Day by day, the amount of bloggers using paid review sites like ReviewMe, PayPerPost etc.. increases. But, this is really bad especially when bloggers start filling their blogs with these alone like how John Chow is doing. :D
Here are 4 reasons why you should avoid doing Paid reviews.
1) You become Greedy
I am not insisting that Paid reviews should be banned. Two or Three reviews per month would be good. But, once you start writing paid posts and once your review’s cost goes up, you become greedy and start doing more reviews. This is what happened with John Chow.
2) Your Drive your Visitors away
When you just start receiving review offers, you would try to fulfill each one of them. Some of them might not even be related to your blog’s topic. And, moreover all these reviews require you to reveal that it is a paid post. So, your visitors might be disappointed and may go away.
3) Google Effects
“Review for a linkback” contests are one of the most popular in the blogosphere. Google recently penalized John Chow for his linkbak promotion. It wouldn’t take much time for Google to penalize blogs for Paid Posts. So, it is better to stay away from them.
4) You Lose Creativity
Its natural. Once you start receiving a number of reviews, you start depending on it for content. So, gradually you lose Creativity. Less creativity ultimately means less visitors.
I know some blogs that do paid reviews, and I don’t mind that, so long as they’re kept in moderation.
You’re right about all of these drawkbacks though. Many blogs go over the top. It’s the surest way of losing me as a reader… :(
Well, if you’re blogging to make money, you shouldn’t be ashamed to make money. If you’re blogging for some sort of personal fulfillment, then you can do whatever you’d like. My opinion is, if you’re spending a lot of time trying to create a blog, you should be compensated for it. You’re not selling out if you never bragged about how holier than thou you were in the first place. Even so, who cares. The market will tell you when it’s too much.
I think that paid reviews are okay as long as you disclose that they are. Also, you shouldn’t overdo it. I wouldn’t be put off by a few paid reviews on a blog I like. But if the proportion went over, say, a third I’d start to wonder why that person is blogging. I’d think: Are you doing this just for money, or writing what you think?
Too bad there are thousands of blogs popping up everyday just to write paid reviews. I agree that a few paid reviews every month is fine.