When I started blogging, I used to get lots of requests to review software, products, websites, and ebooks. The last time we talked about paid reviews, many bloggers informed me that they were also getting requests for paid reviews.
Initially, I was not aware of whether or not I should even do paid reviews. But because they were easy money, I figured I would give them a shot.
I never bothered to figure out how much I should charge, and I ended up doing my first review for only $25.
Many bloggers ask me how much they should charge for a product review. While I would not want to give an exact amount (as many factors need to be taken into consideration), I can give a few suggestions which will help determine an appropriate amount to charge for a paid review.
Before everything else, here are networks to get paid review opportunities.
Best Network to get paid to write reviews:
- Famebit (For YouTuber channels)
- Izea Pay per post
- Tomoson
- Revcontent
- BzzAgent (Only for USA & Brazil)
- SheSpeaks (For U.S.A only)
- Influenster (Mostly for USA & Canada users)
- Shopstylecollective (For Lifestyle bloggers)
How to calculate the cost of a paid review:
What’s The Reason?
There are many reasons why advertisers ask for paid reviews.
Many advertisers include conditions for anchor text backlinks, and I recommend that you avoid doing this. Google considers these paid links, and you could be penalized at any time as we saw in the Google Penguin algorithm update.
Most of the time, advertisers are looking for things like brand awareness, product marketing, and so on. In this case, if you don’t feel comfortable with their request, you can always decline their offer.
But if you’re comfortable with the request, take into account how much they’re asking for. Are they looking for a mention in a random blog post? Or are they looking for a detailed company review?
The more they ask for, the more you can charge.
What’s The Product?
As I have stated in previously published posts, you should only review quality products. You should also make sure that these quality products are related to the niche of your blog.
If the product falls directly within your niche, you can charge more for the review, as it will give the product more leads, sales, and traffic.
If, on the other hand, you feel that reviewing this particular product may not prove to be all that beneficial to an advertiser, you can charge less for the review.
But don’t do a review for something completely unrelated. Your audience will not like that.
How Many Leads Can I Generate?
Suppose you’re reviewing one of the best WordPress hosting… If you drive a fair amount of traffic to them, any single sale could generate $70 (or more) for that company.
Over time, that amount increases, especially considering the fact that your post is published forever. Moreover, that web hosting review is getting prominent linkbacks from a page-ranked website in a similar niche.
In this case, you could generate anywhere from $300-$500 and upwards, depending on your website’s popularity and readership.
If you can drive a lot of traffic to their site, then your review is worth more.
How do you decide how much to charge for a paid review on your blog? Let me know your methods in the comments below.
If you find the information in this post useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin!
Hi!
I’ve done a post with backlinks and they paid me $75. That was my first but it wasn’t a product review because I just referred to a website. This time, I have an offer for a product review. One, it is relevant to my blog. But I don’t know how much to charge them.
I’ve been getting a lot of product review requests that have been taking my time. I decided to start charging because these are taking up a lot of my time! I just replied to a company explaining that it will cost $100 for a review. Right now I have no idea if I’m over-asking or under-asking. Wish me luck!!
Hey Dough,
All the Best. $100 is quite reasonable to ask.
Glad you’re promoting paid reviews, but your pricing is way low.
A thought: if bloggers do reviews for free (or less than thousands of $ per post, really) then it’s kind of screwing over all bloggers because it makes advertisers perceive that there’s less value in blog posts in general, it also makes them less likely to pay for sponsored posts since they can keep hassling bloggers to do it for free, and it deprives the blogging community of value and much needed income.
You’ve heard that most people value things based on what they paid for them? I think that’s true in general and especially in the case of brands and advertising. If bloggers give sponsorships away for free, then it ruins the brand’s perception of the value sponsored blog posts have.
BTW – I would consider any mention of a brand as a form of advertising… from the brand’s perspective, anyway. They pay $10,000/month or more to PR agencies to get this form of advertising. It’s clearly valuable, so why should bloggers give that kind of value (…and writing skill …and time …and photography) away for free, when brands clearly have the $$ to pay for it (heck, they’re paying other people for it)? Not to mention, it’s most bloggers only chance at income!
Every blogger should have a page listing their sponsored post options and prices, and should direct brands who want coverage to that page. The key is to always be honest in your reviews, no matter what. If you can’t say something nice, then give a refund. Only write about products, hotels, etc. that you’ve actually experienced/tried for long enough to get a good feel for them.
