Writing Reviews for Cash
I’m not sure how many of you have seen the new ReviewMe website; well, after getting after my initial “OMG I am SO going to sue!” reaction (copied from Review You, right? This is a joke!) I can’t decide how I feel about the whole thing.
On one hand, I hate blogstitution (thank you Belinda) and find the whole idea of selling a product through a loosely related blog entry — in which you’re pretending to actually know what you’re on about — quite irritating and opposite to the whole idea of blogging and free speech… but on the other hand you pick your topics, and you’re actually giving an honest opinion based on what you think not just what you’re paid to say.
As a reviewer of all sorts of things I was in real demand back when I had the energy to keep up with Review You so feel that, given the chance, could make an absolute killing on a site like this. Would I want to though? Would I honestly want to fill my blog with what is effectively an advert for a product (positive or not) when I am against all other forms of advertising? They do say “All advertising is good advertising” after all.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not interested in actually taking part. I have a legitimate job which more than funds my lifestyle and I don’t intend on making money online only to be found out by the taxman a few years down the line (paranoia, possibly) because I haven’t confessed my true earnings or some other stupid loophole… but I do wonder what other people think about the idea. If you’re against blog advertising, are you for paid reviews?
Disclaimer: I don’t actually think ReviewMe stole anything from Review You and don’t intend to sue, I was merely being witty… or possibly not, that’s your decision really.
Unrelated note: please bear with the comments, I am fiddling with the way they look in whatever spare time I have so they could end up broken between one day and the next!
Jordan said:
On 14 Nov at 9:07 pm
I’m not really against blog advertising, because I do participate in the ever-so-hyped payperpost, but it’s just something I do on the side (and I’ve done it four times total.) I however, dislike and have much distaste for a few regular favorite sites of mine that have become riddled with obvious paid for posts. It’s sad because I once visited daily to read new blogs, and now when I see an entry that has more then 2-3 links (and the same word linked, no less) I don’t even read. And then I don’t even visit after that. In reference to Review Me, I just think they’re another one of the bandwagon websites seeing that PPP is so successful right now. Granted, there were many before that, but those never got nearly as popular as PPP has gotten. And on a side note. Web 2.0 is taking over the world.
Hillarie said:
On 14 Nov at 9:14 pm
Ha, the OMG/sue (I’m too lazy to type it all out) part was funny. I don’t think that people should get money for reviewing unless they were really talented in reviewing. Well, good luck with the look of the comments!
Grant Mc said:
On 14 Nov at 10:17 pm
Comments look great now Jem!
Belinda said:
On 15 Nov at 12:43 am
I must admit, I am tempted to join this. The cash factor is definitely pretty wow-ing. This is a little bit better than PPP because the review you post might actually add something of substance to your site. At the end of the day, though, my personal opinion on advertisements on weblogs is that they’re annoying as hell, and I don’t think I’ve found any ads that are done tastefully enough to change that. Anyway, just my two cents.
Belinda said:
On 15 Nov at 1:12 am
Neato comments! Hmmm $20 is a lot for a review. Tempting but no. I just don’t feel I need to cross blogging (or any other online hobby for that matter) with money. While I’m not rich in any way, I don’t buy much and I’d have the sweet freedom of doing whatever the hell I feel like without having the nagging “oh but I can get paid for this!” at the back of my head for every post. The only other time where money might become an issue (and reason why I might need to join a paying service like that) is if I need to fund server costs (so that my sites don’t become a burden). Other than that, I’d like to keep my blog all me.
Carina said:
On 15 Nov at 1:42 am
$20 per review? I might actually sign up for this, if I ever get my website up. I love writing reviews and $20 per review to put content on my site? Worth it. Totally worth it. To be frank, I’m 14, don’t have a job and want a deviantART subscription.
Meggan said:
On 15 Nov at 4:33 am
I’ve signed up, mostly just to check it out. I highly doubt any advertiser would choose my blog to do a review – I simply don’t get enough traffic and I’m not sure it’d be worth their money. That said, $20 is $20, and when you’re a college student, that $20 might be able to feed you for a week, you know? Just for writing something on your website, which is something I do anyway. *shrugs* It doesn’t sound as bad as it could be, and it’s (to me, at least) a bit different than blatant ads. It’s not just saying “Buy me!” or “Use this product!” – it’s a human giving another human advice on products, and that human happens to be getting paid to do so. I’m a little leery about giving out my Social Security number to them, but I think I’d have to if I wanted to get paid for my review. Not sure.
Kelly said:
On 15 Nov at 5:05 am
I don’t dig the whole idea of those “pay to click/ pay to review” sites. It just doesn’t sit well with me because I don’t feel people like that can be trusted. Anyway, I followed your link to Review You and would love to be reviewed, but I noticed in the Queue section there were websites waiting since 2005. Is that in error or are you not running that website currently? Anyhow, take care and let me know about the Review whenever you get a free second.
Jordan said:
On 15 Nov at 5:25 am
You know what, I’m such a hypocrite. I think I’m going to try this out. I’m a money hungry hog, and despite working all the time, the thought of money in my paypal (because paypal is the only “money” i spend freely, versus the hard earned cash which either stays in the bank, or goes towards bills and car repairs. :P) Please, shoot me. And damn you for posting that!
