Why You Should Say No to Paid Blog Posts from ReviewMe and PayPerPost
You may have noticed I added a graphic to my sidebar, “This blogger does not sell posts.”
PayPerPost and, more recently, ReviewMe, have both created some controversy over their pay-to-post services. Some have compared this to selling your soul, others have been a little more welcoming, when money was involved.
ReviewMe and PayPerPost are good ideas. I’d be proud to own either service. What they do is “grease” the line between marketers and bloggers that otherwise had a bit of a barrier to entry. There is a market here and I think it will only grow.
That being said, if you have a personal blog, one that identifies you by photo or name, I think you are making a poor decision to use either service.
My title is a bit misleading. Any non-personal blog you have, happily sell posts. This is a great way to easily bring in extra money on a web property that otherwise may earn very little money.
So what makes a paid blog post “worse” than a banner ad? The problem is the ad is the content. When I write a post I feel I am sending a message that it might just be worth your time reading this. A paid blog post is more like an infomercial than a “brought to you by.”
Here is another thing I think is bad — I know these things don’t pay a lot of money. $5, $10, $100 makes me ask myself — is this guy serious about making money? If I saw paid blog posts going for $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 I would be writing something very different.
Ever notice those faces that appear on e-book sales letters testimonials over again and again? If one of them gave you a call on the phone telling you about a great new piece of software they found would you try it out or laugh and hang up?
Value your reputation. Don’t sell out cheap.
[…] Aaron from SEObook also wrote a good article about this, while Andrew from Web Publishing Blog has some different ideas. […]
Pingback by Search engines ok with paid posting l Webmaster Journey — December 9, 2006 @ 2:43 am
Well, I actually find myself being a bit extra harsh on paid reviews, and all the views are my own. That I guess is the difference between one of my paid posts and an infomercial, that’s why full disclosure and the flexibility for negative reviews is important to me.
Comment by Friedbeef — December 9, 2006 @ 11:43 am
[…] Andrew Johnson of Web Publishing Blog has an opinion on this matter. […]
Pingback by Say No to Paid Blog Posts from ReviewMe and PayPerPost? « Sabahan.com — December 11, 2006 @ 9:59 pm
[…] Andrew at WebPublishingBlog has come out strongly against Pay for Post services, so have many others in this industry. I’m not one of them. […]
Pingback by » Paid Blog Posts » Website Publisher Blog » Website Promotion, Generating Revenue, Website Management — August 30, 2007 @ 8:00 am
I think it all depends on how the post is done. For example, post paid reviews, but
1) I openly say that it’s a sponsored review (if readers don’t want to read paid reviews, they’ll know right away to skip that post),
2) I only review products or services that I would have happily reviewed for free,
3) I don’t do reviews for anything that I don’t like (bad publicity is still publicity, which is what they want, so if I don’t like their product, service, company, etc., I won’t post a review, a link, or anything),
4) I’m honest.
My opinion on posting to personal vs. professional blogs is the opposite of yours, though. I’m actually skeptical of any “professional” blog, site, service, etc. if I know that the “professional” is getting paid to promote something. So I don’t put any paid reviews on my professional site (all reviews are done for free) because I want people trust my professional opinions.
But on my personal diary blog, I don’t worry about readership or ranks. I’m not interested in pleasing my diary readers. Why? Because it’s my freakin’ diary; I can write whatever I want in there (as long as it isn’t illegal since it’s published). That’s the point of a personal diary blog. I write in my diary for myself, and one of the things I like to do for myself is make a few extra bucks. If companies want to pay me $5 or $10 to take about 10 minutes of my time to write a few hundred words about them in my diary, it’s no big deal to me, especially if their product or service is something I would have happily reviewed for free without their offer. As long as I stick to my own sense of integrity (e.g. being honest, not doing reviews for things I don’t like or haven’t tried out, etc.), then I don’t feel the slightest bit guilty about getting a few bucks for it.
Comment by KristensGuide.com — January 29, 2008 @ 9:31 pm