Ok, let's face it Paid Reviews on blogs are here to stay whether you like it or not and anybody who says that smaller blogs should not be paid to review sites...well they should reconsider.
So if you are planning to get into the market to gain some linkbacks, reviews and comments from the readers of a blog then listen up this is what you should know.
Your product
It's important to have a viable product one that a blogger will feel like writing about on their blog. If your product is boring guess what your review will be boring. So don't expect bloggers to get all hyped over nothing because it's not going to happen. No matter which channel you use ReviewMe, PayPerPost, LoudLaunch, Creamaid, Blogitive or soon to be launched Sponsored Reviews.
If you have a product that might not get too much attention from the blogosphere then I suggest spending your money on a good SEO person.
Your Review
See there is this whole big thing concerning the tone of a post with paid reviews. Some people think its unethical and some say its OK. So when you suggest to the blogger that a review needs to be positive make sure that your product is worth a positive one.
Always ask for a neutral review and just explain what your product is about and let the blogger take it from there. Requesting for a few buzz words and certain verbiage is fine as long as it doesn't seem like the post will look doctored by you and not actually written by the blogger. Which in the end will hurt the bloggers credibility and your review as well.
Links
It is perfectly fine to ask for a link with certain anchor text but state out from the beginning what kind of links you want it helps a blogger create better content around your keywords. If you want more than 1 link that's fine but asking a blogger to include 3 or 4 links because you want more keywords pointing to your domain can be not only be detrimental to your review but also might not get you that many reviews if you're using a publisher controlled blog review platform like payperpost.
I would say 2 links is fine and 3 is the maximum to request.
Words & Money
If you want a more concise and thought out review of 300 words or more a good suggestion is to expect to pay a bare minimum of $15.00. Don't ask for more than 100 words with a $5.00 budget for a review and 3 links. At that price you will only get smaller blogs who are willing to take that money and not more established ones.
As on ReviewMe the lowest price is $30.00 a post for the low traffic blogs, if you're using the other networks and have a $5.00 budget per post then a 50 word plug at your site and 1 or 2 links is what a blogger would expect to offer.
For $5.00 better bloggers with higher traffic levels will not bother accepting your 300 word positive review with 3 required links along with set anchor text...it just won't work.
About pictures, 1 to show your logo is fine for a $5.00 post for 50 words and a link. More pictures need more words and hence a higher budget.
One more thing
Please don't ask bloggers to sign up for your service unless you want a more objective review, then expect to pay a minimum of $20.00. If a blogger/reviewer really likes your service he/she will sign up - just don't force them to for the sake of building up a user database.
Benefits
Getting bloggers to write about your product or site is a great way to gain some traffic and information out in the web. You benefit from linkbacks with the search engines, the blog readers comment and maybe offer some insightful feedback plus the post stays for the life of the blog and most blogs are search engine friendly so anybody looking for an opinion of your site/product will chance upon the review at one point of time or the other.
Technorati Tags: payperpost, blogging for money, paid reviews
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Smart ideas. Good thinking.
“Requesting for a few buzz words and certain verbiage is fine as long as it doesn’t seem like the post will look doctored by you and not actually written by the blogger. Which in the end will hurt the bloggers credibility and your review as well.”
From the reading end this is a vital thing to remember – I have seen several very readbale blogs crumble under the weight of sponsored posts. It does destroy any credibility and most of their readability.
also a blogger here & experience largely from a bloggers point of view
still points raised are by large accurate
an interesting look at sponsored posts
I agree with this post.
I think more advertisers should consider opening up to the smaller blogs though (not specifically me, I don’t do that much advertising only 2 a month), but the smaller blogs are starting to have a larger influence as the blogosphere grows.