Alex, I’ll choose 5 reviews for $200 please…
I’ve been stumbling upon many blogs lately that are participating in sponsored review programs, like PayPerPost and ReviewMe. I don’t know about you, but the reviews are starting to annoy me. I used to be able to just skip by them when they were posted once in a blue moon. But now I am running across blogs that will have 4 review posts, followed by one “original” post, then 4 more reviews. What’s the difference between a site like this and a splog?
I understand how this can be useful for an advertiser with a very targeted campaign, but what is stopping said company from going directly to the influential blogger and negotiating directly? Oh, that’s right, this is really all about SEO. After all, the review costs are determined by Google Pagerank and Alexa Rankings. It’s probably cheaper and more efficient to buy a couple PR4 reviews than hire an SEO expert for a couple of hours for some link building. And forget about trying to convince a single A-list bloggers to review your product on their blog when you can buy your way onto a myriad of blogs lesser in statue for a similar cost.
And what about sales? Does CTR matter? Is the review the same as a giant CPM banner that gets buried into a blogger’s archive in a week?
The great thing about the internet is that trends run in cycles. Will the sponsored review phenomenon last? Not in it’s current form. Here’s where I see it heading, which I think would be a good thing. Why not have the advertiser pay the upfront fee like they do now, but offer an affiliate tracking link and commissions for sales conversions? Both sides would win. The advertiser gets the SEO link that they are currently paying for, and potential a new sales channel. The blogger gets paid for the placing the “review” on their site, and can earn commissions by referring their readers to the advertiser’s site and completing a sale. Bloggers have been slapping affiliate links on their sites like it’s going out of style, but I’m willing to venture that a majority of them aren’t rolling in the commission dough. By giving them a little cash up front, they may be encouraged to write a better, more focused review. The cookie could be tracked through the permalink for the article, which may be necessary if(when) google continues to devalues affiliate-type links in it’s algorithm.
What are your thoughts? Are you making good money through blog reviews? Better yet, for the advertisers, are your sales increasing directly from the reviews, or more from the link-building SEO benefits?
Thursday, May 3rd, 2007
June 25th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
It’s probably cheaper and more efficient to buy a couple PR4 reviews than hire an SEO expert for a couple of hours for some link building.
Absolutely right.
Very informative post.
June 27th, 2007 at 10:17 am
Such posts will possibly affect on Google PR, but will not raise a site in search. Therefore 5 reviews for $200 it’s not cheap
August 2nd, 2007 at 1:35 am
I have to agree I think this type of trend will work better and give the blogger some motive to review your site. and you both make some money!
November 8th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Things will probably be changing soon. In the long run readers won’t stay around if all they see is reviews. You have to give them a reason to come back.
November 17th, 2007 at 4:50 am
interesting article..made good reading.!!
November 24th, 2007 at 5:04 am
It’s always better when you contact the owner of the blog, most of the times you can get amazing deals. Why go through the middleman after all. Say you want a backlink, just email the owner and either do a links exchange or just buy a link at their blogroll. Works great for me anyway.
January 10th, 2008 at 7:25 am
I think it’s just for the SEO benefit. Readers will see the difference between a real review and a sponsorred one. A while a go we did a test on a blog with payed reviews. We reviewed a product and said it was very bad. Had a good laugh with that one.
January 11th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Can not say which one will be more effective from sales point of view. It’s a split decision. Each has it’s own (dis)advantages.
February 7th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I know this article is a bit old, but I agree with you. This trend certainly can’t last. I can’t argue with bloggers wanting to make some cash, but this is getting kinda silly. In fact, they could probably make more money with a little creativity.
February 14th, 2008 at 4:57 am
In my opinion, the purpose of blog to exist is to share knowledge and experiences of the blogger, something useful and beneficial. Not just reviews and reviews and reviews…
February 17th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
It’s really distract me from looking as a good blog. Well, it’s ok to advertise but please don’t over do it. It might drive the reader / visitor away instead of catching them.
