Paid Reviews: Can You Go Too Far?
This is a question I’ve asked myself constantly. I guess it depends on the reasons why you started your blog? I’m trying to build a strong community. I honestly think writing too many paid reviews could potentially harm my chances.
Earlier this morning I was doing my regular visit at Pro Blogger (Darren Rowse’s) website and I commented on his Review Me post.
His post made me pull this one out of draft mode since the topic Paid Reviews: Can You Go Too Far has been on my mind a lot lately.
I’ve written numerous personal reviews since I created Vegan Momma. I don’t get paid for them. I truly enjoy sharing what I find with others. That won’t change. If I see a product or business that I’ve used and I feel my readers can benefit from. I’ll write about it. The one that received the most attention was Green Feet.
People still email me about those personal reviews? They basically want to see how I like the product or if the liquid taste metallic. It love the product and no the taste doesn’t change. My most recent email about Green Feet arrived yesterday. A lady had seen my review on Stumbled Upon so she contacted me directly.)
I started writing paid reviews at the beginning of May. In my early paid per post days I wrote reviews weekly. It was a great way to make pocket change. I made over 1k my first month. My highest paying reviews were the ones I received directly from the advertiser. In the beginning I found a lot that I interested me.
Why I’m Not Writing As Many Paid Reviews
1. I didn’t like the opportunities I was seeing
2. I didn’t want to appear fake to my readers. (talking about something I obviously wasn’t interested in.) I never picked one of those opportunities and that will not change.
3. I didn’t want my readers questioning my regular posts. (More on that towards the end of the post under #4 I wasn’t sneaky)
4. I didn’t create this website to do paid reviews. I created this website in 2005. I started monetizing my website in May 2007.
The most important thing is building a strong virtual community. You don’t need hundred of readers to have a strong community. I don’t want to do anything that will potentially turn off my readers. This means the majority of the time I will turn down paid posts because of the reasons mentioned above.
Increase in Numbers
My site stats increased about the same time I started doing paid review. Since April my traffic has doubled every single month. I’m meeting a lot of new people virtually, and I’m enjoying that immensely. Before I started taking my blog seriously I basically thought of it as a “hobby” a poorly neglected hobby. This past April I took a good look at my blog I decided I didn’t like it and started making improvements.
Reviews: What Has Helped Me Keep My Readers
1. I got my readers opinion
This, by far was the most important for me. Yeah Yeah I know it’s “your blog” and you can write about “whatever you want” because they don’t pay for your service but I think, in building a community that is the wrong attitude to have. It’s not all about you not if you want a strong community.
Before I made such a major change to my blog I approached my readers to see what they thought about it. I let them know how I would use the feature, and I assured them it wouldn’t take over my blog. I’m trying to building a community excessive paid posts can potentially turn my blog into a virtual ghost town
2. Stay on topic
On Vegan Momma I talk about a lot of thing so that really isn’t hard to do. Occasionally I’ll write about something that interests my readers I’ve written about tea and scrapbooking because I know Harmonia loves that. I love tea also. I’ve actually become interested in scrapbooking because of her passion about the topic. Great job Harmonia you converted me and I always thought that was something I would not do, but you made it appealing.
3. Adding Balance
When I would write a few paid reviews per day I make sure I add original content by original I don’t mean junk. I think people know when you are writing just to fill up space. I have to admit in my early blogging days I have done that. On days I write paid reviews I post a few normal posts.
I’ve gone on a few websites and felt “cheated” since I saw a high amount of paid reviews but very little original posts then again their reasons might be different than mine. However, the reason I visit my blog pals is to get a peek into what’s going on with them. It’s my way to virtually check on my web buddies.
4. I Wasn’t Sneaky
(This goes to #3 in Why I’m not writing as many paid reviews)
I mark my sponsored post right at the top. When I first started doing them I had them down at the bottom. I was uncomfortable with that placement. I thought it should be more visible.
Guess what one of my readers commented about it. He didn’t like the placement and he was quick to tell me. I appreciated that and changed my placement immediately. They are now at the top. I thought this was best because I don’t want my readers to feel cheated by reading a post only to find that it’s a sponsored post.
