I don't have many details yet, but ReviewMe has launched an advertorial service. Finally. Thanks Patrick (ReviewMe Founder). I have been saying over and over that an advertorial service is very much needed and there is no reason why this shouldn't be a huge success. Some blogs won't run this type of advertising but I think most will. Basically a company is buying a full-page ad.

The issues many of us have with Payperpost, the old ReviewMe and other services where you "buy" a review are removed with this advertorial service. No more concerns about the blogger posting a positive review because they are receiving payment. I am assuming the post will be provided by the advertiser and the blogger will have a chance to approve or decline. I can't wait to see the pricing on these full-page ads.

Here is an offline example: Today I was offered a NY Daily News newspaper for free. The only catch? The front page and the back cover were ads. The entire paper was exactly the same. Same thing with an online advertorial.

I have an email into Patrick to get more information on the new service as the web site doesn't have many details and he wouldn't share any pre-launch details with me even though I threatened to make him eat hot dogs from a NYC cart for a week.

I spoke with Patrick and here is what he sent along (my emphasis):

We feel with the launch of our Advertorial product we have a product that rises above the controversy of sponsored blog posts. Our Advertorials feature:
– by default a "SPONSOR POST:" tag in the post title.
– all links within Advertorials are redirected so the Advertiser gets click and impression tracking.

Check out our previous coverage on ReviewMe and Payperpost. And disclaimer: this was not a paid post, an advertorial, just my thoughts!

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ReviewMe, a paid review service launched yesterday. The idea is simple, a company offers cash for your review of their product on your blog.

(note: CenterNetworks was not accepted and I am NOT receiving any payment for this post.)

They did not accept CN into their site listings and I am guessing it is because our pagerank is too low. I can't picture it is because of Alexa or Technorati since we rank very well in both of those engines.

Here is a clip from Arrington's opinion on the site:

Finally, advertisers can purchase posts, but they cannot require that a post is positive. The blogger can choose to write their honest opinion without fear of not being paid. The only requirement is that the review must be a minimum of 200 words.

My take is that while advertisers do not require a positive review, having a few negative reviews of other items on your site certainly would not make me want to purchase a review on your site. Think about it? You spend $200 per blog only to get ripped like the previous company? I think not.

Let me make it even easier on the positive/negative review issue: When was the last time you saw a paid advertisement on tv or newspaper that was negative… let me see… NEVER. Could you imagine the MiracleChopper on late night tv saying, "this is a piece of crap, don't buy it?" I think not.

I really like the management team behind ReviewMe and think they have the ethical side of paying for a review down. They are requiring that you disclose that it is a paid post which is great compared to payperpost.

Personally, when I look for product reviews, I prefer the Reevoo or Soapadoo models, both use trust and purchases (not money) to create honest reviews.

Will ReviewMe work? Yep.

updated: //engtech has a great writeup with suggestions on how to improve ReviewMe.

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