7:52 am
It’s my job…to write blog reviews. Is that wrong?
About Blogging
November 2nd, 2007 7:59 am
‘Hey “About Blogging” is that a spam blog you got there? can’t hardly load with all the ads… it sucks!’
Hey Nelson,
It’s not a spam blog, but thanks for asking. There are just the average amount of ads that you would get on an average blog about blogging. Sometimes widgets cause a delay in loading. Maybe that’s what your problem is?
Chris Jacobson
November 2nd, 2007 8:13 am
I don’t like doing paid reviews. I only review something if I truly find it worthy of telling other people about.
Brandon - Call Center Consultant
November 2nd, 2007 8:15 am
I have written one on a site Google already hates. Why not make a little money from it since Google won’t send any traffic.
Caribbean Web Development
November 2nd, 2007 8:19 am
nothing is wrong with doing paid reviews as long as you say that it is just that and you are free to give you true thoughts of the product or service whether you like it or not
Matt Wolfe
November 2nd, 2007 8:31 am
I think paid reviews are fine. I’ve never done one because no one has ever asked but I definitely would not be opposed to them. I think it’s really important that the blogger who does the review has respect from his readers. If a blogger has no credibility with me, I’m probably not going to take his review too seriously…
Mark
November 2nd, 2007 8:45 am
Just a hypothetical question:
Would you want to eat at a restaurant where the reviewer/recommender was paid by said restaurant?
Not saying I wouldn’t do them, just…
Coen Jacobs
November 2nd, 2007 8:47 am
I voted no, since I’ve never written a paid review.
I am willing to do so, since I think paid reviews are just a way to promote the item that is reviewed. It up to the people who want it reviewed, what they pay for it! :)
The How-To Geek
November 2nd, 2007 8:48 am
I won’t even read a blog run by somebody that does paid reviews.
Frank Cantu
November 2nd, 2007 9:08 am
I’ve never received money from a review, but have done reviews where they send me the item to check out.
windyridge
November 2nd, 2007 9:26 am
Hey Nelson, the About Blogging blog loaded just fine for me. Maybe you better check your internet connection. As to her ads, they are no more intrusive than your Google ads in the middle of your posts!
darknight
November 2nd, 2007 10:26 am
No, I haven’t. But I will do, if there’s opportunity to do paid review
Kirk Warren
November 2nd, 2007 10:29 am
Haven’t received any offers to do any yet and never thought about it until posted this, to be honest.
If I ever did one, I’d make sure it was known up front that I was paid or received the product for free for doing the review. I’d never do a positive review for something I hated though.
Andrew Ooi
November 2nd, 2007 10:45 am
I voted yes.
However I will not post paid reviews on my new PR4 blogs and would probably concentrate on other modes of income for these new blogs.
I will continue paid posts on my lower rank PR3 blogs. As a PPP posties I think there are many more new bloggers with PR getting into the market place. Google’s penalisation has little effect on these people.
Another thing is that since the next page rank is expected in 3 or 4 months time. Some are willing to sacrifice their new PRs for more cash within this period of time.
Darren Rowse
November 2nd, 2007 11:12 am
BONTB – I should clarify that I’ve never written a paid review. I do write reviews that have affiliate links in them from time to time but never paid reviews.
Jeff_
November 2nd, 2007 11:50 am
I am with the How-To Geek on this one. Paid reviews are lame and not worth my time. I do subscribe to a few blogs that publish such nonsense, but only because it makes me feel better about myself. ;)
Mark Dykeman
November 2nd, 2007 11:55 am
I’ve never written a paid review, although I’ve thought about it. As long as the author discloses the paid nature of the review, I don’t have a problem with it.
Mania
November 2nd, 2007 12:06 pm
I haven’t ever written a paid review, but it hasn’t been a conscious choice. I blog in an incredibly narrow niche (hunter pets in the World of Warcraft) and there just isn’t that much to review, nor anyone to pay me! Philosophocally I don’t find paid reviews very different from hyping affiliate links, so in the right situation (and with the right audience) I might be willing to try it.