February 18th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
interesting article.. Good.
February 27th, 2008 at 8:42 am
This post was really informative! Thank you!
I really like your blog and am disappointed to see you haven’t posted since last year. Please keep posting and I will be back!
February 29th, 2008 at 12:56 am
Yeah, I must agree with Jason Pearson. It’s too bad you haven’t posted since. I do anticipate that you would continue posting though!
March 7th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
I mean all that seem to matter now in blogging is how to make more money, even if it means paying for reviews.
April 15th, 2008 at 3:49 am
“What are your thoughts? Are you making good money through blog reviews? Better yet, for the advertisers, are your sales increasing directly from the reviews, or more from the link-building SEO benefits?”
It benefits you both, it makes you a reliable source of information by reviewing blogs, it also makes you fairly popular. On the SEO part, it also helps in link building.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:58 am
yeah you can sure get good money within blog rewievs
May 13th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
I don’t mind sponsored reviews if it’s for a smaller site that really needs the finances, but big sites just shouldn’t do it. I don’t see the point in even having a blog if you’re going to have 80% of it be sponsored reviews like you said. I really don’t even see why companies would pay decent money for someone who mainly does sponsored reviews. People will definitely stop going to the site once they catch on and realize it’s all garbage.
May 21st, 2008 at 7:51 am
it is not easy to find a well blog which has intresting themes its a big problem
May 24th, 2008 at 2:31 am
Paid reviews are ridiculous - everybody knows what they are and so do the search engines. Expect penalties for them soon. Every tactic that attempts to skirt the system like this is doomed to failure.
May 26th, 2008 at 5:02 am
It is annoying you are ridgt. But is a powerful marketing strategy. And a good way to moneterise your blog
June 10th, 2008 at 8:40 am
I think Rife Machine is right. I can see some penalty situations arise on them in the future such as page rank drop. Not a big fan of them however, kudos to the blogger who can still make a living today any way they can. And if people still come to the site and want to skip thru the bs to get to the original post then great. Traffic is key.
June 10th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
wonderful post beatiful web page send you post thank you
June 17th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Is there any software that can teach you to link building so we can save money and still have the positive outcome?
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:25 am
I totally disagree with SEO Grand, I have a friend who offers SEO consulting and all he does is tell client’s how to use Sponsored Reviews and all the clients rank and have been doing so for some time.
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Sponsored reviews aren’t a terrible idea. They are a not-very-good idea, poorly executed. People end up whoring out their reputations (because they’ll say ANYTHING for money) instead of actually trying the product and presenting a review. The former has ZERO value, while the latter could have significant value.
July 15th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Hey, great article! Congrats.
July 18th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
It may not be a perfect situation but it allows everyday people to use their creative juices in a positive way I believe. Plus it allows individuals to make some extra money and still be doing something worth while in the process. These economic times are only going to spur more interest in these types of programs. But that is only my opinion.
Michele
July 20th, 2008 at 7:34 am
July 20th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
If you are seeing that many paid posts per unpaid posts then those bloggers are violating the terms of service of the companies that are paying them. They are supposed to have each paid post sandwiched between unpaid posts. Perhaps the unpaid posts are still showing links to the bloggers favorite products and you can’t tell which are paid and which are unpaid?
July 28th, 2008 at 6:23 am
To be honest.. paid reviews really make your blog look ugly. Specially when there are people who take every sort of paid review they can, even if it is totally opposite of the niche they write about!
August 7th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I’ve been through all of this paid posting stuff quite a few times. While it is definitely good for some extra pocket money each month, I would not really recommend you doing it if you had a professional blog targeted at webmasters or something of the sort
August 15th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Very interesting to read the comments that have come about concerning the issue of blogging for money. I think that any way you can make some money these days, legally of course, is just another way to help make ends meet in these screwed up economic times.