Vixx said:
On 15 Nov at 7:47 am
I stand by my original comments on ads. I personally don’t like them, and this is nothing more than a fancier ad dressed up as something else. Maybe it’s cos I don’t need the money, but it doesn’t sit any more comfortable with me than payperpost or ads etc. But each to their own. V xx
Chans said:
On 15 Nov at 10:08 am
I have my doubts about this thing. First of all I think a lot of people will sign up just for the money, and I wonder if they check on their reviewers to see if their reviews are up to standard. And I also wonder why one would want to pay for receiving a review. Big / well known companies will get their products or services reviewed anyway and if you need this review to get the word out about a new product or service, the money is better spend on promotion and marketing tactics.
Xeronia said:
On 15 Nov at 8:14 pm
Not all advertising is good. In my opinion, whoever said that is a naive fool. On blogs, some advertising in a post once in a while is all right. After all, if you run into something good, you will naturally tell your friends about how good it is. Blogstitution is all right as long as what you say is actually your opinion. I don’t have much of a problem with Review Me, except for the fact that the name seems plagiarized from Review You. And the bright side is that a bad product will get exposed and a good one will enjoy the reception it deserves.
Sledge said:
On 15 Nov at 9:45 pm
Hmmm, I don’t really have anything to say about the blog, but the comments (the way your comments are formatted as of now) are kind of wonky looking — on my screen, they cut off on the right side, and I cannot scroll over, no matter what I try, to see what the rest of people’s comments are. Maybe if you made the divider between the comment and the commenter’s name closer to the commenter’s name, it would work alright.
King Echo said:
On 15 Nov at 10:46 pm
I don’t have any problem with it. I’ve never heard of this or the pay per post stuff mentioned by commenters. I’m sooo not in the loop these days and may look into this review thing, I like reviewing sites but am usually too lazy. Some monetary incentive may be just what I need! : P I’ve also personally been at a serious loss for what to do with my blog. I’ve never been the most, ‘This is my life, read about it’ blogger. I like to let my ‘art’ express me more than anything else (I’m bashful). I’ve been toying with the idea of making my front page mostly opinions on web-related things for awhile (really there’s a lot more lost in this head than I let on) so… we shall see!
Shannon said:
On 16 Nov at 4:00 am
I actually really like this idea. I mean, a lot of people use their blogs to “review” different products and things they’re using themselves, so why not get paid for it? As long as it’s not one of those annoying “pay-per-post” type dealies, I’m ok with it.
Vera said:
On 16 Nov at 6:50 am
On the one hand, getting payed to write a review, is a legitimate – as there are some people who genuinely look into your site and try to find things you could improve on. I’ve noticed that since I’ve been seriously considering the reviewing at YS.nu (you know out of pride =P ), I tend to spend around 3 hours on one review (well, ok depending on the site…). On the other hand, I find it kind o presumptuous to get paid to tell someone your opinion. In the end – who do you think you are anyway? No one’s so important that his/her opinion should be payed. Aside from this, there are plenty of review sites, though, that do such things for free (when it comes to web sites), so I’m not sure how much success they’ll have. By the way, I’m not really sure, why you want to sue them. I mean, yes they do use your color scheme, and a similar name… but um… that’s hardly criminal, or am I missing something?
Jem said:
On 16 Nov at 9:32 am
@Vera: you must have missed the disclaimer at the bottom of my post.. ;)
Vera said:
On 16 Nov at 6:10 pm
… you put that up after my comment =P (is in no way inattentive).
Nikki said:
On 16 Nov at 7:35 pm
My blog has been invited to join a similar company here in the Philippines, but I didn’t for several reasons. 1) My site is hosted for free, and I think it would be in bad taste to put advertising on something that I’m not even paying for. 2) It would make me feel like a sellout. 3) I hate being forced to write. However, I think it’s a good way of making money if you really need it. $20 per review is a lot of help for someone who’s paying or saving up for college, for example. But if you’re only going to use the money to buy another pointless domain like http://www.pinkbutt3rflyz.com, then it’s just, again, in bad taste. (Which is why I hate advertising on personal domains, because if the owner really needed the money, then he shouldn’t have bought the domain in the first place.) On a side note, when I first saw a link for Review Me last week, I actually thought, “Uh-oh, somebody’s ripping off Review You.” LOL.
Hannapai said:
On 16 Nov at 8:11 pm
In the end it’s evrybody’s own choice, but I wouldn’t start reviewing for money and I wouldn’t be intrested of reading paid reviews really. E.g. how can you know that opinion is honest? And why (as Chans mentioned) companies would want to be part of this. Would you want your product to be mocked on public place. In ReviewMe: “People ignore ads. In much the same way that banner blindness set in, many publishers have noticed their contextual ad click through rates and earnings drop over time.” That’s true but I would find it irritating to visit good blog that has suddenly turned to “this entry is paid review” -site or something like that. I’d ignore page in same way as banner adds etc… Well we’ll see how long ReviewMe stays up.
Chrissy said:
On 17 Nov at 6:27 am
About as lame as comment for comment services…
Lew said:
On 17 Nov at 11:01 am
“Those who can, do. Those who can’t, talk about it.” I find the whole idea of somebody being paid for an opinion very odd. I don’t need other peoples’ opinions on things to tell me what to like .
Jordan said:
On 17 Nov at 5:59 pm
Woohoo! I love the images you added for the comments. Are they from famfamfam?
Jem said:
On 17 Nov at 7:11 pm
Yep. :D (Hmm, I thought famfamfam was credited in my domain section but it’s not – thank you for accidentally reminding me, heh.)