ReviewMe

Like several others before me, I decided to hop on the ReviewMe bandwagon. So, with no further ado, here's my own two cents.

I like the idea, as it's pretty simple and the interface is clean and easy to use. ReviewMe hooks up advertisers who want their products or services reviewed on blogs with bloggers who will do just that, in exchange for cold, hard cash. They're very upfront about the fact that these are paid reviews, going so far to state the following in their terms:

"You must disclose that the post is a paid post in some way. Here are some ideas: "Sponsored Post:", "The following is a paid review:" "Advertisement:".

Does that mean you have to glowingly sing the praises of whatever it is that you're reviewing? Nope. ReviewMe doesn't allow advertisers to require a positive review, although they do note the natural outcome of advertisers paying for reviews, which is that most reviews do, indeed, end up being positive more often than not, as few people would want to risk chopping the head off the goose laying the golden egg. Reviews must be at least 200 words long but other than that there are no real guidelines as far as style or format.

Signing up as a blogger is free, quick, and painless, and you'll immediately get the going rate that you're paid for each review, which is based on some sort of formula thatt takes into account your blog's Alexa and Technocrati rankings, as well as an estimate of your RSS feed subscriptions. You can choose to receive payment via PayPal or check, and have access to stats to see what you've earned by period, etc.

All in all, it looks like a decent way to make some extra cash. The biggest question for me is whether or not they have many advertisers that will actually pay for reviews, as the system is set up so that they push the review requests to you, behind the scenes, and you decide whether to accept them or not. The default review is to review the ReviewMe site itself, so everyone gets that gig when they sign up, but only time will tell if more review opportunities crop up. Part of me wonders if the site is initially paying for reviews of ReviewMe for the link pop they'll get, hoping that in turn will buy them publicity and actual advertisers, etc., but that's just conjecture on my part, and only time will really tell if this turns out to be a viable way to make some extra cash via your blog.