21 Sep
Posted by YC as Blog Reviews, Blogging, Announcements
Over a week ago, Alvin Phang of GatherSuccess.com bought a paid review from John Chow, in an attempt to get more traffic and sales for his product, Atomic Blogging. All in all, John Chow did what he does best - an honest and critical review. A week and $400 later, Alvin Phang posted the results of the review and you could just feel a tad of his disappointment.
Basically, he felt that it was an overall waste of $400 in monetary terms (ZERO sales), due in large part to a wrong target audience. (Note that Atomic Blogging is more useful for blogging beginners) Traffic-wise, the results were pretty dire too.
Well, a week ago, I did a review of Shaun Low’s blog (if you missed it, you can read it here). It was just as honest and critical as any done by John Chow. And it certainly did not cost him $400.
In fact, it cost him nothing!
Unfortunately, today, ShaunLow.com has been sold due to Shaun’s personal commitments. I, for one, am sad to see him leaving the blogosphere for now and wish him all the best.
However, what has been exciting is the IMM effect that has played a role in Shaun’s ability to sell his site! Of course, ShaunLow.com has had decent consistent traffic and good branding as a result of the quality content provided. But the IMM review boosted its profile and contributed to him netting a tidy sum from the sale (frustratingly, he has refused to reveal how much - but you owe me that coffee, Shaun!).
So, from a free, unsolicited review (plus his own hard work, of course), Shaun has indeed done what many other bloggers aspire to - making money online. And for this example, my review certainly made him more money than what Alvin Phang got from John Chow!
So, before you decide to purchase reviews of your blog or site, make sure you do the necessary marketing research. The simplest would be to ensure that you share at least part of the target audience the reviewing site entertains. You should also map out the aim of your review - is it simply to get traffic, exposure or is there a product that you want sales conversions on from the review. Tie this back to the audience of the review. Weigh the monetary cost of the review - is it a planned cost from your advertising and marketing budget?
Well, if your target audience is made up mainly of people wanting to make money online, or to learn Internet Marketing and related opportunities, you could very well ride on the IMM effect like Shaun did (although unknowingly), and request for a review from me for $25. Do note that my reviews will not be biased and I will mention any issues I personally encounter on your site, but with a fair weighing of the pros and cons and the target audience in mind. I will also declare that it is a paid review with a review length of at least 200 words. Also, I will only do reviews which I feel my readers would be interested in. For an example, you can refer to ShaunLow’s review here.
You may drop me a request via my contact page here.
Once again, Shaun, best of luck with your studies! The blogosphere awaits your return in the near future!
6 Responses
Dana Wallert
September 21st, 2007 at 4:07 pm
1Glad you went ahead with this post :) I would have to think that Shaun’s ROI was excellent no matter what his secret profit was!
shaun
September 21st, 2007 at 8:46 pm
2this was the best review ever :) it really helped my blog since the review was published, great article man!!!
david
September 21st, 2007 at 11:19 pm
3amen! Alvin sure wasted his money but it must have boosted his alexa ranking =).
Observations after 5 days of Dana - DanaWallert.com
September 22nd, 2007 at 1:10 am
4[…] Make sure and keep your blog buddies happy. They can change your life (or make you more money than John Chow)! […]
YC
September 22nd, 2007 at 3:14 pm
5@ Dana - well, the ROI from the review was certainly great ;)
@ Shaun - Happy to help in any way man!!
@ David - It wasn’t a complete waste but it wasn’t the best of returns either :)
Zunday Deviants- Sept 23, 2007 | MarketingDeviant.com
September 23rd, 2007 at 5:10 pm
6[…] talks about when free reviews are better than paid reviews! You know something is wrong […]
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