When I first heard the concept “paid-to-blog”, I felt like I had hit jackpot. What was there not to love? I loved blogging and writing about a variety of subjects. Hell, even some of the famous probloggers like Yaro Starak or John Chow had initiated some of their incomes through sites like Review Me.
– Not all of them accept free blog platforms like Blogger (Google’s Blogspot).
– The well-paying and most-sought after ones might be hard to get accepted into (in terms of traffic/etc).
– Not all of them are OK with URL extensions such as blogs. For instance, this blog’s URL is writing.pinartarhan.com, and it is OK. However my entertainment blog, http://pinartarhan.com/blog/, wasn’t accepted to some sites because of the “blog” extension at the end. Smorty was one.
– Most of the review jobs offer low pay, such as $1-5 for 100-200 words.
– Most of the advertisers require that it is a positive review- which wouldn’t have been entirely unacceptable if they hadn’t also required you to not mention it is a paid review. Why would you put your credibility on the line for anyone?
– Most of the advertisers/websites offered to you are irrelevant to your blog’s topic.
– Some of them only accept sites that get over a certain amount of traffic and/or have a certain PR (Google Page Rank). Even if the site doesn’t require that, a lot advertisers listed require a certain PR, even though they pay ridiculously low amounts.
– Some of the sites are country-specific, so you can’t write for them if you are out of their preferred/obligatory tax/geographical zone.
Aren’t there advantages? Sure there are:
– Almost all these sites come with their own affiliate programs, so you can recommend using them. Why do you think there are so many articles written about them? I suspect many bloggers using these sites make more money through being an affiliate rather than actual blog posts they wrote for the sites.
– Many pay via PayPal.
– It’s relatively easy to write 100 words and place a couple of links.
– If you are using one of the top sites, and your site is a strong one, you can get paid a decent amount/review.
– You can use your experience and recommendations when you are applying for website/blogging jobs.
What are some of these sites?
Smorty (However Smorty also enables you to publish banner ads.)
Where do I stand?
For me, the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages, so I don’t get excited about these sites anymore. Sure, if a great site with lots of pros comes out, I might give it a try. But for now, I am staying away. What’s your take on these sites?
Please note that I used the site links to the review sites. They’re not affiliate links.
Good post. You probably forgot to mention that these days Google doesn’t want bloggers to write paid reviews and considers it as selling of links. Those who keep doing it are rewarded with PR drop and rank drop. It’s better staying away from these paid review platforms.
You are right, I probably thought I covered it when I said you put your credibility on the line.