To be honest, some websites I visit I question their “regular post” because it surely reads like their sponsored reviews however they aren’t marked. There are some opps that I have turned down because they instruct the blogger not to state that it is a sponsored post within the review. I don’t like that.
Yes I Have A Disclosure Page But…
Technically I guess I’m covered since I have the disclosure page, but this goes back to the impression I want to leave with my reader. I don’t want their questioning my regular posts. What I mean is I don’t want them to wonder is this a paid review or is this what she really thinks?
Although I’ll only do paid reviews I’m genuinely interested & familiar with I know some people still would prefer that I told them a review was paid for. If they continually question my entries I could potentially lose a reader. I don’t want that.
Not too many people want a sales pitch every time they go into a store I think many have the same feelings when they stop by a personal blog. I constantly search for readers reactions about paid post that means a lot of searches many seem to be turned off by nondisclosure reviews (and I don’t blame them they turn me off also.)
People Write Reviews For Various Reasons
I realize there are different reasons why people are doing paid reviews for some it’s definitely the money, and I imagine a few aren’t doing it out of greed they are doing it because it really helps them out financially.
I mainly started writing paid posts because I was curious about them, and it was a great way to make pocket change. However soon after I started writing them I realized that this wasn’t something I would be doing often. I don’t want to change my goals with Vegan Momma for me it’s all about creating a positive community and excessive paid posts I don’t think will do that for me.
A Few Questions
I’m curious to hear what my readers think about paid reviews.
- What are your expectations from the blogs you visit that do paid reviews?
- Do the reviews turn you off?
- Do you like seeing disclosure tags (this is a sponsored post) in the post?
- Can bloggers go too far with paid reviews?
[tag]paid per post, paid reviews, Pro Blogger, community building, Harmonia[/tag]
on July 12th, 2007 at 10:34 am
I’m sure people CAN go to far and I know for me it’s something that I’ve struggled with. Not necessarily in practice yet, but just thinking about it. Right now with Review Me I’m only making $5 a sponsored post, so making sure I don’t turn off my readers is much more important than writing posts.
When I can start commanding more money though, I hope to spread out the posts between sites so once again, I don’t overload everyone that visits.
And paid reviews don’t turn me off TO THE SITE as long as they’re not every post and they’re properly marked.
on July 12th, 2007 at 10:52 am
Hi Opal!
Whenever I read your blog (which is almost daily!), I skip over the paid reviews and only read your TRUE posts…posts made from your warm, home centered heart. It is helpful that you state directly that the post is a paid review so that I can easily skip it. I guess I am one of those people who knows what I want and don’t want companies telling me what I SHOULD want.
I love your posts about food, diet, health, natural products and ways to improve ones life. In addition, I do applaud you for trying to make some $ from this site and being completely open about it! Keep up the great work!
on July 12th, 2007 at 11:21 am
I’m kinda getting fed up the amount of sponsored reviews. I also wonder if it will hinder people from writing about companies they genuinely like. They think “why should I bother writing about them for free, they should be paying me.”
I’ve struggled to find anything of interest. I did come across a couple of companies but they have neither accepted nor declined my offer. Perhaps I’ll contact them directly, it would be nice to get paid.
Instead I decided to do a review of myprotein.co.uk because I am a customer and if some one uses the discount code I’ll make some money.
I like the reviews that John Chow writes because they are of interest and he puts his personality into them. What I hate is when you’re reading a blog on gardening and see a review on credit cards. They make no attempt whatsoever to make it sound interesting.
on July 12th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Bush,
Trust me that will change as you rank improves I think the highest I’ve turned down, so far, was $50 if I wrote the review and “agreed” not to mention it was sponsored although I was genuinely interested in the service I turned it down flat. Honestly I wasn’t comfortable keeping this information from my readers. I would like to think I’ve built a good reputation and I don’t want them to question every post that I write about. I really liked the service (I use a similar service) but telling me I couldn’t say that I was paid to write the post really turned me off. I said no.
