I don’t write many paid reviews on here, many once or twice a month, if that. I may consider writing maybe four reviews a month, or once a week but this post isn’t to inform you that I’m considering adding an extra paid review or two, it’s more about why you should read other peoples’ paid reviews and why you should consider commenting on those.
Paid review has become such a big deal since bloggers starting blogging. It benefits the sponsors with traffic, exposure, backlinks but more importantly for you guys, the bloggers, you get some good money in your pockets. And sometimes even more!
Since I started blogging, I was never a big fan of reading reviews let alone paid ones from some of my favorite blogs. I’m sure a lot of you guys were like me and whenever you saw a paid review show up in your RSS Feeds, you ignored it, deleted it, moved on, right?
If I just described you, then you might want to reconsider taking the time to read it, check out the product/site that’s being reviewed and definitely start commenting on those specific posts.
See, reading paid reviews can help you in more ways than one, especially if you take time to leave a simple and thoughtful comment.
In my personal experience, I have taken the time out to read the entire post, comment on the review and eventually, the person who is selling the product contacts me for a paid review on my site. Sometimes it works out to be a long-term relationship. On top of that, there’s a potential of getting free products, advertisement spots purchased as well as sponsors for any contests you may have in the future.
I mean, people need to find you so they can purchase ad spots, buy reviews, etc, right? And 99 percent of the times, the person buying the review will check out the post as well as the comments to see what others think about it. Usually if they purchase one review they will purchase a whole bunch and that’s when they end up on your site to get themselves extra exposure.
For instance, I’m seeing tons of Publisher Spot reviews on a lot of blogs I go to recently (and it’s pretty ridiculous that is was on so many). I haven’t commented on every post I have seen, just a few. I haven’t heard anything yet so that just proves that this doesn’t work every single time but then again, nothing is guaranteed.
But it only takes 30 seconds to comment and simply by doing so, you could possibly have a long-term relationship with a great company!
Motive Network...
yeah, I was about to get into the whole paid for reviews thing, but for one, most of them want you to have a blog with a certain page rank or it has to be over 2-3 months old. But once you can get over this hurdle, you can start to make money from paid reviews.
Most people result to paid reviews because they are not good with internet marketing to get a lot of traffic to their blog or to promote affiliate products. Many have claimed they make more money from paid reviews than google adsense and affiliate programs combined! Good post though
This is very true, but I usually don’t even bother with reading reviews. Most bloggers give review requests a good comment rather than being honest.
-Mike
I’ve seen some honest reviews also, meaning that the person writing the review told the good, the bad and the ugly about a product or site.
Andrei Buius last blog post..Moneybites Contest
I would have never thought about that. It is another example of how comments specifically and being visible in general will help you. Often this comes back in ways you wouldn’t expect.
Ned Careys last blog post..Evictions Made Easy
One of the perfect posts these days i have seen.
I have this in my mind but i never express that in my blog. The normal posts get higher comments than the paid reviews in my blog.
But do the commentators think that am going to review every weird stuff? The site being reviewed and am paid for is, something of good quality.
So i expect comments on the paid review posts too.
Chetans last blog post..Perfect way to unlock Apple iPhone 3G
Holy cow, so simple yet so overlooked. Awesome tip!
Andrei - I put that right up front, smack in the middle of my review page…no surprises for those getting reviews.
Dennis Edells last blog post..Do Advertisers Judge You By Design? What Do You Think…
Actually I dont bother to read review post, but I do comment to review posts sometimes if I have time to read it.
Dilson Decanos last blog post..Captivating Capiz: Sudden Drop Of Ranking
Great post Jay. Even I’ve noticed that paid reviews generally have 0 comments as most people just skip over them as they think it’s yet another shameless plug.
One blogger whose reviews I really admire is Gyutae Park of WinningTheWeb.com. If something’s shit, he doesn’t hesitate to call it shit and that’s a quality that truly must be appreciated.
You can get people to read a paid review post by simple avoidng paid review word. It should be like a normal post.
instant cash blogs last blog post..Get 104 Day Free Trial To E-Junkie.com
You can pick up a skill or two by reading other’s review. You review other’s review and pick out whats good or bad so you know what to improve on when it comes to your turn!
Make Money Bloggings last blog post..Search Engine Copywriting For SEO Without Losing Readability
i also do some paid review from some individual and company. Its really good and i really earn well from this job.
that’s a good point. at least somehow, it puts you and your blog in the sights of the entity which paid for the review. makes sense.
koujis last blog post..blog action day 2008: philippine poverty haiku poems
You are totally right that, “Paid review has become such a big deal since bloggers starting blogging”
I would love people to pay me to review their site on my blog! Would make me more than adsense, as that’s making me nothing!
John
I do lots of reviews…just haven’t got paid for any yet….makes you go Hmmmmmmm
Paid reviews from reputable people are mostly fine. The thing that annoys me is those affiliate trying to promote a product by setting up review sites that says “product” scam? Then goes on and talk about how great the product is or get the product and get some bonus. It’s hard to get honest reviews now. Blogs and forums are the only good ways to that.