ReviewMe Experience

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[FormerAdmin]

Hi,

I'm not sure that I can recommend ReviewMe - they rejected On Blogging Australia so I am feeling, well, rejected Let's put the inadvisability of paid reviews to one side for a second.

I blogged about it as ReviewMe: Review This!.

I know that it is business, nothing personal, they're only trying to keep the scammers out, blah blah blah, but it hurts to get an email inferring that you aren't popular or you are a fake. Diplomacy is possibly not their strong point.

Here's the email I received:

    Hello Andrew Boyd,

    We are sorry but the website you have suggested http://onblogging.com.au has been declined at this time. The main reasons a website is declined are:

    - The website is a suspected fake.
    - The website does not have enough link popularity.
    - The website does not have enough traffic.

    *Please note that our algorithm that accepts or rejects inventory submissions can make mistakes and if you feel the above criteria does not accurately describe your website, please reply to this email asking for further review by our editorial staff.

Imagine walking up to someone at a business function and handing them your business card. They look at you and say "I'm sorry, I can't do business with you. Either you're a fake or nobody likes you, or nobody thinks you're worth talking to, or all three". What a horrible thing to say.

Has anyone else had this rejection from them?

Cheers, Andrew

[FormerAdmin]

Hi,

I should add, to be fair, I've asked ReviewMe to review their decision, or possibly even justify it (but my feeling is that they will not reply - most people who make money out of bloggers are fairly content to treat us like cattle).

Best regards, Andrew

[FormerAdmin]

Hi,

it gets better

Just received this email from ReviewMe:

Hello Andrew Boyd,

Your site http://onblogging.com.au has been accepted and we are now ready to begin accepting review orders.

The Financials

The price for a review on http://onblogging.com.au will be $0.00 per review. You may accept or deny any reviews that are ordered.

*Please note final pricing is set in this range by ReviewMe based on current market demand.

Your check will be mailed to you the 1st of every month. You can login to your account at any time to monitor earnings.

ReviewMe

Cool! Now I can do paid reviews for nothing!

At this rate, I can retire in... ummm.... hmmm. Anyone with a Math degree want to help me out here?

Cheers, Andrew

[FormerAdmin]

OK... the saga is drawing to a close.

ReviewMe support let me know that I can adjust that figure in my profile settings. So I won't be asking anyone to review me for free, or reviewing anyone else for free (however that works - I am sure that they will tell me, well, I hope so anyhow)

Best regards, Andrew

[Lani]

   If they are going to use automated/form emails (which it looks like they do, they should probably put a little more effort into writing them once. 

[Kelley]

Well thanks for the heads up.  If they are saying that you are not 'popular enough'  I  won't be darkening their doorways! I don't think my poor widdle ego could take the hit!

[Sueblimely]

OK... the saga is drawing to a close.

ReviewMe support let me know that I can adjust that figure in my profile settings. So I won't be asking anyone to review me for free, or reviewing anyone else for free (however that works - I am sure that they will tell me, well, I hope so anyhow)

Best regards, Andrew

And there I was about to sign up to get a free  review from you 

[Evan]

I guess I have a big ego.  They sound like idiots. 

Thanks for the information.  I shall definitely be avoiding them.

[Suzie]

I just did my first review last week, that I accepted at a real price- was $ 60 and I got $30 into my paypal account on Monday

it was good to do as i was able to tell a story

 here is the link
Take Time to Treat Yourself/

What i liked was that I only has to put in a link to the site, not review the site or the product.  it was spas

The next ones that came in I declined as they wanted to pay only $ 5 and were about  bar stools and weird things- now trying to get my category changed to more than lifestyle.

Hope that helps


Suzie

[FormerAdmin]

I just did my first review last week, that I accepted at a real price- was $ 60 and I got $30 into my paypal account on Monday

it was good to do as i was able to tell a story

 here is the link
Take Time to Treat Yourself/

What i liked was that I only has to put in a link to the site, not review the site or the product.  it was spas

The next ones that came in I declined as they wanted to pay only $ 5 and were about  bar stools and weird things- now trying to get my category changed to more than lifestyle.