It may sound harsh, but I really think that the bloggers who write articles about brands for free, cheap, or just for product, do a disservice to themselves (that brand will never pay you in the future) and to all bloggers, since it devalues the service and makes it harder for bloggers (in general, as an industry) to make a living. If bloggers can’t make money because others will work for free/cheap, then the quality of blogs overall will decrease, since most will have to give it up in favor of a better paying job.
If you want to write articles without payment, write about brands who are vegan, ethical, eco, third-world artisan, and doing good in the world. They actually need the support and likely can’t afford to pay anyhow. But when L’Oreal comes knocking — make sure your time is well-rewarded.
I find it so frustrating when brands / PR ask for coverage with zero compensation. They ARE asking you to not only work for free, but provide free advertising. They pay everyone else they work with, so it’s insulting that they would think that they shouldn’t pay bloggers…
IMHO – A sponsored article on a professional-looking blog should cost an absolute minimum of $10k+, and a sponsored social media post should cost $15 to $30+ CPM (per thousand followers), depending on what the brand wants and what is involved. For perspective, many social media stars make $50k to $100k per Instagram post alone. And an ad in a print magazine can easily cost a few hundred thousand dollars. These brands are paying for ads elsewhere, so why not in your blog? Don’t you give them value too?
Good luck, fellow bloggers! And remember: this is BUSINESS. Blogging is an industry, and your livelihood. You are providing a SERVICE for these brands, when you write about them. Never forget that!
Hi, I am so glad you have talked about this subject. I am a newer blogger but if you look at my blog posts they are detailed, with great images, design, and usually include a video post. I have been doing it for free but just noticed lately I have been leaving money on the table. I am not a huge blogger but I have over 45K views total on Youtube. I get about 8K views a month on my blog. How do I charge for sponsored posts on a smaller blog? Is there a way to determine that? Thank you!
Yes, the rule of thumb is $100 per 1000 unique monthly visitors.
Thanks Sarah for sharing the thumb rule. I have a SAP Tech blog (www.sapyard.com) and just received an offer for paid review from one vendor in my niche. Your rule helped.
Sarah/Harsh – Any thumb rule, how much should we charge for add display at top banner, side and in post?
Regards,
Raju.
Hey Sarah,
Making it simple you have uplifted bloggers, as you said it is an industry which can bridge the gap between consumers and sellers.
Yes they spend huge amount for PR and why not for bloggers, since there is an effort which should be not only be paid but well paid.
Hey Harsh, Don’t you think that domain authority is also a point of consideration while charging for paid review??
@Kalpesh
Good point & yes Domain authority can be also considered when charging for paid reviews. Since marketers also pick domain based on DA score.
Page Rank was depreciated (cancelled) by Google years ago and hasn’t been updated in many years.
Hi, I received an offer from a site that sells things related to my niche. They asked what I would charge. I don’t know how much–it takes me a very long time to do a review–much research. The main thing I don’t like is that I’d have to leave the paid posts up forever (unless I “rented” the space to them, does anyone do that?). Also, these paid posts would not link to an affilate site. I am leaning toward having a policy of no paid posts. Does anyone really get $1,000 for a post? or is it more like $25? I would not consider it for that. Any opinions?
Very helpful instruction. I think the cost for a paid review also depends on how much effort you put in that review. If it’s a technical in-depth review, then it could be $1000. If it’s a review at the point of view of users, it can be less.
Harsh,
need your help pls ..I am new to blogging and monetisation. Recently I have been approached by companies for sponsered posts and ad banners ..Can you pls guide me the standard rate I can give them .. please require a precise reply …
@Sangeetha
I will keep it brief, and explain how I usually charge:
1) If the product is relevant: First thing that matters is, if the product is worth featuring on my blog or not. Will it be helpful, is it relevant to topic and my reader base.
2) What is the actual 1 year cost of product: Now, a simple price calculation which I follow is; How many leads my review post will give to the company. Even if I take the worse case scenario, and consider I will be giving atleast 2-3 leads in a year, I would multiple to the highest pricing plan with 3, and will charge the same to the client.
3) Your traffic, authority also matters in price calculation. For example, when I feature any product on ShoutMeLoud, it also educates other blogger about new product, and they mention in on their blog. So, ripple marketing works for the client.
Considering all these, you can quote price for paid review. Do let me know if you have any other questions.
who will give us review option…?
what is procedure…etc…?
I think writing paid reviews actually lower your credibility and people loose faith in your blog. Although I have a review blog but I don’t ask payment to write reviews. And I think I am right.
Sorry, but this is not good thinking. If you are honest in your reviews, you can do sponsored and studies have shown that readers still trust you and are fine with it.By not charging, you are hurting all bloggers by removing the only real income source / convincing brands that they don’t need to pay for blog publicity. Mainstream print magazines get paid for this kind of content BTW – they just don’t have to label it.
