When we talk about making money through blogging, there are some simple methods such as AdSense , other advertising programs, affiliate marketing , direct advertising sales, and paid reviews.
As blogs grew, companies realized the importance of having a voice on their blogs. Some sponsored giveaways, some bought direct advertising, and some sponsored paid reviews.
Paid reviews are very effective because each review is likely to stay on the web as long as the website exists. Therefore, it is great for advertisers. And for bloggers, it is a great opportunity to earn more income from their blogs.
Paid reviews are something that many people know about but usually ignore. They don’t realize that there is a lot of money to be made from paid reviews.
If you have a niche blog on any topic, then there is a high chance that a lot of people will contact you to review their products on your blog.
During your journey, you will receive a lot of emails with product reviews.
The big question now is…
Should you do reviews for free or for a fee?
This becomes a little trickier when you get paid requests for products you want to review, but you need to be aware that this is also an opportunity to get paid upfront for the few hours of work you plan to put in.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when doing reviews: Free or Paid.
Don’t be afraid to review if the product you’re being asked to review is relevant to your niche.
If you find the product useful for your readership and you think other users would benefit from it, get a sample of the product and review it.
Also, if you feel there is a product on the market that you think is worth buying, you can just go out and do a review; instead of waiting for advertisers to come to you.
Note: You can also check to see if the company has an affiliate program you can join.
Is the product free or paid?
Should you do free reviews or paid reviews?
Don’t be afraid to review if the product you’re being asked to review is relevant to your niche.
If you find the product useful for your readership and you think other users would benefit from it, get a sample of the product and review it.
Also, if you feel there is a product on the market that you think is worth buying, you can just go out and do a review; instead of waiting for advertisers to come to you.
Note: You can also check to see if the company has an affiliate program you can join.
Is the product free or paid?
Sometimes potential advertisers will contact you and tell you about a free version of a product.
Whenever someone asks you to review a product, always check to see if there is a paid version of that product. If so, don’t be afraid to ask for a paid review. After all, you’ll be generating business for them.
As far as I am concerned, whenever I am asked to review any web service or product, I always check if there is a paid version of the product. But if there is only a free version and the product seems useful, I will review it for free.
Most of the time, reviews are paid for one of three reasons:
- Backlinks
- transportation
- touch
Backlinks
If your blog has a decent domain authority, there is a good chance that many advertisers will contact you for a review while providing a link to their website. Since you have an authoritative blog and are in the same niche, such backlinks mean a lot.
transportation
High traffic is another factor that people look for when soliciting paid reviews. These advertisers’ goal isn’t backlinks; instead, they’re more interested in getting targeted traffic in order to make more sales.
So, if you own a niche website and are driving targeted traffic from Google, you can easily attract advertisers who want to buy reviews from you.
touch
Let's say I created a new product and people don't know about it. The easiest way to tell people about it is to buy some cheap paid reviews on some popular blogs and websites related to the product.
This will increase brand awareness and people will start to know about the product. It is similar to buying a banner ad but more effective because the product is discussed in depth.
Should You Do Paid Reviews?
The short answer is, yes!
There’s nothing wrong with paid reviews, and in fact, it can help you make money upfront. But you need to be careful about the products you review on your blog.
You should try a product before you buy it, and if possible, try a similar product. This is also your chance to learn about a completely new product category.
Doing so will help you elicit the most authentic reviews, which your users will reward you with loyalty and subsequent sales.
Make sure to ask for samples from advertisers so that you can write an honest review.
Here are 6 tips for writing paid reviews:
1. Understand product details
Before writing a paid review, the first thing to know is the product, company, terms and conditions, etc. All this information will give you a general idea of the review you are going to write on your blog. Read reviews about the product and if possible, try the product, this will ensure that you have chosen the right product to write a review about.
In case of software, the best way to write a review is to download it and try it yourself. This way, you can understand the possible strengths and problems of the software. When you write a review, make sure to mention both the pros and cons of the software. Otherwise, you will lose trust even though you wrote a great review.
2. Confidence
Accept paid reviews only after you are confident about the product. There is no point in selling products that are not worthwhile or useful to your readers. Trust is the most important part of blogging and a single wrong suggestion to your readers can cause you to lose readers and followers. If you are sure that the product is useful, then you will surely write a killer paid review.
3. Be Useful to Your Readers
Blogging is not just about making money online, it is more about sharing useful information for your readers. So, when writing paid reviews, make sure you write for your readers and not just for the money. For example, if you have a technology blog, accept reviews about useful websites, gadgets, or tech services rather than reviews of clothing or any other related products.
**Also read: **How to write for your readers
4. Express your opinion
Many bloggers usually copy the content and features of a product website and write a review. But if you want to write a paid review effectively, you need to give your own opinion on the product and not copy it from someone else’s blog. If you think the product has few downsides, then write about it in your review. After all, a review is all about sharing an authentic opinion.
5. Get your readers involved
When you write a paid review, make sure not to write a typical review that starts with a feature and ends with the same. Your paid review must engage with the readers. Don’t just end the review with your opinion, ask your readers to provide helpful feedback. If you keep an open ending in your review, your readers will definitely show interest while commenting.
6. Use the Schema plugin to add review summaries:
Reviews are very useful for getting traffic from search engines, and with the new schema data, you can add ratings to the software, tool products you are reviewing and display them in star ratings. Here is an example of a GoDaddy article with star ratings displayed:
Now it will not only help you get more clicks but also help you increase trust. Be honest when giving ratings and remember that the best ratings are given only to excellent products. You can use WP Review pro which is the one we use. With this plugin, you can also add review summary boxes around your content.
This is great for readers to quickly read comments on your content and get more clicks. If you don’t like the color of the comment box in the screenshot above, don’t worry! You can customize the look and feel of the comment box.
In my opinion, there is no harm in doing paid reviews, but make sure you only review products that are relevant to your market and that you have personally used.
Do you accept paid reviews? What criteria do you use to decide if you should do a paid review? Let me know in the comments below.
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