Tech Shout!

Reviewme.com is paying as much as $250 to bloggers for reviews of advertisers’ products or websites. In addition, as part of a promotional offer, the company plans to reward bloggers by $25,000 for reviewing Review.me itself.

Andy Hagans, president of ReviewMe said, “The $25,000 is almost used up, and we want to keep the promotion alive, so we’re probably going to extend it.”

The website was launched on Thursday, and within 24 hours had lined up more than a thousand bloggers to review products in categories ranging from autos and books to real estate and sports, Hagans said.

ReviewMe is backed by Text Link Ads, and has a business model that’s similar to PayPerPost in that they offer to pay bloggers between $20 and $200 to mention certain products or services on their sites. But that’s where the similarities end. Unlike PayPerPost, ReviewMe requires prominent disclosure on every paid article. What’s more, advertisers are unable to dictate tone.

In addition, ReviewMe also requires bloggers to disclose that their reviews are paid for, while PayPerPost encourages the practice. PayPerPost, based in Orlando, Fla., has been criticized for not requiring disclosure.

ReviewMe pays bloggers from $20 to $250 per review, based on the reach of their blogs. To determine that, ReviewMe uses metrics gathered from online news aggregator Bloglines, blog search engine Technorati, and Web traffic tracking service Alexa. Bloggers are rejected if they don’t meet a minimum requirement that ReviewMe doesn’t disclose.

Hagans said, “If the blog doesn’t meet a general threshold of at least having a significant amount of readers, than it doesn’t have much value for the advertiser. And even though the three measurements are inexact, it’s better to get the numbers from third parties, rather than from bloggers, since they’re prone to exaggerate.”

Bloggers who cross the bar are placed on a list that advertisers browse in looking for a reviewer, who must agree to write a minimum of 200 words. Hagans believes advertisers will be served just as well by positive and negative reviews, because the latter will provide constructive criticism.

“No one is trashing advertisers, and they’re still getting buzz in the blogosphere,” Hagans said. “It’s a low cost way to get feedback from people in your industry.”

All reviews are checked to make sure they discuss the right product and meet the word requirement before they are posted. Advertisers are billed after the review is on the blog.