ReviewMe - Paid Reviews Done Right?

There's certainly no shortage of bloggers writing about the new compensated review service, ReviewMe, which officially launched on November 9th. In a great example of a company "eating their own dog food", ReviewMe is paying bloggers to write reviews of their new service. In fact, this is a paid review.

I must admit to feeling a little dirty being paid to write a review of anything. However, there are a few things that set ReviewMe apart from their competition in the paid review arena, and I believe these differences are the reason that so many bloggers have been willing to give the service a try. ReviewMe requires its reviewers to disclose that they are being paid, so it's clear to readers that the reviewer has been compensated. Also, reviewers are not required or even encouraged to write positive reviews.

The truth is, I've been wanting to mention this service anyway because a lot of people have been talking about it, many of them bloggers excited about the opportunity to earn some income from their posts. However, I think the real opportunity here is for advertisers, because ReviewMe offers an interesting alternative to link buying and traditional pay-per-click advertising.

Advertisers can choose to advertise on a variety of blogs, and there are already some high profile publishers signed up for the service. Right now, the top blog listed in the Web Development category is Search Engine Journal, which covers news in the Search Engine Marketing sector. ReviewMe lists the rate for a review from Search Engine Journal at $250. Compare this to regular advertising on the same site: $300 per month for a graphic ad on the right side of the screen with other advertisers. A ReviewMe ad seems like a better value in this case, since a review is far more likely to be noticed by readers than a traditional ad. Also, I'd assume that most reviewers will continue to keep their paid reviews archived along with their regular posts, so your review will be around much longer than a one month advertising spot.

Assuming, of course, that your product or service is good enough to garner positive reviews, ReviewMe looks very attractive next to traditional online advertising. With reviews available for a little as $30 (for smaller sites, of course), I expect to see more companies testing the waters of the paid review market as a means to generate buzz.