MappingTheWeb //

As many readers know, I am a huge hater of PayPerPost. I disagree with their business model in every way, shape, and form. But relief has come - in the form of ReviewMe. This new start-up promises to take care of all of the short-comings of PayperPost. Thank god.

ReviewMe just launched yesterday. The service pays bloggers to post about a company’s product or service. ReviewMe is backed by recently acquired Text Link Ads. Now let’s cut the crap and get to the point. Why is ReviewMe better than PayPerPost? Three reasons:

• Most importantly, you MUST provide disclosure with every post. This ensures readers know that the blogger is being paid to post about a certain product or service. Once again, I reiterate that I am okay with being paid to blog, but I think disclosure is absolutely 100% essential.
• Secondly, PayPerPost offers a single fee per post. This doesn’t make sense whatsoever. If am an A-list blogger with 200,000 visits a day, I’d expect to be paid more for a post than Joe Average with 5 visits a week. ReviewMe uses an algorithm based on stats from Alexa, Technorati, and other sources to determine the price per post on a specific blog. Much more sophisticated and intelligent.
• Finally, posts do NOT have to be positive. If a blogger reviews a product or service and finds it hard to use or useless altogether, they can post negatively about the good or service without fear of backlash from the company. Once again, this maintains a level of trust and transparency in the blogosphere.

Interesting points to note: A company spokesperson was quoted as saying, ”We are planning on burying PayPerPost.” In addition, the company is giving away $25,000 for bloggers who write about the service (ReviewMe itself).  

I hope that any blogger who signed up for PayPerPost re-establishes their values and switches over to ReviewMe.

And get this, ReviewMe didn’t even pay me to review them. Maybe one day when my power goes out and I’m stuck eating Kraft Dinner in the dark…