|
Web-Reviewers.com - Did You Get Your Free Review? I Did
written by Anthony Dinh
May 23, 2008 · Posted Under backlink building | drive traffic | marketing & advertising · 7 Comments
A couple weeks ago, I posted a blog discussing my thoughts on paid reviews in which I shared with you a handful of sites where you can get your blog reviewed for free. If you missed it, I recommend that you go back and read it at Why Pay for Reviews When You Can Get Them Free. I took advantage of all of these free services, and found that the quality and length of each review varied drastically from a few lines to a full blown, in depth analysis. Some reviews were completed within days, while others are still awaiting their turn in the queue. Regardless, this is free publicity and exposure, so you have nothing to loose, but everything to gain. Not only will you build some strong backlinks from trusted authorities, but you may also get a boost in traffic or even gain some new RSS subscribers.
Of all the reviewers, I liked the one done by PR3 site Web-Reviewers.com the most which was based on my blog’s content and design using their 5 star rating system. The review offered extensive and honest constructive criticism, and it appears that they actually took the time to look around my blog before providing me with some meaningful feedback instead of giving some generic comments. Overall, I received a pretty good report card, scoring a solid 4 stars across the board. Here’s the full review:
Diaries of a Blogger
Archived in the category: UncategorizedPosted by Web-Reviews.com on 21 May 08 -
If you opt to not take advantage of all of these free site reviews, I would recommend that you use the services offered by Web-Reviewers.com at the least. The tips that they provide on the shortcomings of your site and how to improve them will be invaluable.
** Find this post useful or entertaining? Then please consider subscribing to my full RSS feed or have new posts sent directly to your to email. **
Cowpetition - The Price is Right Contest
written by Anthony Dinh
May 21, 2008 · Posted Under blog news | contests | drive traffic | marketing & advertising · 2 Comments
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard about JohnCow and Garry Conn competition that started yesterday, and will be ending on Wednesday, June 18th. Basically, the two blogging heavyweights will be going hoof to head, each building a non-IM niched blog from scratch using a virgin domain. After 1 month, whoever sells his blog for the most mooney on Sitepoint will be the champion!
To feed off the frenzy that will be generated around the competition, I will be holding my own contest and giving away $280 in prizes. Below are the official details of the “Cowpetition - The Price is Right Contest“. The rules are simple and the prizes are great, so don’t forget to enter!
Deadline Wednesday, June 18th, 12:00am EST
Rules
- subscribe to the RSS feed via email (1 pt)
- Stumble/Digg this post with a comment linking to this post (1 pt)
- predict the competition winner and the final selling price without going over (1 pt, closest bid gets 3 pts)
- write a blog post about this contest - in your own words, please do not copy&paste (5 pts)
Grand Prize Package
- Self-Portrait Caricature Package by Randy Ariestoteles of FreshMeatDesign.com ($150 valu
e) - detailed site review by me ($50 value)
- sponsored 125×125 ad banner for 1 month ($30 value)
- sponsored link in Featured Sites section of right sidebar for 1 month ($10 value)
- novelty AmazingPopper bottle opener ($10 value)
- guest post opportunity with backlink to showcase your work and gain exposure to new readers - can be brand new post or one of your best existing pieces (pricele$$ - traffic boost, RSS subscribers, backlink, exposure, etc.)
2nd Place Prize (multiple giveaways for
- sponsored link in Featured Sites section of right sidebar for 1 month ($10 value)
- novelty AmazingPopper bottle opener ($10 value)
3rd Place Prize
- sponsored link in Featured Sites section of right sidebar for 1 month ($10 value)
If you wish to enter the contest, simply perform the required actions under the rules section, and leave a comment below indicating which steps you’ve taken so I can tally up the points. Please include who you predict will win and your bid on the final selling price. Lastly, if you write a post, please provide a link to the post as well.
Read more about FreshMeatDesign.com here, or check out their impressive portfolio of logos, banners, caricatures and mascots.
GOOD LUCK ALL!
