SOMEWHAT FRANK

ReviewMe: Ethical Alternative To PayPerPost For Bloggers To Get Paid?

ReviewMe, a product recently launched by TextLinkAds, offers bloggers the opportunity to make money for writing product reviews. ReviewMe has a similar business model to PayPerPost.com which I questioned whether it was a potential splog generator last month. ReviewMe has improved upon the PayPerPost.com model by creating a ranked marketplace and currency for a blog post. ReviewMe does not promise a post will be positive and also has every paid review add a disclosure explaining the post is a paid write-up. This disclosure helps to maintain the credibility of both the blogger and the ReviewMe product. Also reviews need to be 200 words or more.

With ReviewMe bloggers can actually capitalize on the time they spend reviewing a product, which in many cases is a product they would have reviewed anyway regardless of whether or not they were being paid. As I receive similar review leads via the blogosphere underground.

Rev2.org recently reviewed the ReviewMe and explained that even though ReviewMe is better than PayPerPost.com in handling ethical concerns they would still never participate in the program. TechCrunch had similar feelings on the product. While others think getting paid for writing reviews might not be so bad after all. Understandably, there are also bloggers getting paid by ReviewMe to review the ReviewMe product.

I just signed up for the service to test it out and I noticed that a number of familiar blogs like Google Blogoscoped, PaulStamatiou.com and TechnologyEvangelist.com were already signed up for the program. Upon claiming my blog I found that a post on Somewhat Frank can be purchased for $250 based on a ranking system that ReviewMe has put in place to determine a blog's value. Blog value takes Alexa, Technorati and other blog details into account to determine a rank. If I were to agree to write a post via ReviewMe, I would walk away with $125.  However, this does not mean the review has to be positive in nature, it could totally tear the product to pieces and I would still get paid. So why wouldn't a blogger want to take part in this program. It is not asking you to lie about a product. It is just asking you to review it and be honest.

I am interested to see how many and what types of requests I receive for product reviews since I only write about things that I find interesting. In my opinion, this model is very similar to being paid to be in a focus group for a consumer product. The only difference in the case of ReviewMe is that the focus group data is being exposed for the public to see in the form of a blog post. So I am extremely confident my current editorial filtration system will keep Somewhat Frank true to its distinct voice. I just hope the rest of the bloggers participating can show the same level of discretion.

Bottom-line:  Most bloggers would not mind getting paid. While advertisers and marketers might not know how to reach out bloggers for an honest review of their latest product. ReviewMe helps to solve this by creating a legitimate marketplace to connect products with reviewers. Sounds good but let's just hope bloggers can stay true to how they feel about a particular product and not fill the blogosphere with splog posts.

PayPerPost: Splog or Blog Post Creator?

PayPerPost, who recently announced $3 million of first round funding, is a web site that offers bloggers money for writing blog posts about a specific product. PayPerPost allows a blog post board which enables marketers and advertisers to request a blog post for a set price about a specific product or service. TechCrunch posted interesting write-ups (here and here) and a recent TalkCrunch podcast episode discussing the funding announcement, the unique business model and the ethical questions swarming around the product. PayPerPost is really walking the ethical line between good and evil. I think it was created to help connect marketers and advertisers with grassroots product reviews.

Splog Post Generator?
Is PayPerPost producing spam blog posts to optimize search engine ranking? Is it a human splog generator? That is a great question, and after much thought I have come to the conclusion, that it really depends on the blog, writer and the actual write-up. For example, if someone is getting paid to write a post and therefore is not objective in a review then of course PayPerPost is NOT a good thing at all. There are a number of blogs that produce high quality and very objective content, so could this destroy the purity of the blogosphere for everyone?

Blog Post Generator?
The flip-side of the debate, while bloggers get paid for their work the product offers leads to bloggers who may have run out of things to write about. Therefore, bloggers may find the leads from PayPerPost helpful in generating blog post ideas or leads. As long as bloggers remain objective and non-evil the service could be a win-win for marketers, advertisers and bloggers alike – and everyone lives happily ever after without fear of boogiemen, terrorist or natural disasters.

Maintaining Perspective / Keeping It Real
It is likely that just about every blogger that maintains a consistent flow of content has received emails from marketers and advertisers introducing them to products and services to preview as explained in my previous write-up exposing the blogosphere underground. When I do receive these emails previewing new products and services, I take a very close look at the product or service and I leave it up to my own discretion if the product or service is worthy of a write-up. Though it may sound similar to the PayPerPost.com model the major difference is that in receiving emails from marketers and advertisers I am NOT getting paid and therefore I can remain totally objective and only write about things I want to write about. Another example can be drawn from my recent move to join AOL. Since joining AOL I have written a few reviews about new AOL products and have been sure to keep my perspective legit. It I don't like them I would point out the things I don't like in my review. Maintaining my objective and frank perspective in my reviews is of utmost importance since it keeps Somewhat Frank, fresh and real – it also keeps my conscience clear.

Bottom-line: It is difficult to say at this point the impact PayPerPost will have on the blogosphere - it is a heated debated. It is obvious that PayPerPost has created a new business model which draws comparisons to Overture’s creation of the pay per click advertising model which was also debated but later perfected by Google with AdSense.