Amy Clark, the woman behind Mom Advice, said this at Blissdom, “Don’t write for free if you don’t get benefits.” She was referring to writing guest posts for other sites or online magazines. The benefits could be money or increased traffic. If having your name and link on that site don’t benefit you don’t spend your valuable time writing for that site.
I’ve also heard from several women that charge to run giveaways. You may have gotten a copy of the product to review, and that’s fine. Hosting a giveaway is more time and effort. You have to set it up, monitor it, figure out the winner, contact the winner, and contact the company.
Some responses I’ve gotten before include, “But there are so many bloggers that will do it for free!” So. Let them squander their time. Why should you give the company free advertising?
Did you notice that I said contact the company? Don’t have the product mailed to you. Then you have to spend your time and money shipping the product. Have the company ship the product to the winner. If they won’t ship it don’t have a giveaway.
Speaking of reviews. How much is what you are reviewing worth? Personally, if the product is not worth much I don’t spend a lot of time on the review. Melanie Nelson, the woman behind Blogging Basics 101, is quite passionate about this topic. She asked, “Is it really worth it to receive a $10 product in the mail and spend time reviewing it when you could just go to the store, buy it, and be done?”
I’m not assuming this is easy. I’m still struggling with some of it. I struggle with thinking that there is a ladder to be climbed to getting bigger things to be reviewed. I struggle with putting value on my writing and my time. I struggle with asking for money or products. I believe I’m getting there because I want to be profitable. That has made me evaluate each moment I spend doing something for a site that is not my own.
What do you think? Does this sound radical to you? Do you already practice some of these points?
About Jendi
It’s hard…when you’re a newbie like me, you just want to get your name out there and will do lots of freebies. But, I think there comes a time to say, “Hey! I’m worth more than this!” When do I hit that point? I have no idea…
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I’ve only had two reviews and the first had an abysmal response. The second was better. Both personally benefited me (I got the product free and it was appropriate for me) and it was fun to try. I did get some increased readership – temporarily – and I may do more if given the opportunity.
I have no idea how to measure my worth as a blogger / writer, either, so that’s an interesting question. I think bloggers – at times – just want to get more readers and do the things poeple say are successful. Weeding through the quality info can take time. Which is why I’m here with Moms Talk & Mom Masterminds!!!
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Jendi, great advice! Having spent the last year developing (then taking a break from) my popular giveaway site, Bloggy Giveaways, I can tell you that if you do giveaways on a regular basis they are time consuming. Part of my guidelines at Bloggy Giveaways was that I didn’t do reviews. That meant I didn’t ask for free product (occasionally a vendor sent a thank-you, but I didn’t encourage it and I still didn’t review it). I wasn’t in it for the product and I preferred to be paid for my efforts. Here’s my main reason for that thinking: A giveaway is advertising. You have the audience the company wants to reach. If you didn’t, they wouldn’t be reaching out to you in the first place. It’s not untoward to ask to be compensated for advertising.
My personal opinion that worked for me is that I didn’t want product and I didn’t want to write reviews. The time it took to review the product, write the review, etc. was worth more than the product in most instances. Instead, I provided a platform for businesses to promote their products and asked them to pay for that platform.
If you want to write a review blog and receive product, think about whether you should be receiving product AND getting paid. (And then think about the brou-ha-ha going on right now about disclosure. Ugh.)
Interesting. I don’t have a review blog or ask for reviews. I have been approached to review items and do if it’s appropriate to the readers of my blog.
When you’re talking about reviews here is everyone ( above my comment) meaning large brand companies ( Disney, Walmart etc)? or do you mean the little people too.
Do you distinguish between the new WAHM producing cool cloth diapers, trying to get her new business going by choosing the right people to ask for a review from the big diaper company with a huge brand and finances? Or does this apply universally to anyone who asks for a review?
The $10 product review from a large company is a different thing than a $10 product from a startup Cloth diaper making mom? Granted one gives more prestige than the other.
She may only have a few to give. Under this idea she’d not get a review.
I just wonder if this will eventually squeeze out the startups as most people plump for the larger brands with the money. “Daisy Diapers” (made up name) will have no chance of becoming known?
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I totally agree. I blog for myself mostly — its my escape, but as I’ve promoted myself a little, I’ve always asked for a link and the two giveaways I’ve done have been for products that were given to me. I paid for shipping to the winner — but it was $1, so I’m OK with that.
I have some friends who adopt the attitude “every dollar I get from blogging (ads), I put back into it” — and I might start doing that. Or half or something.
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