Hi I’ve been blogging about health and beauty for a year now, I have received some free products too. When it comes to charging a paid reviews, I honestly don’t have any ideas on how to charge them. Just recently I receive an offer from a certain beauty company if I’m willing to do a review on their products. Do you think I still need to charge them if the product is free? Thanks and looking forward for you reply;)
Hey Aimee
Charges depend on many factors:
Your Website Traffic, reputation, userbase and Page rank.
Though, it’s hard to give specific suggestion, though you can always go for 2-5X of total price of that product as a review charge.
Regarding charging for free products, it again depends upon company strategy. As many company offers freemium products, where product is free for trial/certain days and later on you need to pay or to use advance feature you need to upgrade to pro/premium version… This is what happens in my niche… In this case, if the webmaster is asking to review, you can charge a bit for the same..!!
Though, if not, you can always join aff programs like cj.com and earn from affiliate sales.
I have been asked to write a review about a company in business. I would be the third party and I am a professional writer. The review will require research and contact with the business to be reviewed. The review should be 500 words.
My first proposal was $100.00 and the middle man says it is too much. What is your advice?
Thanks very much,
Susan
You should not take less than $100 or you are selling yourself short! However, should should be blogging for at least a year and have a nice social media following. The more your following, the more you can charge!
I recently did a paid review for $40 and didn’t even have to write a review actually. Getting many offers for $30 onwards but I’ll charge nothing less than $40 or $50.
I believe it’s more of paid link sell.. Is int it??
Nopes. Seems I messed up with my comment. “I recently did a “free” review and got the offer for a paid review for $40 without even writing the article” . Don’t think I’ll do it though. Its better to concentrate on affiliate earnings by writing honest reviews of products you’ve yourself used.
great, i had started blogging initially for money but now i want to make a difference, yes paid reviews might be a part but mostly i will write content oriented posts.
There are a lot of factors that need to be taken into account when deciding price for a product review.
Vivek will love to know your insight.. Which all points do you consider while deciding upon the charge for product review?
I think you should consider: 1) alexa rank 2) rss subscribers 3) previous performance of a blog’s paid posts etc. Also the ROI for the advertiser you have mentioned is an important criteria while you set the price.
I go for paid review only when I get good amount for that but I don’t like to do reviews out of my blog niche.
i have got one request for paid review 6 months back when i started my blog with Blogspot….it was an online gaming website and they were offering me $5 which i rejected…sometimes i regret it but your post makes me feel better
If its Gaming its good..but if its gambling.. always avoid it…!!
Infolinks suggested me to write a 300 word review for a betting company at a measly price of $5. And my blog is PR3. Wondering whether I should do it or not because its the initial offer so maybe the charges would increase in the future. What do you guys suggest, should I do it?
Tanuj 5$ is nothing for such review. Infolinks is no doubt good company but advocating any service for 5$ is more like giving it for free. Think the other way, how much business they are going to get . If I would have been at your place, I would have charged somewhere between 50-100$.
Exactly my point. Maybe I should try and discuss the charges. If that is possible.
You are always free to quote your price and this way you will get best value for the review. 🙂
Oh that’s cool then. Will quote the price at $50 then. Thanks Harsh.
Brands will NOT pay you more in the future. If you accept $100, then the next time they’ll ask for $80, not $120… Guaranteed. You already told them what you’d work for ($100), so then they’ll be angling for less from then on, of course.
Charge $100 per 1000 unique visitors, then add on to that if the brand wants special stuff and it’s not a native/perfect fit.
This post is helpful for us as we have got few mails for paid reviews but just ignored it, never thuoght money can be made out of it. Thanks for this post Harsh.
I normally charge 24$ for reviews but I review products ocassionally and only one which are related to my niche but if I am getting some good money than I can consider other options too 😀
Mad geek you may consider other non related product but that will put your readers off. So Instead of short term money target long term 🙂
I have done 8 sponsored reviews on my blog… and all are related to computers or internet. I think its best not to quote a price. Because when they decide for the price … its always on the “more than I thought” side.
I got 1 60$, 2 50$ and 6 20$ reviews….
Generally Its best not to charge for the review …if the product or service is free.
Dear Debajyoti – Is fixlife your blog? If yes then it seems to be having really good presence. Then why did you charge just 20$ for a review? Isn’t this too little? Or was it long back?
How much do you charge now for paid review?
I am a little confused. Sarah suggested 100$ per 1000 visitors per month. And you are charging only 20$.
Can someone please explain a little more?
Thanking you.
Raju.