Perhaps one of the most controversial areas of website monetization these days is the area of paid editorial content, such as paid reviews. This is an area with no real middle ground, with one side declaring blatant self-interest and the other claiming that this will be the death of the Internet.

Like most things, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. One thing is certain, however; paid reviews are big business. Companies are paying huge money for bloggers to write about their products and services and there seems so sign of letting up. Some bloggers are making thousands of dollars a month from doing it and if you are serious about monetizing your website, it at least deserves a look.

So, just what exactly do we mean by paid reviews? At it’s simplest; a paid review is when publisher (such as a blogger, a website, a newsletter, etc.) writes a review of a company’s goods or services in exchange for money or other compensation. If a restaurant approaches a food critic blogger with a free meal if he will review their lunch menu, they are asking for a paid review.

Most paid review activity is controlled or brokered by one of two companies: Pay-Per-Post and Review Me. The setup is similar for both of them; the company wanting a review makes a listing, which is then put up on the broker’s review listing board. Publishers browse the listings, looking for opportunities to review. If the publisher selects your offer, they write a review of your product (the review may be good or bad; you generally are not allowed to dictate whether the review is positive or negative). If the review meets the standards of the marketplace, such as length, number of links, etc, then the publisher is paid for the review, generally about 30 days after the review goes live. The broker will keep a percentage (it varies from broker to broker, but ranges from 15% to 50%) for facilitating the deal.

By now, you may wonder why anyone would be willing to pay money for a review. One word: Buzz. Everyone wants their products or services talked about and those who pay for reviews have found a way to get others to talk about them.

If it were just for a review, it probably would not be worth it, but most review agreements also require a number of links to the site, and this is the real secret, if you will, to paid reviews.  Google and other search engines rate the “authority” or value of a given website by how many other websites link to it. While paid reviews may get you buzz, they are guaranteed to get you links.

In my introduction, I said that paid reviews were one of the more controversial monetization methods. Why are they controversial? Because many people have concerns about the objectivity of the reviewer if they are being compensated for it.

The thinking goes that if company X is paying me to review them, then I am unlikely to say anything bad about company X, so as not to offend the hand that pays you. While practically any monetization strategy for your website could cause objectivity problems, there are several rules of thumb that should be applied should you decide to do paid reviews.

When in doubt, disclose it. The relationship, that is. The large review brokers require some sort of disclosure that you are being compensated for your opinion to accompany each article, but even if it is not required, it is a good idea. This lets your readers know that a relationship exists and also defuses those who would seek to criticize you for writing a paid review.

Another thing to consider is does the review add to your reader’s experience? If you have a website about high fashion and you do a review for the Acme tractor company because you can make $45 doing it will not be appreciated by your readers. However, if you have the opportunity to review a new cosmetic company or a company that makes environmentally friendly toiletries, you might want to jump on that. One thing to ask yourself is if you would review this product on your site if you were not getting paid. If the answer is no, I would stay away from doing that one.

Any decision to monetize your website opens you to potential for conflict of interest. The only people who can decide whether paid reviews are right for your website is you and your readers. As I said in the introduction, Paid Reviews are controversial, and even when the potential for conflict of interest is disclosed, they may not be a good fit for every website. However, if you are serious about monetizing your website, they are certainly worth considering.

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