Hope that helps


Suzie

Hi Suzie,

keep reporting back on how it goes - I think that there are a few people who are interested in how they operate, judging by the number of readers for this thread.

Best regards, Andrew

[FormerAdmin]

  If they are going to use automated/form emails (which it looks like they do, they should probably put a little more effort into writing them once. 

Hi Lani,

I agree,

Most information support (that is, everything but the application functionality itself) for private web applications is pretty-well non-existent, and government ones not much better. This is nothing new - people have been railing against the lack of effective information support for a very long time - since the 1970s that I have been able to trace back, and probably before then with some digging.

The dumb thing is that ReviewMe have at least one guy answering emails - manually - when they could indeed put a little more information into their automated system/acknowledgement emails and save themselves a bucketload of support time. Human intervention is always the most costly option (but should be there as a final resort every time).

Cheers, Andrew

[Snoskred]

Anyone wanting to use review me, just be warned that unless the links are no followed, you are probably going to be Google Slapped at some point. It may not bother you, or it may make you very angry.  :rshocked:

[scotty]

I think I made around $200-$250 from ReviewMe between late 2006 and early 2007. Signed up three of my blogs of different niches (they all "used" to have PR5-6) although all except one reviews went to my shopping-related blog.

IMHO, way too much work Each review pays me $30-$40 but I can usually spend 2 hours writing one. I know it's 200 words minimum but I usually write for 600-1000 words + images. It is not counting the time to do the actual review (say, visiting the website, figuring out what it is about, taking screenshots, etc). In one review I actually have to use the product and setup something useful to prove my points.

Not happy with ReviewMe taking 50% cut either.

Also remember, ReviewMe ran by the same shop who runs Text-Link-Ads.com, and TLA usually forbids you to add nofollow on links.

I cancelled my ReviewMe account by mid-2007 for the fear of almighty-G. Somehow all my ReviewMe reviews became supplemental result in Google's SERP. I wrote my experience here. Don't think I am going back to paid blogging anytime soon. I am happy to blog just for me (although some people do read my blogs), instead of blog for someone else's money.

[StephenCronin]

What i liked was that I only has to put in a link to the site, not review the site or the product.

Hi Suzie,

As Snos said above, you need to be careful about Google slapping you (the link doesn't have nofollow). It sounds like the advertiser is only after the link for PageRank and Google definitely don't like that.

Are you allowed to remove the This is a sponsored post line? If that's not against ReviewMe terms of service, get rid of it - as it makes it more likely that Google will detect it as a paid link.

[scotty]

Are you allowed to remove the This is a sponsored post line? If that's not against ReviewMe terms of service, get rid of it - as it makes it more likely that Google will detect it as a paid link.

When I was with ReviewMe, you **MUST** disclose that it is a sponsored post, which is a big plus for ReviewMe (comparing to PayPerPost which does not always force you to put up a disclaimer).

[StephenCronin]

Are you allowed to remove the This is a sponsored post line? If that's not against ReviewMe terms of service, get rid of it - as it makes it more likely that Google will detect it as a paid link.

When I was with ReviewMe, you **MUST** disclose that it is a sponsored post, which is a big plus for ReviewMe (comparing to PayPerPost which does not always force you to put up a disclaimer).

Could you use an image to disclose this instead of text? ie an image called somerandomname.png which shows the text "This is a sponsored post". That'd make it harder to detect - and it appears Google is actively looking for posts with that.

[scotty]

Could you use an image to disclose this instead of text? ie an image called somerandomname.png which shows the text "This is a sponsored post". That'd make it harder to detect - and it appears Google is actively looking for posts with that.

Sure. Or scramble it in Javascript or whatever.

But then you are fighting a war with a team of PhD's, over something that is a little bit black hat.

Good luck