I refused to write at a Paid Post service for that reason they tell you that you cannot mention that is is a sponsored post.
Sherri,
Thanks for the honesty ! I really appreciate it. Yes that is why I put them at the top I know not everyone wants to read a sponsored post so I want to give them the option to skip over it completely.
It leads me to another question that has been on my mind recently? Does my tone change when I write sponsored posts? I’m thinking it does. If it does change what am I going to do about it? I already know the answer to that question and I have hinted about it in a few of my posts and on other bloggers such as Bush Mackel’s.
April,
I agree with you on this which is why I slowed down with the sponsored posts. If I felt that way about other sites I imagine people felt the same about mine.
I used to read Chow’s blog when I first thought about monetizing my blog, but I stopped since he was doing a large amount of them that sort of soured me plus I didn’t like some of his tactics for monetizing his blog. I much prefer Problogger or Copyblogger I much prefer their writing style.
on July 12th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
@Opal - Woah. That is SHADY. Hope you were wearing a wire so you could turn them in. (#);D
on July 12th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
I agree, to much of these sponsored reviews can hurt your credibility as a writer / blogger… we all know most of them are just reviewing just for the sake of money even if they dont really use it/ understand what is it for… funny but reality hurts
on July 12th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
+1
@Opal/April - That’s why ppl say John Chow is “evil”. He does some things which some people would consider black hat.
on July 12th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
I do paid reviews, not as often as some, those that spam the web with them. I have a disclosure page, but I do not disclose in the post. My reason for that is exactly what Sherri said, she skips the paid reviews…. reads the ‘real’ posts?
In my opinion, if a reader feels the need to skip a post because it is sponsored, than someone, be it the writer or the advertiser is doing something wrong. My ‘reviews’ are just as real as my non-reviews, sometimes even more so, I make every one of them part of me, and only take those that are related to me or my blog. If I don’t like the company I will either say so, or not take the opp Period.
So, I don’t do an in post disclosure, it isn’t needed, nothing I am saying is any different from what I would say if I was not paid, — people can say that is a lie all they want, and they will, as long as there are ‘bad bloggers’ out there making that reputation true.
My blogs did not grow as much as they have by being dishonest or lying. Bloggers go to far everyday, I see it every day, it is pitiful and disgusting to see it, as it tarnishes the web for everyone.
on July 12th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Bush,
It’s “legal” but personally I’m not comfortable doing that. I know people will disagree with me and that’s fine. If you’re going to profit off of your website than I really think it should be treated as a “business” and that means disclosing that you are doing sponsored reviews.
It’s seeming like Google penalized him since he doesn’t rank #1 with his own name anymore, and searching with the keyword “make money online” has kicked him off the first page ranking. Will it affect his numbers? I don’t think it will at least not with his regular readers but new readers searching using that keyword or something similar will find others like Problogger, Dosh Dosh, or Copyblogger before they land on his website.
melo villareal,
I agree! I commented on sponsored review post that I think some bloggers are looking at the short term aspects of paid posts vs. the long term affects. I want my blog to work for me. The only way you get paid doing sponsored reviews is writing them. I want to get paid without writing a review. I want my blog to work for me. It’s doing that already (Google Adsense/Affiliate marketing) at the moment I’m making peanuts but the potential to make a lot more is there if i approach it correctly.
Eve,
Thanks for stopping by my reason regarding adding sponsored post to each one I do I think of it this way Let’s say I’m chatting with a friend, and they are casually talking about this service they’ve found out about it and towards the end of the conversation I find out that they were paid to do it. I wouldn’t like that.
On most of my sponsored post people do actually read them and comment. I know since I can track how many people read a particular post. It doesn’t bother me when some don’t read them. The majority might not have a problem with me if I chose to leave out that little tag at the top of my post, but my approach has always been very direct I don’t want my readers questioning my personal reviews so yes I do that extra step and insert that statement within each post.
We have to do what we feel is best on our blogs and for me it’s adding “This is a sponsored post” with any paid reviews that I do.
on July 12th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
You know Opal, you really bring up a good point. I kinda forgot up till now that in regards to making money, it’s always best if your money/product works for you.
