Here’s what happened to me:

I accepted a writing assignment, which was to be completed within seven days of acceptance.

SponsoredReveiws is good about sending reminders about assignment due dates. I managed to write the assignment with one day to spare (it was a particularly busy writing time for me).

Happy that I was able to cross it off of my ‘To Do’ list, I diligently began working on the next item on my list. After a couple of days, it dawned on me that I didn’t receive an email notification about my SponsoredReview post being accepted. Thinking it was a little odd, I signed onto my account to see if they forgot to notify me.

[smartads]

Surprise, Surprise

Imagine my surprise when I saw that my post wasn’t accepted. WHAT?!! Not accepted! Why, that’s unacceptable in my book. I take my paid writing seriously.

I was doubly surprised when the advertiser alleged that I did not use the proper link text or site link in my post. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. I knew for a fact that I not only used the text link that we agreed to, but I also used the site link I had agreed to when I accepted the assignment.

SponsoredReviews Support

Being a little annoyed by this I wrote to SponsoredReviews and explained my situation. Here was their response:

Hi Felicia, Advertisers have the option to update/change their requirements, and they often do so. Sometimes there are multiple keywords or links they want to get used so they will update them every few days. This is why we suggest reviews be finished as soon as possible, preferably within 1-3 days. The review must meet all requirements at the time it is submitted. Just before writing your review(s), log in to verify the requirements have not changed just in case. Regards, Mandy

The current status of this ticket is: Close

Things Certainly Have Changed

Maybe it’s my business insurance background or my old-fashioned way of thinking, but once you agree to something, the terms or conditions should not change unless both parties agree to it. In this case, the advertiser decided to make changes without prior notification. Apparently the onus was on me to ‘check my account’ to make sure that what I agreed to was what I ‘still’ agreed to.

This is a new one on me. I guess I’ll live and learn.

Lessons Learned:

1. Old-school business and insurance logic doesn’t always prevail in the online writing world
2. Posts written for SponsoredReviews (if I use them again) should be written promptly before the advertiser has a chance to change the terms of the post.

I agree with you. As a rational and somewhat sane person, I wouldn’t either. So why did I turn down money?

Here’s the Scoop

In the past I did a review about SponsoredReviews.com. It’s a great pay for blogging website. Their offers are legit; their payment terms are better than a couple I’ve tried and their advertisers offer sound services and products.

Yesterday I received four offers from advertisers to post about their companies right here on No Job for Mom. Whew, I finally arrived. Advertisers were seeking my blog! I was so excited until I went to the advertisers websites. All of them were legit and I would love to blog about them, but just not here. Their products are not targeted for my audience.
[smartads]
How do I determine whether or not they’re a good fit?

Potential posts for advertisers must pass my blog test. The test is simply: “Would I blog about that particular product or service on the No Job for Mom blog even if I were not getting paid by the advertiser?” If the answer is no, then it’s not a fit.

It pained me to go into my SponsoredReveiws account and decline offer after offer. The good thing about it is I get to explain why I declined the offer. While this blog isn’t a good fit, I do have another blog where I wouldn’t mind writing about their products.

The downside to that is my other blog currently has a Google rank of 2 and some of the advertisers wanted a higher Google page rank.

Okay, go ahead and say it… I’ve lost my mind. Two of my other income earning options are currently taking a nosedive (Demand Studios and Google AdSense), the price of gas is rising, food costs are soaring and it’s soon time to fill the oil tank. How can I turn down quick, easy and legitimate money from a site as reputable as SponsoredReviews?

Test Number Two: The Mirror Test

The one good thing about turning them down is that when I pass by a mirror I could stand to look myself in the face rather than feeling like I sold out for a few dollars. There may be a fuzzy line when it comes to failing the blog post test, but failing the mirror test is not an option.

Some of the advertisers on SponsoredReviews are new and are looking for a way to create a buzz about their site, while other advertisers have been around a bit longer but are looking to build backlinks and generate traffic to their sites.

Sign Up and Add Your Blogs

To sign up, go to SponsoredReviews.com create an account. Once you receive your confirmation e-mail you can then begin to add your blogs.

The blog adding process is a little interesting. I have a couple of blogs that I update rather frequently, and I also have ones for which I barely add new posts. Just for grins, I decided to add my most frequently updated blogs plus one that I don’t update at all.

The two frequently updated blogs were approved rather quickly. It took less than 24 hours. The blog that I didn’t update was rejected even quicker than my blogs were approved. I barely clicked the “Submit” button when I received a pop up saying something to the effect that the blog didn’t meet their requirements. No sense in fooling around. If the blog doesn’t meet the requirements, it doesn’t meet the requirements. I admired that quick rejection.

Finding Opportunities

Once you have approved blogs you can search through the various opportunities and select ones that appeal to you and that are a good fit for your blog. The advertisers have a price range for which they are willing to pay. You place a bid and if it’s accepted then you write the post as agreed.

Some advertisers require a link backs while others don’t. Some of course want blogs with Google page ranking while others don’t. The stipulations vary from advertiser to advertiser.

All about the Cash

SponsoredReviews takes their cut right off the top. If you set your rate at $20 for example, Sponsored Reviews takes their percentage and you’ll end up with something like $13.00. So, if you want to make more than $13.00 you’ve got increase your rate accordingly.

I find the earning potential per assignment to be higher at SponsoredReviews than at Pay Per Post, Smorty and PayU2Blog (I mention those because those are ones that I’ve had time to check out). The assignments at SponsoredReviews ranged anywhere from as low as $5 to as high as $500 maximum bid.

The image to the left is a screen clip of a few of the assignment prices from today’s login (click on it for a larger, more readable image). I purposely cropped the advertiser’s names from the image. I didn’t want to violate anyone’s terms or conditions.

I attempted to claim one or two of the assignments, but the positions were already filled. I guess I have to get a better feel for when new assignments are available and the best time to claim them.

Referrals

SponsoredReviews also has a referral program (as do most paid for blogging sites). The referral payout is not an exorbitant amount but every little bit helps if you’re looking to make money online. You get paid based off of what your referral earns. If your referral earns $50 you get $5, if they earn $200 you get $10, $1,000 you get $25. As you can see, you won’t get rich off of SponsoredReviews’ referrals, but to quote a wise man (my father), “It’s better than a stick in the eye.”

They appear to be a legit operation to me, but I’d love to hear from folks who have used SponsoredReveiws. I’d like to hear your take on them.