A Drive By Disclosure

In my attempt to continue to see examples of disclosed paid content offered by product review companies such as ReviewMe and PayPerPost, I come across a well known professional blogger, and her attempt to be up front about her written post with full disclosure.  Arieanna at Blogging Help makes a first attempt at a ReviewMe.com post of a product or service she has reviewed.

This is not necessarily a product but more of a service or even a single blog post. It’s not necessarily clear to me what she is reviewing.  The review talks about a post she found on a site called Aviva Directory, that gives the reader 21 tips to successfully launch a blog.  She goes through the tips and adds her own wisdom and advice.  In fact, it’s unclear if she is actually promoting the ReviewMe.com advertiser or her own business as a blog consultant at blogging help.

As the advertiser that is paying for the review, I would not be as pleased with this approach.  I am not sure what is the purpose of the Aviva Directory, I’m not sure of their service and frankly I paid for a review that turned out to be a promotion of Arieanna and her own business. She states that it was a link brought to her attention and I’m not sure whether by a third party or the people at ReviewMe.com.  I need a little more background of the company and its service.

To her credit, Arieanna did not provide a link to ReviewMe.com. In her opening, she indicates that this is a ReviewMe.com review, and that it should be objective on her part because she would have written the review whether "paid or not" to write it. (Remind me not to send you in on any high dollar negotiations)  This is a completely different approach than I have previously seen to writing reviews for the company and being paid for your efforts. 

I’m curious if ReviewMe.com will be coming out with standard requirements that must be met in order to be fully paid for the post.  I would say that you would at least have to make clear what the product is and what the company offers.  At this point I’m somewhat confused.  Let us know how it turns out Arieanna and whether Review Me sends full payment or if they have any comment on the post.  I would also like to hear what if anything the people at Aviva Directory think of the review and whether this type of review is what they had in mind when offering to pay a blogger.

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