** Find this post useful or entertaining? Then please consider subscribing to my full RSS feed or have new posts sent directly to your to email. **
Do You Digg It? comScore Says Yahoo! Buzz is the Way to Go
written by Anthony Dinh
Everyone in the blogosphere and MMO niche knows that submitting your posts to Digg can lead to huge boosts of traffic to your site, so we all diligently submit our best work in hopes that it will gain enough popularity to ultimately achieve the holy grail of being promoted to the front page. Heck, it seems like everyone and there mom has a Digg button or link in some form or another on their site these days.
Move over Digg, there’s something leaner and meaner! comScore, a global internet information provider of consumer behavior, has just released some metrics indicating the Yahoo! Buzz is gaining more internet traction and has actually surpassed Digg at it’s own game. For the month of April, Yahoo! Buzz reached nearly 7M unique visitors in the US, while Digg fell behind with just under 6M unique visitors.
Traditionally, Digg has been known to cater to a young, male, techie audience, and Yahoo! Buzz is capitalizing on this shortcoming by addressing the needs of the more mainstream audience. Yahoo! Buzz boasts to be a nice option for the less hard-core social media user, with 50% of its visitors being female. Though these factors don’t mean much to the casual user, it’s music to the ears of eager advertisers. Studies have shown that women and ”technically challenged” users are more apt to click on ads than tech-saavy users.
Being one of the world’s most popular sites, any of Yahoo!’s new projects will surely get a big a kickstart from the enormous amount of traffic that it currently generates. The site is still in beta and unlike Digg, it doesn’t have open article submission policy, so submissions are not open to all sites. For now, submitted articles must come from approved sites only, but you can join a mailing list to be considered until it opens up to the public.
Is Digg losing its touch? Not really. According to Compete, Digg is still generating as much buzz as it did over a year ago, and the site is still exhibiting some steady growth.
** Find this post useful or entertaining? Then please consider subscribing to my full RSS feed or have new posts sent directly to your to email. **
Why Pay for Reviews When You Can Get Them FREE?
written by Anthony Dinh
By now, I’m sure most have you have either read or heard about Jason’s previous post “You Are A Moron If You Buy Paid Reviews For Exposure” in which he expresses his disdain towards worthless paid reviews. I was actually in the process of shopping around for a paid review and had narrowed my choices down to a few of the more reknowned bloggers when I came across his post. I was ready to spring for the $500 price tag JohnChow charges per review, but I’m glad I saw this post because it saved me a lot of money! Jason stated that paid reviews don’t convert 90% of the time, and the buzz that they generate is short term, usually only lasting a day or so. Read more about this topic in my follow-up post “Jason Pereira and Fabian Speak Their Minds About Paid Reviews“, where Fabian of SmallFishBigMoney and I also share our views regarding paid reviews.
Insignificant as it may seem, I still however, feel that there’s still some value in the buzz and traffic generated by having your blog reviewed, not to mention the backlinks that you will gain. So, instead of paying for one, I did some research and found a handful of sites where you can get your blog reviewed for free! I’ve used some of these services with positive results, so I just wanted to share them with you so you too can build up your backlinks, increase traffic and hopefully even gain some RSS subscribers.
|
Service |
PageRank |
Description |
 |
PR3 | submit your blog by writing a quick summary, and gain a backlink back to your site. you can also rate or review other blogs for a chance of getting your site featured on their front page. |
 |
PR4 | just leave Abhinav a comment and he will review your site for free! |
|
PR3 | extensive, honest and opinionated site review based on site appeal, content and design using 5 star rating system. gain a backlink to your site as well as tips on how to improve it. |
 |
PR6 | free reviews, but due to high demand, waiting time may be extensive. $50 donation option available to expedite review within 3 business days. |
 |
PR3 | a subdomain of UntwistedVortex.com. queue of blogs awaiting review was 13 deep when I signed up and it takes a bit of time to get through the queue, but well worth the wait for some free link love. |
 |
PR3 | complete 10 question interview, and your blog will be selected for review if they find it interesting. either way, you will gain a backlink. |
 |
PR0 | free review and link juice with “dofollow” backlinks to your site. |
Keep in mind, these are free services, so the quality may or may not be great, but every little bit helps in building your brand and getting yourself known within the blogosphere. Also, the unbiased opinion of these experts can only serve to make your blog a better place where entrepreneurs come to not only ask questions, but to also learn and grow as they embark on their journey to making money online and financial freedom.
