Let’s Talk About Reviews
January 5th, 2007 by Michael Gray in Random ThoughtsIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Read my top posts or learn more about Michael Gray. Want more frequent updates follow me on Twitter. Thanks for visiting!
All right since I’ve gotten some feedback on reviews I’d like to open the subject up for more discussion. If one of my friends friends come out with a tool, piece of software, or something else and asks me to mention it, I’ll go take a look and is long as it’s not a piece of crap or I think it’s stupid I’ll write a paragraph about it and link to it. If I don’t like or think somethings broken I’ll let them know in private rather than blog about how it sucks or is broken.
If someone pays for a review I’m actually going to take the time to look at it. For me just dashing off two paragraphs because I was getting paid would be irresponsible. If the item I was asked to review was going to be anything less than neutral I’d cancel the review (and payment) and let the person know what was wrong in private. If I like the item I’m being asked to review I’m going to say what I like about. Since no product is perfect there will always be room for improvement and things I won’t like or would like to see done differently, and I’ll say that as well. I look at a review as payment for my time and professional opinion not my rubber stamped endorsement.
Now according to my stats there are at least 1600 or so of you people subscribed to this feed. Even if half of you are scraper bots that’s still 800 human beings with thoughts, feelings and opinions on this. I want to hear your opinions if you think the reviews are good or bad, and more importantly I want to know why you feel that way. Keep it civil and within the rules of general etiquette and we won’t have any problems.
Sphere It
January 5th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
I’ve got no problem with you doing paid reviews, as long as you are open about it (which you seem to be). I come here because your content is well written and relevant to my interests, so I might turn off if you started doing a bunch of off-topic reviews. I don’t expect you’d have any reason to do that, though.
January 5th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
This is my problem with the paid reviews so far. They are to damn wordy.
Make them more like normal blog posts. If you like them, highlight a few things and do the recommendation and move on. Don’t try to take us through all the features. If we are interested based on a VERY brief description of the service, we will check it out on our own.
So just make them more like normal blog posts and not something you would turn into a marketing department and we are good to go.
January 5th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
I like reading honest reviews; I find them helpful and if the reviewer is upfront about being paid or having affiliate links in the review then I’m more inclined to take a look at the product.
What I don’t like are reviewers who either don’t mention that they have been paid for the review or provide links without identifying them as affiliate links.
One well-known copywriter’s blog got dumped from my reading list after I got caught three times with reviews about products that were just plain garbage. The links he provided were affiliate links but weren’t noted as such and it seemed to me to be nothing more than just a cheap way of selling off his credibility.
I came away wondering why, if he was such an expert copywriter, did he have to resort to trying to market rubbish.
So if your honest about your reviews then go for it Michael - I for one would certainly appreciate reading them. But be careful not to sell your soul for chump change
January 5th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
I think getting paid for a review is fine. You can even state that you are being paid to review it. As long as you give an honest opinion. I’d even offer to be the first post you do.
You are being paid for your opinion, not for a guaranteed positive review.
January 6th, 2007 at 12:05 am
John Chow loves them.
http://www.johnchow.com/reviewme-advertisers-case-studies/
I think it’s a good idea as well. You just can’t overdo it.
January 6th, 2007 at 12:48 am
Makes me read you less. I’d put the disclosure at the top of the post instead of at the bottom, for one thing.
January 6th, 2007 at 1:14 am
MG, I think the reviews are fine. And unlike Jeremy, I have no problem with the length and detail. I liked your review of Jim B’s link tools a couple weeks ago well enough to write about it and link to it on my blog (double exposure for Jim). The more detail you give, the fewer questions I have about how something works, how it’s best used, etc.
January 6th, 2007 at 1:32 am
I agree with Matt, the disclosures should go at the top of the post. I have found myself scrolling to the bottom of the reviews first to see if they are paid or not.
January 6th, 2007 at 1:58 am
I think your explanation is perfect. Hopefully everyone handles reviews that way.
January 6th, 2007 at 2:12 am
I think you are handling them fine - for the longer ones you might want to put a precis para at the top, to let me quickly understand what you are reviewing so I can quickly decide if that tool interests me or not.