Shawn Farner
November 2nd, 2007 12:45 pm
I do, for a number of (what I believe are) legitimate reasons. I’m a college student, I’m broke and these reviews are what keeps me fed. The less time I spend working a real job, the more time I can devote to my schoolwork. I also am an English major looking to get into any field where I write – so not only am I getting experience writing my own articles, but I’m also becoming experienced writing for others. I blog not only for my readers but also for those who may look to hire me in the future.
Sean from About Blogging
November 2nd, 2007 1:18 pm
@ Windyridge. Thanks for backing me up here. I would have thought that here of all places I’d be safe from people attacking me for trying to monetize a blog!
JMorris
November 2nd, 2007 1:50 pm
I did one (required) review for Review Me on a site I no longer own. I left the review up the required amount of time and then deleted it when I migrated the site over to Wordpress.
Why? I felt cheap. I felt like I should have been standing on the corner of 7th street.
I’ve long written reviews of products and services that I believe in. I’ve even embedded an affiliate link or two in such reviews. But for some reason, and yes, I know this doesn’t make any sense, it just didn’t feel right. If it doesn’t feel right, I don’t do it.
Am I missing the boat on a nice income? Perhaps. However, there are other ways to make a good income from blogging where I don’t have to do something that doesn’t feel right.
Some day, I may change my tune on this subject because I don’t see anything fundamentally wrong with the model. Logically, it’s just business as usual. The only difference between sponsored reviews on blogs and what businesses have been doing for decades is that it’s out in the open and there is buzz surrounding it. The basic concept is the same as a kickback; a practice that has been a part of business for a loooooong time.
pablopabla
November 2nd, 2007 2:16 pm
Paid reviews are a good thing because it gives bloggers a chance to make an extra buck. It’s no different from advertising.
I’ve been doing paid reviews for about a year now and am still doing them. Afterall, it’s my blog and I do as I please. However, I am careful with the words I use in my paid reviews and I do not endorse products or services which I have not personally used. Rather, I would use words like “XYZ company claims.. / alleges…” etc.
Vincent Chow
November 2nd, 2007 3:14 pm
I voted for yes too. Easy way to earn extra bucks, while won’t be too annoying if the post is somewhat related to your blog niche and is written in a neutral tone.
Melissa Donovan
November 2nd, 2007 3:27 pm
I feel that ethics are compromised when a trusted individual gives a positive review of a product or service without experimenting with it. Or, if the reviewer does not really feel the product deserves a positive review, then he is obviously misleading readers for profit.
However, as long as the review is truthful, I don’t have a problem with the writer being paid to write it.
Tina Kubala
November 2nd, 2007 4:32 pm
I’ve been working with PayPerPost for around a year now. I started on MySpace, believe it or not, and make $100 in a year. Pocket change, really.
I got my own domain four months ago. I’m a content little blogger and would do it for pure creative expression anyway.
The NUMBER ONE REASON I chose writing paid content rather than bunches of ads in the sidebar: When I write about a product or service, I can tell a story or make a point that would fit my blog anyway. My words = my voice. If I have nothing to say, I don’t take the opp.
As a matter of fact, I wrote earlier this week about my feelings on paid posts. I left the link to that post, if anyone is interested.
One thing I want to point out: I don’t think it’s more okay to write paid content because you NEED the money. I need it, don’t get me wrong. But it’s okay even if I was way upper middle class without a financial worry in the world.
LintCollector
November 2nd, 2007 4:42 pm
I’ve never done paid reviews due to lack of relevant niche and low readership (but if I was offered one, I’d certainly consider).
I have no problem with reading other bloggers’ paid reviews if, and only if:
1. Payment is fully disclosed in each post,
2. The blogger undertakes to give honest unbiased opinions AND the content reflects this,
3. Paid reviews comprise only a minority of the blog’s posts.
If paid reviews dominated a blog, then I’d question the blogger’s motives and unbiased-ness even if individual posts didn’t seem biased. But if written in moderation and with honesty, paid reviews can contribute to useful content.
han
November 2nd, 2007 5:49 pm
I’ve never done any paid review before but im eager to try them as soon my blog hits the 3month mark required by most service. Ohh well only time will if they will even consider my blog to be in their network :(
Simonne
November 2nd, 2007 5:55 pm
Yes, I’ve just started writing paid reviews last month. I choose only the products and services I like, and I don’t accept those who require not to disclose the fact that they pay.
