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Full Disclosure: This is a sponsored post
With out a doubt, the next few days the blogosphere will be awash in similar posts as this, as the creators of Text Link Ads have announced a new service, ReviewMe. Basically it’s another advertising system, in which those wanting to advertise can search out blogs to have them “review” their product or service. Primarily done via tag searches, you can then choose the site(s) you want to advertise on based on the amount of traffic the site gets. Obviously, the more the traffic the site gets, the more you spend. To that end, ReviewMe is offering any person who registers the opportunity to cash in immediately, and write a review of their service. Pretty smart, really. Normally, a site is given a price, and ReviewMe splits the amount between the blogger and themselves. So by their standards, they are spending $50,000 to do so. (But since they talk half, they are really only spending $25,000. At $250-$20 a payout, that’s a fair amount of buzz and traffic in a short period of time). How does this relate to WordPress you ask,

well not specifically, but a blog is a blog is a blog, and advertising on them is quite often a hot topic, and issue of contention. Do I want blogs full of advertisements, absolutely not. Do I mind an occasional one, no. Obviously not. I have them here. They basically pay my monthly hosting, buy an occasional piece of software, and allow me to donate to plugin developers; which then allows me the little extra time each month to scan the many feeds looking for the announcements, tutorials and releases that make up this blog. Would I feel guilty being paid to review something? No. Earlier this year, I was contacted by Template Monster regarding some comments I had made about their foray into WP themes. They had taken my comments (among others, I’m sure) to heart, and were trying to step it up a bit, and asked if I would take a look at what they had done. Which I obliged. I wasn’t paid for that, though I did get a free template (which I’ve actually not looked at since). My point being, taking time out to do a full review is a far cry different than scanning a post, and linking to it with a few minor comments. I’ve worked hard to get this site to where it’s at, am quite proud that almost 150 people subscribe to the feed these days, and wouldn’t want to jeopardize that by mucking that up with a ton of paid reviews. However if I see a product or service that was compelling enough to share with readers, and the person/company providing that product or service was willing to pay me to take the extra time to fully review it, I would do so. But I’d certainly not be doing health insurance reviews if asked simply for thirty bucks here and there. That said, one other positive point of the ReviewMe service is that you are not compelled to right a positive review. ReviewMe’s stance on that is

We do not allow advertisers to require a positive review. The vast majority of reviews are measuredly positive, although many do contain constructive criticism. We view this as a bonus: how else can you quickly and cheaply get feedback on a product or service from influencers?

However, I digress. ReviewMe’s payouts are based on a combination of the site’s Alexa ranking, Technorati rank, and estimated RSS readership. Basically each get a 0-5 star rating, they are averaged, and your site gets an overall rating. The cost to advertise on a 5 star site is $500, 4 - $250, 3 - $100, 2 - $60, 1 - $40. As I said, the blogger receives half of that.
For those looking for sites, there’s both a search and popular tags cloud. Sites are then listed by default from highest rated to lowest, and once a site is clicked on, a link, screenshot, and the full set of ratings are shown. You can also click a link to see what’s been recently posted on a site (pulled from the sites feed). From there, you can add to a shopping cart, and keep looking. That way, for instance, if you are looking to spend, say $1000, you can spread it around, or just go with a few heavy hitting sites. Regardless of their choice, they choose the site, versus just throwing it out there, and the site choosing who reviews your item/service.
If this paid review is any indication of how others would work, once you are chosen you are given a deadline on completing the review. As far as guidelines, there aren’t many, aside from reviews having to be 200 words or more, you must be sure to disclose it’s a paid review/advertisement. I did find it interesting that there’s not a mention of linking to the product or service.
All in all, if used responsibly, both in the blogsphere and on individual blogs, this service is an excellent way to leverage the power of web logs and their readers.

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