Putting the paid bit at the bottom is fine as you are doing paid reviews in an ethical fashion, per your description - being paid to do a review doesn’t implicitly mean you are biased, despite what some may believe, but it can lead to it.
January 6th, 2007 at 5:01 am
I don’t look at 100’s of reads a day…
I follow this site because I learn things (some relevant, others not)…
When you stumble across something and write about it I read it…
When you get paid to look at something I still read it…
I trust that you give honest opinions no matter how you “find” something.
HOWEVER…
If I was going through 100’s of reads, I would skip the paid reviews because they are not core to your site and I don’t need to know more about “widget x”.
It all comes down to who is reading and what they want out of your site…. but you know that since you are asking.
I don’t think you will get a large response in the comments from readers / subscribers because of your field.
I’ll put it in a chess related scenario…
There’s a master chess player going against 20 opponents. Between each opponent there were barricades so that the games could be seperated. The opponents could choose between a clear barricade, a solid barricade or something in-between.
You of course have an in-between barricade…
Hence, people watch, but they ain’t going to let you look over their barricade…
Or answer your question.
I’m a pessimist at times… but the “scenario” struck me and felt like typing away.
Oh, and in case it was lost in the above jibberish, I’m fine with paid or un-paid reviews as long as they are relevant to the topic. Which I don’t remember you straying from yet.
January 6th, 2007 at 5:29 am
As long as the paid reviews are useful to your readers there is no problem. If the product is something we are likely to hear about then having you review it is a good thing.
January 6th, 2007 at 9:28 am
IMO I don’t think paid reviews is the issue - it’s whether the review offers interest.
You did a review for a SEO tool recently, and all throughout it read like a user guide. That’s not really of interest.
IMO a review needs passion - a reason to read. We respect Greywolf and his opinion, so he needs to give an opinion to respect, without it being obfuscated in a technical paper about using Bob’s new software - ie:
“this feature is great - this product rocks because it does x, y, z, which saves me a time and b money on my weekly schdeule.”
or
“this feature is pants - they took a great idea but failed to deliver on the potential. I’ve emailed them with some suggestions to implement, and if they carry them out, I think this will rock - keep you updated.”
I think this has been a common issue across all the blogs I’ve seen do reviews. The natural blog commentary suddenly changes from relaxed and informal, to stiff and formal.
Maybe that’s just me, but as ou asked for feedback, you got it.
January 6th, 2007 at 9:33 am
ADDED: Check your recent Crazy Egg review. You said it did this great thing, and it rocks. If I hadn’t have tried it, I would have been sold.
I haven’t paid for any posted reviews, but I think if I did, I would definitely want something along the style of your Crazy Egg review - short, passionate, though maybe with a little more info on the features, but not enough to glaze readers eyes over.
January 6th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Brian has a good point. I am glad you are doing paid reviews. If it makes you enough money that you support your family and can keep doing what you love, more power to you.
Sometimes those with the corporate jobs, or who have already made their nut, do not understand what it is to struggle as a burgeoning entreprenuer. To make some money without sacrificing your good will or ethics is not a bad thing at all.
January 6th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
I have enjoyed the reviews and don’t think you being paid to write them had any influence on what you wrote about the product.
The products were relevant.
Jeremy mentioned the length. I suppose being paid, you might be tempted to write more in the review process to ensure you do due diligence.
@Matt Cutts - there are good reasons to put a disclosure at the bottom of a post or feed rather than the top. Research has suggested that Google gives a higher weighting to links at the top of a post compared to those lower down.
If you are linking though to a disclosure policy on every post, it makes sense to have that link at the bottom of the content.
Unfortunately blogs by default also grab snippets from the top of a post, and so do blog search engines.
If you include a disclosure statement at the top of the posts that is quite often going to be listed rather than the real content of the post.
I see this problem every day on my primary blog. I have my tags at the top of each post, and those tags are always in the content listed on Technorati, and then picked up in people’s splogs, or “legitimate” reblogs if they are using Google Reader.
These are some of the reasons I didn’t provide an option to have a disclosure at the top of a post with my Disclosure Policy Plugin.