Why I do them? Because it is an easy way to earn some money, and I noticed that they motivate me to write more regular posts, because I don’t want my blog to look like everything on it is a paid review.
Yogesh
November 2nd, 2007 6:48 pm
Yes, I have done paid reviews (started recently) and I will do them again.
Why?
Because I need money and I can make money this way. I am not going to be a hypocrite by denying this fact. To me it’s a paid job, which pays relatively good.
If google or for that matter few people have problem with it, so be it!
It’s not like I am doing some thing illegal or some thing to be ashamed of. But instead of calling these paid reviews, I would term them as advertorials. Which almost every type publication (newspapers, televisions, web sites) indulges in.
FUCC
November 2nd, 2007 6:55 pm
I write paid reviews regurarly…and last month i’ve gained 1,200$! But two blogs have lost their pagerank: the one linked here is now PR0 (from 3), another 4->3 and another still 3.
Obviously threre is a disclosure on each blog about paid reviews…
Michael
November 2nd, 2007 8:41 pm
Do you think Paid Reviews are a good thing?
I don’t have a problem with payed reviews, mostly because I trust the blogs I read, and I feel that it is a great way for bloggers with fewer page views to still make some money.
Have you done them? Do you still do them?
Yes I have done them, and I haven’t done them in a while. The reason I stopped is because of the whole paid links issue. I think I may do some in the future just until I start making a little bit more money through advertising.
Jon Johnston
November 3rd, 2007 12:06 am
I review college football books on my web site… but I don’t think that’s exactly what you’re talking about here.
Paid reviews – bad idea. Money, yes, but your credibility takes a serious hit especially if you’re not up front about it. If you are up front about it, it may be better, but you’d better not be homer about it or people notice.
Michael
November 3rd, 2007 1:55 am
I wanted to initially do paid posts, through a service like PayPerPost for example.
I did a trial run, and quickly realized that my readers didn’t particularly enjoy a “sponsored” post, as many of the posts say that they require a positive bias tone.
Therefore I have never done it, specifically because my readers are more important to me than making some extra money.
Maybe I will write a paid post one day, apparently it’s a great way to make money. But anyhow.
Enjoy your weekend everybody!
Bill
November 3rd, 2007 2:40 am
Steve:
I didn’t think of it in terms of consulting, with public results. I guess my thing is if the reviewer getting paid actually gets the product or service to use to adequately test it, cool. Otherwise it may be misleading. And I agree that a complete blog of paid posts probably would not work after looking further into the subject.
I know for the company I work with, to have a product reviewed in our industry print magazine is good, but generally costs $$ – send the product and pay for the review and a typical magazine cover will cost about $10,000 – $20,000. We have actually had one product the magazine liked so much they did a cover feature without the cost. Did the readers think or feel any different? Sales volume results didn’t indicate it, so I would say probably not.
DarrinW
November 3rd, 2007 5:29 am
Whoo, a very hot topic here. I have never done any paid reviews although I did sign up for PayPerpost (now IZEA) months ago…
I do write occasionally about services or products, which I feel are relevant for my blog…and guess what, I was doing it all for free :)
So between doing these things for free, or getting paid for it…well, what do you guys think? Should be an obvious answer….in most cases, why give away free advertising?
BUT
I think it is better to have an AYE or NAYE poll here. Are you against, or for – paid reviews?
Steve McGrath
November 3rd, 2007 9:30 am
Bill: You raised a good point about access to a product/service. You will have what you paid for a review.
John Chow get $200(his cut) per review and so he can take more time to give a good review about it.
Take the same review but for $5: would you get the same in- depth review? I don’t think so. But you will get a basic ideal of it.
