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.