** Find this post useful or entertaining? Then please consider subscribing to my full RSS feed or have new posts sent directly to your to email. **
Jason Pereira and Fabian Speak Their Minds About Paid Reviews
written by Anthony Dinh
As a newbie blogger, I’m always looking for new ways to get my name out there and to generate some buzz about my site within the blogging community. The concensus among most seasoned authors seems to be that Paid Reviews is the way to go. So, I started researching for some prospects and in my travels, I discovered that the going rate ranged anywhere from $50 to $500+. The decision was tough, but I finally was able to narrow my choices down to a few of the more reknowned bloggers like JohnChow and ShoeMoney, but then I came across a couple posts that stopped me dead in my tracks.
What Jason Pereira Says
Jason Pereira, author of TheUniversityKid, wrote a post entitled “You Are a Moron if You Buy Paid Reviews for Exposure” that quickly changed my mind about paid reviews. Jason feels that paid reviews are worthless and stated that about 90% of the time these reviews do not convert, and the short-term buzz that they generate will eventually die off. He pointed out that The Social Millionaire was an exception because there was some decent publicity surrounding the launch of this site. I tend to agree with this, however, though the site was off to a good start early on, it has lost considerable momentum and appears to have plateaued at $3,362.15.
Reviews lack longevity, usually increasing your traffic through curiosity for maybe a day or two at most, then it will be forgotten once the next review comes along. At the minimum review rate of $50, you’re paying roughly $2/hr for exposure. On the flip side, purchasing an ad slot for $30-$35 on a well trafficked site will buy you a month’s worth of exposure which comes out to about $.05/hr, a much better return on your investment.
Jason recommends utilizing guest posts as a means of showcasing you and your blog for free! Not only is it free, but unlike reviews which are a once and done deal, it’s possible for you to guest post regularly, especially if the hosting author diggs your style. Eventually, readers will become familiar with you and your blog, and you may even gain some loyal readers from that community. One last thing Jason suggests is running contests. Readers love winning free prizes, and one prime example is in the case of Guytae Park’s contest which landed him hundreds of reviews and free press. I would imagine that the total value of these reviews exceeded the true value of the contest prize by tenfold.
Jason acknowledges the fact that his blunt opinion may hurt his future review sales, but he candidly stated that he makes a lot more money in his other business ventures, and that he’s willing to take a bit of a financial loss to save newbies like you and me from wasting our money on worthless reviews.
What Fabian Says
After having had a poor experience, Fabian of SmallFishBigMoney now echos some of the same negative thoughts on paid reviews as Jason did. Last month, in his efforts to increase RSS subscriptions and to build a larger community, Fabian bit the bullet and purchased a paid review, but he was in for a rude awakening. He came to realize that the traffic, the effects, the buzz, the review…fake, fake, fake, it was all fake! The review itself was not to blame as it was top notch, but the traffic that it generated was very dismal.
To support his argument, Fabian provided two real life examples which you can read about in his post entitled “Shocking Revelations…Traffic from Paid Reviews“. Only in the rare event that a mammoth-sized blog like TechCrunch covers you, will you stand the chance of gaining some worthwhile traffic, visitors and possibly RSS subscribers.
Fabian concluded by saying, “paid reviews are good for exposure and publicity…nothing more, I repeat, nothing more. Trying to get the readership of a blog - to buy a product, subscribe to your RSS feed or do anything more than that is like trying to get a 9 year old kid to eat his vegetables…it just won’t”.
What Anthony Says
In short, I’m glad that I found these posts before I squandered my money on paid reviews. I will have to refocus my efforts and spend my advertising dollars elsewhere, but where is still to be determined. What are your thoughts??
** Find this post useful or entertaining? Then please consider subscribing to my full RSS feed or have new posts sent directly to your to email. **
-
Subscribe
-
Sponsors
