Comments on: Do you write positive paid reviews on your blog?

By: Make Money Online | Blogging United » Firefox Plugins | Link Love | Pay Per Install

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 17:09:23 +0000

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By: mkc

mkc — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:28:36 +0000

Hey, guys, that word is spelled d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y .

I often have to spell check it myself.

By: Itsme

Itsme — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 08:30:34 +0000

I can’t believe how much rationalization is going on here!

First, to have any integrity, you should reject the review requests that request only a positive review. You shouldn’t even look at the site.

Secondly, when you sell your “advertorial” you are really just gaming google. G has cracked down on the worst abuses and will crack down on lesser abuses in the future. As a search engine user, I resent the waste of my time that the gaming of google causes.

You can rationalize this process any way you want, but ultimately your paid reviews end up being funded by wasting the time of the honest search engine user.

By: Arch Pedant

Arch Pedant — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:35:58 +0000

Such encouraging words Rodney. I believe most writers do have an editor to catch the odd typo. It’s not like posting a quick comment on a blog is the same as contributing to a major tome though is it? I think displaying one’s personal pedantry in such as crude manner is actually more of an embarrassment than making a simple typing error.

By: Rodney

Rodney — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:21:25 +0000

1) You can’t spell “guarantee.”

2) I hope that when you sell your “services is a science writer” that you have an editor reading behind you…

I don’t mean to be a pain, but anyone who claims to make a living as any kind of writer should be embarrassed…

By: Christine

Christine — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:47:45 +0000

I feel the same way about advertising. If the product is something I would recommend and review anyway, and is in the context of the blog, I’ll do it. If I’m asked to recommend something less than stellar, I will say no.

By: Are Paid Reviews Unethical? : Blogthority

Are Paid Reviews Unethical? : Blogthority — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:08:53 +0000

[...] Do you write positive paid reviews on your blog? at Blogging Tips [...]

By: learn aikido

learn aikido — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:18:41 +0000

This is something i’ve not heard of before but I would have to rview the site and make my own decision. Never been any good at being told what to think / write

Regards
Pad

By: problogineer

problogineer — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:02:01 +0000

And how much you get for a review on bloggingtips

Yes, dont accept only positive.

By: Sunday Link Love & Announcements | The Net Fool

Sunday Link Love & Announcements | The Net Fool — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 20:19:33 +0000

[...] Blogging Tips – Do You Write Positive Paid Reviews on Your Blog? [...]

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:04:34 +0000

LOL That’s a relief.

I sell my services is a science writer.

By: Missy

Missy — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:00:39 +0000

David: I don’t know you, so why would you be on my bad books. Not at all. But you did not answer my question. What do you sell?

I also know many bloggers who do not DIRECTLY make money from their blogs, but do so indirectly. No difference to me.

We may take different roads, but the destination is the same. Yes.

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:54:16 +0000

Missy, I’m not quite sure whether I’m now in your good books or your bad books after that For the record, I am a journalist, but I am also a blogger. I’ve got no qualms about making money from either, and thankfully do (so far), but I wouldn’t publish advertorial content without labeling it as such in some way, that way my readers know where they stand. But, as to all bloggers blogging for money. No. They don’t. I know plenty of bloggers who do it for the sake of it, have no ads, not even adsense, write niche blogs anonymously, have decent readership nevertheless, but are most certainly not in it to make a direct financial profit.

By: Missy

Missy — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:43:03 +0000

“So, my journalistic ethics aren’t compromised, the client got the “review” out there and the advertising they needed”. to quote – David Bradley

Since when did bloggers become journalists? And since when is new media like old media? We aren’t journalists. Well, maybe you are David, i don’t know you, so maybe YOU are. But most bloggers aren’t journalists.

Yes, there is a BIG difference between writing a review that is totally irrelevant to one’s main blog topic area. Or perhaps a review on something that you personally don’t believe in, agree with, like, condone, etc.

But let’s not all deny the fact, that we blog for money. C’mon pick up any magazine, look at any TV show, what will you see? That’s right commercials and ads. Commerce is part of our lives. It is how we feed ourselves, our kids, etc.

Yes, there is a right way and an offensive way to make money online via our blogs. But let’s all fess up here.

KEVIN: By your own admission above, you did not take the $25 review, because you felt the site was “average and/ or very poor”. This is perfectly within your right.

Most of us (bloggers) tend to treat our blogs with lots of TLC. And many times we need to take out readership in mind, and reject certain offers and/ or requests we receive. Yes.

But to those above who said they WILL or WOULD NEVER take a review, and that it is akin to pimping, prostituting, etc, you most likely have ads on the sidebar or elsewhere on your blog or site. What is the difference? There is no difference. We need to survive by selling, plain and simple.

Thing is people sell different things. Maybe i sell reviews, maybe i sell a service, maybe i sell my sidebar, etc.

What do you sell?

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:44:22 +0000

Newspapers and magazines have, as you know, been publishing standalone advertorials for years and years. I don’t think anyone reading them is fooled into believing they are any more an endorsement than a more conventional format ad, or is that just my cynical mind?