The plugin does provide the disclosure within the feed, but it shouldn’t turn a feed snippet into purely a disclosure statement plus a list of tags.
Unless an HTML tag is implemented to highlight text that shouldn’t be used in a snippet.
I have actually written one paid review on my blog so far, I think Greywolf actually reviewed it as well. I laced the review with a few affiliate links.
It was a site I had previously visited, Digged, and was also planning to use the content for one of my own niche sites (legally within the terms).
I have been complemented for the review by my readers.
I have also declined one requested review, not because of relevance, because I could have given some SEO pointers to the site, and it was a “niche website”… a yahoo store. The probably was the main topic of the site was to do with a certain game played with cards, and I didn’t want that affecting my advertising options in the future.
January 6th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
I think the review, esp. SoloSEO. are perfectly fine. It is relevant and helpful to your readers.
I don’t think you should shorten them either, as some have suggested. The longer and more detailed the review, the more helpful it is to someone reading it. If people aren’t interested they can move on to their next reading of the day…
As someone who has some interested in trying SoloSEO, for example, you helped provide the details that were lacking on other blogs that just gave me a link saying “check it out.”
And if getting paid for doing that helps you to be able to continue providing all sorts of content for us readers then so be it! It helps you and it helps us.
As long as your review is honest, all is good.
If you start telling us how much you like chicken noodle soup then you may have issues! Until then, keep up the great work.
January 6th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Reviewing is always problematic. I worked for a long time as a book reviewer in the print industry. The way it works there is to get reviewed the publisher is “encouraged” to take out ads in the reviewing publication. The reviewing publication will always insist that there is no connection between the ads and the reviews. But there often is. The difference is that the “payment” goes to the reviewing publication rather than the actual reviewer (exceptions are scandals), so the connection is kept at one remove. Of course, the reviewer is still paid.
The direct and openly disclosed web system seems preferable to me. It puts it all on the table.
As far as your own site, I don’t mind the reviews; in fact, I appreciate them. I can always skip them if the product is of no interest to me. The key to maintain your site standards is to only review the highest-quality products, or those where the amount of buzz makes the review of interest. Selectivity about what to review is equal to review quality in establishing differences between one reviewing publication and another.
January 6th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
When I objected on the SEO tools review, it was simply because you obviously were changing your opinion about using free tools that might be used by the developer for data mining.
On the one hand, it was very smart of you to address your past statements, instead of hoping no one would call you on it. It’s called “overcoming objections” and it’s a staple of copywriting.
On the other hand, simply saying it’s ok because “Jim’s cool” didn’t cut it. From a persuasion standpoint, you have to give a compelling reason why things are ok in this context, and although I may think Jim is cool as well, that didn’t really cut it with me.
So when I got to the bottom the “reason why” that ended up being the most persuasive was the compensation. If you get in that situation again, make sure to come up with a reason that outweighs the money.
Just some free advice… do with it what you will.
January 6th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
I think paid reviews are fine - they way you did it. I’d say make them shorter (you overdid it a little) and it would be nice to have the disclaimer at the top.
January 6th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Paid reviews are fine IMO. Reviews are different from endorsements. A blogger can say “Stay away from this product! It is a piece of crap.”
Mr.Seo was right - you are being paid for your opinion.
January 7th, 2007 at 12:01 am
I’m monitoring comments here but don’t to interfere and influence the opinions. However I do just want to respond to Brian’s comments.
Trust is funny thing, there are lots of people I’ve met in SEO whom I place a great deal of trust in. Most of them I’ve met but some I’ve only talked with on the phone or by email. If someone like Todd (stuntdubl), Rand, Oilman, Greg (webguerilla), Rae, Jim or a handful of others I can’t remember right now was to say Hey I’m going to buy one of your sites I’ll give you 10K for it. I wouldn’t need a contract or any other mumbo jumbo I’d do it simply on the word “deal”.
However I wouldn’t give my brother-in-law, or my neighbor who happens to be cop who that’s lived next door to me for ten years anywhere near that kind of cash credit, even with a contract. It’s hard to express that kind of trust in words without sounding like a hallmark card. I hope that makes sense.
However please feel free to question me if you see an inconsistency that bugs you.