Being so caught up in getting out of my 9-5, I don’t think I realized that relying on sponsored posts would be kind of like creating a whole other 9-5! Of course, it depends on how many posts you write per week and stuff but still…great point.
Thankfully, (and I touch on this on the latest post on my site), you can definitely make some money on your blog by many other ways besides just sponsored posts. *nod*
on July 12th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Bush Mackel,
It’s natural many of us want to work for ourselves I think sponsored reviews is a good option for some, but it’s important to remember to make the money you have to write the reviews if you’re just starting in ranking that means writing a lot of them.
What happens if those companies go away? Or you don’t have access to your computer for x amount of days? How are you making money? Isn’t it better to make money even when you’re not writing a review. Affiliate marketing, Google Adsense, Chitika, text link ads, etc., are a few options.
on July 12th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Well I for one will not lie. I do rely on paid blogging for my income. But my situation is kinda different than most. Being that I have to take care of my my disabled husband and kids is the reason I do it. After waiting for 3 years for his disability (that we still haven’t gotten) it got hard on us.
I try my best to tie whatever I’m writing about with me and my personal life. Sometimes it’s hard. But I have to do what I have to do. I think that if someone were to read my blog they would understand why I chose to do what I am doing for my family. Right now, they are not starving and my bills are being paid.
on July 12th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
<p>Hey Sassy, I hear ya. (And best of luck to you and your family). I mean-There are a lot of people who blog who are in it because they know they can make some money on it. Then there are others who are blogging because they need the money. And I can certainly understand both positions. *nod*</p>
on July 12th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Thanks Bush, It’s been hard on all of us, I’m just trying to do what’s best for my family. It’s not much, but it’s better than before.
on July 12th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Sassy,
I thought about you when I wrote this post which is why I mentioned there are other reasons why people do this. I cannot relate to what you’re going through but I can definitely understand why you are doing it. I sent you an email that lists a few legitimate online opportunities you might want to check them out. I’m not sure you’re qualifications so I’m not sure if those will apply I just went with the easy ones.
Bush,
we all blog for various reasons I’m hoping Affiliate Marketing and Google Adsense really kicks in. It’s a “Second income” for me but I see the potential of making more than I do with my business.
on July 12th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
[...] was reading over at my gal Opal’s site and seen a question that I had to chime in. She ask a great question can you go too far with [...]
on July 12th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
I like the challenge to fit the ppp into my theme if you will.
I do it for the money, because I have to.
But like you I will only post on the ones that interest me, or have some inkeling of what’s going on in my life. Like the loans reviews.
I got rid of the PayU2Blog account because you’re forced into posting on what THEY want you to post and if you don’t complete it in time they boot you. I didn’t want any part of that. At least with PPP you get to choose what you want.
on July 12th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Awwww thanks for the shout out!
How did the scrappin’ go during vacation, btw???
I, too, post about a bunch of different things…I love your blog…even the paid posts! I find many of them very interesting!!!
1. What are your expectations from the blogs you visit that do paid reviews?
To post their thoughts about them or a story as to why they were interested in posting it in the first place (which you already do)
2. Do the reviews turn you off? not unless that is all they post about…and if they don’t answer questions people ask about them…which you do answer and you do post more than just paid for’s…so you are good to go there! lol
3. Do you like seeing disclosure tags (this is a sponsored post) in the post? YES
4. Can bloggers go too far with paid reviews?
If they ONLY Post paid for’s and nothing else…OR if people comment on them and ask opinions and no one - author or other readers respond…you are okay there because you are wonderful and interactive with us!
I enjoy your Paid For’s…find them interesting!!!
on July 12th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
MacBros,
Payu2Blog didn’t accept my website for whatever reason but I didn’t lose sleep over it. I usually do Sponsored Reviews more of what I’m interested in, and I’ve received the highest amount of pay from them.
Harmonia,
Yeah you answered my questions!
I didn’t do it we are starting on it this weekend after the computer fiasco I took it easy. I’m so happy I did I took it easy.