My point is that advertisers should take a real look at the expected time it would take and pay for that. Factors like possible traffic will cost more too.
btw, it was a nice example
Teejay
November 3rd, 2007 11:54 am
Nope. Not yet. I hope to do them in the future. I believe there’s nothing wrong with it as long as you give an honest review.
Amidrin
November 3rd, 2007 1:02 pm
I voted yes. I have just started writing paid review in August this year. And it’s really a good source of additional income and a great time spent on doing it rather than spending time doing something unproductive.
Writing paid review gave me free knowledge of knowing what’s the best product out there in the market.
It gave me something new to look forward to everyday looking at the amount of money comming in.
Amidrin
November 3rd, 2007 1:04 pm
I voted yes. I have just started writing paid review in August this year. And it’s really a good source of additional income and a great time spent on doing it rather than spending time doing something unproductive.
Writing paid review gave me free knowledge of knowing what’s the best product out there in the market.
It gave me something new to look forward to everyday looking at the amount of money comming in.
Vern at AimforAwesome
November 3rd, 2007 2:56 pm
The idea is a good one, however, the implementation of them as I’ve seen – not so good. Frequently the blogger is less than transparent about the reason he/she is writing about the other site or product. More frequently than not I’d guess.
Besides that, how many reviewers are going to write their honest opinion about what they’re reviewing and (maybe) not get paid for having just spent a couple hours writing it?
Bloggers are desperately searching for ways to monetize their blogs. Google is squeezing us with the text-link-ads fiasco… but, again – it’s a case of being transparent about what you’re actually recommending and why. Some text links are bought and not revealed as ads. That’s gotta be wrong.
Hopefully a lot of new ideas in the works for monetization strategies… I’m getting to the point with my blog where I’d better start doing something about them as traffic is finally coming thick and heavy!
Good luck to everyone out there… Vern
CatherineL
November 3rd, 2007 3:30 pm
I guess it depends on what type of blog you have. I don’t think paid reviews would work on my blog, because much of the content comes from personally experience, and the business related things that go on around me.
Samuel
November 3rd, 2007 3:35 pm
Yes, I do paid reviews of Christian books, but if I don’t like the book – I don’t do the review and return half of the check.
Grace
November 3rd, 2007 7:42 pm
I write paid reviews occassionally but I “bury” them in between good, relevant posts so I will not scare readers off. The ratio is maybe at least 7:1. Seven good posts and one paid review.
Although there are a lot of opps available, I can’t write a review for gambling sites, online pharmacy, plastic surgery or anything that I don’t believe in.
I think doing paid reviews is not bad as long as you don’t overdo it.
Mark Goodyear
November 5th, 2007 1:46 am
I’ve never written a paid review, but I do receive free copies to review. As an editor, I try no to let that sway my opinion of the book, but many of the folks on “blog tours” seem so star-struck by having the author comment that their reviews sound more like a high school football cheer.
evilwoobie
December 7th, 2007 4:42 am
Believe it or not, some bloggers promote products they believe in, whether paid or not. In addition, they should only promote products that are directly related to their site’s content, or things they are passionate about.
In this light, I don’t know why some people bash paid reviews and bloggers who do them. Would it be any different if we all posed in a billboard promoting google?
Bloggers are the web’s endorsers of services and products. We blog about our daily life, and we use (or may use) things in our daily lives. Is it so bad that we endorse these in our blogs?
This concept is the closest I’ll ever be to an image model. LOL. I like it, personally.
DamionKutaeff
March 23rd, 2008 6:01 pm
Hello everybody, my name is Damion, and I’m glad to join your conmunity,
and wish to assit as far as possible.
Keshav
March 29th, 2009 3:56 am
I have registered with 2 paid review providers but still i have not received any paid review for my site. I think its not bad to write some review on your blog because all of us bloggers do write our opinion about various Products/Services.
Comments will be closed off on this post 90 days after it is published. Apologies to those this impacts but it's a regrettable and temporary measure to combat a growing comment spam problem. See our most recent posts where you can comment here.