Chilling (Side) Effects Of Paid Reviews

Things change. Our opinions change. In the past I was proponent and an advocate of paid or sponsored reviews. The change in this respect was slow. But maybe things that come to us slow stay with us longer. I certainly hope this to be true about me and realization how ugly paid reviews can be. Notice I said can be, because I still think that there are few remarkable bloggers who can make it work. But 99.9% bloggers who are writing paid reviews should not be blogging to begin with.

If you are still thinking that paid reviews is a good way to make money you should consider at least two things:

• Your paid review can send the chills down other people’s spines. Some may say that Matt Cutts example is way to extreme, however if you look around the web there are many examples of these reviews. As Matt points out, how would you feel if a relative of your or lets make it more personal. How would you feel if you were diagnosed with brain cancer to find that sort of paid reviews? Don’t you feel the chills going down your spine? I do.
• Your review can send the chills down your own spine. Now of course when I was still advocating paid reviews, I would have never written such a review. In fact the few opportunities I took, I even tried to provide some constructive criticism. However I had to learn a hard way how much advertisers really care about your so called “constructive criticism”. So when I received Cease and Desist letter, I definitely felt the chills going down my spine.

I really think with paid reviews it all boils down to links and page rank. Even with thousands of subscribers you are nothing, and no one really cares about your expertise and your so called “constructive criticism”. Sorry to bring it to you but your blog is not the center of the universe.

So I guess this chapter of my journey is closing for good. And if you ever decide to try your way in paid review, don’t waste your time. You can make more money by promoting reputable merchants than by writing a review about a startup that turns out to be a ripoff.