Where to advertise your blog? - Part 2
In Part 1, I had discussed about advertising your blogs through paid reviews in big-shot (expensive) blogs. And as a case study, I have concentrated on JohnChow dot com. At the end of the post, I had concluded that it was not worth buying Paid Reviews for $400. Please go through the post in order to find out the reasons of the conclusion.
In the comments, people have pointed out search engine effects of the paid reviews from high PR blogs like JohnChow dot com. They have suggested that, even though you won’t get much clicks from your review, your blog’s SERP (Search Engine Result Position) is likely to improve as a result of the paid review from blogs like JohnChow dot com. I agree with it.
But then again, it can also be done through text-link purchase from the same blogs. For example John Chow’s text links are $200/link, whereas paid review is $400/review. You should take note that your review gets buried after few days, while your text link will stay on the homepage for 1 full month! So if you are going for SERP improvement, it’s better to target text-links than paid-reviews.
Part 2 - Advertising Through Medium Sized Blogs
Another alternative to buying expensive paid-reviews is to buy medium priced paid-reviews from smaller blogs that have good number of readership. You can spend that same $400 budget on several medium sized blogs and get a better result, that means more clicks, more subscribers and if you are selling something more sales.
When I launched my Color Picker Program, I had decided to go for medium sized blogs for promotion. Here I will mention some of them.
LiewCF dot com
Liew CF is a technology blog that has 2500+ RSS Subscribers. It also gets some 10,000+ unique visitors a day.
Cost: $150/review
I wasn’t thrilled with my review though, because it was more like a product description posting than an extensive review of the product. But that’s the style of Liew, he posts the description first and gives his two cents at the end. So I am okay with that. www.liewcf.com
HongKiat dot com
HongKiat is another blogger who blogs about technology. He has 1100+ RSS Subscribers, gets about 3,000 unique visitors a day.
Price: $100/Review
I was satisfied with my review, he had showed plenty of screenshots that made the review a lot more interesting. www.hongkiat.com
JonLee dot com
JonLee dot com is a web development blog that has 330+ RSS Subscribers. He is also the author of ShowOff Rankings plugin for WP. His blog is 30th most favorited blog on Technorati.
Price: $60/review
The review was excellent, it was one of my favorite reviews. http://www.jonlee.ca
Kumiko’s CashQuests
Kumiko’s CashQuests is a blog about making money online (come on you know that!). She has 690+ RSS Subscribers. She made a name for herself for her (then) pink blog and being opinionated on the blogosphere.
Price: $80/review
The review was excellent and one of my favorite reviews. The price that I paid was a lot cheaper then, and totally worth it. Actually $80/review is still a bargain. www.cashquests.com
Daily Web Ideas
Daily Web Ideas is a blog about web development, blogging and making money online. It has 450+ RSS Subscribers.
Price: $50/review
She is also the founder of CareerRamblings, that she sold it after 6 months for $20K. I was satisfied with my review. www.dailywebideas.com
Nice 4 Rice - This blog is no longer in operation (as of Sep 13, 2007)
Nice 4 Rice is a blog about web technology, internet marketing, and blog monetization. It has 80+ RSS Subscribers.
Price: $50/review
Nick writes extraordinary reviews. He did a review for me for free, which was very nice of him. www.nice4rice.com
Conclusion
I have advertised my color picker on these blogs for a budget that was under $400. Most of the review prices have increased since. What you see above is the current prices for the reviews. What I got was, more than what I would have got from JohnChow dot com - from one review. Moreover, the sum of all the medium sized reviews, were definitely more than the sum of individual reviews (e.g 1+1+1=5).
On Part 3 of these series, I will discuss other ways of promoting your blogs. So, stay tuned! If you do not want to check back for the article, subscribe the RSS and you will be notified of the posts.
Related Posts
- Where to advertise your blog? - Part 1
- Utilizing your empty slots effectively
- About
- Testing Entrecard, my views on it
- Some LinkWorth Tips…
By Robert on Aug 30, 2007
As the one who first mentioned the SEO aspect on your previous post, you provide a very good counter point with the paid links. I look forward to part 3.
By McGrath Dot Ca on Aug 30, 2007
I was considering to order from John because I wanted to reach serious bloggers to my software/freeware/blog plugin site and paid Blog Directory. The last part is where I think John has the most as his base(bloggers). Now you make me wonder if I still should.
“So if you are going for SERP improvement, it’s better to target text-links than paid-reviews.”
should be
“So if you are going for SERP improvement, it’s better to target paid-reviews than text-links”
The Text-Link is there until you stop paying but the review stays forever in the archive. No?
By Ades on Aug 30, 2007
McGrath, you are right paid-reviews stay forever (or as long as the blog exists), however they will be buried and end up blocked by Search Engines after few years.
So text-links are a better option, because your link will stay on homepage and in most blogs on every other page of the blog (sitewide). Since homepage is likely to have higher PR, it is recommended to have your link on the homepage than a post that gets archived in a few days.
By Abdalla on Aug 30, 2007
I am considering buying reviews for my blog but as you said ades (comment 3), reviews are only good for a short term campaign or if you are selling something unless you have great unique content that is matched to the blog your buying the review from.
Between, I am giving away 1 month worth of free ads on my blog, check it out, so far I think all the banner spaces have been taken up, but there are many text link ads im giving away for free, yes my blogs a PR0 right now but its predicted 3 in next update which could be during september meaning you will get a PR3 backlink for free!
check it out; http://www.sweethacks.com/free-ads-for-you-all/
By Sergio on Aug 31, 2007
“As the one who first mentioned the SEO aspect on your previous post, you provide a very good counter point with the paid links. I look forward to part 3.”
totally said robert, cheers!
By acnecaregal on Dec 13, 2007
those blogs are quite expensive.
By Shade on Oct 4, 2008
Wow these sites are a great place to advertise.
Even though they are bit on the pricey side.