GTD Wannabe

My 2 Cents on ReviewMe

I just received an email from David, who was concerned after reading a recent article on the Consumerist about the ReviewMe website. In that article, ReviewMe was accused (allegedly accused?) of having several blogs in their stable, when those blogs, such as LifeHacker, had no interest at all in selling reviews. David noticed that my site was listed as well, and was concerned that someone was pulling a fast one.

It turns out that I am a listed member in the ReviewMe stable. You may have noticed a couple of reviews that I have done lately. You should also have noticed that when I do a review for ReviewMe, I title it “Sponsored Review:…” and include some fine print at the beginning that says I’m doing this for pay.

Let’s discuss this whole concept. I found ReviewMe from another blog that I read often (sorry, I can’t think of which one). On that blog, there was a ReviewMe review, for ReviewMe actually. I liked the blogger and decided to check out the product. I looked into ReviewMe, and cynical though I am, I decided to try it out. I signed up and some months later, I got a request to do a review. I thought about it, decided I could try it out, and I did it. I posted the review. I did actually get paid. It takes a while to get the money, but no more time than it takes to get money from Feedburner or Google Adsense. I thought, okay, if I don’t get major complaints from my readers, I can do this again. No complaints from my readers. No commentary at all.

I’m not completely stupid - I know that businesses would rather have a review done as a blog post than just stick an ad somewhere. It’s the same reason that blogrolls aren’t as good as posts highlighting blogs (see here, courtesy of here). Do I feel that I’m selling myself when I write these reviews? No. The purpose of this blog is for me to impart information - information about how I’m learning about GTD, how I’m doing GTD, tips and tricks in software that I know that maybe you don’t, and highlighting new things that I find that you might be interested in.

Sometimes, I get an idea out of the blue, and blog about it. Sometimes, I’ll read something online and just have to write about it. Sometimes, I’ll get an email asking me to check out a new blog. Sometimes, an email offering me a license to try out some application. Sometimes, it’s a comment to one of my posts that points me to something new. All this to say that not all of my ideas come out of nowhere - they’re usually sparked by something outside of me. That’s why I don’t feel bad about writing a review that I’m getting paid for. To me, it’s just another source of inspiration, albeit one that will put a few dollars in my pocket. And let’s be honest, it’s not like I’m making much money on this blog. I’m not a top tier blog; I don’t have actual advertising - I depend on Google’s Adsense and Feedburner. That’s it. I make enough to pay for a little bit of web space for my Evernote Templates, with a little left over to buy me a new book, or an application I’ve been trying out, or a donation for a good cause.

The other thing to realize is that when I do a review for ReviewMe, I’m not getting paid for the content of the post I produce. There are two restrictions that ReviewMe stipulates - I have to clearly identify the post as a paid, or sponsored, post. And it has to be at least 200 words long. That’s it. I don’t have to like the product I’m reviewing. I don’t even have to be polite. If I review something and it sucks so bad that I run screaming from the room, well, I can write that. Fortunately, I haven’t had that happen yet. I’m a pretty nice person by nature, and will always try to find something nice to say; but I’m not going to pull any punches. If I review something, and it’s awful, then I’m going to tell you it’s awful, and why I think that. What I’m getting paid for is my time. And to be honest, they’re getting off pretty lightly with what they pay.

So, what I really want to say is that I don’t believe that ReviewMe has nefarious intentions. I’m inclined to go with the comment on the above-mentioned article, where Gavin from ReviewMe states “This was not an attempt by ReviewMe of trying to deceive advertisers but was a case where we left a loophole in our system where a blog could be added by someone who did not own the blog.”

Okay, that’s enough of me standing on a soapbox. Please, discuss.

And, I’d like to give a big hug to David for looking out for my well-being :)