I saw a review earlier today that I’m really interested in it’s an environmentally friendly company they don’t use a lot of packaging when they ship the products. A company that practices what they preach. I like that.
on July 13th, 2007 at 3:41 am
Hey Opal!
This was a great thoughtful post about balancing sponsored posts and your blog, and you make a lot of really excellent points. In fact I think it’s one of the best I’ve seen on this topic and I’m going to put it aside for my weekly wrap up this week.
I signed up for PPP a while back but my rule with it has been that I have to already use the product or service and all the ones that I could have posted about wanted a PR6 - mine is only a 4. There were some great opportunities which I could have done excellent blog posts on and I think advertisers are really short sighted when they’re concerned so much with page rank. I saw recently a post where a PR6 blogger had spelt the product incorrectly and clearly had no idea what they were talking about but because it was so much money they jumped at the chance.
Like you, I don’t want to be sneaky or artificial. At the same time I can appreciate some bloggers want to make money out of their blogging and as long as there is real content on the blog as well and the content is excellent, I will keep reading.
On the community RSS feeds you can tell right away when a new campaign is launched, there’s a bunch of posts all about the same thing.
I’m looking at maybe trying blogsvertise, just to see what it’s like, due to being so disappointed with PPP.
Snoskred
http://snoskred.blogspot.com/
on July 13th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
[...] is written in response to Vegan Momma’s post Paid Reviews: Can You Go Too Far? She’s got quite a lengthy article there but go read it if you can, it’s quite [...]
on July 13th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
When you have time…swing by and let me know what that “green” supplies company is…the URL, etc.
Thanks and good luck on starting to scrap!!! Can’t wait to hear about it!
on July 16th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
I agree wholeheartedly with being right up front about a post being sponsored. I’ve seen a few examples where someone’s written a post, no sponsorship, but yet it’s written in a very haphazard style where you can tell right away that it’s sponsored.
I guess it’s a part of having the paid post schemes nowadays. I’m not going to say to someone that you *have* to do it one way or another, but if you’re getting paid, I would think you wouldn’t want to hide that fact.
Sephyroth
http://www.sephyroth.net/
on November 25th, 2007 at 2:28 am
[...] fans that will bring in traffic for their blog and click on their ads and buy products from them. They have spent a large amount of time developing and building relationships with their audience, an…. Therefore, in place of advertorials, you have paid reviews instead. The difference between an [...]
on December 5th, 2007 at 9:04 am
I wonder how many of us will eventually be penalized by google for doing free or “honest” reviews or recommendations. It’s getting to the point where we wont be able to have a blogroll without inserting whatever code they tell us to.
I’m not a big PPP fan anyway. I feel their whole business model has hampered the entire blogging community.
James Lee’s last blog post..Your Quick And Easy Secured Loan Guide
on December 5th, 2007 at 9:12 am
Snokesred,
That has been my rule also. I haven’t done too many of their reviews simply because I don’t see any I’m interested in.
Sephyroth,
I agee I do think some of hidden that fact because they didn’t want to get penalized. This recent spanking confirms those suspicions.
James Lee,
I wrote about this very thing on a bloggers discussion board. The majority of my reviews are free. I don’t get paid for them I love the product and naturally I want to share my experience with my readers. Will I get punished for that? I link to a lot of blog buddies during my week. Suppose someone thinks my links are paid? They aren’t but I could get punished for that also. Outside of the obvious companies that sell links how will they go after the indivudal webmaster?
I don’t like PPP as much mainly because with the sheer volume of bloggers they have I’ve seen a fair amount of junk reviews being published. It’s obvious they have no clue about the product. Those posts should ot be approved since it looks like they are just happy with the link and according to PPP that’s not the main reason advertisers purchase reviews. That makes people like myself, who actually take their time to write a honest review look bad.
on July 12th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Well, i have nothing against paid review myself mainly because it’s a good way to earn some extra income easily. And you get to meet some people that may offer a service that could benefit your company. But some people think that’s it’s going overboard for some reason. Maybe it’s because they never tried it.
on August 16th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Thanks veganmomma, you have really appreciated us, as your great readers… keep it up!
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