How many paid reviews are too many paid reviews? That question has been asked a lot since I started blogging and honestly, is there really a true answer?
There are tons of people who despise paid review posts on their favorite blogs, matter of fact, they find that as a turn-off. Since I started blogging, everyone kept telling me to focus on the content and don’t write too many paid reviews because it would take away the quality of the content for your readers.
On the other hand, people need some money in their pockets, right? But are you writing too many paid reviews? Is it going to hurt you more or less? Is the money really worth it?
Well, let me answer some of those questions in my own opinion.
Personally, I don’t mind reading a paid review on a blog that I read regularly but let’s say there should definitely be more regular posts than paid reviews. And if it’s even borderline 50/50, then that is way too many.
Again, I understand you need money and stuff, but is it really worth losing your readership over?
Most people I ask don’t mind a review here and there. When it comes down to it, I asked a bunch of people from various forums and a majority said once a week is a good number. In addition, a few reviews a week would bother them and anything more than that, they would probably unsubscribe to that blog.
So, is the money really worth it? Well, it depends how much you charge. And of course, the price you charge is usually based on how much traffic you get, how many RSS Feed subscribers, etc. If you charge $500/review and write once a week, well, there’s $2,000 extra in your pocket each month.
But if you charge a lot less (which most people do), the quantity is almost not worth it.
Say you charge $10/review but you want to write as many as you possibly can because you need the money. You would need to write 50 just to get $500 and if you write even half that many reviews in a month I can almost guarantee you that you won’t have that readership you worked so hard for.
Keep in mind, no readership = no paid reviews. Companies want you to sell their product to your readers but if you have none then why would they purchase one from you? And of course a domino affect takes place because then you would charge less, either that, you keep the same pricing you had and get 0 opportunities.
So, are paid reviews and the money worth it? Yes. But you have to keep a balance because if you lose your readership then you also lose that money.
Don’t forget that!
I really try to limit myself. I’ll do about 1 per month, no more. The quality of the blog is reduced for every sponsored post that you write.
It just shows that you’re willing to be paid to recommend, praise, like a product and send it off to all of the readers that are reading your content.
I don’t like them, and they stick out like a sore thumb on a blog.
Brad Blogging.com - Personal Blog Tips And Blog Helps last blog post..Blogroll By [Insert Blog Here] - The Importance Of A Blogroll
Does it really matter if you get a review or not?
I think if you have great content and have a good following then it shouldn’t matter right. Even if there was a review I don’t think it will affect why I read this blog.
I dont think I personally would do review just for a quick cash grab unless I felt it was truely necessary or I got bugged to do one. I think maybe if I were to do any reviews I might do one every quuater which I think seem ok.
Bruno Augers last blog post..Suspended by Twitter
Lol, when I started Bloggin-Ads, I did like 5-6 paid reviews, but no one knew it was one
Well, I hope not. I basically wrote them with a whole post, so it looked more natural. However, I stopped doing it after the topics got out of hand, but I can say that I started getting $30-50 reviews from Sponsored Reviews 
-Mike
See TylerCruz.com — Not a single worthy post in more than a month, I just checked
And the post that was worthwile was a guest post..
- CoolProduct Review: Paid Review
- Computer games: my biggest crux: Personal
- Iranian blogger : Paid review
- Tyler cash giveaway results: contest
- EfficientPPC review: paid review
- Tyler cash giveaway: contest
- Affiliate marketing challenge 4: contest
- Maxblogpress wordpress plugin: paid review
- Motive interactive advent 2.0: paid review
- My new computer: personal
- Vegas blogworld trip: Personal (no money making info)
- Vegas blogworld trip: Personal
- How i placed 1st and 2nd in tyler affiliate challenge: Guest post and first worthwile post at that.
- Affiliate marketing challenge 3 results: contest
- Blog earnings september 2008 : personal (no money making info)
So:
5 paid reviews
5 personal posts
4 contest posts
1 money making post : guest post
This is from oct 1st till now
Haha, I just did a paid review a few days and still haven’t been paid… lesson learned—take payment, then write review!
I would/will never do a paid review from one of the paid review sites…thats just running a Google slap risk.
My reviews, paid or free are for readers. That way readers don’t mind and they are always on target.
I still won’t do too many back to back, same as guest posts.
Dennis Edells last blog post..OK Ya Got Me - Wordpress Back-Up Plugin Is Installed…Sweet!
actually, i never tried any paid review for my blog. i dont have experience in paid review
Dilson Decanos last blog post..Captivating Capiz or Website Flipping
I haven’t done a paid review on my blog yet but I am in the position where I can start doing them, I’m just not sure if it will turn my readers off or not. I would limit myself to 1 per week but do you think that for some readers, this will be enough to make them stop reading my blog?
Brad - What if it’s a product you KNOW your readers will be interested in? And they all contact you to ask you to write a review, now would you do it more often? Say 4-5 times a month?
Bruno - I think you always have the power so if there’s a product that’s just crap, I’m sure you wouldn’t review it just because of the money. Once every quarter as in once a week?
Mike - LMAO! I KNEW it! When I first stopped by your ex-blog I was thinking “damn, he’s really giving away ALL these reviews for free?!” LOL!
Wesley - LOL! That’s exactly one of the bloggers I was thinking of too but I didn’t want to mention names. I mean, I don’t mind the personal aspects of his blog but I swear he’s doing a paid review every other day or something.
Rajaie - Wait, did you do it through a middleman company like PPP or something? Or did you handle it directly? But essentially, you never do a review until you get paid.
Dennis - What if it’s NOT from a paid review site? What if people contacted you directly asking for them?
Dilson - It’s not hard. You can either sign up for companies like Payperpost or sponsored reviews or go ask people directly. Let me know if you need help.
Dot Com Dud - It depends man. I definitely don’t mind once a week but then again, if you only post like 2-3 times a week, that’s another story.
Jay
@Jay - same answer. Read This and you’ll see i do an honest review for an honest wage.
You get the good, bad, and or ugly
Dennis Edells last blog post..Oct.’08 Post Round-Up for Direct Sales Web Marketing
Seriously, as long as what you’re reviewing is on target for your audience, what’s the big deal?
Dennis Edells last blog post..Oct.’08 Post Round-Up for Direct Sales Web Marketing
You are so right, if your main income is from your readership backing, then you shouldn’t introduce too many paid reviews. I’ve gone off of reading some blogs due to how consistant they are at doing paid reviews these days. They may see it as a good idea, but I see it as nothing but naff advertising.
HOWEVER, you COULD get away with a 50/50 split in paid content and regular content as long as you are IMAGINATIVE with how you are writing about the product - The key I find is be ENTERTAINING & IMAGINATIVE and not to sound like you are ‘just knocking out another paid post’, ie, ‘I don’t really care if you read my blog or not, I’m just interested in getting some post revenue.
I have yet to do a paid review, but plan on doing some in the future to make money…as you said. Personally, I don’t mind ready some paid reviews on a site, but agree that it would get ridiculous if that is all I am reading on a site.
Fortunately, I have yet to come by a site that has majority paid reviews…at least a site that I wanted to read on a regular basis.
I guess like anything else, keep living or blogging and I will.
Freddies last blog post..IM Experiment #1: Creating an eBook with Help
Hmm, I’m not interested in paid review
I’m not actually writing any. In terms of paid reviews, I always try to avoid them. I’d rather get info from someone I know who’s used the product. But if they’re from reputable people, then I’d trust the reviews more, since they wouldn’t want to tarnish their own reputation.