January 7th, 2007 at 1:33 am
I want traffic from Google search. Google clearly states that “paid” reviews can lead to loss of the ability to pass PR.
January 7th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
I totally understand your point (I think you made it well on the actual post in question). But I still think it’s important to communicate why you trust that person, and you can do it by giving a cool example or story. It’s doesn’t have to come across like a Hallmark card.
And again, this isn’t really just my opinion. Everyone has to overcome skepticism when money is involved, so people have been explaining away objections with copy forever.
As your audience grows, people will have no clue about your relationships with other SEO folks who may be paying you for a review. It may seem a bit lame to have to constantly reiterate stuff like why you trust Jim, but it helps.
I hope you don’t think I’m ragging on you, because I’m not at all. I just think if you’re going to do paid reviews, you always need a compelling way to demonstrate that the money is not influencing you. It’s a tricky area, and you asked for feedback, so I dumbly gave some.
January 8th, 2007 at 12:51 am
I’d chalk up any backlash to paid reviews to innoncence lost: guess we were all hoping the new golden age of the Internet wouldn’t hold to the same path of blurring objective information and (sometimes grealty, often mildly) biased advertising, as we’ve seen during the peaks of other mediums.
Knowing a blog has the potential to contain paid reviews doesn’t make me read it less…at first. Just makes me tune up my skeptic eye, as I do everyday with every news outlet I observe, to double check whether my gut and experience tell the writer’s giving me their unbiased truth.
January 8th, 2007 at 2:48 am
A: Thanks for that vote of confidence MG. You have that same instinctive trust from me.
B: Come ON. What difference does it make if he found the product via a non-paid or paid method… either way, the opinions he expresses are still the same. Say you were paid for the review time, in the spirit of full disclosure, and do the damn review. If you think it warrants 1000 words, do it. If you think you can get your point across in 200, go for it. Just tell me why you did or didn’t like a relevant damn product and I’ll “gasp” think for myself from that point on.
C: I guarantee you that you come across more NON disclosed referrals to sites for “friends” not based on “money” on the net each day than you ever will biased reviews disclosed as paid.
D: If you don’t trust MG’s opinions and honesty, you don’t belong subscribed to his blog. Period. Why waste your time reading shit by someone whose opinions you don’t trust/respect/value?
January 8th, 2007 at 6:45 am
I think paid reviews are fine as long as your open though I think Matt Cutts is right when he suggests moving the disclaimer to the top, then its up to the reader to decide if he trusts you to be unbiased in your review. One thing I found interesting is the trend for people to do a review of a product and feel obliged to put a huge disclaimer saying we didn’t get paid for this its just a cool product, I believe that the biggest problem is going to come when you start mixing paid reviews with non paid reviews, from a technical point of view perhaps making sure the review is tagged as paid and allow filtering by tags means that those people who hate the idea of paid review can simply switch them off.
January 8th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
I have no problems at all with paid reviews and I don’t think that you even need to mention that they are being paid for.
If I don’t feel like reading it - for whatever reason - I can simply move on to the next article.
G-Man
January 8th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
The disclaimer on your latest review encouraged me to try out ReviewMe. I was glad to read that being paid for your review made you even more dedicated to providing constructive feedback. I have two requests for reviews out now, and I hope that those bloggers are as responsible as you are.
I have no problem with it.
January 8th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
I’d like to see “Paid Review:” preface the title. As mentioned above, I’d also like to know more about the background info, i.e, how you came to accept the job, what you knew previously, past products, etc. All that helps me decide whether it should be a grain or a truckload of salt.
And what happens to the post if your review turns out to be negative, GW?
January 8th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Disclosure up front seems to be important and easily corrected. If there are any past relationships I can disclose that as well. If it was really negative, I’d decline payment and take the discussion offline. As I understand it most computer review magazines won’t print negative reviews either, they just go with a different review instead.
September 14th, 2007 at 7:43 am
I really enjoy each of your reviews as they are analytical,honest and down-to-earth reviews. You really go out and test the softwares thoroughly before writing about each of them. How I wish everybody will do the same. This will afford the buyers to have better judgment of the product(s).
Kenny Adeleke