How to Succeed with Sponsored Reviews
After my latest income report I’ve received several emails asking what I did to make money from Sponsored Reviews (SR). Granted, the $260 from SR doesn’t seem like a whole lot, but when you consider that I made it from only three posts it becomes a pretty good return on the time investment. Over the 7 months I’ve been using Sponsored Reviews, I’ve made more than $1500, so it has definitely been a good earner for me, however, I didn’t think my experience was all that unique. But judging from the emails I’ve received, SR may not be performing that well for the rest of you.
Assuming I know how to work Sponsored Reviews perfectly would be a bit idiotic considering I’ve had almost 2/3rds of my proposals reject. However, I know precisely what things I’ve done so in keeping with the spirit of this experiment, I figured I’d share with you the steps I take when registering a new blog on SR and how I go about bidding on opportunities.
The signup process is fairly straight forward, however, you are allowed to write a brief description of your blog and I try to make the most of it. Typically I’ll list any statistics I think advertisers would be interested in. For example, I’ll list my Technorati authority and rank, my Alexa rank, my Google PageRank (if I have any), my RSS feedcount, and possibly even some traffic numbers. I’ll also give a brief description of what topics I cover on the blog but this is usually secondary to the stats. I’m not all that sure whether this step helps or not, but it definitely sets my blog apart from most of the other sites in the marketplace. I figure that’s got to be worth something right?
The next step is to bid on the different opportunities available. Once again, this is a pretty straight forward process but there are a few things I do to try and maximize the effectiveness of my bids. I rarely if ever make a bid that’s at the top of the advertisers price range. I figure if I put my site at the top of an advertiser’s price range they’ll be looking at it very critically trying to make sure they are getting the best value possible and chances are they’ll find a reason to reject the bid. Also, I always try to give advertisers a “discount” from my posted price. For example, if I’m looking to make $65 per post I write, I’d probably set my price at $150 so I could then give advertisers a $50 “discount” while still making the $65 for the post like I wanted.
The last step in the process is of course writing the post. Most bloggers feel that they can only bid on opportunities specifically suited to their blog. I’ve always found that a bit limiting so I look at things a bit differently. I try to find a way to do a review, while still providing my readers valuable and useful content. Sort of a win, win, win situation. For example, on my SEO blog I’ll do SEO site reviews. I explain clearly in my blog description that I’ll review the site and offer suggestions of changes to make to the site perform better in the search engines. Then when I review the site, I discuss one specific site but my readers also get a glimpse into the broader principles of SEO and hopefully get a few tips they can apply to their own sites. That approach has allowed me to review all sorts of sites, not just those related to seo, the internet, or even technology. Another approach I’ve seen is to present the reviews as sort of blog commercials. Readers understand it’s a paid or sponsored post, and reviewers can cover all sorts of different topics or sites. Basically a little outside the box thinking will open up a lot more opportunities which will in turn allow you to make more money.
So there you have it, the process I’ve used to make more than $1,500 through Sponsored Reviews over the past 7 months. If you have other tips, questions or care to share your experiences, please feel free to chime in through the comments below!
Thanks Ben, I’ve been using SR for the past month and I’ve only had one accepted bid (and it was only for $5). I’ve had 5 rejected bids and 30 waiting for acceptance. How do you get people to respond to your bids? It seems that most of the advertisers don’t even look at your bids.
I don’t know about the rest of the process of Sponsored reviews. I can’t even get out of the bidding stage, while only bidding only at the bottom of the advertiser price range.
Does bidding on more reviews get you more approved?
I think that like you, I have underestimated Google war on Paid reviews. There are definitely lesser opportunities across the board now either at PPP or Smorty (another paid review site).
@ Adam, I do still get a LOT of my bids just sitting and waiting for the advertisers to accept or reject. However, one thing I try to do is check in very often to find the newest and the freshest opportunities. I figure if someone has just created the opp, there’s a better chance that they’ll at least look at my bid.
@ bmunch, the percentage of ones I bid on vs. the ones that get accepted is pretty low so I do bid on quite a few. At times that leads to a backlog of reviews to do but I figure that’s better than not having any.
As for fewer opps, I have seen a slight drop in opps on SR but in the past it has sort of gone in waves so this might just be a down period that will pick back up again. Time will tell I suppose.
Although I do free reviews on my blog and I don’t depend on earning money, I’ve recently done SponsoredReviews and it was fairly easy. I made $10, which is enough for this month’s hosting fees
That’s all I need
-Mike
i had some success but not to your size… but great for coffee money
“I always try to give advertisers a “discount” from my posted price. For example, if I’m looking to make $65 per post I write, I’d probably set my price at $150 so I could then give advertisers a $50 “discount” while still making the $65 for the post like I wanted.”
lol, that’s a nice trick…
Nice post! I use a lot of companies like Sponsored Reviews. I like Blogsvertise and SR, though.
Smorty offers a lot of betting sites to be reviewed. I don´t do reviews of betting sites.
Now, I try to use an aproach that I don´t think it is right. I see the opportunities and I set my price 20 dolars, for instance. I bid and then I go another day and set another price, like 50 dolars, and I bid for other opportunities.
I made 15 posts in two months. All of them paying no more than 20 dolars. It is not that much, but since I’m subscribed to other ppp sites I don´t care that much.
I will try to use your tips and see if I can get more jobs for higher prices.
Claudia
Is it possible to give a certain advertiser a discount inside the sponsored review site? Or do you contact them first?
Thanks 😉
Xpress, reviewers can always offer any price they want to advertisers. However, you have to keep in mind that they only get to keep 65% of the price the advertiser pays. I’d suggest contacting the reviewer personally, they might be able to offer a better price just by cutting out the middle man.
Hi Ben,
Thanks for answering my question.
Another question, how could I contact them directly? as there’s no contact link on SR pages? or do i need to search for their(advertisers) contact emails?
Thanks…